CRICKET.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 101, 27 April 1912, Page 16

CRICKET.

One learns from London papers that though cricket has taken strong root in Philadelphia and New York, and goe.* ! steadily on in 80-ton. Baltimore. Kan ; Francisco. Chicago and other great citie- ' of the United States, it has its ups and J downs in other places. I It is understood that Victor Trumper . will not take part in the Triangular matchr--. An endeavour was made to i have him join the Australian team in . Engiand. and the matter was brought before the members on the eve of their ! departure from Melbourne. j I The curtain fell on tbe senior cricket | arena at Eden Park on Saturday, when ! Parnell completed their conquest of the i premiership by completely routing Graf- i ton. When the latter were dismissed for | 35 on the first day their supporters were i inclined to think that the great bowling J feats of Olliff and Kec_r were more in the i nature of a cricketing fluke. But when I this fine pair of trundrers went at it i again on Saturday and mowed the whole , ride down for 43 there could be no gain- | saving the fact that they were masters, j lira/ton were defeated by an innings and ] GO runs. It w-as an ignominious beating. , What more need be said with the season , already closed. The slates will all have been cleaned before the flannels are , donned for another season':- play. ! Only the other day Mr. -I. Mi-Laugh- : lin. one of the vice-presidents of the Mci- ; bourne. Cricket Club. "-eccived a letter from an enthusrasti • lover of the game j in England, and the gentleman stated; , that in the opinion of >onif good judges J of the <rame at home no more than four | of the recent English team in Australia i would have the honour of being -elected, to represent England in the triangular) test matches. I: ma;. - i>e that . judges of the game are riiht, just as Mr. I M-cLaughlin himself was ritrht in the; opinion he expressed that the team who have now taken the "ashes" home would . win the "rubber" in Australia. Mr. Mo- I j Laughlin said so before they played a | game, and hi- "tip" prove! absolutely I correct. But it has to be borne in min<l that those Englishmen who gave A us- ; tralia such an out-and-out drubbing. ■ played in superb "form" once they got j fairly into stride. On ibe •■form" shown in Australia I would, says an Australian | writer, put seven of them into a test, team at home, and I would add C. 11. ! Fry. W. Breariey. R. H. Spooner. and ! G. L- .lessop as a hitter of a class calculated to demoralise bowling if he got properly going. But what a strange elusive thing is 'form." Look at C. P. Mead out here. Yet in England last season, in first-class matches, his aggregate was -2-562 runs for .'»2 innings, five times not out. average 54-51. 1 think he ran nine times into three figures. .1. I!. Hobbs, who performed so splendidly here, | in the great games, was only ISth on j the first-class List, at home last season: | while C. P. Mead was headed oniv by | C. B. Fry. Much will depend on lie i "form" shown as the campaign progresses ' in the Old Country. JUNIOR NOTES. Saturday's play set all doubts at rest as to the destination of the championship in the junior grade, the Graf ton ites winning in a very decisive manner. The players of the "Bridge" suburb once again registered a sterling performance. On the. previous Saturday they ! dismissed Eden A for 145. while they had . lost only one wicket for 22 runs. This | means, then, that 34G runs were piled up i by the cup winners in about two and I a-half hours, giving an average of about | IMS runs per hour, or over two runs per minute. This is truly a phenomenal dis- ' play, and the players concerned deserve . great credit. | The chief contributor to the total was ; W. llor.-pool. who registered a brilliant ■ performance in compiling his fine score! of IT:', Horspool. by th" way. i- a pupil of '-Sammy" Jones, and in- .-'viii- to have profited by ttie coaching he received while | a pupil of the Grafton Public School. His 1 total incjssdaa 24 iotas and two-sixes, so* .

i one can well understand that his innings ] was aggressive. As a result of this ! punishing display, the Eden A trundlers ! stiffened severely, and a lack of length 'soon became apparent, the 'lob bowler" .especially coming in for harsh treatment, j A bowler soon gets a wholesome respect i | for a batsman that dispatches his best* ball, without mercy, to the boundary. I jHorspool plays a good straight bat, and j ! times well, playing aggressive cricket . from the outset. | j Richards i/i was not as free as' [usual, but sacrificed correctness to rapid I I nin-getting. Jack - (451 and I.epino 1401 were in hitting mood, and gave a very attractive I ;di.-play. The left-hander (Jacki hit' jhard. high, and often, rattling up his | I total in quick time. l.epine was very] I merry, and trotted cut some of his old- i time hockey stroke.-. The partnership I between lie and .fuel; was a fine one. and I lit was a fitting ending to the season's [ | play. j I The Graflonit's mc to be congratu- i Mated in their champion-hip win and the [ consi-tcnt form displayed throughout. As la bitting aide the winners are exception[ally strong, while flaresnape has proved! ■a tower of strength in the bowling dc- I partment. ; Ed< n R and Waitemata continued j their match at Eden Park, the It's open- I ling with Brown and Freeman. , Tile Waitemata players were in the; unfortunate position of having to play i short-handed for some time, although i they were allowed a couple of substi- j tutes. ! j Brown and Freeman opened to the j Moller brothers, and at lir«t runs were ; hard to get. Brown did not exhibit ' ! quite so much freedom a- usual, and.' after collecting a dozen, closed his ac- [ i count for the season. I Freeman (39) continued to pile on ' the runs, making good use of a strong' pull stroke. He eventually succumbed i ,to a plain straight ball when one short jof the second score. A though much j ! out of form, "Happy" gave a bright dis- I i Pay- ' ' I (iilmour (261 joined Freeman at the i ' downfall of Brown's wicket, and kept < : the field bu=y for some time. His off ! . play was very neat to watch, one or two ! I strokes through the slips being decidedly ! sweet. Gilmour could not resist the ; ! temptation to hit a half-volley out of the , [ground, and had "paid" put to his ac- j | count through the medium of a splendid j j catch by Satchell. who fell in making j I his effort, and then closed on the ball I lat the second attempt. It was a fine ! ! piece of work. j I Haase (12 not out) has a rather re- i markable performance to his credit, hav- | ing carried his bat on atleast. half-a- j ! dozen occasions. His average i-hould I read very well. It seems peculiar that ', Haase. who is aide to get excellent turn i ' from both sides, should have blossomed I out as a bat. at the expense of his bowl- ', ! ing. ' I The Bs tail once more wagged feebly. : and. although the total was about 100 i for three wickets, the whole side was ■ out for 120. j Buckland caused a sensation among , the "hill-side critics"—led by "Butch"' by scoring a brilliant boundary on the leg-side. There was some doubt in the genial Harold's mind as to whether the I umpire's decision was final, but Umpire ! Brooke-Smith, after m'ld persuasion. ' prevailed upon him to accept the dect- . J sion. The only other point of note wan j I Moller's fine performance. He kept a i I fine length, and captured five for 3ti. i In last week's notes 1 inadvertently j wrote Satchell in place of May-all, *o i : take thi? opportunity of correcting the ; error. '■ I The completion of this round has i ] brought the cricket season to a close, so j i followers of the great summer game will ; I now have ample opportunities of parti- I i cjpating in the more strenuous games I I associated with the winter season. !