CRICKET.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 75, 29 March 1913, Page 16

CRICKET.

THE IIAWKE CUP

Mo.-t New Zealand sporting trophies have found their way into the Auckland province at some time or other. Among the first was the Ranl'urly Shield, then came various others. including th" Plitnke'.. Hockey and Brown Shield-. Now another one has been captured i" the shape of the llnwkc Cup through the agency of the South Auckland cricket reps. It will be remembered that tliitrophy was presented In Ihe New Zealand Cricket Council for compeliliun among the 11,-soeiations outside Ho* four big centres in the Dominion. Tlie donor really intended it a- a ehalleiiee cup. but the powers that be uttered the arrangements lo tournament condition.-. This bus not been such 11 success us anticipated, and there is jiu-t a pussihilil V that efforts will be made to revert t'u challenge mutches.

The Until context in connection with the liuirnunirnt win played at Se.l.li.n l'nrk. Hamilton. The local lcam was fresh from overwhelming victories mer Rnngitikei who were very much surprised. and Wangumii hud very little time l" prepare for lhe contest. ' Wnngiinui were (inly bentcii on the Tuesday, and the victors were summoned In appear in I In' limelight on the f0110w',,,", Saturday I" meet the reprrwontalives of Mat -thorough, one nf the strongeel eleven*, in the South Island outside the met I opolitim area. There was some dnilbl about the scene of lhe 11 Hitch, ami il was decided to .-.pin Hie coin. Shepherd I Hamilton) won, and then nobody hud any doubt about it. It was the tir-l encounter be Iween South Auckland and Marlborough for the coveted trophy, and de-pit c the counter attractions, ipiite n large number nf spectators follow.-1 the fortunes of the two elevens. Neither learn w .1, abb* to place it* very best eleven in lhe field, hut it cannot be c.ii.l that they were not worthy to represent tlu-ii .litricts. The visitors suffered iii-h-i hi thi~ respect. but that is invurialilv the ease with travelling team*.. The Marlborough team arrived at Hamilton after a continuous journey in boat and -teaiuer of 2.1 hours. Saturday was a glorious dny for cricket, and the wicket, which imade of Port Albert soil, i-.J1.-.l out well Hamilton was luirdh prepared for a cricket invii-i..ti. a- the iiiipriiwnients at Seddon Park «ere ..nl\ half way through, and on one -i.l.- near lhe boundary there was 11 cl.iv belt, but it , did not interfere with the game at ill On the other side, where the -.-round had been filled in. il was liurdlv .01, solidated,.and the ball Ira veiled -1 -v, !v It was a'goine that underwent -.ew-r-l sudden ehaiij.es, anil, 01 cm,me. ».i« nil the more interesting, tin both -'ul-.11 tie* iliowiiug w \cellent. and the livhling al-o. In I'earpoiiil. Marlborouel, | )H \r a really excellent trundlcr, and I'mnernl was about the only batsman who l-.uk any liberty. I'carpoitit i- not 11 f.i-( bowler, but mixes hi- puci* j 11.1 ..-i->n -I v. nnd requires a good .leal of attention from the opposing batsman. The only bright spot in the home tenuis batting was the display by I'umeruy. who. b\ the way, would probably have put up a much better performance against Can terbury than our or two of ili.m. se lectcd. In scoring IKI. Ponieroy batted for 85 minutes, nnd only gay. c chance, besides surviving a confident appeal behind the wickets early 111 the innings. He accomplished -onu* line hitting, and on two occasions hit two sixe*. iv succession. He was eventualh di--mis-sed by Wedde making a clever enlch at square-leg. This fieldsman also ac

counted for a couple mure. When Pomcroy departed, the score wns I.V, for two wicket,-,. While he was making 113 his partner, fileeson, just managed 20. including ten singles in fuiecivssion. The rest of the side only addel (IT more runs. I'earpoint, six for 12. doing most of the damage.

With 22*2 to get. it was anticipated that Marlborough would provide some more bright cricket: but the critics were disappointed. Two wickets were down for 13, and three for 40, < 'hi-uiolm, 20,

. tunking his runs quietly. Then followed some determined stone-walling. Whittle and Reed absolutely refusing to hit at glanything; nnd when play cense,l on the •t|Ur_t day the century appeared without T , further loss. Next morning another stub !- den change came over the scene. V I'oinerov added further to his laurels l.v '- capturing six for 1!4. Whittle. -IT. iifTored t the full face of the bat to everything f that came along. He gave a very easy t chance in the slips. Reed. 2_, also plnye.l ;, a waiting game. Seven wickets fell for -. 20 runs, and the total only reached 124. ) saving the follow-on by two runs. : Altogether, the batting of the visitor* a was not up to expectation-.. Tlicv ' showed very little enterprise, and vie though they were on the defensive, there • was too much of Ihe ball bitting th.* hut 1 business. There was some admiration 0 for the fourth wicket partnership in holding out for lhe remainder of the day. 1 but more runs should have been made. | The chief feature of Smith Auckland's second innings was lhe stand by fchep- ' herd (30) und Ros* (32). doing in when 'four were down for '_~ they gradually I raised the total to more respectable * dimensions. Again Pent-point demon'lstraleil bis nhiljly wilh the bull, and J ! wound up with r.ix for _0, making a 'i total of twelve wickets for fi_ mils. * .Marlborough's second innings was not > (much improvement on the first, ami .when the last wicket fell they were a 1 long wu.v from (he cup »] .1. Davidson, playing for Williamss town against Kitzroy in the Victorian Scottish cricket competition, secured tbe whole ten wickets for no runs. The . Fitzroy team were dismissed without i scoring. j (Included in the dona lions to the 'Notts team in England was one for -] J-100 by the Duke nf Portland. In ', propo-sing tho adoption of the report. i tho Duke said he wished that young men ' would play instead of looking on. lie thought that there were too many stonei wallers in county cricket. He'was in favour of brighter method' ,1 ■| On Tuesday last the father of Auckland cricket, " Bob " Yates, retired from the position of caretaker of the Domain, being granted a well-earned three months' -holiday on full pay by the Auck- ; land City Council. The veteran has had charge of tho ground for the past, nine- ' teen years, and during that period has ' worked hard in the interests nf cricket ; I and many a young player has every rea- ■ : son to feci grateful to him for kindly l , ndvricc. Mr. Yates is retiring in order •to devote his time to furthering | lie interests of his patent bat, in . he has i the best wishes of a large circle of . iriemi. f'> r bis future success.

A stonewaller with such a sensational average as something between 190 and 200 to his credit is something of a rarity, yet C. Thompson, a 'Varsity student iv Sew South Wales, can boast of the above average. He came out of his shell, though, tlie other week, and went for the bowling and .scored 100. He showed some nicely-exe-auted strokes, which always had plenty of power behind them.

Apart from his club scores, Victor Trumper has performed this season as follows: —For New South Wales v. Western Australia. 51 and 53; v. South Australia. (I and 11; v. Victoria, 25 and 10; v. South Australia (return), 201 not out. and 2.".; v. Victoria (return), 1118: for N.S.W. v. an Australian Eleven (his benefit), 12(1 not out and (11: v. Queensland (return), f>3. Twelve innings, twice nut out. for 7->fl runs, average To.llO.

In the latest issue of "Wisden," lhe editor thus refers lo lhe triangular mulches: "The result j s that lhe experiment i- not likely to be repented for many years to come —perhaps not in I his generation." With regard to the Australian team, ho any*: "There was 110 way of making up for Hie absence of Truiiipcr, Ariii-trong. Runs ford, Cotter, and Clem. Hill, liven Australia cannot manufacture champion players at live minutes' notice. When the wet weather came. Rnrdstev and Macartney, with Kellewav to help them. had. ill match after match, to carry the rest of the side on their shoulders."

The contest for the Myers Challenge Cup, between the Auckland and Welling ton railway employees, furnished a very exciting finish, and when the last man wont iv _l runs were required. J. Elliott and Rankin, however, succeeded 111 getting the required number, and the lioine team won by one wicket. The two captain- had agreed thai ill the event of the mutch not being completed on Easter Monday, Ihe cup was to be won on the result of the lir-i innings. This made the mutch all the more interesting, as Newmarket only led by four runs on the lii-t innings. The second innings result wa- probably one of the closest things in the hislorv of erick.-t iv Auckland. I'll for tuiuitel'y Mr. Myers was in disjhised on Easter Monday evening, and coiisequentlv was unable to be present at the banquet. Mr. C. K. Richardson, locomotive engineer, presented the cup ..n behalf of Mr. Myers, to Mr. Tom, Elliot, captain of the Newmarket clever,.

The outstanding _ucci-s_ in Victorian cricket this season. --.a v. .1 Sydney writer, w.i, undoubtedly j". Ryder" who jumped into the front rank us the sen* -.11 .ulni need, so that at the present tune he would he, most probably, llrst choice ns a medium right bander for Australia. For v llr.it Hc_n.il his performance, are remarkably good. In Miellield Shield matches! -although he played in only three, he shared with VYhilty the honour of taking the great-

est number ~f wickets (24), at the astonishingly (food average of 15.50 per nickel. In getting his wickets, too, he sent down 00 overs less than Whitty, which in itself is a tribute to his hos-l-Isly. In other matches he sustained :!..■ same standard of excellence, one of ■'■" best performances being five for Ot! in I'ie Rest match against New South W air*. This micccss, however, did not

..p will. Ins bott-linj.. for he batted splendidly and consinten!ly all through. 11l Sheffield Shield conlesi", he averaged 2.". per inning*; n -,nii»t West Aim : ralia he scored 77. .">T. and 110; against Queeiißland '.I nn.l _„; and for the 'Rest" he played most admirably for 38 and 71. These are performances which indicate exceptional all-round pr,,,,,_, and il is not 100 much, perlui|is. t„ re gar.l Ryder ns the "Und" of lhe first class season of 1012 1.1