CRICKET.

Auckland Star, Volume XLII, Issue 287, 2 December 1911, Page 16

CRICKET.

;) {By ACTAEON). The ex-Dunedin cricketer, the Bey. E. , O. Blamires, now of Wellington, had a unique experience the other day. being , clean bowled for the first time in Wellington cricket. Last season he was bowled off his pads, but mostly he has been caught out. In view of the possibility of Auckland making a trip to Christchurch in quest of the Plunket, Shield, the following from the "Canterbury Times'' should be interesting: "1 am pleased to see man after man of the possible Canterbury team getting into form. The two CarltoDs. Sims, Reese, Lusk. Caygill, Norman. Bosskall, and Bennett are all showing good form, and Patrick only wants an innings to put him right. The struggle would appear to be for the eleventh place. A bowler is required, and he must be chosen from Ollivier. Sandman. Orchard, or Watson. Presenj indications point to 1 Ollivier being the man chosen. There are I few better all-round players in New Zea- ; land." In January next a team, under the cap- ! taincy of Lord Hawke. will sail from Southampton in order to play a series of matches in the Argentine Republic. On no previous occasion has a cricket side left England for a tour in South America, and it is. therefore, only appropriate that what must be regarded as the ' pioneer team in this- mutter should be led by the ex-captain of Yorkshire, the greatest of all cricket missionaries.. The side is due at Buenos Aires on February 10. and will play three matches against the full strength of the Republic, at Hnrlingharc. Lamas, and Palermo. ] The morality of cricket and football I are as the poles asunder (writes C. B. Fry in his magazine). There is no doubt (about it whatever. It is not that the . plavcrs cf democratic football are exactly bad" sportsmen, though they far too generally play as bad sportsmen; the truth is that in football a curious conventional immorality has grown up under which it is regarded as legitimate to play against the rules and the referee a*, well as against the opposing team, and to play on the principle that as there is a penalty 'or cheating it is permissible to cleat at the risk of the penalty—as if. forsooth, the fact that a free kick is the penalty justifies the '-wilful'" tripping of an opponent. Fancy the astonishment if the wicketkeoper were to trip the batsman just as the ball was bowled, or were : carefully to spike his foot when crossing lover. The morality in vogue in Associa- j I tion football quite widely ( 1 do not say universally, of course! is that if both sides agree to cheat, cheating is fair —it is like "two men agreeing to play ecarte with extra kings up their sleeve-, which it. is fair to introduce into a hand if it : can be done undetected. If you doubt my argument, all I ask of you is first to rear! the rules of Association football and go and see one League match. " Among his many anccflotes. Mr. H. M. | Hyndman gives the following: "The only i two men I ever saw who played almost . equally well on bad grounds and on good were Ranjitsinhji and W. (i. (Trace. The former was a genius; the latter had worked up batting to an exact science. The first time I bad the misfortune to play against 'W.G ' he was only a lad of 18. The match was the Gentlemen of Susses against the Gentlemen of Gloucestershire. Gmco went in first and took the first ball wl. r, I bowled. He scooped a gentle catch into Harry Brand's mouth at mid-ofj. Brand let it trickle down his chest and stomach comfortably to the ground. 'W.G. made 276 thereafter. Tears later Brand, then Lord Hampden, came to see mc on ar. important matter of business. No sooner did his eye light upon mc (he did not know he was going to meet mcl than he walked up to mc and sairX 'Have you ever forgotten that catch I dropped on you from "W.G."! 5 I never had. We laughed —we didn't laugh at the time.'' | The Jubilee of England v. Australia 'cricket will take place en .January 4. the , ; first match of H. H. onsen's pion- jeer 'eer team bavin;- been started on New | •Year's Day. 1862. with Twenty-two of j Victoria, on th* 1 Melbourne Cricket . Ground. I Hordern is bowling well, having recently got back the googlv ball with j which he has done such deadly work in The United States. England, and Australia j Warm weather, according to Hordern. is most suited to googly Howling. When , he toured England with the Philadelphia Club he was" often hit for "0 or more runs before he cou'.d bowl a googlv ball at aIL This was because of the cold weather. 1 Even if Hordern cannot bowl the googlv. he is worth his position a- a leg-break bowler. This is because of his accuracy. One of the best balls he bowls, is a straight baH with a leg-break action- It gets many batsmen out l.b.w. Hordern ■ is far from being a mechanical bowler. On the contrary, he uses his head continually, aid belongs to th? order of bowler' who "think" their opponents out. I | JUNIOR NOTES. Ideal cricketing weather prevailed on Saturday, and the third round of the Association matches was completed, Tne wicket*, generally speaking, were easy. .md although bowlers were, able to get j considerable work on the ball, the neees- j sary nip from the pitch was laekung. j The surprise of the afternoon was the . •defeat oi North (Shore by Grafton. The j Phoreites were not satisfied with a two- I point win. and made gallant efforts to i inflict a crushing defeat on Oration. , Bequining 8? to win, they set out to j , "do or die." As it often happens, in ! their haste to get the total, they sacri- j ; ficed their wickets, thus allowing the; id's to snatch the game out. of Uie fire, j I The Eden B-University match did not j ! produce anything exciting. Skipper ! . Mite declared in the second innings with ■ | three wickets down, and gave 'Varsity ■ | a sporting chance., wliich they refused. j i Eden B gained a two-pointer. j i Eden A easily accounted for ParneiL I i At no stage of the game did the latter ' ! produce anything above the mediocre standard, and their erisfcat was dssfciact | I iy disappointing. j ! " Waisemata, thanks to a solid ex- j j hibition by D. .Mayall (55. not out). al- I > moat scored a three-pointer over Pon- i l sotrby, the latter having eight rickets! I down ior 92 at call of time. j The best performances were:—Bat- j 'ting: Hor3pool (Eden A), 55-. Mr.yaJ! ' iWaitema.ta), 55. not out; Stewart ' (North Short), 53. Bowling: Townsend ' (North Shore), four for 20 (hat trick i: ; ■ Mackay iWaitemats.). five for 28* Mur- ; doch (Eden B), six for 2-2: Baker (Gnu- i ; ion), sever? for 62. j I It is pleising to note th.it most of ! . ibe clubs are recognising the import-, ance of errccracing the younger play- ; era. Many of last year's juniors have I received •■well-merited promotion. 1

In the North Shore-Gnfton natch, Stewart {53) gave an excellent exhibition. Has strokes are delightfully crisp, ■and his play, -especially on the off, is most convincing. The off-drive and -square-cut are his strong suit. Coleman (26) gave a careful display of battiag. He seemed to fird Bafeer troublesome. Pratt. (40) war, r,fce only batsman for Grafton that could negotdate the Shore bow Mag, whjch has certainly been i nprorad by th? advent of Townsend. 1 .-att's innings *vss invaluable, and saved Grafton from a moderate total. O'Shca (161 continues to bat in good style. Baker (seven wickets for 62) make* good use of bis height, arm Shore stock fell considerably while be was wicket-hunting. Waitemata met Ponsonby at VictoriaPark, and helped themselves to another two pointe. D. Mayall (55. not out) proved the strrmbling-hiock to the Ponsonby bowlers. He has Bound defence, .but yet he punishes the loose stuff. C. Moller (20) and K. Moller (26) rattled up their totals very smartly. Mackay (five wickets for 2S) is a heady bowler. He has the trick of making the ball nip off the pitch. This •was somewhat disconcerting to the Ponsonbyites, and the only player to make any showing was Jacobsen "(IS) 'Varsity, with two down for 49, continued their innings against Eden B, and were all disposed of for 129. barely saving a follow-on. The play of the students was not of the sparkling order, ■but possibly they were suffering from "brain fag." Moore (19) was giving a good defensive exhibition when he got ■in front of a straight one from J'nr-doc-h. OlfOnghlin i_l) is a most promising bitter. bin. I'.ke most hitters, wants to score off everything. His offdrive and square-cut arc clean an', powerful. Vickennan (17 and 31. not out) has many excellent strokes, but is much stronger on the off. Brown (1?, not out i still maintains his opening form. .Truly, the veteran wears •well. His play on the off is estrcmHy good. The Eden A-Parnel! match call? ior little comment. The Edenites realised that they had the match in hand, so took liberties with the bowling. Sale (431 was batting brightly when he hit one from T?estea-uv (in the bands of Warner. Ssie has exceptionally Bound defence, and watches -.he ball very closely. Horspool carried his previous total to 55 before Stephens scattered his timbers. His innings was bright, though ex tremely fortunate. Horspool uses a half pull stroke with great effect.