THE WORLD OF SPORT.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 972, 12 November 1910, Page 12

THE WORLD OF SPORT.

CRICKET. ;■- 4 ——

[By The Breaker.] LEADING BATTING AVERAGES. * • 1 I ' I : ' • f .o 5 H i " S & tH '< 1~, Crombie, East B . 180 "68 0 4 ,45.0 j ' Burns, Collegs ...... 102 70* 1 3 34.0 Sheridan, North 31 21* 1 1 34.0 |:'-yMonaghan, College Kb'SS 51 0 3 29.G i Brace' Central A ... 59 30* 2 2 29.5 : Tucker, East A 117 45 1 4 . 29.2 j. Phillips,. North ........ 56 29* 3 2-28.0 • Midhuie, East A ..." 98 -30* 1 4 24.5 • Gibbes, East A ... -69 0 3 23.0 i ' Bla'mires, Central A..: 45 40 0 2 22.5 Stainton, College •... . 67. 48 0 3 22.3 Saunders, College .;. 66 32 0 3 22.0 ; Burton, South ...... 87 30 0 "4 ,21.7 i. Brice, Hutt 65 40* 1 3 21.6 Staples, Hutt ......... 64 31 1 3 21.3 i Johnson, East B ... 41 38 0 2 20.5 |. "■ Mahoney, East A ... 82 51 1-4 20.5 Wilkinson, Central B 102 -43 0 5 £0.4 i Stephenson, Central B 75 46 0 4 18.7 ' Goldfinch, East B ... 74 47 . 0 4 18.5 | Blacklock, North ... 84 24 .0 5 16.8 : ll'Kay, East B 50 27 0 3 :16.6 Birch, Central A 65 21 -0 4 16.2 : ; Jl'Gill, East A '49 36 0 3 16.3 •V Sisson, Central B ...... 64 31 0 4 16.0. Laws, Central A, 32 31 0 2 16.0 i : Williams, North ...... 16 16 0 1 16.0 " Johnson, South ...... 16 15* 1 1 16.0 < " Grace, South 61 31 0 4 15.2 i Caddick, College ... 30 18 1 2 15.0 f Wynyard, Nortli .... 4i 25 0 3 14.6 1 Hawthorne, Central A 44 23* 1 3 14.6. { - Finlayson, North ... 58 39 0 4 14.5 ; ' Wilson,' South ■ 29 22. 0 2 14.5 • Collet!, East A ...... ,57 16 '14 .14.2 Patterson, .Central B 56 34 0 4 14.0 : Walters, South ...... 54 24 0 4 13.5 ' . Itempsey, College 40 24 1 3 13.3 1 : Naughton.- Central A 39 17. 1 3 13.0 i Ebberts, .Central A ... 50 28 0 4 .12.5' ! • Hickson, Hutt ...... 49 36.; 0 4 12.2 f - Burbidge,'College' 48 27 0' 4 12.0 ( Wilson, Hutt v 43 34 .0 . 4 12.0 Richardson, North ... 23 16 0 2 11.5 Grimraett, East A ... 23 9 1 2 11.5 Norris, South 31 23 0 3 11.3 ; Chapman, East 8~...... 22 20 0 2 11.0 f Alderslev,-Hutt ' ...... 41 20 0 4 10.2 '• - Wilson, East B 40 21 0 .4 10.0 Fanning, College ~. 40 20 - 0. •' 4 10.0 not out. In addition to the foregoing ll'Jlalion : . (Central B) has-a not>out aggregate of 43. ' O'Shea (East B) has a not-out aggregate . of 3G. BEST BOWLING. ' Average . Huns. AVkts. perwkt. i East A .149 .22 ' 6.7 Brice, Hutt 148 17- : 8.7 ■ .Laws,. Central A ...... 339 . . 15 . 9.2 C, ' Monaghan, College ... 152 ' .14': 10.8 Saunders, .College 132 11 12.0 : lfindlay, North ......... 135 11 . 122 . (The foregoing are the bowlers whc. have : t . tiiken teii wickets, or more.) .East B Ascendant/ ; The unexpected does not always happen, Ibut, on occasion, it'comes to -light ; in a

. way -that is. refreshing: -• An instance oc- :• burred-'on Saturday in the match ber itween East ,B and Central'A'. Figuring . on probabilities, anyone would have been justified iff prophesying , a defeat for the i , B. eleven, but the events of the day pleas--1 antly upset this perfectly legitimate as- . sumption. ■ Deprived ' of. their' best bat J- ■ at. a poor compensating : gain ,in . runs, .East. B -yet. contrived to. recover lost gTouiid,' and make their':position good; : ; ,jhe manner, in which it was done "speaks well'for the general fibro of the team. By, a joint effort, marred, it is" true, by ■ . a few; failures,, but on the' whole .toleri abjy wellvmaintairi'edj they converted bad prospects into good. If Central.A want '.. this.match'.they . will havo to put their f best foot ..foremost. '"..On . the: figures to -date they" stand thirty .runs behind for i a given number of wickets (seven), and 'it is;hardly likely that they will contrive to.put. as good a tailpiece' to their work i in the first innings as did. their oppoh- : «ents. . Unless they have very , bad luck, East B should open ;tlie second innings with" a. substantial majority to credit. If: a second innings is played they may probably need this majority, but, liowever the final event may turn, East B has fairly earned a feather in its cap. \

A Rearguard Action. Tho heroes of the occasion were, of course, O'Sliea and Johnston, the two batsmen -who. so .Sturdily upheld the .fagend. of the proceedings. Both wcre a little nervous when their fruitful ■■ partnership commenced, 'but they ' quickly : settled down, and' presently they were cutting and driving in a way that compared not unfavourably ;with. the expert' display by ilidlano and Tucker, proceeding simultaneously on an adjoining wicket. Nash also made good use.of his term-at the wickets: He gave - a "chance now' and then, but persistently hit out in an enterprising way, arid' added a useful tale of runs to the-score. With tho .ball he ' did: equally-well. In his first over, a maiden, the first ball; n-leg-break, got past Hawthorne, to his loss. The fifth ball of the same over Roberts obliginglylifted into the hands'of. Hales. In five more overs that he howled Nash , took ■no further wickets, but only 13 'runs : stood: on ■ the wrong side of his bowling account at the, end of the day.

Five Good Overs. . . Hales collapsed as a batsman on Saturday, but when trundling he' proved a ' ~Bore thorn in the flesh of Central A. His ~ Btarfc was unpromising. Eight overs pro- . : duced nothing save runs—twenty-seven of ; , them—but the remaining five overs were ■ r . chock full of "business." Pour of, the •five were maidens, and the last of the ; series would have been but for one de- ; livery that Bruce got away for four. In the first of the four maidens Hales took ;.- two wickets in - succession, those: of Little i..v and Birch. In the next Beechy elevated i , ; n .catch, accepted by Johnston. In the / last over sent down by- Hales, Bruce as ! stated got one away for four, but the '.. , next-ball carried his. wicket. i An Epidemic of Catching. There was, somcf good .'catching on both Fides in the East B-Ccntral match. One ; of the most successful players in ■ this line of eifort was; Roberts, who proved [' . himself an adept fieldsman. His best ■;; catch, one of three, was that which disi." . missed Crombie) Roberts, in the slips, I took it. near the ground and in one, ; hand. Blamires also proved himself pos- ' sessed. of a ready grasp. There was no- , ■ thing spectacular in his work. He took a couple of catches easily, but they might just as easily have been missed by a , player less wide awake, particularly' the one that .was taken after a forward, run of a dozen yards or so.' A catch well ; taken during 'the Central .innings was • ' that which Beechy sent to Johnston. ' : Staggered by tho impact, the fieldsman spun round and concluded his gyration sitting on the field. But during these evolutions he kept a steady grasp on tho ball. The catch that Brabin took from Blamires was a simple little offering, one of those important trifles that arise from even the best bats, at times.

Extras added just one to the Central A score oil Saturday, n fact which speaks well for the qualities of Brabin as a jricket-keeper. A Dull Display. Although it gave rise to some meritorious' performances, the match between South and East A on Saturday was by no means so interesting as the keenfought contest, with its unexpected ups and downs, that occurred 011 number three wicket. Only five of the South batsmen reached double figures, and ono score only, that of Norris, stood at more than 15. The South innings, in the main, wns a rout which batsmen after batsmen utterly failed to rotrievc. Credit belongs, if at all, to Smith, Johnson, and Norris, the men who came in that order last to tho wickets, except for Sf.hnioll. who on this occasion exerted no influence at all, Smith played with an occasional sparkle of enterprise, and drove once or twice wilb capital eflect. Johnson and Norris defended their wickets doggedly, and for a time the partneriship seemed likely to enjoy a lengthy

A WEEKLY RECORD OF SPORTS AHD OTHER PASTIMES.

tenure. A new. bowler, however, spoiled its prospects. Grimmott, coming fresh to the work, bowled Norris almost immediately. Bowler That Needs Playing. Although in individual matches his average is sometimes bettered Hickey is steadily maintaining his reputation as a bowler who needs a lot of playing. On Saturday the heat and burden of smash- 1 ing what South put forward in the way of defence fell in major proportion to his share. As usual! ho made the ..ball turn both ways, mixed his pace well and sometimes- gave .the ball a rather puzzling flight' through the air.

Three Strong Batsmen. A well-matchcd partnership on Saturday was.that of Mialaneand 'l'ucker when they opened the batting for East-A against Wellington South.: Erich batsman quickly took the measure of the bowling and settled dowu to deal with it in a way that looked like lasting. Tho first .big stroke came' from Midlane. It was a drive that sent the ball over nearly the length of the ground. After that the ball rose often in lofty flights from either end of : the wicket. Apart from powerful'dnving both Tucker aud Midlane showed a pretty faculty for cutting and snicking the bsll at speed into unexpected quarters. In this way many runs were gained. - The dismissal of Midlane, bowled by Smith, came as a. disappointment. Tucker had exceedingly bad luck. To .the.lasi stroke he had easily mastered the bowling and he was rapidly compiling, runs. To be run out under such circumstances must be aggravating. Gibbes, although he was topscorer with a good lead', did not show the same facility in hitting all round the wicket as Midlane and Tucker had done. Nevertheless, his driving , was powerful "and his defence sound. . • • Of the South bowlers Grace took pride of. place with a record of four wickets for 23 runs, Smith being nearly as good with four for 26. The appearance of Grace, in tho capacity of bowler, entirely changed the aspect of tho game. He bowled Gibbes and Hutchings in rapid succession and Smith and he were accountable, for the fact that-no* later batsman;attained a score of any importance. It is a lair assumption that if these two'bowlers, had been put oil earlier the .East score would hato been •; considerably smaller than it is..

Hutt and Central B. The '' cricket displayed iff the match Hutt v.. Central B was not of a startling nature. As the match now stands Hutt appears to have the upper and should get a 3-point. win.- fhe batting on the Hutt side, was quite commonplace. . Hickson , showed glimpses of old .form"in compiling his 38, and now that he has "got a start should keep the fields-; men busy in future games. "Ranji Wilson came to light with 31, but it was by no means a chanceless innings. Mitchell: missed him twice. However, it is pleasing to seo "Ranji" giving the scorers something to do as a prolonged attack of rheumatics-has .been ".tlie~- of preventing him getting much practice this season. No other batsman, on,, the Hutt side did anything, worth mentioning, with the exception, perhaps, of Skipper Judd who poked painfully for about half an hour ■ for'". five. Central - B's fielding ■ was rather good and their bowling required playing, Mitchell,. in fact, .bowled really well.--l u,.:--' -.v.- , 0 Central made a . very... poor • stand, Brice's'bowling being top 'deadly for most of :.thein. : ; The wicket was-', splendid, although ' the - outfield was ' something like a hay. paddcck. It is really, incumbent on the ..Hutt Club to ■do, > something. Even-": a' mob of sheep let r.'lgose on the ground would be better than 1 - nothing. The management of team does not strike one as brilliant: The captain invariably has Brice and E. Judd on bowling together. .Brice is fast and Judd medium to. fast, .and* such a combination is not" altogether- : the- right thing. Surely ho has more variety. Two fast bowlers simply play the batsmen m. A slow bowler should certainly be on at one end to, giyo variety.. The ■ ever-green Stephenspnis skipper 01 the Central team, and ;.is A. good man for the position. Gourley was very clean in his ground fielding, andjbrought off ,a, couple,of good catches.. • Hutrs. iielding, as usual, was not striking.. Dropped catches were frequent, 'Aldersley and E. Judd being the offenders. . . . It is understood that Islierwood will bo in the next Hutt team.-He should strengthen it somewhat, especially-in the fielding."

A Correspondent' on Fielding. A correspondent writes"Touching on tho question of fielding I would like to say right here that if Wellington cricket needs, improving, which no one will question, the first step in that direction, and the.first thing our coach should teach T>layers : under .his care, "is i how to field. The writer this season ; has taken particular'notice of the fielding abilities of the different' players and; with the exception. of - about, half a dozen men _ it is simply shocking. - Now _ the question arises: Why is our fielding - so had, especially, when one. remembers, that it may take a player, years of .practice before he is considered a bowler, and 110 end of , practice before he . has any pretensions as a batsman ?.. But fielding! Why, any player can be a good fieldsman! , The .fault lies, in tho fact that club captains, taking charge of practices, never for a moment think of pulling down the nets and making every player have ten minutes ground fielding and catching. Now, here is the opportunity for ' Saunders. He may riot bo able to turn out Trumpersi Hills, Ransfords, or Nobles, but ; lie can. turn out fieldsmen every' bit as good as the best in - Australia and in the present • season too.

Selection Committee. "Tho Wellington Association have not yet selected a Selection Committee. This should be done at once, considering the representative teams to be selected. The possible team for tho Plunket Shield should now be practising hard, tinder the coach's tuition, at anyrate they should have a wicket prepared specially tor ono night at least during the week.", A Good Outside Team. • Outside tho ' association competitions there is .in Wellington a-merry band of ex-Australians known as "Tlie Kangaroos," which team contains the names of ' worthies who have figured on the •front, page of cricket. It is not for tho writer at present to attempt any elaborate explanation of their cricketing abilities'. Still he has witnessed the splendid play in the last two matches and thoroughly believes in their prowess. As the season advances they are bound to regain some-of their old form and one is forced to the conclusion that they are worthy of better opponents' than such teams as play' outside the district association. Anyhow, they state that they are willing to play all-comers.