CRICKET.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 307, 24 December 1912, Page 8

CRICKET.

EDEX'S GOOD RECOVERY. Thai it i= -always dangerous to prophesy as far as cricket is concerned was anipfv demonstrated by Eden'a victory over "North Shore. The previous Saturday tden. iv their first innings, only registered 161, and "hen the Shot_ rattled up y_J lor the loss of three wickets, it was confidently predicted in miiav quarter-; that they would come out on top, and give Eden the first gruelling it, ha«i h-.'-d this season, in addition to improving their own oh-ance for the championship. It was not long after the resumption of play. last. Saturday, however, before matters a-ssumed quite a dilTerent aspect. (Vi'eman and Sale, the not-OBt' for the Shore, went out to bat on 3 fast wicket, with -Hi and 16 respect--landing to their credit on the fktte. The farmer failed to increase his total to any appreciable extent, being carirht and bowled by Hay aiter he had made a four off Honcycombe. Then the slump set in badly. Farquharson. who followed the re-tiring bowler, having to retire himself shortly -afterwards through bein»" run out. P>us>h fr>!iow.od, ami almost immediately afterwards he was sent on the return journey with the pads owing to ge>ttin_r leg before to Hay. The partner-ship between Stewart, his successor, ami Sale, was a brief one, the latter being caught a little later by Hay after he had added six to his total. Archer went ."it after the captain, and piled up a Inker's dozer., when his bails were scattered by Hay. who wo? getting iv some very solid work with the ball. Rankin and Towr.send succumbed in qnick succession. th-e whole of tbe seven wickets only aevounting for 60 nans, or nine short r>f the number required to make it a victory for the Shore on the Crst innings.

Ji: their second venture at the wickets Eden did great execution. Mills was the first man to don the pads, aifd rang on 35. when he had the bad luck to be clean bowled by Docre. His score included three fours. The highest scorer fur Eden was Ciimmings who played a great innings, lie punished the bowling very bally, and cut one six nice and quieth'. besides numerous fours. His irrtal had just passed the half-century when a good one from Push got his stumps. Kden were now scoring very solidiy. The fourth wicket fell for 120 at .juarter past five, an hour and twenty minutes after the crack team went out to bat. Brooke-Smith had a very short life. He snicked one four, and that was all. being caught by the Devonport captain from the next ball by Towmsend. Hemns joined Cunrmings, and in five minutes the score had been bumped up to 130. thanks to a couple of fours aud a two by Eden's skipper. Two minutes later 150 was showing on the scoring board, the two batsmen having a benefit with the bowling. Hemn« shook thimrs up, slashing- at everything that happened nlouff. His wiekrt —the fifth — fell when Eden had registered IfiO. and dnrra" the brief ten minutes he was at thy "wiek-t hewas responsible for -•• Smeeton went out to help Cuinmings. and opened very tnn-piciously with a nice six. a.n_i with a couple of hits had made ten. Heighw-ay. who carried his bat out. added 25. and -ar six o'clock, when the curtain was run? down on the day's nlay, 228 were recorded for the loss of seven wickets. The sood recovery made by Eden was due in a great measure to Hay's bawling He got the bails four times tn the tune of 42 run,;. Cu-mmimrß and Honeycombe also rendered material service, the "orrner g«*ttm<r two wickets for 27. and the latter three for 60. There is a different story to tell ns far as Xorth Shore are concerned, however. Bush, with four for 65. was their mon successful bowler, while Rankin captured one for 26. OUT OF THE FIRE. University, with a good start from the previous day's play, having put up 79 runs for the loss of two wickets against Grafton's total of 170. did not any difficulty in adding t-be hundred odd required to win on Saturday last. The continuation of the game did' not have an auspicious commencement, J for Harvie girt Taylor's wicket with the last ball ot his firsi over. In the next over he also clean-howled AireJ*. who had made 37 runs. His average at this time was two wickets for 7 runs. Jacobsen onh- had time to glide his first hall fo_r 4 before he became a victim to Horspooi. It looked now as if Grafton should win, but a isixth wicket stand by Rowe and Vk-kermau turned the tide. The formers 01. not out, was a more than excellent performance for a new player, not a single real chance, being given. Rove took a long time to play himself In. but when he did 6o scored all round th- wicket. He was aided considerably by Grafton's fielding, which was not by any means good. I Tk-kerman's s)«rforman?e was also a I very creditable one. i

The Auckland Cricket Association competitions have been postponed for the next two -Saturdays, and the sre ml round will not be-.-tarred until January

POXSOKBTS EASY TASK. Having an easy wicket, and the by no means difficult task of needing to make 100 runs ior ■■•:._ wickets. Ponsonby found no ditticulty in running out a "winner against Parnell a: Eden Park on Saturday. The cr-lts Collins and Taylor bore the responsibility of setting 'a good example ia -;.he fifth wicket partnership, and they T.ise to the occasion. Olliff attacked with all the heady variety that B ° ,? t capable of. while Kerr not only struck a good length from tlie jump, but at times ripped down a .nil that swung in from the off. During the fir_?t couple «i overs Kerr got pa__<t the colts more • nan once with his swing ball, but ju«t faded to touch wood. The first nervousness over, nowever. both boys played .•aai.y and confidently, and the score 6tarted to move along. At 103 '■"»1 runs on) Anthony was given the ball Tn place of Kerr, and the change vms effective i a CoUin. to move out, and though Pell fumbled he reget .the bail, off belo. c the oatsman had swung his bat back to the crease. S

This was the end of Parnell"., access Tl "? Ta * vW a -*"ntelv Ht lied the bowling de_*pite frequent changeand without gmng a chance ran pa*t the IS2 mark untroubled. Taylor then opened out. and at last drove one from Stephens trppishly to mid-ofT. -a-here Bruce made a sure thing of the eatc.li. He had played an excellent innings, showing rare jndgment in moving out to the ball in fee early part of the game when the fcowling was difficult and a single mistake might easily have Janded his side ia trouble.

Kavanagh proceeded oalmly aiter a century. Hitherto he had covered up and smotlhered anything that looked douibtful. but any stuff on either side of the wicket .that was loose was dealt with adequately. After Pamell's total had been passed he .reproduced a number of his characteristic pulls, and it was not uncommon to see him make a leg ball of one that threatened his off peg.

'Meantime Gavin and Shepherd were not quite at their beet, evidently held down by uheir desire to stay while Kavanagh completed his century. Gavin gave Pel! two stumping chances ,and went at the second, while Shepherd went off a mis-hit. Kobinson ateo succumied to the prevailing complaint of playing for Kavanagh. and McMath went in to stay there while his partner endeavoured to raise his score from 89 to the coveted three figures. He did his part well, but Kavanagh, having got to 02, was unexpectedly beaten by a nippy leg-break from Oiliit. The retiring batsman did not give the attacking side a chance till he was nearing 60. when he out one from Bruce to Olliff at second slip which was just a little too high for the little fieldsman to get his ;isual sure hold on. and the batsman rejoiced in a -life. Otherwise a very solid innings was without blemieJi. He had hit fourteen fours.

In Parnell's second contribution of two for 100, Somervell went early to a smart catch behind thy Robinson, off McMath. The feature of the. display was the performance of Anthony. who6e strokes all round were much the best he has shown '.his season, and included a couple o" ciean-hit eixes on the leg-side. Wright also put unusual ginger into his strokes, though there was not the crispnpso in his boundary hits that characterised tihe shoes that came from Anthony.

Bruce bowled well for parnell. but O'.iitTe seven for 6.0 in 36 overs was the star performance of the side, on a wicket that favoured the bntfimen.

Tbe Ar.i-va Cricket Clob starts Us anm:al T..ur at Christinas to \V.-,l.:kn and Mauku. On Christmas Day Maukn will be visited, and Waiuka on Boxing Day. The following players will mak" the trin:—J. Murphy imanagerl. V. V,*. Panch. A." McConnoil. I. s*ra!r.ton, R. Collins. W. M.icLac'nlan, T. MeConnell. .1. W. Baker. .1. H. Mason W. Hartley. R. Sloman.

I'emnera v. Maritime meet on the Domain at 2.15 p.m. on Christmas Pay. Kemnera: Beeson 12). Robinson. Lcntfer. Rill, Blewden, Spooncr. Burklll. Tliomp-on. IV'wis. Johnsnn; emergencies: Cl.iudet, Hedges. NEW SOUTH WALES TEACHERS. (By Telegraph.—rress Association.) PALMERSTON NORTH, Monday. The New South Wales teachers' team today beat the Manawatu teachers at Palmerston North by two wickets, one minute before the call of time. Palmerston chose to bat. and Butterworth opened for the local men with McLean. The former played tine cricket, and ran np 81 before being caught on the les boundary by Walsh off Freeman. Bennett 36, Brennand 15, and Murchie 10 were tbe other double figure scorers. The total was 186. The bowling analysis read: Sattler two for 24. Barnes none for 46, O'Neiil four for 57, Freeman four for 51

For New South Wales O'Neill, who with Barnes opened, got caught at 14. Walsh joined Barnes, and their partnership was tb° feature of the match. At 02, Barnes. , with 62 to his credit, was caught. Smith j followed and hit freely, having five boundj aries in 2fi. The remaining wickets fell rapidly. With 7 runs wanted and six minutes to go Rogers bit a boundary, and then succumbed lbw to the next hall. S"hrader joined T>nnn. and sent the winning hit tn the boundary one minute from time. Bowling analysis: Brennand 1 for 41. Robpon two for 3.'', Jennings none for 22, Mnrchie one for 29, Bennett two for 21, Tapps three for 21. SOUTH MELBOURNE V. MARLBOROUGH. (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) BLENHEIM, Monday. The match, a Marlborough Eighteen v. Sou.h Melbourne, was resumed trvday. tbe weather being fine and the wicket good. The visitors made 391, some easy chances being missed in the field. McConnack and Kyle were very smart between the wickets. The former was ca-nght at square leg ciz Horton. Kyle was the next to go, (*r.igg smartly taking him In the slips. Marlbor.iugh's second venture was a poor one, only five out of the eighteen reaching (ioulile figures, while nine failed to seor*. There -w:_s nothing worth chronicling in the Innings, except the fine bowling displays of Kelly and Kenny. At one period Kenny's analysis read: Seven overs, 19 runs, seven wickets- Ilorton. Whitley, and Blinks made some sort of a stand. The visitors won by an Innings and 111 runs. Following are to-day's scores:—

SOUTH MELBOURNE. Kyle c Cragg, b Pearpoint 40 MiCormack, c Martin, b Ilorton ... 29 Purvis, b Tearpolnt 13 Kelly, b Bennlng 14 Pentland. not out 0 Extras 35 Total 391 Bowling analysis: Pearpoint took three wickets for ixl runs, Ross none for 34, Oomding two for SS, Hyiton none for 21, I'ragg none for 15, Whittle one for 31, Reid none for 9, Martin none for 21, Horton two for 45. MA lIEBO ROUGH. I'eai-puhit. c Sykes. b Ke:iy o Beur.ing. s t I-enthmd, b Kelly 0 Whittle, b Kenny >j Wedde. c Deas, b Kennv 1. 11 Mills, c Sykes, b Kelly" 7 Moulding, c Pentland, h Kenny 3 lackson. c Trott, h Kenny o Robinson, c Giller, b Kenny o Martin, run out 0 Hurton. low, h Purvis 15 Cragg, b Kenny 0 Ueed. b Kennv 0 Hosts, h Kellv o Hyiton, st Pentland, b Kelly 0 Whitley. Ilrw, b Deas 12 Motra. b Tnrvis 0 Ueiij, c Kenny, b Purvis 7 Blinks, not out 17 El r ras 9 Total 102 Eo-wlms analysis: Kelly took five wickets for 2M inns. Kennv seven for 29, Deas one for 21*., I'urvis three for 11.