CRICKET.

Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17072, 17 February 1921, Page 8

CRICKET.

AUSTRALIA, v. MANAWATU. (press association telegram.) PALME RSTOI? NORTH, February 16. The Australians beat Manawatu by an insings and 73 run*. The Australians in their first innings mado 314 runs, Liddicut not out 163 and Aeher 60 being tho principal scorer*. Manawfltu'e second innings produced only £9 nim. Pegden 39 not out was the only batsTnH.Ti to roach double figures. COMMERCIAL TRAVELLERS' MATCH. The following will represent the Canterbury Commercial Travellers' Association against Wellington to-morrow, at Hftgley Park: —0. Brown, S. Hincisman, K. Connor, A. McMillan. A. Dey, H. Throp, C. Louisoon, D. Redpath, S. Wil&on, L. Hubble, L. Lewis. ARMSTRONG AND THE BOYS. A REMARKABLE GAME.

When visiting Mentone a few weeks ago Yf. Armstrong, the Australian Eleven caplain, promised, with the aid of two fieldsmen—one a wioketkeepei l —to play a teem of young boys, most of whom were pupils of the Mentone Grammar School. The match took place a few days ago, and, judging by his experience, the famous oric&eter ig not likely to make a similar rash promise again (says the Melbourne "Argus"), Although tho local "spoits" wore prepared to lay any odds that Armstrong would not put in an appearance, the "leviathan" arrived punctually at the appointed hour at the recreation ground, Mentone. The news that Armstrong had reached the ground spread with the velocity of a scrub fire, and very soon looal citizens and visitors assembled l in hundreds at the reserve. It was freely rumoured that there had been great discoid amongst the members of the selection committoe as to who should be omitted from the boys' team, but the difficulty was tactfully overcome by increasing the numbor of Armstrong's opponents to 16, and giving the famous captain an extra fieldsman. Tho luckiest boy in Mentone was selected to toss tho coin for choice of innings, but apparently nothing lees than a superman will deprive Armstrong of his almost uncanny knack of winning the toss. Hi 3 sequence of wins was not broken, but he magnanimously sent his opponents in. The wicket was a matting one, and Armstrong bowled from both ends—six balls to the over. He commenced by sending down "soft stuff" in a good-natured way; but the schoolboys treated the deliveries contemptuously, and scored many runs. His fieldsmen weTe not too good on tha throw in, and the muscles of Armstrong's broad baok received more than their customary exercise. As the wickets were not falling as rapidly he might have wished, Armstrong began to bowl in Teal earnest. He sent down many a "wrong 'un"—wrong 1 , that k, so far the bowler's intentions were concerned. There was a three-foot break on each delivery—a tribute to the wide mesh of the matting, and, even with the aid of eympathetic umpires, the champion was unable to obtain his usual number of yictims "Ibw." To cut a sad story short, Armstrong bowled for two hours without a spisll. His opponents scored 145 runs (M. Wilson 85, B. Smith .12j 0. Smith 10). ■ The Australian captain then went to the wickets with a comrade whose height was not much greater than that of tho stumps. When he' had oompleted 13, Armstrong was clean bowled bv W. Godby, the eight-year-old son of the well-known racehorse trainer. The total for the innings was only 17. Armstrong immediately presented young G'odby with the ball, which had been used in one of the test matches in England in which Armstrong had taken part. The boys "retaliated" by presenting tho Australian captain with a pipe. The game was enjoyed immensely by the numerous spectators, who were afforded an opportunity of gaining an insielit into the character of the Australian captain as a man of his word and a goodnatured sportsman.