CRICKET.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 72, 23 March 1912, Page 16

CRICKET.

The Australian eleven, under S. G. Gregory, has departed for England. M. „ Noble captained the last Australian j eleven in England. That was in 1909. Of 311 matches played no less than __ I were drawn; 13 were won and lour were ! lost. The te:un won the ruti-er of tents. J. Darling captained the teams which visited England in 1899, 1902, and 1903. The 1905 team won 16 matches, lost three, while 10 were drawn. The 1002 combination won 23 matches, lost two. and drew 14. The 1899 team won 16 matches, lost three, and drew 111. G. H. S. Trott captained the 1896 eleven. They won 19 matches, lost six and drew eight. B'aek■ham led the 1803 team. They won 18 matches, lost 10, and drew eight. W. L. Murdoch captained the teams, which toured England in IS9O, ISB4, 1882, and ISSO. The 188'! team was the. most successful. Twenty-three matches were i won nnd only four lost, while 11 were drawn. The 1880 team was close up with 21 wins, four losses, and 12 draws. Iv ISS4 the team did not do so well, for while it secured 18 wins, seven matches were lost and seven drawn. Murdoch's 1890 team, however, was beaten oftener than any Australian eleven in England. Of 38 games played, 10 were lost, while only 13 were won, nine being drawn. P. S. McDonnell, who headed the 1888 team, was also beaten oftener than he won. His team won 10 times, while it suffered defeat on 14 occasions, seven games being indecisive. In 1886 H. J. H. Scott headed the Australians. As in Noble's year, 22 games were drawn, while the margin of wins over losses was only one, nine matches going the .Australians' way and eight to their opponents. The other eleven to tour England was the first. and was led by D. W. Gregory, a relative of Syd. Gregory. This team won 18 matches, seven being lost and 12 drawn. The first step in the matter of procuring the services of a coach for Southland cricketers next season was taken at a recent meeting of the Cricket Association. A letter was read from th. Schools' Association on the matter, offering to guarantee the sum of £25 annually. Finally, after some discussion, it was resolved to write to tue Sydney and Melbourne Cricket Clubs, asking those bodies to recommend suitable men, from whom the Association can make a selection. Cricket is generally put down as a "slow" game, but' those who witnessed the closing stages of the Newington Col-lege-St. Joseph's match played in Sydney recently would most certainly dispute that statement. Ncwington College scored 144, and, in reply, St. Joseph's gradually overhauled that total, until at last but two runs were required to win with four wicket 3 in hand. Six for 143 stood the score when Brown was put on to bowl. His over was electrifying to both batsmen and spectators. First ball, a wicket;, second ball, a wicket; fourth .ball, a wicket; an_ off the last ball one was scored. A hundred and forty-fout 1 all and one wicket to j fall. Four balls were carefully watched, , the fifth was played io cover point and' the batsmen sped down the wicket for ithe winning run. Prescott, however, dashed in, and with a quick fast return knocked down the stumps with the batsman yards out. Thus the match ended with each side 144 runs to their credit. I On the eve of their departure for the Home land, the English cricketers can be described as a very well pleased team (says „ Sydne _ writer). They smile with a certain self-satisfaction which shows that they have happy anticipations of their landing i n England. 'Tis certain that they will be received back Home with a greater show of enthusiasm than was th" case when they left for Australia to win back the ashes. They go back with ; several records, including four out ot five tests, a record for the first innings in test cricket, and a record for a first ; wicket partnership. They are not gloating over their victories, but they are more pleased than they even trust themselves to say. They claim that the better team has won, and they are entitled to j the victories and the honours without reservation. "It was one of the brightest moments of my ]ife," said Mr. J. W. H. T. Douglas, the working captain of'th« team since illness prevented Warner ; from going through the tour as captain, "when we completed that fourth test and deciding test match in Melbourne. I am more than satisfied with the result of the tour, and I think that I can speak for every other member of the team, iwhen I say that the results have bc.n an agreeable surprise. Yes, some of our men did show great form, Of course, on the other hand, there are some men wh.i 1 have been showing great form in England ; and who did not reproduce it here. That 'is something that seems to stick to big cricket. Perhaps some of the men whose performances have been so good right I through this tour will not be so good . j when tbey start playing at Home again. 1 You can take it from mc, though, that ' this team will provide the bulk of the I players that will be engaged in the tests i at Home. Our bowling has been extra- . ordinarily good, and the results on the . I good Australian wickets show how very II good our bowling has been. The wickets ' here are wonderful, If people at Homo 1 saw your wickets, they would say: How on earth did you ever get those great ! ! bats out ? Even the country wickets— I Toowoomba, Ballarat, Geelong, and Ben- ' digo— were as good as the top wickets . that we play at Home. No. 1 don't think [ 1 that we had too much luck. In fact, I , don't believe that we had more than our . share. The Australians won the first . three test match tosses and I only won - the fourth." s "Would you say Australian batting . has deteriorated?"* "No, I would not; you have great bats I here, but they are out of form. Your " stars have not struck form, and I tell you, if a batsman who has been in the '■ habit of making big scores, suddenly ' finds that he is out of form, it is very discouraging. Our bowling was good, and no mistake, and it was of that sort 3 calculated to find the weak spots of , batsmen who were out of form. All our ;> members are very well pleased with .' themselves and each other. We look for- . ward with pleasure to our return to c England. We arc not egotists, nor are c we over-proud. W 7 e are just pleased." 0. In the fourth match of the English .. team at Sydney, despite the lost days 0 including one Saturday, the gross ta'k- ■- ings amcunted to £9219 11/3. of which I- the iM.C.C. received £3144 12/, the Asr sociation £5153 1/9 (out of which all ;. match expenses, fares etc., have to be c defrayed), and the Trustees of the Ground £921 7/6. The gross takings at

the four matches in Melbourne were just under £9000, and the two matches at Adelaide drew £1725 13/, the M.C.C. netting £809 from them. The gates all through the tour have been far in excess of those at the South African matches, and greater than those of the last English team. AUCKLAND CHURCHES CRICKET ASSOCIATION. The match of greatest interest last Saturday was W.Y.M.I. v. All Saints', which resulted in a win for W.Y.M.I. by 100 runs. All Saints' continued witn four wickets fof 13 runs, and just saved the follow-on by four runs, only managing 44 runs, thanks to the bowling of •Jacobsen and Gosnell. W.YAI.I. went to the wicket and scored 42 for one wicket, Gosnell batting in good style for 20 not out. All Saints' reg lir ng 140 runs to catch W.Y.M.I.s tot.l, only managed to reach the modest tot il of -10. Their batting was completely demoralised by the bowling of Cornell and Jacobsen, who were ii great form, Gosnell taking eight wickets for 29 and Li-ob-sen eleven wi kets for 40 runs McMath batted well for All Saints, playing all through the second innings for 9 not out. St. John's secured a three-point witi. Excelsior defaulting. This s a thing that does our cricket no good, and teams ought to consider well before tak ng th:s ste°p. The posirion in the A grade is very interesting, and hangs upon the result of the match St. Jo n's v. W.V.M.1., to be played Saturd y next. Should W.Y.M.I. win by a thee pointer, they win it outright, if by a two-pointer, they will have to play off with All Saints. Should St. John's win by 11 three-pointer, they will have to play oil with All Saints, if by a two-pointer, All Saints will win the premiership. Croydon defeated Ivanhoe by a threepoint win, and the position is interest ing if Croydon can beat St. Peters. 11l the junior grade, St. Mary's and St. David's are in the lead, with St. John's lying third, and everything deends oii the next few macches. Arniel 'St. John's) scored 100 Saturday last. JUNIOR NOTES. Despite the heavy downpour on Fridaj last, the wickets * although somewhat soft', were in good playing condition on Saturday. Early in the day a strong south-westerly wind blew across tht grounds, and"this had the effect of dry ing the ground, so that tbe bowlers were able to get extra pace from the pitch Generally speaking, though, the batsmen had the better of the deal, and the bowl ing averages were not specially meritori ous. Parnell met Waitemata, and after a strenuous contest, the maroons triumphed over the "strawberry pickers" to the extent of two points. University met Ponsonby, at Victoria Park, and, in response to Ponsonby's total of IS2, ran up the fine total of 223 for six wickets The Warsity team has not done itsell justice this year, but, with the material now unearthed, good results should be forthcoming next season. The Grafton-Eden B match at Eden Park showed that the B's are possessed of unusual grit. Composed as il is of many young players, Grafton's total of 307 was an extremely tough proposi tion, yet the Edenites faced it resolutely, and held the fort till fifteen minutes bo fore time, when they had amassed the creditable total of 222. The feature of tlu. day's play was tho fine innings of Ha-ase, who, going in fourth wicket down, played almost through the innings for a total of 02. It was a good innings against a good team and good bowling, and Haase well de served the applause he was greeted with on returning to the pavilion. Haresnapr has presented difficulties to most bats men, but Haase seemed to play him with ease. Perhaps the fact of his'being left hand spoiled Haresnape's length. Al hough not of the dashing order. Haasn lisplayed excellent judgment, and n Treat variety of strokes 7 With his dis missal. Hill soon bad his stock bowlers to work, and Grafton gained a fifteen ninutes' vedict and a two-point win Hrown, Eden's veteran batsman, did not open in his usual style, swinging at Haresnape before being set, with the in evitaWe result. Gilmore and He'ghwaj Mien -became associated, the two colt's treating the Grafton trundling experts to "cmc average wrecking. Gilmore gave a very finished display, and well deserved bis fine total of 52. Haresnape had his field well placed, and deep, being content 'o let the players gain a single occasion ally, besides saving many boundaries niln\our laid the wood on, but kept the ball generally on the carpet, and tho Graftonites were kept busy fielding hot drives. Mills (28) showed a good defence, and gave the younger players a good illustration of how to treat break bowling. Heighway (36 run out) played quieter cricket than usual, but still his play was very sound. His great weakness is a tendency to pull goodlength balls on the leg stump. Heigh way had hard luck in being run o_it Beale has been off the scene for somn •.-onsiderab'j time, but he 'came back' like Jeffries, and scared a capital 18 be fore being knocked out by Cossey. The last five wickets only added 14 runs, sothat the Graftonites were lucky in obtaining a two-pointer. The most successful bowler for Grafton was Haresnape, who finished up with : six for 106. Of the six wickets, foui were caught and bowled. Haresnapo has splendid leg turn, but he did not maintain his length so well as he generally does. Ponsonby's first innings realised 182, to which University replied wfth 223 foi six wickets. Moore and Vickerman opened the innings, and soon had the Ponsonby fielders demoralised by tho manner in which they stole runs, princi pally extras. No sooner had the ball passed the wicketkeeper than they were on the move. It was a fine illustration of running between the wickets. Vickerman (67) played a great innings, scoring freely all round the wicket. lie was ably supported by Hocken (29), Fawcett (21), Marks (27), Skinner (25), and ; Gray (27 not out). Hocken produced a nice variety of strokes in his 29, and his erispness and timing were alike admir- • able. Fawcett (21) hit out merrily for his quota, as did Marks, who notched 27. . Skinner (25) indulged in hard forward play to tbe off", getting everything well down. Gray (27 not out) showed fine . defence, being content to stay. The Parnell-Eden 111. B match brought forth two veteran players in Kyd and Resteaux. Strictly speaking, Resteaux ' is above the grade in which he is playing, and it is difficult to understand how the Association granted him a permit to play. If permits to play iv a lower grade, and especially in the boys' grade, 'be given indiscriminately, then the "spirit of the «rrade" will be entirely eliminated, and the play of the lads wall suffer in consequence. The matter is worth consideration by the Association. 1 Parnell made 109 and 136 against Waitemata. who notched 6S and 136 for I eight wickets, Parnell gaining a two- • 1 point victory. Fairburn (44 not out) ■ j was a tower of strength to the Parnell '■ I batting, meeting everything with the face II of the bat,.and giving a really fine exhi- ; bition.