CRICKET.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 57, 6 March 1912, Page 7

CRICKET.

«. L R Marrinpr, who aecompaiied the Auckland team to Chrisfchurel. and £ present at the Plunket Shield match Irtuft Canterbury, presented a lat for »& best all-roun.i performance in the CTidd contest. This ha? unar.mo.isly feet- awards to C OUiff, whose aowlmg, fielding and batting was exceptionally The following table »hovrf the positions of the teams in tbe snior competition after Saturdays pla':

The match between prnell and Pon„„by was concluded a Victoria Park on»*oft wicket, which *s not improved Z the occasional show" oi rain which fell Parnell resumed neir innings with "sis wickets down and he score standing at g> against the I2»egistered by Pon„nbv in their first s/ike. Wright, who h.A made a tine sta* of 45 on the previous Saturday, comjenced in good style, and had lifted his *h.l to 6:5 when- he put the ball into thrhands of the bowler, McMath. Kisslingand Lusk, the two veterans, put up solid defence, their partnership lasttf some time, both reachin" doable gures, while the two remaining batsmi. D°ble and H. Warner were 'both n bowled by McMath for'no runs, Pa»ell finishing up with a lead of eleven on the first innings. Ponsonbv play* one man short, CTLeary foem" absent. fld tne absence of Snedden also hand*PP in g them made a very •Boor showing their second venture, the •bowline of Oft* proving altogether too ,£._ 4Mpnn, which to* at length :Slrffcthe small total of 60, Olliff 'finishing ur* ,tn slx wickets for 25 runs, Robinson, JO n " Mle 30 nofc out > provided more t n half the total, and made strong " r * t° t urn the tide, the only other ha ,na ' n *° show any form at all feeine C'cdden who just reached dou-ble jj-oreg, ilson had the hard luck to get Mn a , Kavanagh were all dismissed withoi*' orm S- Parnell. with 40 runs to mt a ,45 minutes to play, opened with Kerr. Runs came fairly fast durifthe- -first half-hour, Wright, who • jQao-5 not out. going for tbt bowling glaring quickly. As the light failed, |4f«r, scoring became extremely slow, ott 'it seemed that Ponsonby's total m ,L not be reached. In the last two 01 l things livened up a little, and in jjjihal over Sutherland got in the winjf lit, and time was called with three *ets down for 42, Parnell notching iree-pbint win.

tor an hour on Saturday I. Mills and aeeton defied the bowling of Grafton. lie veteran was in his liveliest mood, ni nothing came amiss to his bat. He iss careful on the leg side, but anything ■seat down on the open side was promptly "dimstehed, by drive or cnt, to where it wwli do most good for the batting team. Gnnfion, on the other hand, white not dhffßjjing the forcing (Strokes of his wretkr,' scored more confidently oh the legate, where his timing was accurate. in some nice off-drives and oeessional blip snicks, the latter of which be etrefnlly kept down. Thus they raised the;total "from 88 to 181, when MiTls plsyed lite In attempting to drive a fast yoiter froßi Pratt. When Player joined £smeeton £4 runs were ranted, and five wickets were in land. The left-handed oolt showed more fmdoM than he has hitherto exhibited. and bn'two or three occasions bronght oil a nice leg glance. Smeeton was going «s strongly- as" ever, and only seven runs vera needed to pass the Graf ton total, vhen he unexpectedly mis-hit. N>ill to WW, and Mason surprised himself and the 'field by dropping a comparatively easy catch. Smeeton was then 64, and th»V*ss his first and only chance.

Tttattimring hit was made iby Player—-iinou-drive. off Mason, for two. Then cHha 'a sudden dropping of wickets. Snftettm,trho looked well set for a century, was backing up keenly, when Harvey made a quick return. Smeeton slipped as he dived back for the crease. »nd the return hit the wicket before he Maid recover. It was bard hick for the batman. The score was then 185.

Murdoch •opened by cutting Ward high to the boundary, but a couple of balls later the same howler beat and bowled iim with an off-break. Rev. Hay brought 190 rip by off-driving an over-pitched one from Ward for a single. Nest over Mason farad his wicket with hi« fast change: 190—8—1. The sfore h.»d not moved when Mason fat the nexl-comer, Smith, %before. "Tbbiigh the previous tlree wickets had pat "on onlv five runs, the last wicket Med like" giving trouble. Al-pxander fhowed a strung defejee. while Player **s jSettirig freer in lis action, and he *JS responsible for raising the second Witury. Then he go' a full-pitched ball trim Selll. which le off-drove on the Wiley, siting Harvii a catch at mid-ofT. At'this stage it vas r,bvions that the P'fr* "was tn all iitents won by Eden. lift th Pr ,» wqfl a ftlling-off in the keen"ras while Grafbn orcupied the rertainde.r of the afernoon at the -wickets. Nwertheless. slnnan and Willis played 'Wlbnt criekei The former youth p!»v»ri el«3n. h'Tri shots ail round the *ifM. and Wilis, though siow to pet PWE. exhibits a pretty nit just back °f Bnint. » stoke -which he timed well •■I Sot quite '• dea 1 of power into. JOt onee i a way Pratt rame out *ift the beg howling figures for Graf- •*?• He ser. down three maidens in 15 Wett.'and fit three wickets for 37 runs, "fil? also hwled 15 overs, and got three tickets, bn the cost, was 64 rims. Mason ** 13 rers through, getting threes nd two wickets for 33 runs. KfrTie|s .2 overs cost 30 runs, while "irrt inihe course of five overs got one *ifket fr lfi runs. were never in a winning •Wde j Devonport on Sarwrdav. when tier e*ved to overhaul the substantial |«4'o£2l runs, established by Univers- «? orthe first dav. Of course. tnew Jha.Bt.Tfas somewhat Wue, seeing' tha* J OOI r tiejr wickets had alreadv gone ** Ifuns, bat the sportimg Tmcertaintv there. Howie (9) and jjjttwd (3) Tesunjed their not-out "jjg. and withstood tt>\ bowling of «ad Fenwick fairly weD. Howie and after settling Tj*«n« sgressive with hard clean •a,* ."J, various directions. HSs «en tt *£ * nftved at the stage of 23, 'alla»«f> * BBan MDt one into 'e*n hoiS^ n * &nortl y afterwards I—t'!^gZ^ Ljf • ,ac °bsen, having added Btiswi t-I* Howden were now one * rn ° l Jacohsen s»sJ^»3L~^ w,, ■**»*«* when ho had fts—aa, Sale had not svawiisjti ■»■! odds

get runs. In one merry over he knocked up a dozen with three boundaries, this at the expense of Jaeobsen, who up to. that time had an average of four wickets for 22 runs out of 16 overs, with 11 maidens. L. Dsxre stood up well to the bowling, and vigorously complied double figures when Fenwick clean bowled him. Sale nest fell for 22. and the remaining two men did not score. Joyce being the ncrt-out man. The total score was 78, Shore having fallen short by 143 runs. Bowling for 'Varsity, Jaeobsen sent down 10 overs, in which were !1 maidens the record being four wickets for 36. The only other bowler was Fenwick, and he came off with the nice average of five wickets for 31. Of his 18 overs four were maidens. Shore followed on, and withstood the efforts of (for a 'three-point win, with three wickets in hand, the score being 186 for seven wickets. Sale played the innings of the nay with a total of 44, and Howie remained not out for 38. The former made four boundary bits while the tatter's score included three fourers. Their partnership produced 63 runs. Farquharson, who opened with Bush, put on 33 by steady play, taking over an hour to do so. 1.. Daore gat going again to the extent of 19, and extras accounted for 20. Seven bowlers were tried for 'Varsity, Graham taking three for 48, and Jacobsen two for 32. G. J. Thompson left Wellington last week on his return to tbe Old Country, and before his departure gave a representative of the "Star" his opinion of the game in Auckland, and also New Zealand. As far as Auckland was concerned, Thompson stated he was very pleased with the batting, which was exceptionally good, and had improved wonderfully since his last visit. It compared very favourably with the batting of the South Africans as he knew it. On the other hand, the bowling was very weak, and this department had been woefully neglected. This was probably due to the fact that too much attention had been given to the batting, and to improve the bowling H was absolutely nevessary that it should receive the same amount of coaching as batting. The game In New Zealand generally had advanced fußy a hundred per cent since he was last "here, and if a couple of fast bowlers could be unearthed, and the present talent Well coached, there was no Teason Why the Dominion representatives should not compete against any cricket of the present day. One thing he was certain of was that a team from New Zealand would do better than did South Africa on their first visit to England, owing to the grass wickets. Another matter that wanted careful consideration was the placing of the field. It was absolutely necessary to place it so as to block strokes, and also in anticipation of certain strokes. This Was a question that should be given a lot of study. In concluding, Thompson said that Auckland had nothing to fear of the future, owing to the number of young eclte coming on, provided that the present avstem of,, coaching continued, ana that the Association were careful to engage coaches "with a thorough knowledge of all branches of the game.

Plyd. Won, . U»tDr. Cb. Pts. fatnelj • • - . S 4 4 2 {forth. Shor focson by ■ e 8 . 8 4 4 4 4 — — Cralion .. ■ University . 8 . 8 . 6 4 4 4 4 4 4 — Minns 1