WEDNESDAY BOWLING.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1031, 21 January 1911, Page 12

WEDNESDAY BOWLING.

The Collapse on Wednesday,: riWo'ifgh the a trifle .bree®-, coilditions aV,thßißasin Reserve on nestfaiif'fi'ere-not;-,unpleasant, They.'yere. at''anyrate-decidedly; pleasanter' than at most', places:-outside. > The wickets yere in first-rate order,'and human■ frailty will alone-explain the failure':'of most of tho , batsmen engaged to give a: good account of' thtnißelves. i-, For, three. Oriental, and.Tramways—tho.day was one' of- collapse. . Each of these' elevens followed" on, 'and'.was souudly beaten. On the-result of '.the .fifth .series, "Union lias obtained'a four-pointrlcad in-the race for. the championship.- . Rivals - come. second, and Artillery and Oriental are bracketed third. '

.Blight-on the: Fielding. . . j Fielding all round on Wednesday was:, by no'means, what it should have been. • Several, chances*-were ■ missed, of them badly, in-each game played. Stopping was poor, arid returns were not too clean. Often they.wero"wild. Tlie moral of this'-dismal"littlo story, is tliat Wednesday cricketers'mnst, bestir themselves and go in for. more practice. They have it in tlietn to attain a good standard of fielding» as is proved Ihfc ft'.ct tliat a Wednesday fielding exhibition of a few weeks ago compared more than favourably with anyfh'ing that lias been seen in Welling-tori-:foi : a : ;long time. The performance can -be repeated, if, the. Wednesday -men make a. stout enough effort.; . The Downfall, of Oriental. \ Post and Telegraph obtained an. easy victory, oyer. Oriental :with a. margin . of nine wickets and four runs. The Oriental, batting'in both first, and second > innings showed'an. unmistakable tendency towards the undesirable condition popular-; ly known as "rot." ' The effort of Wilkinson, who made 38 not out was an almost'solitary bright .feature in tho first innings of his 'team. ■ He ■ made ■ his runs bv. canny play, varied by an occasional bit of punishment;-'' Bentley and Truscott acoompanied him into the region of. double, ! -figure's. Shand just crossed the line, having half a score, to his'credit when he was; cauglit by.,Plimmer. ' In their'second innings Oriental mnde' 172." The improv- ; ed ■ showing ' was chiefly duo to '.Billmap, ~\vho' rknopked Up 65 . in happy-go-lucky tttylc. It is only fair to add that he sent ap."nothing.that could fairly be classed as'a ! clianCe. . His strokes were powerful. There were two sixes, ono five, five fours, ' aiidl five threes in his score, of G5- ■ Between the*'fall of tlio eighth and. ninth ticket 82' runs-were added to tho Oriental aggregate for the second innings. Tho result was', due first to Billmari, and rieyt to- Bolton, who went, in seventh,' and batted quietly for 36. This player had tad' luck-in -being' scut out l.b.w. in' the previous innings.

P. and T.'s Smashing Attack. Of 'the Post and Telograpli bowlers, Tbhte was easily best. In the first innings lie' took five wickets for 26, and in the second lie. is a right-hand bowler, who keeps a goc<l length, and on this occasion lie outmanoeuvred the batsmen'in quite a striking way. In th'o first innings lie'clean 'bowled four and caught and bowled a fifth'. In the second innings five of his six victims were cleah: bowled. The "other end" was also kept up,very well, and the'general elfect was 1 an' attack Which smashed down all opposition. , The bowlers soon knew that they had ssiiKd the situation by tlio throat, and,they never let go their grip. Tramv/ays and Rivals. ' Tramways camo down badly, but-it is to"'be remembered that, on tho previous playing day; thoy had to fall back 011 a' scratch field, many of their regular players being .absent. On Wednesday tho i team was present almost in full force, but failed to make the lost ground good. Rivals,- in the. previous week, had made , 262 in their first' innings.. Tramway's first;, innings brought them 157. Small with' 30, Clarke with 26, and Brainley 1 with-25 not'out being the scorers of tho occasion. Tho last-named batsman has a rooted habit of stubbornly' defending his wicket that ■ takes a lot of i breaking down. In the second innings—Tramways followed on—ho was again not out, this time with. 37 wellearned runs to his credit,. Pcrkinson, in tho second innings, inado 32. He is-a batsman of power when he gets fairly under way. Now and then he lifts the ball high, but usually when this occurs it is a distance stroke. I'erkinson's weakness is in defence. Hd is easily cleanbowled at, times. Tramways, in their Second' innings, were minus the services of Hull, who is reckoned tlieir premier bai... Rivals . emerged from the contest victorious by an. innings and five runs. ■ The best attacker for Rivals was Howe, who took three wickets for 27 in the first innings, and four for 19 in tho second. 3e was very successful in inducing tho

batsmen to lift welcome offerings to the fieldsmen. George, with -a record of threo for 20, was next best. ... Still Another Collapse. Still another 'solid defeat was that of Vivian'in their with-Union. The latter had set. their opponent's «i problem by compiling 271; in' their-firist innings, and Vivian discovered no way of doing it. Their first innings ' produced the noble 4 total of 58, -with .-"Mr.- Extras" as the only double figure scorer. .It was a'dismal time. .Harris, for Union, toAk six wickets for 17, .oil' paper the best record of tho'ddy. 'In their sec6ntU appearance—a follow-on, of course—Vivian •revived a little, and made 156. Caterer made' 51 by canny play, abandoned now and then for a willing stioke. Dempsey played a steady, >chaiiceless game for 33, and Cording, with a' series of 'clean cut. strokes, and 'm capablo defence knocked up 28. The bowling °iii this case .was undistinguished. .M'Gill, with three for. 20, had the best average for the innings. ' ' - The Thjef of Time. The Wednesday teams have lately shown laxity in turning -.out ' at tho . timo appointed for the commencement of matches. On Wednesday some of-the games started at'the time set down. It would, bo rather a good;.thing,for. the. sport.if the.associaenforced" the • penalties; provided for 'failures." oL-this.- kmd.^'."Carelessiiess ; .-;if tolerated .is apt ,to be;, carried, ,to . unreasonable - lengths,' r and in any. case the duty of. being, punctual'•"is-' plain,' and should be recognised.' A Mighty Stroke. . ' The only stroke .for seven that , has; been hit and run out during the season" was made by Wilkinson,:.'when playing for Oriental on .Wednesday; The punished delivery. came - from ~Greigv -'••The batsman, caught it neatly;oii;thc;,Tise,..and drove it, fromrNo. 2 thcket, -to' the> footpath op-' ' Canterbury- Representativesi ; : ' .The Canterbury/ Thursday 1 representa-' tives,. who- are. to:• .play s the -Wellington Wednesday representatives on Monday and Tuesday, .next, ."-arrive here .to-monw niorning. .They will be welcomed on arrival by '.thel officers .of .the Wednesday: Association, and" it is proposed" that the afternoon shall 'he.Vspent.in a • -trip •to Day's Bay. The visitors will be accommodated -'during'their''stay at' the -Hotel Windsor,' where, the/competing teams will lunch together on each' playing'- day. Wickets have been prepared for tho senior and junior representative' games, salongside the ordinary No. 1 and 2 wickets at the Basin. The 'Wellington Association has agreed to play, no other matches while, tho mid-week representative contests" are in progress.:' ; ; s

The-Saturday Match';at Hutt. ' •. . Tiie match Hutt - v.-'Wellingtori North resulted in a win for. Wellington after javery interesting game. The North- team' were r fortunate in winning the. toss, and/ batting. : oir tho perfect .wicket,' and they had also, tho assistance of - a -fast outfield. They took full advantage of tlic-se favourable. toriditiollS, aud'.put.uji the good score of .355.- Hutt on the following Satur-day-played on:a wet ;wicket, '..with ' a very.'dead outfield, arid'consequently were at-'ri, disadvantage,\bitt,'so well' did they commence, that it : seemed'' at ono stago ofith-e. contest that they would" win, or at least-makova .draw, ofcthe game, .but at U. 30 the last wicket fell. - . .The batting on the ..North side--.was good; Richardson's innings being the best. Blacklock mado : 90,, but was lucky to any. He ivas,'missed .before .scoring jby3B.V3udd,'anfl sUvefal't'ifries afterwards, (ultimately- retiring_Eto-odt> .doubtful decision for l.b.w :'Kichardsou's' 70 was got .by; really good cricket,- and he gave no enances. Abaters played a good innings for 52, not out, and showed something like his old form. Of the others, Wyuynrd and tambert showed up .very well.- Tho Hutt bowlers were not backed up by the field, both F. Judd and Brice. having several chances missed off them.-'' . Ilutt's effort, on the second ~ day was full of merit, and, but for a. doubtful decision which -dismissed -Staples, the game would probably have-been drawn.' Staples and Isherwood opened, but, after scoring 5, Isherwood was. bowled.by. Findlay with ,a " Ijall , that hung; Brice , followed, and should 1 "have bee'ri''cauglit and. bowled by, 'Findlay, but'fliat player was ,"nut wideawake at the time, arid: started out after the catch too late. -A good stand followed, and 90. was on the. slate when Brice was brilliantly caught, .by Manso'n.' at deep square-leg' for'4G.'' pickets theii fell fast until :Hickson came in, and was well set when he' was also brilliantly caught ,ai mid-on by Bragge. Very little of noto occurred till Cate came in, and, discarding - his usual stonewalling 'methods; "went,for", the bowling in good style, and had the decent scorc of 48, when ho was bowled by Findlay with a half-pitcher. In the, meantime, Staples had been keeping up his end, but scoring very slowly. He, was eventually given out caught and bowled, when he had made 62. It is statsd* that this decision was off a biimn ball.' ' : v;' - ~ ■ Findlay. secured the "most wickets for the North; team, but Bragge was the best bowler, though he trundled without luck. The batting on the Hutt side, with: tho exception of ..Staples,,' Cate, Brice, and Hickson, was very' tame, and although Staples made G2, it .took.him just on three hours to make them. The fielding on the Hutt.: side,, .with ..one .-or- two exceptions,, was wretched. .J

Ruiis. 'tt'Kts. ■ age.'. Darroch, Rivals''63 " "11 5.7 M'Intyre, Artillery... 287 . 34 8.4 Howe, Rivals 114 13. ; 8.7 Rodeers,' Tramways 126 . 12 : ' .10.5 Harris, Union 272 , 22 '. 12.3 •M'Gill, iUpion ..,..... " 230 - 18 ,12.7 Toms, P. and,: T. . 188 ■. 14 13.4 QJSullivan, ■ Union... 103 12 .. .13,5 Little,. Oriental * 246 18 13.0 Plimmer, P. and. T. 108 12 14.0 Bramley, Tramways 170 12 14.1 Greig; P'. and T.162 .11 .14.7 M'Evedy,' Rivals ...' 188 .12 15.6. Shand,, Oriental. J.... . 184 11 10.7 Bailey,' Artillery;.";:. 331 ■ 19 1T;4Billmjin, Oriental::.- '249 .12 ''20.7 Thdnipkoii, ViviaU...- .263. 12 22.3 Tli-oinpsotL, ■ Oriental ■ 26710 ; 1 '20.7;. -.15 «.[($* '. . ;.t