CRICKET.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 67, 18 March 1916, Page 16

CRICKET.

Surrey's cricket favourite, J. T. Hobbs, bas, after several rejections, been "attested, the army medical officere having at last passed him.

That fine all-round cricketer Frank Woollcy, of Kent and "England" fame, has failed to pass the doetora on going up to enhst, so his cricket services have been secured by the Keighley (Yorkshire) club, which has joined the Bradford League for the coming summer.

The sensation of local cricket last week, Bays a Wellington writer, was the no-balling by the umpire in the CentralEast match of C. W. RoMneon, ttas New Zealand representative fast bowler. Hβ only bowled two and a-half overs, according to the book, but the first one consisted of ten balls, four of his deliveries being adjudged no-balls. He got through his second over safely, but the umpire again started calling him in the third over. The second and third deliveries went on the score as "no-balls," and then Robanson went through all the actions of delivering the ball without doing so. The umpire fell into the trap, and promptly called him, as when in the act of delivering Robinson was well over the crease. Robinson got the best of the joke at the umpire's expense in a trick we have read about before in connection with the playing of the game, but never experienced it in Wellington. The umpire treated it as a joke, although the laugh went against him. The laws of the game provide that "the bowler shall deliver the ball with one foot on the ground behind the bowling crease." If he doesn't, the umpire should call "no-ball," and, as long a3 he does his duty in this respect no amount of "barracking" by the spectators should trouble him. If the game of cricket is worth playing at all, no harm can be done by sticking hard and fast to the laws of the game, however unpalatable some of the umpire's decisions may be to the playerg. PUBLIC SCHOOLS CRICKET. Owing to the prevailing epidemic it hns been deemed advisable to suspend the primary schools cricket competitions during the period of enforced closing of the schools. The result of such suspension of fixtures to date means the loss of three Saturdays' play, and it is evident that great difficulty will be met with if an endeavour is made to complete the first round of the competitions before Easter. Though Easter is very late this year yet there are insufficient Saturdays available before that time in which to complete the round in all grades. Probably the best course will be to complete the first round at thij beginning of next summer and then make a draw in order to reach finality before the Xmas vacation. \ Copies of the rules of the A.P.S.C.A. have been forwarded to delegates, and the latter are requested to peruse the rules carefully, making suggestions re amendments or deletions, etc. More than one of the rules has aroused much discussion and probably a special meeting will be called at a later date to deal with this question of the rules of the association. On Tuesday of this week an interesting match eventuated at the Domain between wounded soldiers from the Domain Hospital nnd a team of Grafton boye. The soldiers took first etrike and ran up the respectable total of 71. The boye responded with 61, so that the soldiers were victors on the first innings. Despite very obvious drawbacks in the form of stiff limbs some smart fielding in the air was performed by the wounded men. several fine catches being taken in the slips. Both soldiers and boys put in a very enjoyable morning.