CRICKET.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 396, 4 January 1909, Page 5

CRICKET.

..;,•••«:,;...-• :~ <■'■.■ ,''"■' '■•'''■•■'■■. FREE BATTING-BY THE VICTOEIANS. CENTUPyY BY RANSFOBI). (NT TEIEOBAr-B— PKESS iBSOCIATION—COPISJOnTi) (Rec. January 3, 3.30 p.m.) ■ ■■•••-• i^ 1 Melbourne, January 3. In :tha' match against South Australia, Victoria's first' innings closed • for.. 346, .tho chief scorers being :—Ransfprd,v(not .out), 171; Macalißter,'so;':Vernon, 25; Lavor," 23. 1 Ransford : batted'-'brilliantly, b'lit' gavq' . a 'oharice when'he, had. scored 89... '■' -,'." ... ;.„.' \Vhitty took 3 wickets for, 71, Olaxton 2 for 46; O'Connor 2 for 121. : .' ; .-..■ ■• "•■ ■.- ■■_ •The' South ■ Australians (who scored 127 in their first' innings) iii' their second innings . have lost no wickqts for 34. NEXT AUSTRALIAN TEAM FOR HOjVIJ. ;' : ;.\ ;:■:.:...;. -vV.Melbdurno, January S. : i The.Seieotion .Commitvee has.choßon the following certainties for the.cricket team to visit England:— ''■•'. "■■ , ■ Now South Wales: Noble and Trumper, Victoria: Armstrong and Ransford. South Australia:, 0, Hill..', ... ....„■' . Queensland rHartigan. : ' . THE PROBLEM,'OF NEW.BLOOD. ■',■'■■'■'■■ ' SELECTORS'DIFFICULTIES. Compared with those who have toseleot the English Eleven, the Australian selectors are (writes the "Sydney' Telegraph") handicapped, 'inasmuch as,wliile in England first-class oriokot is played nearly evory day, tho first-olnss games played in Au6tralia in a season oan ho numI bered on. tho fingers, That is the reason why a player is hard to displace, if onoo-he'gets into the team. He has. to do somcthmg extraordinary to be chosen, and once in he has few. oppovtunitiee of disclosing whether he should :be dropped or not. And similarly, others who'are Jcnooking at the door have so few knocks, that they cannot make themcelves heard. . ' ■ ■'. .': ' ... • : -Supposing a. new player discloees good form iu.Srado orickei His State has its eleven, and. if he happeoeto New South Wales, it usually takes.more than a. seaeon for: : a new. player to get into that eleven. 'Even, if-lib - .ages,;he only gets half a dozen games in the season in'.first-class! cricket,, and tho odds are ngaiast him going higher. Consequently, if a 1 :tenm had .to bo chosen now, thqre would-on performances bo very few new. men chosen, as, compared with the last Australian Eleven, and, as a-matter of fact, the composition; of tho team would be little different to that which last toured England. Taking New South Wales alone, the players one would expect to see in. the team are Noble, Trainper, Cartor, Syd. Gregory, Macartney, awl Cotter. JFrom Vi^ o " o , Armstrong, Saunders, and Eansford would be drawn; Hartigan from Queensland, and O'Connor and Hill from Soutli Australia. . . . : '-: : . Very ,few.. cricket followers: would suggest the elimination of any of these l players, and yet tliey.are the me'n whp had most to dp wi' ■ the boating .of the Englishmen >in Australia last season.' .... . .'., . . ' ■ If 14 men are sent, with Laver us a playing manager, there are only two vacancies, and one of these must, be filled by a second wicketkeeper. If the next bqst 'keeper to Carter was selected; Gorry would probably be chosen,' b\\ as the second string is-''only .'.wanted to give the first one a spoil when occasion demands, a 'keeper who is also a batsman may bo asked to go, and in these circumstances probably Gehrs would get the.trip. ' : That-leaves only one place to fill* and ic filling that; the selectors ;are confronted wit'the problem whether to seleot i\ batsman pr a bowler, :pr a player who plays in beth' departments of the game. If a bowler, then all the promising batting qolts will have to ' fnrthcr wait their opportunity.. Batsmen of undoubted calibre, like E. F. Waddy, E. 1. ■\Vaddy, Bardsley, Dolling, Mdyne, and half a dozen others, will have to be put aside, ,vr : what has any one of them done to justify any of the old hands boind displaced in their favour? ■ ' :.■••■ Yet it looks n.s if they irill have to wait, for it cannot be denied that the weakness of the Inst Australian Eleven was In the bowling department.- As a batting combination to draw from, Noble, Trumper, Carter, ■ Gregory, Macartney, Kansford, Armstrong, HHI, and Hartignn am' all right, but bowlers Noulo, Cotter, Macartney, Armstrong, Saunders, and O'Connor do npt look like getting the best Englieh Eloven out cheaply. ~, . ...-.- The "Telegraph" quotes Noblo's high opinion of the'young' New' South Wales bowler Emery, and adds: "Adopting Noble's view as to the excellence of Emery's bowling, the team would therefore be:— .••.■•• Now-South Wales.—Noble, Trnmper, Carter, g. Gregory, Cotter, Macartney, Emory. . . Queensland.— Hni'tigan, • ....... " Victoria.—'Kansford, -Armatrong, Saundcrx. . Siiuth iustrulia.—C. Hill, O'Connor, Uehre.