THE FIRST POINTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 255, 28 October 1929, Page 12

THE FIRST POINTS.

I CHAMPIONS GO DOWN. i _____ PARNEIi'S FINE START. The first series of cricket matches in the A.C.A. senior competition was completed on Saturday in fine weather, but on wickets {appreciably slower than favoured the first day's play. Parnell, University, Grafton and Y.M.C.A. figured as the day's winners. In some respects these results can scarcely be regarded as a true criterion of form, on account of the variation in conditions on the two days of play, luck favouring the sides which batted first. Of course, inconsistent and patchy form as to be expected in the opening matches, but the surprises of the games just concluded were Parnell's win and North Shore's poor showing. Indeed, the fact that Parnell, with the conditions rather against them, secured a win, narrow though it was, against Ponsonby, seems to suggest that a mistake was made in alloting Wensley to this side.. North Shore's collapse cannot be regarded as true form. The points now stand:—

' GALLANT LAST-WICKET. STAND. The glorious uncertainty of cricket has seldom teen more strikingly exemplified than was the case in the ParnellPonsonby match on No. 3 wicket at Eden Park. Ponsonby had made 194. the previous week, and Parnell had lost two wickets in making 41. On Saturday they carried the total to 132 for nine—62 behind the opposition score— and their chance of winning on the first innings seemed as small as it could possibly be. Then, however, the unexpected happened, Goodsir and Singleton making a gallant last-wicket stand, and pulling the match out of the fire. They carried the total to 216, and both were not out at the tea interval, when Parnell declared. Although the victory was of the surprise variety,. therewas nothing of a iluky nature about it. Ponsonby would ' probably be the first to admit that their fielding was neither so accurate nor so keen as it might have been, but the ibatsmen are entitled to every credit for their plucky stand. They had thenfair share of luck, both giving changes ■which were not accepted, but they (batted with pluck and resource, facing the bowling with' a confidence which was more typical of a first-wicket than a last-wicket pair. Frequent changes were made "m the attack, but fast balls and slow came all alike to the batsmen once they .were set, and some idea of the confidence with which they played may be gathered from the fact that Goodsir took 10 in one over from Smith, and hit a six off Finlayson. The last-named was obviously out of practice, and ther beat work was done (by Koy and Cleverley. The firstnamed bowled at a great pace, and kept a consistently accurate length, taking Sour wickets for 16 runs. When the jtotal of extras stands at 30, it may appear unusual to single out the wicketkeeper for special praise, but such, may fairly be done in the case of Hunt, the youthful stumper showing very promising form, and taking the ball stylishly on the leg side. . With the issue on the first innings, settled and no prospect of a complete decision, the closing stages lacked interest. Smith and Snedden opened for Ponsonby (Guiney and McLeod being absent), and runs accrued steadily against all sorts of bowling. The attack [was certainly varied, if not deadly, JBvery member of the Parnell team exjcept the wicket-keeper being given a ifcurn..

Scores:— PARNELL.—First Innings. fWhitelaw, lbw, b Cleverley. .- 14 Stehr, b Fletcher 0 McCoy, c and b Snedden lo Anthony, c Hunt, b Roy 21 Turbott, lbw, b Roy ■• » ,Von Rotter, b Roy 0 Duncan, b Roy ••••'• ® Hay, c Monteith, b Finlayson 41 Aitken, st Hunt, b Roy .9 Singleton, not out .; 37 Goodsir, not out ..' »•• 37 Extras >......*.........;.• ••• •• 30 Total for aine wickets (declared) . 216 Bowling: Roy took five wickets for 46, Finiayson one for 47, Fletcher one for 31, Cleverley ono for 8, Snedden one for 34, Smith none for 18. PONSONBY. First innings .......m 194 PONSONBY. —Second Innings. Smith, not out <i 44 Snedden, not out 41 Extras • 3 Total for no wickets 88 NORTH SHORE OUTCLASSED. It would have been hard to imagine more dreary cricket that the exhibition of batting given by North Sshorc on Saturday in the final day's play of thenmatch with Grafton, I'rom the start it was palpable that the Devonport men did not intend to try and reach the other side's total of 277. Their one and only aim was to endeavour to play out time, but in that they failed. They commenced their stonewalling tactics from the kick-off and by the time the tea interval came, had only 60 runs on the board —a very miserly tally for over two hours' play. ■Gerrard and Monteith were the only two to reproduce anything like true batting form, but they came too fa down the list t prove a stimuli: to the remainder c the team. Gerrav gave a good exhib tion for his 34 run while Naismitl though p a t cln held his wicket ii tact until he ha notched 22. Saun ders just reacliei this twenties,' but apart from hitting I two sixes was very docile. Allcott and Wilson carried off the bowling honours. A tricky breeze proved valuable to the trundlers, but the pitch J

was eminently one for batsmen, and offered the Grafton attack little aid. The number of maiden OA-ers sent down was remarkable and was yet another indicaiton of the lack of initiative shown by the batsmen.

Wilson, 3 for 29, had a slightly better average than Allcott, who captured 3 wickets for 30. Both men, howeve*, trundled consistently well. The Grafton captain bowled practically all afternoon, keeping a good length and a tricky twist throughout. Wilson varied his pace well, and, assisted by the wind, produced a troublesome swing.

Even such tempting slows as were sent down by McCormack and Franklin failed to tempt the batsmen, and these two bowlers came off with better averages than would have been the case with more aggressive opponents. McCormack dismissed two men, but Franklin was unsuccessful in that respect. The Grafton fielding work was below standard, and several catches were dropped, Stone being an offender more than once. Lack of cleanness in picking up the ball was also noticeable, but fortunately for Grafton, Shore did not benefit much from that fault. Shore were finally dismissed just after 6 p.m., with 160 runs to their credit, that score being the product of a whole afternoon at the wicket. This gave Grafton a win on the first innings by 117 runs. ,The scores were: — GRAFTON. First innings *»..»w», 277 NORTH SHORE.—First Innings. , Saunders, lbw, b Wilson ............ 20 Webb, b Allcott IS Frater, run out .; 4 Player, c Rowntree, b McCormick .... 8 Bush, c Sheen, b McCormack ........ 19 Gerrard, st Rowntree, b Allcott .... 34 Naismith, c Hockm, D Wilson ...»*«. 22 Reid, b Allcott ._«*••:. 6 Kelly, absent 0 Webb, not out »*.«•• 13 Coates, c Horspool, b Wilson ........ 9 Extras .•».-««.« 7 Total 160 Bowling: Allcott three for 30, Stone none for 38, Wilson three for 29, Franklin none for 15, McCormack two for 35, Horspool none for 6.

UNIVERSITY JUST WIN. It was not until four minutes before the stumps were due to be drawn that University clinched their win against Eden. When Eden started the afternoon they needed 330 to equal the students' first innings effort, but it was early seen that the best they could hope for was a draw. Slowly the 'Varsity bowlers worked their way through the opposing side, and with 20 minutes to go there was but one more wicket to fall. The closing fight put up by last season's . champions to secure a draw provided what little excitement there was in a dull match, but effort was in vain, and in the last over but one the tenth wicket fell. The brightest patch in Eden's innings was provided by J. Mills, who scored 72 by attractive I cricket, registering eight boundaries. Some of his slip shots were delightful, while he took most of the runs that were offering on the leg side. Lawrie played a . great fighting innings for 58, and almost held the students to a draw. He was dropped early in .his innings, but after that he gave no chances until he was nicely snappedup behind by Browne. Among his shots were a number of stinging drives. Postles, who opened with Mills, made 16, .but was never enterprising. The only other batsman to contribute towards Eden's total of 242 was Vivian, who batted brightly for 55. It was a bad afternoon for the majority of Eden's regular run-getters. Matheson, Snieeton, Bush and Garrard bowled for almost the whole of the afternoon. Garrard gave the batsmen most trouble, and his slows took careful watching. His leg-break got him three wickets for 53. Smeeton's faster stuff bagged him four for 38. Eden's tail-end batsmen certainly put up a brave effort to stave off defeat, but the display of some of those who went before them was pathetic. On the run of the play the runners-up for last season's honours would have been unlucky had they not scored a win. Scores: — UNIVERSITY. First Innings «... 330 EDEN.—First Innings. Mills, b Matheson « 72 Postles, b Garrard 16 Gillespie, b Garrard 4 G: L. Weir, b Garrard 8 Brook Smith, c sub,, b Smeeton...... 0 Butler, lbw, b Snieeton 0 Lawrie, c Browne, b 5meet0n........ 5S A. F. ,Weir, c Smeeton, b Pearson..... 1 Vivian, c Browne, b Schnauer 55 Langton, c Matheson, b Schnauer.... -0 McCarthy, not out 0 Extras 1J Total 242 Bowling: Smeeton took four wickets for 38 runs, Garrard three for 53,' Schnauer two for 24, Matheson one for 64, Bush none for 44.

SUBURBS' FINE EFFORT. Although defeated by Y.M.C.A. by 45 runs, United Suburbs had the satisfaction of knowing that they put up a great fight with luck against them. It was Y.M.C.A.'s good fortune to get the opening strike on a razor-edged turf, and United Suburbs' misfortune to follow after a rain-laden week on a slow wicket, which made- run-getting a difficult matter. The 'suburban batting was sound without rising to great, heights, and it was certainly plucky. Wetherill and / McLaren gave the side a good start, and after a slow opening began to play forceful shots all round the wicket. Wetherill is one of the few stylists in Auckland with a lovely pa i r of wrists and ' some beautiful shots on the off. His timing was perfect, but in a spirit of adventure he gave a ball too much air and was cleverly gathered on the oft". The score sheet showed a modest 24 against his name, but as an opening contribution it was worth a good deal more than that." McLaren and Martin gave good support in their turn, while Lonergan made an effort which had the Y.M.C.A. side thinking furiously. Anything that could be driven was driven, and driven hard. Lonergan was out to score, and . his powerful hitting sent the score leaping along. He was more than moderately lucky in not being run out on one occasion, and m the end fell to a very brilliant close-in catch by Elliott. Except

Stotter and Webster, none of the other batsmen made a stand. Leikis was going well when he slammed a ball back ; to be brilliantly taken by Elliott, who was boAvling, while Webster had the bad luck to chop the last ball of the game into his wicket. The Y.M.C.A. bowling was not altogether impressive, and on the day it was certainly lacking in variety. The burden of the attack was carried by Trevor Lyon, who showed wonderful stamina, and kept a fine length over a long spell. The wicket was right against the fastmedium type of bowler who trusts to a little in the air with nip from the pitch, and only a length which was seldom at fault carried him through. Elliott kept most of the other end going as a bowler of many parts. He sent a fair amount along at medium pace, and as a change worked a slow flighty ball with a deepset field anticipant for catches. It was the slow ball which gave the best variety, and was a foil to Lyon's bowling. A young left bander of the flighty type, or a real spin bowler, would be a big asset to Y.M.C.A., who in other seasons have leaned heavily on the wily Bowley to take a hand when opposing batsmen overstayed their welcome. Scores: — Y.M.C.A. First innings 239 UNITED SUBURBS.—First Innings. Wetherill, c Paton, b Elliott .. ~ .. 24 McLaren, b Lyon .. 20 Martin, run out' 34 Lonergan, c Elliott, b Lyon .»• 5S Kerr, b Elliott ». 3 Bushell, b Kemp —.. •• 0' Stotter, lbw, b Elliott 15 Hendy, run out ......... 2 Webster, b Lyon 10 Leikis, c and b Elliott 6 Preston, not out ~.... —...... 0 Extras .... 7 Total 194 Bowling: Lyon took three wickets for 69 runs, Elliott four for 70, Eiddolls none for 13, Clark none for 7, Kemp one for 27.

P W L D Pts. ■ University v,v, 1 i —' — 3 Parnell ....... 11 — — 3 ; Grafton ...... 1 1 —■ •— 3 I Y.M.C.A. ..... 1 1 — — 3 Eden .. 1 — 1 — 1 Ponsonby ..... 1 — 1 — 1 ! North Shore ..1 — 1 — 1 i Suburbs 1 — 1 — 1