CRICKET.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 120, 23 May 1928, Page 12

CRICKET.

WEST INDIES TEAM.

A SUCCESSFUL OPENING.

The West Indies cricketers have made a successful start in their English tour, having played evenly-drawn matches against Martineau's eleven, Essex and Surrey, and defeated Derbyshire by two wickets. The match against Oxford was abandoned owing to rain.

Their match against M.C.C. at Lord's is fixed to commence on Saturday. The 1900 and 1906 teams lost v. M.C.C., but the 1923 team met very bad weather, and rain prevented much play on the first day, and none at all on the third. M.C.C. scored 228 and West Indies 121 for eight wickets, the visitors having the worst of the game against a not very strong M.C.C. side. In this match the fielding of the West Indians made a great impression.

In view ot their promotion to Test match cricket, the men from the Caribbean will probably be opposed by a much stronger side this year, and their players, particularly the new men, will be severely tested. So far F. R. Martin is the only one of those making their first English tour who has been mentioned in the cables, he having scored 53 against Essex, in which match Constantine obtained his first century of either o fhis two tours in England (130). When New Zealand played a strong M.C.C. side last year they made a very fine showing with 460 (C. C. Dacre 107, T. C. Lowry 100, H. M. McGirr 58 not out, R. C. Blunt 52, and W. E. Merritt 40), and 224 for four wickets (T. C. Lowry 63 not out, R. C. Blunt 51, Dacre 37, James 32—and 33 in the first innings— and C. S. Dempster 29 not out) against M.C.C.'s 392 and 426 for four wickets, to which totals C. H. Titchmarsh (171 and 71), M. D. Lyon (24 and 110), G. O. Allen (38 and 104 not out), and Hubert Ashton (4 and 88) were the largest contributors.