CRICKET

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19725, 16 September 1929, Page 7

CRICKET

CANTERBURY ASSOCIATION. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING. The annual general meeting of delegates to the Canterbury Cricket Association was held on Saturday night, Mr D. Reese (president) being in the chair. In moving the adoption of the annual report and balance-sheet, a summary of which has already been published, the chairman said that he felt that all would congratulate the Management Committee on the way they had conducted the cricket in the province in the past year. It was rather - alarming, however, to find that a sub-committee had to be set up to find out what was wrong with cricket ip Canterbury. At the last special meeting it was unanimously decided by the delegates that eight senior teams were too many. . This would form the principal subject of discussion later in the evening. He thought there was no doubt that having eight teams in the senior competition diluted the quality of cricket in the province. This was shown by the great difference between the senior competition figures and the repre-' sentative figures. Taking as an instance W. E. Merritt, Mr Reese said that the latter would not have had such extraordinary bowling figures if he had not been playing Saturday after Saturday against players who were quite unable to cope with his type of bowling. There were too many of these players in the senior teams, with the- result that Merritt achieved the phenomenal and record performance of obtaining .98 wickets in the season at an average of 14 runs apiece. The figures were really too good for a slow bowler. In the representative matches the public saw how a bowler of his type- j should be dealt with. Merritt would ■ have had better representative figures had he been playing on Saturdays against teams of players approaching nearer to the representative standard. As it was, Merritt could take only 12 wickets at an average of 42 runs in representative matches. All would' agree, who had watched the senior _ club matches, that batsmen lacked the ability to deal with slow bowling. The representative figures would bring the position home to all those who studied the game. The Canterbury stock bowlers, in: representative matches, took their wickets at the following cost per ; wicket:—Cunningham, 40; Merritt, 42; Read 52; Newman, 57. Those who saw the representative matches at Lancaster Park would realise, too, that the fielding was much below -standard, and was a contributory cause to Canterbury's poor showing. "The Association must tackle the _ position properly,'' said Mr Reese, "and it depends on you, as the delegates, as to how the difficulties are to be solved. There is no doubt that the question of the number of clubs in the senior competition has a great bearing on the standard of cricket in the province. It has contributed to the extraordinarily good bowling figures, in the first-grade competition, and also to the poor showing of the representatives against other Provinces. There is no question that sustained effort against good players every week keeps up the standard of the bowlers. The great failing was the inefficiency of the bowlers when opposed to first-class batsmen. Our bowling was trounced by the opposing batsmen to such effect that Auckland scored 330, Wellington 433 for eight wickets, and Otago 602 runs in separate innings. ine coming season was going to he an important one in Canterbury and in New Zealand. The English touring team would arrive on rjecember 10th, and would play their first match three days liter. The annual report was, generally, a satis factory one, and the only question it raißett was whether the best results were being obtained from the system in vogue. Satisfaction would be felt at the way in w,. the Management Committee was extend g its influence into country cricket, and v closer alliance with the Suburban Associatio. For the latter Association to hand on to the parent body those players who showea the greatest promise would be for the betterment of Canterbury cricket. The financial position of the Association was a strong one. The coaching had taken nearly all the revenue from the trust fund, but it *vss hoped that when the fund reached £IO,OOU the entire revenue would be devot-ed to tne cricket itself. . The report and balance-sheet were aaopwu. Officers for the year were elected as 101lows:—President, Mr D. Reese; vice-presi-dents, Messrs W. Simpson and W. H. Winsor, hon. treasurer, Mr C. S. Thompson; _ onsecretary, Mr E. E. Luttrell; hon. assistant secretary, Mr Ei. C. Burns; management committee. Messrs •W. L. King. H. M. Chrystall, A. Dey, C. E. Evans, M. O. Sinclair, L. D. Page, and W. J. V. Hamilton; delegates to the New Zealand Cricket Council, Messrs E. R. Caygill and R. C. Burns; delegates to the Lancaster Park Board of Control, Messrs C. S. Thompson. W. H. Winsor, ! and W. L. King; hon. auditors, Messrs T. Newburgh and A. E. Byrne.

The chairman announced that a cable had been received from J. Newman, coach to the Association, that he was leaving England on Saturday.

ST. ALBANS CLUB.

At the annual meeting of the St. Albans Cricket Club on Saturday evening Mr J. S. Barrett presided over a good attendance. The annual report and balance-sheet -were adopted. _ ■ Messrs G. Roberts, G. B. Slade, F. J. Glackin, and F. A. Tucker were enrolled as new members, while resignations were received from Messrs R. W. Norrie, H. Pickup, and D. M. Eckhoff.

Those present stood in silence for a moment as an expression of sympathy with the relativea of the late Mr George Hickmott, who. was a vice-president o! the club. A motion was passed thanking Mr S. W. Hickmott for his valuable services as secretary and treasurer during the past year. The election of office-bearers resulted as follows: President, Mr J. 8. Barrett; vicepresidents, the Hon. Sir R. Heaton Rhodes, Mr Justice Adams, Dr. Gibson, Messrs B. E. McDougall, J. H. Williams, P. Kennedy, B. F. Darby, C. Bean, L. L. Oordery, Walcott Wood, P. S. Nicholls, A. S. Duncan, L. Lewis, F. E. Graham, H. Holland, R. Graham, A. J. O'Malley, A. H. Hunt, G. Bonnington, W. Nidd, and J. S. Patterson; life members, Messrs T. W. Reese, C. S. Thompson, and F. E. Raphael; club captain, Mr R. H. North; hon. secretary and treasurer, Mr L. C. Smart; hon. auditor, Mr L. Lewis; committee, Messrs C. G. Crawford, T. R. Pope, J. Airey, J. MeCree, W. Simpson, C. S. Thompson, F. Woods, and A. Wright; delegates to the Canterbury Cricket Association, Messrs C. 8. Thompson, C. G. Crawford, R. H. North, and J. S. Barrett; delegates to the Hagley Park Ground Committee, Messrs C. S. Thompson and IV Woods; delegate to Sports Protection Association, Mr L. C. Smart. NOTTS V. THE REST.

(Received September 15th, 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, September 14. Playing against Notts, the champion county, the Rest of England in their first innings made 399 (Woolley 106, Sandham 82, Wyatt 85). —Australian Press Association, United Service.

YORKSHIRE BEATS M.C.C. TEAM.

LONDON, September 18. The M.C.C. Australian tourists made 278 (G-eary 66). They followed on, in their second innings making 162 (Hendren 84). • The Rest of England won by an innings and 103 runs.

Marylebonfl made 280 for six, declared (Duleepsinhji not out 167). Yorkshire made 102 for sis (Haig took four for 49). Yorkshire won by four wickets.—Australian Press Association, United Service. THE AVERAGES. (Received September 15th, 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, September 14. Following are the first-class cricket averages

BATTING. Runs. Average. J. B. Hobbs . . 2193 68.53 W. R, Hammond .. 2456 64.63 C. P. Mead .. 1733 55.90 P. E. Woolley . . 2683 55.89 R. E. S. Wyatt .. 2534 53.91 E. S. Duleepsinhji 2545 . 53.02 H. Butcliffe .. 2189 47.19 BOWLING. Runs. Wickets. A.v. R. Tyldesley .. 2399 154 15.57 J. C. White .. 264# J6B 15.76 Goddard . . 2907 181 16.08 W. .Voce .. 2043 120 17.02 C. W. L. Parker .. 2403 133, 17.41 A. Shipman . . 1050 59 17.79 A. Kennedy .. 2773 154 18.00 M. W. Tate . . 2801 155 18.07 A. P. Freeman .. 4879 2ii7 18.27 W. Rhodes .. 1870 100 18.70 McDonald (26th place) 3080 142 21.69 •—Australian Press Association, United Service.

THE AUSTRALIAN TOUR/ MELBOURNE, September 14. The Cricket Board of Control has appointed Mr W. Kelly (Victoria) manager and ilr T. Howard (New South Wales) treasurer of the cricket team to play in England in 1930. Dr. Dolling (South Australia) Mr J. Ryder (victoria), and Mr R. Jones (New South Wales) wero appointed selectors. It was decided to allow professional journalist players to write for the Press up to the tune of selection, . but the Board will not approve of the selection of players who contribute articles for the Press commenting on the play of any first-class match, or on the prospect* of any player.—Australian Press Association.