CRICKET.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 64, 16 March 1915, Page 7

CRICKET.

lne chief attraction in the cricket! jrorld on Saturday was the game be-1, tween Eden A and Ponsonby, on the re-' .ault of which hangs the season's championship, and quite a number of enthusiasts were present at Eden Park to see the game. Among them, it is pleasing .to note, was Mr. (.'. Olliff. who is now making a recovery from the serious illness which has prostrated him for. some months pas;. "Kay" OUiff's feats with : the ball on behalf of Auckland make cricket history that will be remembered for many years, and followers of the ! game were glad on Saturday to renew the acquaintance with the midget bowler, who had been forced by sickness to give up the game entirely, and to see him pulling round again. There will be some mid-week cricket this wepk in the junior rep. matches to- j niorrow. at Eden Park, between the Dis- . trict Association's second-grade reps, and the Churches' Association senior . reps., and the District Association's . .fourth-grade reps, and the Churches' Association second-grade reps. In the for- : mer match the umpires appointed are . Messrs. I. .iohnston and J. Courtayne. and in the latter Messrs. Bond and ] Brinsucn. FOR THE HONOURS. Ponsonby were deemed fortunate on Saturday when they won the toss and thus got fir>t hit on an excellent wicket j and keen outfield. And it certainly . looked as if everything pointed to a pun- , ishing day in the field for Eden A. , Wilson and N. Snedden opened the .innings in a very brisk business-like manner, shaping with confidence from the jump, and going for the short singles I f in a manner that kept the fieldsmen on j * the move. The first ten runs came !-, quickly, and then Snedden. in trying to ! j turn a ball from Roneyc.oin.be, pitched on I. his leg. mishit it. and sent it lobbing j J straight up at the wicket, where Rountree took a soft catch. It was the penalty the batsman paid for going after the runs before be had played his eye t in. The first few overs had been played too feverishly by the batsman, and Sned- j den's was a good wicket really thrown I away. j'

At once the Ponsonbv tactics were changed, and Wilson and C. Snedden settled down to defensive tactics, with a view to wearing the edge off tbe bowling. They st ill watched for tbe short runs, and at times cut tbing3 so fine that Snedden the younger was within an ace of a run-out. but they stayed there, and at 20 Hemus tried a change oi bowling, replacing Honevcombe and Taylor with Gilmore and C'umniings.

The extrercr caution of the batsmen may be gleaned from the tact that from Gilmore's first four overs four runs were fcit, while Cumniings. sent down five suc-cessive-maidens, and from bis sixth two runs were got. The batsmen were probably playing tbe right game, but many of the balls were treated with exaggerated respect. In ordpr that the batsmen might tie kept thinking. Hemus kept his trundlers changing. At 35 Ike Mills replaced Gilmour. at 40 Honeycombe cam e on again (at tbe other end) vice Cummings. and at 42 Hemus himself took the ball from Mills, and at 53 Hemus bowled "Wilson with a wroug'un. which tbe batsman assi-ted to bis wicket with a touch.

Worker started away freely, but bad not got well settled when be drove one from Hemus hard but uppisbly, and Blair took a hot catch at mid-on —tbre e for 63.

Mason and C. Snedden were now together, and they played the most confident cricket tif the innings. Snedden. who had played a fine defensive game, was scoring more freely by this time, while "Mason found no difficulty with •Hemus. U S4 Hemus gave way to Taylor and Honevcombe to Cummings. and at 97 Snedden drove Taylor bard and high, bnt just failed to set the ball over the boundary, and Blair took a beautifully judged catch right out on the chalk-mark. Snedden's innings bad been an excellent fighting one. though he had 6hown excessive caution in tbe early stages.

Taylor and Ma=on saw the score into three figures, but the appearance of Gilmore at the bnnlin ; crease in place of Curamings ar 105 d : — olved tbe partnership, for at 103 tv f.ist bowler clean bowled T.-.ylor with the best bali of the day. a trimmer that just clipped the offbail—five for 100.

It now looked all over with Ponsonby. who h_id been at the wickets for two hours for 109 runs, and had lost half the side, hut things looked still blacker when Mason ran himself out ridiculously at 111. Mason's running between the wickets had been most erratic all the afternoon. At times he lost runs by failing to back up for safe singles: again. he would put in smart work, then he would call for something impossible. It was in trying the impossible that he lost his wicket, and no blame could attach to Osborne fin's partner) for declining to sacrifice himself to tbe foolish call. Three runs later Kavanagh wa s caught .it point off Gilmore.

For the eighth wicket Osborne and Brinsden put up a very useful partnership, playing good cricket, resisting the wiles of' Mills. Tavlor and Hemus. and carrying the score to the third halfcentury. Then Cummins* in i"' s ' third trip to the bowling crease got his average moving at !a«t br clean bowling Osborne at 151. and further improving his figures by getting Robinson at 153 per medium of a fine mid-on catch by I Sale o(T a ho. drive. Two rune later I Mills got Brinsden leg before, the left- ] bander havinz plnyed a nice innings for 25. The bowltng register showed a wicket to every m.-n tried, and reads as tollows;— Cnmmings. 10 over=. in maiden*. 19 runs. 2 wickets: Gilmore. 11 overs. 4 maiden?. 14 run*. 2 wicket*: Hemus. 7 overs. 41 run-. 2 wickets: TTnneycombe. i 10 over?, n n'.n:.ien-. 10 ntns. 1 wicket: ! Taylor. 14 ,-iver-. 2 maidens. 42 run.;. 1 ticket: WtV,*. S overs. 2 maidens. 17 runs. on P wicket. In the half-hour left for play Eden lost I one wicket for 22 runo. Hemus and 1 opened, and at 12 H'-mus was i missed at short leg. off Snedden. from a skier, uut before b° had scored further i McJfath clean bowled him. Taylor end | saw time out. A feature ot the day's play was the ■"cry keen fielding of the Eden players, and practically nothing was missed '.n •the field. I Remembering that last time the teami tact, 'Ponsonby dismissed Eden for HI i runs in the first innings, it cannot yet be ttken for granted that Eden has tbe E«ne in hand, and the continuance of froceedinga nest week should be fartfcularly Interesting. \

A riCNIC MATCH. The game between Eden B and Par-' nell, played on tbe adjoining wicket to the cup final, was not taken seriously,. the fieldsmen for the most part devoting their attention to the progress of the more important fixture, and time after time one could hear tbe bowlers shouting to them to wake up. Parnell batted first, opening with Anthony and Breese, the total going to 31 before the latter left, bowled by Burton. Doble did not stay long, for, after he had made 6, he was lbw to Sauverin. Dow and Anthony made the partnership of the game, putting on 81 run 3 for the third wicket, Dow eventually being caught by Burton off Punch, while Anthony was foolishly run out after compiling C 2 by sound cricket. He put a lot of power into his strokes, one hit catching die umpire (Mr. J. Courtayne) on the ankle, and knocking him out for a while. Fairburn was tbe only other batsman to get runs, notching 22 before Burton beat bun. tbe innings closing one man short for IoG, the last three wickets failing to add any runs to the total. Burton bowled well throughout, winding up with six wickets for"39. tbe last five being got very cheaply. i F : d t n ,?'J n a ,itUe <""<* half-an-honr, lost bait the side for 50 runs. Bevins securing four wickets and Ryan one. Burton was the only batsman to shape at all confidently, and when stumps were drawn was unbeaten with 18 to his credit. ww n l" , a , m ' ediui "-PA< , c _ left-banded bottler, had tbe .latsmen thinking all the time sending down nine overs, one of which was a maiden, and getting four wickets for 1G runs. GRAFTON COMES BACK. Grafton batsmen showed a reti m to form on Saturday in knocking up 306 for SIX wicket, against North Shore. MaeCormirk played one of his characteristic mnings in getting H 7 (not out) showing an unpenetrable defence, while negating few chances of scoring in front of the ticket. Should Grafton declare " '•'H ««* Saturday, this innings "ill give MacCormick a total of 809 runs v*- x/ CaSO " lin<l lln av «-™gc of 101 W. Horspool made his 75 chiefly by bitting hard and often. He took "risks decJT, T, QS - Which tlle fieldsmen declined to take. Stemson (35) also payed a bard-hitting inni„ gs . ' A / eat £° of the innings was the contribution of 40 runs by way oi extras. Though Tattersall was playing he was not keeping the wickets for Shore. l "

SECOND GRADE.

THE CUP FINAL. «hi'j\!! r tb ,- L? Kmd Z& de championship to a finality, the leading teams, Parnell and Grafton, were brought to- ?! f/ IT 1 S* turda r afternoon, with the result that Parnell ran up the substan- ;™' ** rte ? <!« ietl >-. with Badelv and Flatt, to the bowling of Rutherford and Hawkins the latter, a veteran who figured prominently in cricket in \uekland some years ago. Flatt <-->9) -was inclined to force matters, and after being dropped at third man. was claimed bowled by a straight one from Hawkins, iarnells score mounted sp steadily, but with the dismissal of W. BadeW (25) by Dr. Grant, after scoring his quota in a. leisurely manner, Booth and Foster (17), and \ . Badeley (17). the results of a smart catch by Horspool, Parnell bad live wickets down for 120. The good fortune, however, that was with Grafton for a time suddenly vanished, and Far nelll had tbe lr turn in that direction. A big partnership ensued with tbe association of .Martin and Hunt, and the register assumed a more wholesome aspect. Martin (S7) hit with considerable freedom and within reaching distance of the coveted eenturv was well taken at square leg by P. Lepine. nunt (<>, not out) was not so aegressive as bis partner, nevertheless played a valuable innings, despite a .fair share of luck: Warner (23, i also added materially to the score, an off stroke behi"- conspicuous. " EDEN" V. PON'SOXBY. 'Ihe match between Eden A and Ponsonby B was played on the senior wicket nt Victoria Park. Eden opened badly. Smith, Brown, and Mills departing in quick succession. Mills was run "out, and, according to his remarks, did not appear satisfied with the deft'sion. The only batsman to shape confidently was the ex-Ponsonbvite Cary, who collected about one-third of Edens modest score of 110.

For Ponsonby. Glcnistcr (four for 14) gave the Eden batsmen considerable trouble with his slow leg breaks. Atkinson also sent down some good "stuff" at times.

Ponsonby opened with Pearce and Watson. Runs came at a 6iiail's pace, till eventually a brilliant catch in the outfield dismissed Watson (15), who is proceeding to Trent-ham shortly. Play became brighter with the advent of Atkinson (3S) at the batting crease. He livened up matters by forceful batting, hitting one 6 and six 4's. Pearce carried bis bat for 35. after being at the wickets for two hours, and materially assisting in taking the total to 104 for "the loss of four wickets.

The match between the Second Grade Representatives and the Church Association reps., arranged first of all for Regatta Day. but postponed on account of the inclement weather, will be played at Eden Park to-morrow (St. Patrick's Day).

NORTHERN UNION FOOTBALL The annual general meeting of the Sunnyside Northern Union Football Club was held last owning at Devonport. There was a lar<re and enthusiastic attendance of members. In liie absence of the president, Mr. W. J. Napier, Mr. R. Tatton, of the Auckland League, occupied the chair. Twenty new members were elected. The annual report showed very satisfactory results, while the bal-ance-sheet showed a credit of £11 10/, which was considered highly satisfactory for tbe first season. The election of officers resulted as follows:—Patron, The Right Hon Sir .1. G. Waid, Bart.'; tbe late president did not seek re-election, and Mr. W. P. Hayward was unanimously elected to the position; vicepresidents, in addition to liLst year's, were Messrs. H. C. Tewsley, C. Johnson, A. Harris, M.P., C. Dunsford, M. Haddon, Dr. C. Wheeler, and A. M. Piekford; hon. secretary and trensurer, Mr. W. Sbaughnessy; assistant lion, secretary, Mr. G. W. Spraggon; club captain, Mr. J. Parker: autditor, Mr. W. Knox; committee, Messrs. C Massey, A. G. Fisher, E. Parker. R. Jaggs, G. Lepine, A, Martin, E. Spraggon, F. CcJebourne, S. Wynyard; delegate to the Advisory Board. Mr. W. Shaughaessj.

PONSONBY A V. GRAMMAR. Three things call for special mention in connection with this match. In the first place it is deplorable to find that a team with such a strong membership and such a good past record as Ponsonby, should have such hard work to raise a team. Secondly, the atrocious state of the wicket in the Domain allotted for the match, calls loudly for a strong protest. Edanond, Ponsonby's fast bowler, was absolutely dangerous at times, and it is hard to understand why good wickets should be left lying "idle or allotted to lower grade matches, while these teams had to play on such a deplorable piece of turf. The third point provides a more pleasant topic, viz., the batting of tbe Grammar boys. It was a treat to watch these lads bat, and it is more than a treat to play with them; they are such a splendid lot of sports. The fact that they made 234 on such a wicket against consistent bowling, and then dismissed four good batsmen for 41 runs, speaks volumes for their enterprise, and the excellence of their cricket.

Badeley topscored with an excellent 00. He played beautiful cricket, bis defence being strong, and bis scoring strokes plentiful. lAiltlhough quite a diminutive, youth, he drove with astonishing power, and some of his leg shots were beautifully executed, bis timing beint- first class."

.Nett-leton (32) ie another promising bat: he drives bard anything well pitched up. and is a most enterprising bat without being Teckless. His weakness is an uppish shot in the vicinity of cover point, and to this he eventually succumbed. He should get bis left foot further across, and make his stroke a trifle later. I

Irving (3fi) also played good cricket; he is somewhat quieter than the others, but has a good style and plenty of good strokes.

Wilson (2.1) is a batsman full of promise, and if be can overcome his one fault should reach a high place in local cricket. That fault is a tendency to overdo the leg glance stroke, which, by the way. be executes beautifully. He is sure to strike trouble if he keeps on glancing well-pitched balls <m the leg stump. He should take guard inclined to leg. and try to get rid of this fault, while he bs young.

Ryburn (20) is the captain of the team. Although not such a stylish bat as the others mentioned, be is" a thoroughly sound bat, his late cuts being particularly sweet.

Altogether the lads arc a promising bunch, and one hopes that when they leave school they will not bo lost to local cricket.

In Garrard, they possess a promising bowler. He turns the ball l>otb ways, and conceals his action so well that he continually has the batsman guessing. A\ hen his command over length improves, and he learns to use his bead a little more, he will be a useful bowler to any team. He captured three wickets for 21 runs.

. The association's action in continuing : the competition over Easter has caused comment in junior circles. Xobodv except Grafton and Parnell has a chance to win. and they should have been left to battle it out among themselves. Most clubs will probably find it dilEcut to raise full teams for the next match, tbe Territorial camps being in full swing, and EasteT holidays intervening between the first and second day's play. UNIVERSITY V. NORTH SHORE. Winning the toss. North Shore took strike on a good wicket and under perfect weather conditions. The 'Varsity trundlers soon found that they were not to receive any assistance from the wicjket, and that their averages were likely to suffer.

Saunders and Horsley opened for ihe [ marine players, and made a splendid start. 'Runs came freely, Horsley being especially aggressive, die put plenty cl | dash into bis play, and caused several changes in tbe bowling. 'With his total at 50. made up of eight fours, he gave Thomas a chance which was accepted Saunders (41) was not so forceful, but gave an attractive display. His log-piny fwas particularly clean, and well timed"

The feature of the innings was the sparkling display of Richards, the exGraf ton player. Richard* treated all the bowling in the same disrespectful style, scoring boundary after boundary in quick time. At times thp batsman played rather uppish strokes, but these all fell well clear of tbe field, and no actual chance was given until he had passed the century, a chance in the long field then being dropped. Hard drives to long-on and fine bitting on tbe leg side Were tbe best scoring strokes of tbe Shor 0 player, who altogether hit up seventeen fours and two sixes.

Shove was shaping well when be was splendidly thrown out by Gash, who threw down tbe wickets on three separate occasions. Kennedy (40) emulated Richards in the rapid-score act. and hit up eight boundaries by forceful play. He eventually fell a victim to a swerving ball from Thomas. The innings closed for 310. so that the students seem in a fair way to facing another inning 3 defeat, seeing that they have already lost four wickets for 35.

Bowling for' Varsity. Thomas came out with tbe best figures, but he bowled too much short stuff to prove dangerous. Senior, too. should develop higher action. The 'Varsity fielding; was fairly good, but tbe field was not well placed. The result was that many of the batsmen's pet strokes were executed without risk. Tt is all very well to open with the field in a certain position, but after the first over tbe captain should be in a position to block tbe best shots, and put a trap for the weak stroke. JUNIOR CHURCHES V. FOURTHGRADE REPS. The following will represent the Churches' Association against the fourthgrade reps, on Wednesday. March 17th, at Eden Park, play to commence at 10 a.m. sharp:—A. Kent (captain), E. Kent. R. Cunningham, G. Aitken, L. Nairn (Kingsland Jubilee), C. Anderson, A. Barnes, G. Morman (Arawa), H. Larsen (Excelsior), H. Tonkin (Beresford Street). W. R. Craig Stephens). Reserves: S. Grior, Jensen, E. Cowley.

The members of the Arawa Touring Club make their annual trip to Waipu, Ruakaka and Maungaturoto during the Easter holidays. The team leaves on Thursday night, tho Ist April, returning on Tuesday evening, the 6th,

Tho annual cricket match between the Auckland Produce Brokers and tho Auckland Produce Merchunts will take place at Victoria Park on Wednesday, March 17th, play to commence at 1.30 p.m. sharp. The following are the teams:— Merchants.—J. H. Gunson, F. M. Winatone, J. jy J, filoysr, j.

Patcrson, A. Ellingham, J. Donald, W. E. Lewisham, A. Bosser, W. Brown, M. Bell, K. Rutherford, A. Donald, S. A. Longuet, P. J. Melville.

Brokers.—W. F. AUen, A. Pratt, F. Brown, R. Neill, H. D. Robertson, G. E. King, F. J. Sanderson, L. A. Longuet, A. A. Martin, A. M. Howden, P. Cropper, W. A. Boucher, G. W. Bews. PUBLIC SCHOOLS' MATCHES. ARRANGEMENTS FOR SATURDAY. The first rouna ot the Awklnnd Public 'Schools' Cricket Association's B grade (section II.) mutches was completed on Saturday, ami also the C grade matches, with the exception of the postponed New-market-Belmout match. The arrangements for Saturday are as follows:— A GRADE. Xewtou East v. Mount Albert.—At Domain. Remuera v. Parnell.—At Domain. ■Devouport v. Mount Eden. —At Victoria Park. l'ousonby, a bye. B GRADE. Section I. Nnpicr Street v. Bayfield.—At Victoria Tarli. Normal 'v. Avondale.—At Eden Park. Vermont Street v. Grafton.—At Domain. Newton West v. Richmond Road.—At Victoria Park. C GRADE. Newmarket v. Belmont.—At Victoria Park.