CRICKET.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 170, 11 April 1908, Page 9

CRICKET.

(Br .Breaker.)

"The weakest point of our combination was shown by the number of catches we Mr. A. 0. Jones, captain ~bf the M.C.C. team. _ ■■ ■ '. , The Test' matches being. over, Australia will keep next Wednesday as Ash Wednesday, but it will not always keep. the Ashes, "which 'are only'Lent.—"The Star." 1 ' J. Hardstaif scorcd 1360 runs in eleven aside matches for the English team during tho tour just finished. During Stoddart's 1897-8 tour Ranjitsinhji scored 1157 runs (ind A. C. MacLaren 1037 in eleven aside matches. A most peculiar accident occurred at Navua on tho Tamunua cricket field recently during a game. '. Two fieldsmen wero running from opposite directions to catch- the .ball, aud we're so intent on the play'that neither: saw tho other. ' The consequenco was that the head of one struck and broke both sides of the jaw of the other. The other cricketer esca'ped with a severe shaking, being a bit dazed for a day or two.' " ■ The 'Notts. County Committee'; hop^.-'to raise £2000 as a testimonial, for,„Mr;! A.: 0.-. Jones, captain of the M.C.C. touring team.' He has scorcd "centuries" against '.every County that TSotts have met, except Somerset and .Northampton. . His batting average for sixteen years'. county cricket /is 36,33, and he has made 345; catches. ■ : By taking 70 wickets during the season, J.' H. Bennett created a record senior cricket, lowering tho rccord of M'Murray, the . old Addington player,'who took 67 wickets in one season in the later eighties., D. Reese failed, to reach I '. A. Sim's record, .-'of 592 'for the' season by'2o : runs.'" It' will' be remembered'thjit H;- B; Lusk'scored-590'and T. W. Reese scored 586 last season. 1 '- G.'. Hazlitt, who represented .Australia ,in two-Test matches this season', has beeu ratlier unfortunate, says the. "Referee."' Ho /received an 'injury to his finger early in the season which kept him j out of . several matches. Since then lie has' mot', with a second injury. Whilo bowling in an intercollegiate match' in Melbourne,-between'. Or-, mond'and Trinity, a hard return split the , third finger of his bowling; hand; the wound having-to bo stitched up.; . . . i F. A; Tarrant-, tho Anglo-Australian, had a wonderfully successful season with the bat for Victoria. In eight innings he .scored 757. runs, his average being' 94:62. He failed with the "bat in the match, between an. Aus-. tralian Eleven and the Englishmen' at Brisbane, his scores being 2 and 3. . In all matches he scored 762, an average of 76.20 runs per innings, hisscores being 66, 81, 105, 2, 3, 159, 16,- 4G; 79, and 206. , While his batting form was on a par -with his English reputation, his bowling reputation suffered somewhat, his record being nine wickets .for 425 runs—an average of 47.22 ■ runs per wicket.' Referring to the standard of' crickot in Australia, Mr. A. O. 'Jones (captain of the M.C.C. team), upon leaving for Home, expressed the opinion that',j; so far as the batting was concerned, tho colonials were formidable. He thought ;that there were quite a number (of very promising men coming on; and referred to W. A. Bardsley, who scored 108. against .them in' the second innings of tho second match, as the most promising. Of the others, he liked the Rev. E. P. Waddy, C. E. Dolling, C. M'Kerizie, C. G. Macartney, R. Hartigan, and J. ?H. Pellew. Australia does not, in his opinion, now possess bowlers who aro the equals of those of a-few yoars ago. Ho could not give a definite oj)inion on the matter,. but said that tho exccllenco of the batting and the very; fine wickets discouraged bowlers.. The latest news ', regarding Joseph -Humphries (of tho M.C.C. 1 team) is to the effect that lie had undergone the operation, and, to the joy of Derbyshire folk, tho clever wicketkeoper is reported to bo doing well.But it should not be forgotten that this is not tho first tirno the friends of Humphries, have been concerned regarding his health. Somo years ago ho was very ill, but his miner friends; by whom ho is adored, determined he should not lack for opportunity to get well, and they had him placed in a convalescent home, whero he was nursed back'to robust health. Is not this fact testimony, not only to the popularity, but to tho real; ■worth of tho man to whom the Derbyshire committee lately cabled their hearty congratulations upon his brilliant wicketkeeping, and expressing the hope that he may have a speedy recovery and safe jouruey Home.—"Athletic News." The triangular cricket idea is asking too much of cricket in general. Cricket is a sport. It is in danger of degeneration when it is developed into a speices of gladiatorialism such as tho spectacles in the .'six- days' "keeps" matches olfered. Australia's-atti-tude on this project, South Africa's lack of funds to carry it out, and tho lukewarmness of its' support in England may save the game for sport.—"The.Observer." ' . Possimists aro wont to depore the weakness of tho present day bowling, in Ghristchurch, but it is pleasing to note that thero are possibly souio Trunibles, Turners or Spoltorths in embryo amongst tho school boys in Canterbury (observes the."Weekly Prehs"). Young Averill, a son of Archdeacon Averill's, playing for Mr. Wilson's school the other day, performed the "bat trick" in both, innings, and as far as my books show, .established a record _ by claiming tho same batsmen as his victims in each venture.-Another promising t-rundler is ; Little, of. tho High School Third Elovon,.who did tho "hat trick" on Saturday week, in a Fourth Grade match, and in tho previous round oven went one better by taking four wickets with successive balls. I question whether any captain with so little bowling at his disposal as Jones had oil. this occasion has ever before taken this risk in a big match. ; But his- is just tho -daring' character which makes for good generalship. In county cricket Jones has or ( e this shocked tradition, and will, I hope, many, times more. It is jnst this spico of dare-devilry which •adds ,to the charm of the game.—E. H. D. Sewoil, in "Tbs Glabe,"