CRICKET.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 251, 23 October 1928, Page 14

CRICKET.

SEASON'S FIRST GAMES.

FORM OF THE PLAYERS.

G. L. WEIR GETS A CENTURY.

Away from the barracking of the Eden Park and Devonport grounds, Eden, at Middlemore, went quietly about their task of getting runs against Grafton, and occupied the crease the whole afternoon in gathering in a total of a few under three hundred for the loss of eight wickets. It was not fireworks but it was a good effort for the first dsty of the season, and there were times when the runs came along freely.

The wicket had not completely dried out and Dick Rowntree, who was elected to skipper the team for the season, dccided to give Eden first turn at getting the runs. It. was known that Eden had had but little practise at the nets, but if the Grafton side had hopes that the team that shared the honours with Ponsonby last season were going to be caught unprepared, as it were, they were rudely shattered. Eden's opening pair, Mills, .who was elected captain vice Hec. Gillespie, and Postles, each took their time and the total was very near the forties before the first wicket fell. Cooper went cheaply and the score board - read two down for 38, but this was the worst complexion the figures ever had. The third wicket carried the total into the'late eighties and the j fourth past the century. At the, fail lof the fifth' wicket the total was-at 132. Thence the Weir brothers took it to 214, and although Brook Smith and Butlelr both came and went without fuea G. L. Weir and Bennett carried on until the pulling of stumps, Weir reaching his century with a few minutes to spare. A few less than 300 is a good opening effort, and it/will not be surprising if GfaftOn find the hurdle a little too high. - Last .summer G. L.. Weir batted on only six occasions in club matches and was not out four times, finishing, up with an average in the vicinity of three figures. Present indications are that he is out to repeat the trick this peach season. In carrying his bat for 103: he gave a fine exhibition and at timea had the fieldsmen breathing hard. His three-figure total included seven fours and a .couple of sixes* Although Weir was dropped on two or three occasions his form was good, and big things will be expected of him in the future. He never hesitated in making . a stroke, appearing more confident than in some of his games last year, and often his wrist work was a treat. Weir won his Auckland cap as a bowler but present indications are that he will be every, bit as valuable in the rep. team when the runs 4Upvneeded. . Hec. Gillespie gave about the most forceful exhibition of the innings, his total of 61 including nine boundaries. Right from the.start he put punch into his strokes by perfeet timing, collected his rims in quick style. Gillespie's return, to form was one of the pleasing features of the innings and if he can maintain it in the matches to come he should again he well up on the list of averages. A. P. Weir (35) was third highest scorer and was going along merrily when he put a ball into Sued" den's hands. Postles played patiently for his 33, made when the bowling was lat its best. Mills (22) looked well set when he lost his wicket to Allcott. Bennett went in when the bowlers and fieldsmen were tiring and took advantage of the circumstances to gather [together a useful 20, and he was still | there at the finish.

It was a good thing for Grafton that Cyril Allcott, who was making his first appearance in flannels after a season's rest, was in good form. Unlike some of the other bowlers, the left-hander was able to keep a length throughout the afternoon. His figures—3l overs, nine maidens,.-six wickets. 87 runsspeak for themselves, and if Sloman had held a fairly easy catch off C. L Weir's bat. Allcott's name would have again gone down in the score book. A deceptive change in pace at times had the batsmen guessing, while a ball that came in from the off and kept low tobfc a lot of watching. Of the six Eden batsmen that Allcott dispatched, fiva were clean bowled. Snedden and Horspool got a wicket apiece, but Wilson, who has returned to the city after a year at Hamilton, found the* wicket a little soft for his liking.

A BOWLER'S BRIGHT BEGINNIIfG. '•Winter lingers in the lap of spring," and, with the football season barely finished, it is- a tribute to cricketers that they should make such a gallant showing with so few opportunities for practice; Still more surprising is it that one of . them should step straight into his best: bowling form, and, in the course of lesS ' that "40 minutes' play, take four good . wickets for sight runs. Reference is made Jto Harry Roy, of Ponsonby, who did devastating deeds against North Shore i t Devon port, coming out with the average of two runs ;ner wicket—not at ,'ill a bad beginning f or a bowler on the first day of a new season! Roy was helped by a crumbling wicket, but he bowled very well indeed, maintaining a pace which may truly be described as medium. to> fast, sending down an occasional. ball which was nearer fast than medium, and never failing to keep a length. With the natural advantage of physique —Roy ha? the ideal build for a bowler- —"long, loose and easv"—he should do well in senior cricket during the coming season. An excellent wicket had. been prepared at Deyonport. and it was interesting to see how it developed, under the in flu* ence of. sunshine and breeze, from "dead eflsv" to easv, from easy to "patchy," and finally from patehv. to downri«rbt difficult. To begin with, the bowlers had no assistance' whatever from the pitch, and itis reasonably safe to assert that if the opening, batsmen. McLeod nnd , Taylor, of Pon«onhv, had had greater opportunities for practice, they would. have pasted the ' bowling - more

than they "did. Saunders; Player, Webb and Coates shared the attack, and although Saunddr mixed" his: deliveries cleverly there was nothing outstandingly dangerous in the attack during the first hour and a-half of play. Neither Taylor nor McLeod was in difficulties, but the slow outfield converted many a potential two into a single, and a well-placed field kept the runs down. It was left for Monteith (late .of Shore, but now with Ponsonby since he moved to the city), to., make top score, his contribution of 35 being a useful display. He, was very subdued to begin with, taking 50 minutes to score 12, but brightened up after the tea interval, hitting a six and a four off successive deliveries from Saunders. S G. Smith was never comfortable with Coates, but it was Webb who gave most trouble to the visiting batsmen. This bowler takes little out of himself, and with a short, easy run he manages to get in a ball with plenty of "devil" in it. Webb's pace from the pitch nonplussed the batsmen on more than one occasion, and he was full value for his final average of five for 31. Coates bowled better than his one for 15 suggests, and Saunders was by no means flattered with three for 63.

Despite Shore's early collapse, the match is still in an interesting position. Life Dacre's return to the wicket will be welcomed after his long absence from the Shore Benior team, and C. G. Finlayson, a member of the N.Z. eleven, who has come to Auckland from Wellington and has thrown in his lot with Ponsonby. will doubtless be an asset to the suburban club.

•VARSITY V. Y.M.C.A. This game, pjayes on the third wicket at Eden Park, provided no thrills until /Varsity's opening pair took to the crease.

None of the Y.M. batsmen could get going and the scoring for the first hour and a half was painfully slow.' In fact only three batsmen made anything like a showing, and they were Elliott, Kemp and Lyon. Kemp, though a stolid player, succeeded, after he had settled down, in makisg runs, but succumbed to the bowling of Dunning after compiling a tidy 32. Lyon and Elliott both played stylishly, the former making 27 and the latter 32.

None of the remaining Y.M. players could negotiate the bowling of Dunning and Garrard, who - both trundled consistently well throughout. With the advent of Dunning and Smeeton to the crease things brightened for the spectators and the two 'Varsity inen commenced; knocking, the leather about. Smeeton was dismissed at 48, but Duhning, with Schnauer and then ■ Gee as partners, went on to complete his century. He played a fine bat throughout, though he should have been caught when in the forties. Be was bowled with the last ball of the day after compiling 103. To him, however, fall the honours of the game, both in bowling and batting, and the Rhodes Scholar gave a glimpse of the form which won him his Cambridge blue.

MODEST SCORING. With a lead of six .runs on the first innings and two wickets in hand United Suburbs finished the first day's play against Parnell in a very happy position. They are in the van with a vengeance, and it will require something startling on the part of Parnell to retrieve the. situation. Both skippers viewed the' wicket' distrustfully before the* game* -started. Superficially it looked moderately well as far as surface went, even if' it did have a shade too much grass on it, but the immediate surrounding* caused misgivings. Churned fo a mixture of the consistency of something approaching porridge by boots during the winter, there werd many? bare patches bereft of grass l $nd rough withal. It brought back memories of a much better ground which the Parnell team used once to play on, just as it emphasised some of the trials and tribulations which beset the budding Trumper of to-day who is anxious to quickly strike form. Still, considering the harsh treatment that Eden Park gets every winter, it was surprising that the veteran George Mills could, in a very limited time and with everything against him, have even a reasonable wicket ready for the start of the season.

Possibly with the feeling that things might easily have been much worse, Duncan decided to send bis red ..caps, in with a slow wicket, slow outfield, and the prospect of a hard fight for runs. Right from the start the advantage was with the bowlers.- There was nothing surprising about the quality disclosed, but it was steady, the ball turned at will, and the sole consolation for the batsmen was- that it came inordinately slow off the pitch. It was a slowness which led to some palpable mistiming in the early , stages, and the start was disastrous. Anthony and McCoy, made the first semblance of a stand. The veteran felt his way cautiously and hit hard when opportunity came, while McCoy, with a complete disregard for the bowlers' feelings, used the long handle. He hit two beautiful sixers before he went, and gave the batting a tonic that it badly needed. When Anthony left, as the result of playing a hook stroke with the wrong end of the bat, another partial slump followed, until Turbotthit out in enterprising fashion, and found a very useful partner in Von Rotter Thanks to that pair the Parnell score was carried past the century. The United Suburbs bowling was lacking in variety, and all of it was of the medium-slow right-hand kind.. Martin and Kerr came out with the beat figures, much for the reason , that they kept the ball well up to the batsmen, and left it to the pitch to impart various degrees, of spin;

With the bat, United Suburbs fared scarcely better than Parnell in the earlier stages. The wicket was beginning to dry-out, and it was a . shade easier, although still soft enough to make turning the ball a comparatively, easy matter. Five wickets were ; down for 62, and at that stage had Von Hotter held Wetherill at point—a comparatively easy catch—another wicket would have gone. Profiting by the let-off (Wetherill was then 12), the United Suburbs wicketkeeper hit with freedom. In the next over he hit 11 runs, including a sixer high oyer the leg line, and the score was over the eentnry before he was dismissed. United Suburbs again began to struggle for runs. Smith was dropped by Anthony—a difficult chance at short square leg—as soon as he went in, and although he did . not get many, runs, he. stuck there and helped the score onward. After a hard .fight Suburbs: eventually got' into the lead. . ' ,V >• Gobdair, who had n startling success -.against a visiting Australian toam in Southland a few seasons back, looked the best bowler, but the- conditions did

not suit either Win or. Aitken. ' With Macallan, medium left, and McCoy,-right-hand slow, Parnell had plenty of variety, although, as with the ease of .United Suburbs, there was. nobody who could take full advantage of conditions that a Rhodes, or even an Oliff, would have revelled in.

LABOUR DAY GAMES.

A friendly match between University and Parnell was played at Victoria Park yesterday, neither team being at full strength. The game, was drawn. Parnell made 116 (Roskully 31, Johnstone 28 not out, Lamb 24, Webster 13 and 95 for seven declared (Goodsir 41, Whitelaw 15 not out, Siddall 12, Barrier IT not out), and University 86 (Gee 26, Mason 17, Mason 15), and 77 for eight (Watts 17, Mason 33 and McVeagh 11 not out).

The cricket season at Pukekohe was opened yesterday with a one-innings match between the Grafton Club eleven, Auckland, and a team representing the Pukekohe Cricket Association. Pukekohe won by 37 runs. Batting first, Grafton made 127 (Rowntree 54, Slomah 19, Cliffe 16, Horspool 11). Pukekohe replied with 164 (G. Lawrie 76, C. Lawrie 23, G. Zinzan 19, B. Zinzan 11, S. Cart wright 11, H. Pleydell 10). For Pukekohe, W. Brooke took five wickets for 35 runs, G. Zinzan three for 38, G. Norrie one for 13; and for Grafton Cliffe took three for 32, Goodwin three for 40, Wylie two for 8, Sale one for 22, and Allcott one for 30 .

POSTAL OFFICERS' GAME.

THAMES V. AUCKLAND,

(By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.)

THAMES, this day.

A cricket match between the Auckland Telegraph Department and the Thames Post and Telegraph Department was played yesterday. Auckland scores:— First innings, 86 (Sparnon 26, Davis 17, Holdsworth 13, Leary 8). Bowling for Thames: Gibson two for 41, Cleave:fife for 15, Skellcy one for 14, Shaw none for 8. . Thames.—First innings, 102 (Cleave 46 not out, Thomson 12, Gibson 12, Graham 10). Bowling for Auckland: Hffldsworth three for 31, McNamara none for 28, Sparnon four for 29, Ferguson two for 9.

NORTHERN WAIROA GAMES.

(By. . Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) DARGAVTLLE, this day. In the first matches of the Northern Wairoa Cricket Association, Dargaville 71,' defeated Te Kopuru 63; Pukehula 147, defeated Paradise 32 and 11.

WAIHI SEASON OPENS.

WAIHI. Monday.

The cricket- seawn opened here on Saturday afternoon. Trior to play commencing, cricketers gathered at the baud rotunda when a challenge " "shield" ' was formally handed over by the donor, Mr. \V. Elierington, to Mr. H. Manning, the president of the Walbi Cricket Association. The latter then presented the shield to the Teachers" Club, the winners of last season s championship. F. A. Long receiving the same on behalf of the club. Three cheers were given for the donor of the shield, which, before becoming the property of any club, must- be won for three years in succession, commencing from last year. The . opening match, played between Teachers and Mataura. resulted in a draw, each side scoring 101 runs. Teachers batted first, the principal scorers being Teesdale (43). and Allan Thomson (2S i. Bowling for Mataura, M. Zenovlch took six wickets for 14 runs, and Berry two for 8. For Mataura, M. Zenovich top scored with 23 Llttlafalr.ffot 16. Blrchall 13, and J. Saunders 10. for Teachers, Long took three wickets for 36 runs, Dutton two for 11. O. E. Thomson, two fr 41. Owing to only three clubs entering for the competition, one-day matches will be observed, v The City Club failed to raise an eleven this year.