CRICKET.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 747, 21 February 1910, Page 6

CRICKET.

AUSTRALIA. AND AUCKLAND. .; VISITORS "WELL AHEAD; \ MAYNE COLLAES THE BOWLING. (By Telegraph.—Press Association,! Auckland, February 19.' The' cricket match, between, Auckland and the Australian team was.', continued to-day. Auckland had been disposed of in their first innings on Friday for a total of 112 made on a sticky, wicket, and thp Australians had lost Bardsley,. Smith, and Simpson ,for 72_ runs.. At; the close of Friday's play the wicket .'.was rolled out, and, as no rain fell', during the night,, it was in good order.; when play was resumed on Saturday—a trifle slower than usual, perhaps, but easy. The attendance was very fair ■ when the teams took ■ the field, and, during the day,', it increased to about -1000.

At a couple of-, minutes', past' twelve Mayne, the not-ont'Australian. batsman, ■went to the wicket accompanied;by Armstrong. .The latter took strike to Olliff, and scored a single off the first ball from an on drive. Keif operated with .the ball from, the other end, and, for . some time, nothing out of . the ordinary occurred. Both batsmen were'playing steadily, and, indeed, leisurely cricket, their strokes being apparently executed with consummate ease. x Still they'.showed no greax desire to . force the'scoring; and, though playing stylishly ■ they :: were - nevertheless treating the • attack with respect.

Mayne-Armstrong Partnership. ' Mayne was cutting prettily at this stage,'. and, presently, he brought 100 .on the board i with a neat stroke off,R«lf. Then with;a series of strokes in'which a pretty, turn, of the ; wrist was always evident he carried his own score , well, past the half-century. Meantime, Armstrong had,.reached 18, and, at that stage, .was missed by Taylor;' The chance, ! 'however, was a difficult one, the ball coming fast , and' high. The fieldsman made a. determined effort to effect the. catch but.unsuccessfully,, though, he was .applauded for the attempt. Keif was . still bowling-well,: and. once or twice he just - shaved, < wickets, while it was off'his bowling, that, the Australian: captain was missed. In'spite of . the ■ fact,'however, that the bowlers were doing all they knew the score was advanced to >132—Armstrong 28, Mayne. 62—and, at .this .stage, Taylor relieved Olliff. At the other end Howden 'relieved/.Keif; off his first ball, he missed an easy, chance, of "catch and-bowl," Armstrong .'being the batsman. " Armstrong then brought ' 150 up by. a taj!: to the on, the 78 put on •so far having taken about .52. minutes to. compile. " >'• - Armstrong Dismissed. The change in bowling had, however, ■ slackened the rate of run-getting a good deal. 'Maynewas now well on , his way to the hundred, and was playing tie bowling without trouble; He reached' 84 with' a very pretty late cut off Taylor. Armstrong's [end was at hand, however, and a few minutes before'luncheon Olliff sent down his wicket with a ball that beat him all the way. At the "adjournment, Mayne i was 99 not out. He had given three chances (two of them easy ones) and had ■batted an hour .and-twenty minutes for his runs. ,> .'■■■■ Another Partnership: , On resuming play; Kelleway . accompanied Mayne to the wickets, "the 1 latter tacing'tho bowling of-Relf. The first two balls-beat "him l altogether,, but. he "got two for a- pretty late cut off the' third, , ■thus', securing his, centurjy for which he was accorded an ovation. Olliff : again bowled at the other end, Kelleway getting his -flrst; strike from' him..: The! attendance at this stage was a'i.oticeable improve-' ment.on that of the morning,...thiiUtaicL' being full, while a good crowd occupied a position of. vantage, under -the trees Tound the ground, v Mayne continued with ■his long series tof ..pretty >"T3obk" lstrokes, and added to. his now large total with considerable freedom.- The advent of Hadden at the bowling crease, the score being then ; , 199, was treated with applause, and a . single, scored by Mayne off his-second' ball, brought 200 on the telegraph/ Mayne presently. -, passed ...Sale's score against Otago (121) by a pretty late cut for four,' and, in the same over, from 'Hadden,Kelleway brought up double figures;

' ' • ; Mayne's Wicket' Captured.- ; Steadily tho score., was advanced well into the third century, and the problem of getting Mayne out seemed as unsolvable as ever, but, even the longest lane .must have a turning somewhere, and at 249 Rolf' beat him with a beauty. which .scattered' Ms bails. . . . '

I'ivo wickets; were. now . down. Mayne had scored 130 runs in about three hours, and.had given a first-class exhibition.' Ho made few mistakes throughout- his long innings, and His strokes, though all round tho wicket, ■ included a large proportion of late, cuts,: each' of which was splendidly timed. This was Relf s second wickot, and, so far, 57 runs had been scored off his. bowling. After thjs. the, batting became .very slow, but gradually the score mounted io; 278, when "Warne. livened matters up ,a little, and., eventually brought 300 up with a slowly-run single off Sadden, which he followed up by a fine off-drivo for i off Olliff. ' «

The batting after the. tea adjournment became more lively, and both men laid,. on the : wood—a feature, which' :was . much 'relished:: ;by, -the crowd which, ''by this .time, .was very large.. Twenty-eight runs : were scored in' fifteen minutes, . Warne .being the principal performer. With 321 up, Robinson missed an easy- chance,of stumping Kelleway,- who jumped in to Taylor, who had relieved Olliff. Warne got his 50/ first; and,' a couple of balls later, Kelleway got three for an on-drive which brought the half-century opposite his name also. Soon afterwards he - was given out ..leg-before-, wicket to Snedden, for 51, and six wickets were down , for 338. Dodd came next, but' lost' lus partner, Warne beingsplendidly caught in: the "country",. by Horspool off Sneddon.; He had played fino free cricket during the' latter part of his innings. Nobody else did much, and the innings .closed for 355.'.

i Auckland's Second Innings. Srfedden had the best bowling average, but,' though .all the bowlers'tried well, none of them gave the visitors very much trouble. Olliif and Relf were undoubtedly tho best. The Auckland ground fielding was excellent, but the catching -was bad. Auckland had' -10 , minutes left to bat when they commenced the second innings, and, in that time, lost two wickets for 30 runs.- The following are the scores:—. : AUCKLAND. ;■ V First innings 1.,..:.............. 112 Second, Innings. Horspool, c. Dodds, b. Armstrong ... 0 Anthony, not out 19 Snedden, b. Emery. 8 ■ Extras . .'. 3 Total 1 for. two wickets ...1...;. . 30 ' ' Bowling Analysis. Armstrong, one wicket for 12 runs; Whitty, none for 3; Emery, one for 9; Warne, none for-3. ; i AUSTRALIA. First Innings. ' , Bardsley, c. and b. Rclf 0 Mayne, b. Rolf 130 Simpson, b. Olliff 30 Smith, b. Olliff ; 3 Armstrong, b. Olliff ; 4G ICelleway, 1.b.w., b./Sneddon 51 Warne, c. Horspool, b. Snedden 54 Emery, run out 2 Dodd, b. Taylor 0 Whitty,' ont out G Gorry, b. Taylor 0 Extras 21 ' .Total 355. Bowlirig Analysis. • . Keif, two wickets ,for,,Go runs; Howden, none for 72; Olliff,' three, for 77; Taylor,' two for 51; Haddon, none for 41; Smith, none, for; 41; Sneddon,. two ; for 20.