CRICKET.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 134, 29 February 1908, Page 9

CRICKET.

(Br Breaker.)

: ENGLISH TEAM IN AUSTRALIA. South Australia, at Adelaide.—March 2, 3, 4, and 5. West Australia, at Perth—March 12, 13, 14 and IG. > > •

The final for the senior championship was commenced on No. 1 wicket, Basin .Reserve, last Saturday. Tho weather was liuo, -as usual. Old Boys won .the toss from Midland, and opened with Beechy and Jacobs. Without: delay, both men' began to make runs in an interesting fashion. The wicket ( was all that could bo desired, not a ball getting up all the afternoon. When tho score had reached 54 Jacobs-got in front of one from_Mitcheil, and, retired with 26 to his credit. Ho bad played and his runs were got off eleven strokes. Tucker was next,' and ho commenced by mis-timing several balls, particularly on the i off; .and' by; l being ■' droppedby. '• Mitchell. Tucker ; also gave further chances later on. Although this player, is usually responsible for a good number of runs, horgeherally has a fair-sized lump of luck in getting them. Eventually Tucker hit .over ono from Mitchell, arid was bowled. Ho showed, great patience in compiling' 60, and his innings was useful in steadying and making solid: the inning's of the.'side—l 69 runs were put on for. the partnership, and, tho Midland bowling was very much dealt with. . None of the bowlers had.been turning the ball at all, and it was certainly unfortunate for ,the fielding side, that .-more .howlers, were hot tried before..this time!. With over 200 on the board for tho loss of only one wicket, • in. Wellington, .every ' man capable•• of sending down a decent ball should have been put on.- Midland particularly : felt the absence .}f a slow break bowler.' . : Lomax followed Tucker, but, too soon, he 'attempted; the fatal pull stroke. This stroko ha 3' 'causcd the downfall of many much better batsmen than' Lomax. With* J. P. Blacklockf and Becchey together, " 40 "runs were quickly put on,, but the pace wa3 too hot; to last and Blaciclock, getting too 'ar uiiotineath onej was caught- by TJpham, , When Monaghan went . in,; naturally the bowling was tired, so lie' scored; much' faster than he .usually does.. Off ..one of his strokes nmo were run, two. being overthrows. When Beechy-.-had "made 158 ho was caught by on the leg side. . It was a 'good catch. • Beechy.'s innings , was "the'best-, he, has ever played. It was very fine,. and, coming oxactly when a good score meant' everything to it invaluable. ; . . . 1 Old jßoys may'. "make another 100 before, the last wicket falls, :so Midland have a tall contract in.front of them.

Tho.games played on Nos:-2 and 3 did not' count for championship' results, so'therci was not very much interest taken''in 'them!' . Some pepple.were curious to'sfeo what Connoly's bowling was liko. '-. Cohnoly, it will he remembered, was selected by tho local committee to represent Wellington, and also to. represent the Rest of New Zealand against "Auckland. 1 These .' honours wero • conferred. upon him. before: ho had played ■, a |ame m tho Dominion, and,. very naturally, , people wished to seo their representative perform; -On Saturday, however, they wero .lisappointed,'as Coniioly's bowling was not up to that of at. loast a dozen'of our local players.. _It has • been Suggested that tho ■Vicket ■ did .not suit him, and - this .- may be; so, but: the wickets, provided last week *. wero , typical -,- -Wollington'or New Zealand wickets.. Further; tho-,team-opposed to Petono was composed 'of . five or: >ix junior players'/.so .that. Coniioly" was not-, playing against' anything like: an average local 'senior batting..eleven. Certainly, noly is-not at all responsible for all this discussion. Tho Selection ■ Committee-put-hiin" into a false position, and it would', bo .'pleasing if he could riso: to tho, occasion and jus-. tify-,the Committee's action. -,:..; :> Laws played l a . serviceable, Vqiiiet innings ,on Saturday agaiiist Petone.', He played right through the.: innings for 121' not out, ■out of; 205. ' ; The Phoenix;team had a.number of junior men playing agaiiist Petono!.Of them, ■Porteous (12) was tho only double figure scorer. ' ; iVtc.nc have lost four wickets for 64 runs, : Taylor being top scorer with a vigorous 24 (not out.-' ' ' ,ma'de' ( i74 -on No. 3 .against' Wellington'; Hodgo-top-scored with 48, and Topp.played a good innings' for' 36- Luckie, :0 for . 41, bowledwell for, Wellington;', ! . ■ -.Fred-.. Liggihs,-,.ah.ex-Otago representative crickoter', captained Southland against Otago : : this,.wQel;. ! '... :'_z J. Hardstaff has mado '1224 runs in .21 "completed innings, to date,' K'. L. Ilutchings' :870, W. R. Rhodes 729,|L. C. Braund 748, J- B. Hobbs 732,-and F. L. Fa no 647. ■ The total.-takings, of . the :.fourth . Test .match were £2005 14s. 6d. The Englishmen's .share was £748:85. 6d;, the chargo for|the hire , of the Melbourne Cricket Ground '^ Sl aI1( ' " I ' e proportion to the V.C.A. £655 lis. 9d As the latter sum barely covers the, expenses of tho,' match, there will'consequently bo little, profit' .to': the local Association; J ■,- . > '®' - Whitta-,the well-known ' West; Chnstchurch and ex-Midland : player, was married on Thursday to Miss Rowe, tho daughter _of an old Sydenham cricketcr. Tho.lo7'by E.' F.-Waddy- is the eleventh Hundred compiled for New South Wales against England. Many of tho- greatest of .New South, Wales batsmen—among them W L. Murdoch; M. 'A.' Noble, V.' Tiumper, iC. Bannermani A. C. Bannerman, and H. H Massie—never:ran into three-figures for the • side against any English team, though four ot. these have.scored, at least,one: hundred in a Test match.

Cricket is catholic, nioro so than : aiiv other ; game, sa ys m 'Not . Out" in the ™ . . These Test matches are watchcd wrth the mind s oye from every part of the world where .Britishers arc—and where are they not .Even m China and Central Asia the - results- are. looked forward to by wander-' ing Englishmen ' and Australians; Recently 1 received a letter from some'weird spot in Ohina, and tho writer concluded, by wishing Good -luck to Australia in . tho. Tests." . n y t . lle other day, comparatively, j' cablegram from, South Africa asked for the scores at the close of-each day's play-to bo cabled to a newspaper in Natal. ■The feature of tho match between Otaso and_S o uthland was undoubtedly the batting S Hamilton, who compiled 95 out of Southland s first total. It was, says "Lone : iJi the "OtagOj.Witness," a masterly aisnlay of powerful and'aggressive batting, cach strike being accurately timed and splendidly executed. Hamilton batted in a finished manner all round the' wickets, his driving,' pulling, and -cutting; being .refreshing to watch.. Never have I seen a. batsman play with such.confidence;nor with such freedom of - wrist. movements behind ' the blade. . It were as if a Bonnor was wielding tho bat with the grace and execution of a Ranjitsinhji. - Old-time cricketers "look upon it as the; finest -innings they' have gcen. on the historic Carisbrook for years, and they are unmindful of some masterly efforts of Trufcper, Duff, Taylor, and Co. in the d.iys gono by. Hamilton hover gave a chanco during his timo at tho crease, and was batting 108 minutes for his 95. - . A peculiar incident, occurred in - tho match .between M.C.C. and New South Wales. Macartney -tapped' into ■ tho slips, and darted from his crease. Hardstaff fielded smartly and threw down the wicket, but Macartney had regained his crease. ;Tho ball rebounded to Braund in tho' slips,.'.and, he' promptly, threw. at<'the'.other wicket to' rim out Waddy, who had been backing up. But the ball flew past the bowlor down the field toward the sight board. Hobbs and Hntcliings from opposite directions ran for it, and just as it reached the track Hobbs's foot passed it in to Hulnhings, who took, it and returned it to. the: wickots. It was really a four, but the umpiro allowed only threo, 'for it was .impossible for him to tell what-had actually occurred. ■: - -

The 152 runs partnership by the Rev. R, F. :Waddy and A. J. Bowden for New South Wales is tho second ' highest against the Englishmen to dato, the. 243 by R. Hartigan and C. Hill , at Adelaide ranking as the highest.' It. is also the highest seventh ■pricket stand ever made for New • South

v. England. Describing tho Rev. Caddys performance, the "Referee" states: —"The Sydney University ex-captain played a very able, watchful and skilful innings, starting when tilings were going swimmingly jvith the Englishmen, and playing,a leading part in putting his side into a good position. His cricket was chanceless, and though the driving • was not as crisp and powerful as his best, it was a high-class innings. His on-side cricket was distinctly clever, and tho off-sido very good. 'This form is in-keeping with his batting in the Queensland and Victoria matches, and considering that lie only got into this eloven as ■an emergency through others dropping out, ho was to bo most heartily congratulated on having shown nerve and ability that were largely the moans of. placing tho sido in such a stable position following a highly disappointing start. The day produced 345 runs, so that the batting was faster than that of the' Test matches." .*■■'

J. M. Hnssey, the ex-Otago and Auckland representative cricketer, having left the Customs Department, is stated to he about to enter the legal profession'in Wellington. ■ r:

' Charles Absoloii, who recently died in London at the age of 90, played in a. big match at Lords the day Queen Victoria was' crowned! Ho had a career of 71 years in club matches, ,and took .8500 . wickets (all with ".lobs"). after ho was 50—200 of them in' the season when 'ho reached the, a"o of 7G. -• "

• A peculiar form of madness raged in Melbourne during the recent hot fr'eather and the .Test matches, says tho "Bulletin'." Tlk "Age" and "Argus" printed, day after day. columns of rubbish' from .'enthusiastic cricketlunatics on the subject of "records." There were fifth wicket sixth , wicket records,: seventh, ' eighth, and ninth '.wicket records, records of . "ducks" made by Trumper,' Stumper, "arid Bumper, records ■;of "ducks" mado in Australia, ditto in-Eng-land. or Greece, or Barataria, records of the number of times _ tho Englishmen j.hitched their pants in an innings,', of the'number" of timds tho- Australians did ditto, of the her of,sneezes made in Australia in a match, of the number made in England clnrinoditto, and so on. The: pathetic-sido. of tbr affair is that those _persons consider sue.lmatters' of supreme .importance,;, and would rather see Australia put . up one of those records than build a fleet'of shins.' '