CRICKET.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1295, 25 November 1911, Page 12

CRICKET.

[Bi Ins Bebaob.]

THE GOSSIP OF THE WEEK, iThe Military Assault on Warne. Affront offered to His Majesty's forces on tho cricket field these two last Wednesdays by Warne, of Union, wag considerable. Warno stood like a tower, and both commissioned and non-commissioned bowlers performed various efforts in tactics against him, but without much oft'ect. Hβ was assaulted by long-range-bombardment, short-range 6nap-shooting, attempts to blow up his berme, terrepleine, and counterscarp, and oue bowler —he must havo been an Engineer—attempted to sap tho enciento with a scries of "yorkers." But the Warne fortress stood better than Port Arthur, and, being a bit of a military genius in his own way, ho was not conteut with a "passive defence," but frequently smote tho assault with a very deccut counter-attack. In making his century, he hit two fives, threo fours, aud 1G threes. Towards the famsh the military onfall on the Warne stronghold wavered a lot. It is not sought to stato exactly that Artillery's fielding was had. but tho writer has ofton seen them field better. Harris (57) took up the counterattack nfter Warno had fallen and been horno from tho field with honour, and Driver put on 49. His Majesty's forces eventually wero obliged to throw out a strong rear-guard, and quit tho battlefield in the best ordor they could. i The Stylish Artillery Way. What a pretty lot some of tho Artillery batsmen are! Some of their batting seems tn smack of far-away stylish pitches at Chatham, and Aldcrshot, and Hythe. and —as it may ho—Secuudornbad and Mhow, for your typical Englishman will play cricket the world over. Such is their madness, and such is their method, That, assessing a fellows worth Is by casting a ball at three straight stick?, And defending tho sanio with a fourth. ... Of the Artillery stylishness something has been said in previous notes, and ebmething will ho said, as occasion offers, again. In tho meantime a word is dua to Captain Robinson. He is evidently a believor in attack as against defence. In making GG against Union—by no means bad bowling—he hit one five, two fours, eight threes, and seven twos. This is a lot faster than the gait of Warner s men in Australia. Running Between the Wickets,

What has gone wrong with the Wednesday men in the matter of> running betwoen tho wickets? Although tho season is only "four days old"—four, playing days, that is—no fewer than 23 men havo been run out. The details arc us follow:—Oriental v. Union, 5; Artillery v. Vivian, 5; Rivals v. P. and T., 3; Eivals t. Oriental, i; Union v. Artillery, 1; 1\ and T. v. Vivian, 2. The fact is that. quite a lot of the Wednesday men (about 75 per cent.) do not know how to run between tho wickets, through not understanding whose call it is when tho stroko is made. When tho ball is hit BEHIND tho batsman, the "other fellow" should call; otherwise the actual hitter should "sing out" all tho time. If both men understand this, they can run for almost anything, and rim-nuts ought to bo vory few indeed. When a call is made from the proper end, there Should bp no hesitation or.refusal from tlin other.- i'i'ilk: ' ' ~ , \&'- The troublo lies deeper than it looks, prima facie. Some of tho Wednesday cricketers aro old and experienced players. When their sido goos in, they sit and wait thoir turn in the pavilion, and, meantime, noto tho bad calling. When they tako strike—supposing their first scoring stroke is a lato cut—they feel ingtinctively that they cannot trust the "other fellow" in a matter of judgment, and they break tho rule, and "look behind." So, what between the ultra-safety policy of tho old hand, and tho irresponsible nnd ill-timed dash of tho untutored young player, the result is bound to bo disaster. Host "caller" between tho wickets whom tho writer has Over seen is Ken. Tucker. When it is not his call, ho makes no sign or sound whatever. When it is his call, he merely winks, and it would bo a poor cricketer indeed who failed to "como through"- as soon as ho got that signal, for the East man is a splendid judge of a tun. 'A Cloud O'er Their Brows. A cloud has 'come o'er the collective brow of tho , Wednesday men, as to some of the rumpiring—especially on tho vexed l.b.w. matter, and tho following question has been put to "Tho Breaker" to solve: "Can an umpiro who stands well out from tho sido of tho wickets bo suro of his lbw decisions?" "The Breaker has not the slightest hesitation in answering as follows:—An umpire should take up his position straight behind the middle stump whichever sido of tho wicket tho bowler is dolivering from, and, if no does not flfand thorp, ho has no right to give an l.b.w. decision at all.

'A Tale ; of a Noble Sacrifice, A week ago tho prophet who leaves his footprints on tho sands of these columns ■was so enraptured with the Victona Co - ]ego loaitfs fielding that he purchased, at his own personal expense, cigut incnes of the paper's space, and devoted it to a oulogy of the admirablo sportsmen who w> nobly sacrificed victory and gaia on the altar of principle. No thought of depriving East B of runs templed them to desert tho cleariy-rte-Jincd course pointed for them' by tho laws of modern and up-to-date fielding. Nothing tempted them to Tovert to tho horrid selfishness of prehistoric leatherhunters, though East 13, without tho faintest jubtiiiuation, sorely tempted them at times. ■■ , There is tho unpenned legend of Uio Boblo student who saw the tiny sphere Failing temptingly and distracfcuigly- towards him. Ifn took his right hand out of his pocket, and adjusted his cap with liis left, imcrop*d his legs, nnd way nbout to succumb to tho temptation when tho horror of tlio situation flashed across his mind. In perspiration and dilemma ho brought out the "Book on Cricket," mnd turned up the chapter on "When in I)onbt—Advice to Fieldsmen." 'feverishly wetting his trembling fingnre and turning over the leaves, ho enmo to Iho page ho sought, and read thereon: "Do unto others as you would havo others do unto you." "I simply couldn't bear being caught Tut." said tho student. "Xo; I shall not dn it," arid he tripped daintily backwards several paces and took the ball on tho bounce. "I hardly like, returning it so soon," ho murmured, a? with a pretty movement of tbo arm ho stylishly propelled the missile towards tho wicket-keeper, "but they must get it back to-day. I bftpo they'll wake me at afternoon tea time. I liope they'll call mo when they're piling homo; it'i too cold to Bleep hero to-night." College Batsmen's Stand, But College left its modern, ideas in Hie pnvilion when they went in to bat. y,mt H had mad« 303 on tho previous Saturday, and College had lost threo wickets for 31 runs. Dickson and Saundors went to the creaso. Dickson made a gre.it stand. By freo cricket against some lamentable bowling he ran up fifW-cight. Several others brought grist to tho mill with a very line disrespect for Bast. GriffUUs knocked oft 25, nnd thcro was ev<m jirolH in thf tail of the team—great profit. S.ilmond played a long, determined inniugi to savp a follow-on, and was <lisniinscd when the task was only a low run.s short of accomplishment. Salmond's Isiltiiiir prodiipwl in. The ki.st sland wad Tiiaik , by Miller nnd Ovldick. The Iwtsiiipii trrafe<l the bowling as a great jnko, nn<l enjoyed themselves immensely. Tho b"iu'hf. of the tun was reached when O'SliP.i went ou, nij'l the bntsmea ■Rβ]conuxl his "delayed lightning" by ejecting I lie bull from the paddock several '.iinci

O'Shea very properly resented thai; bo didn't bowl again. Neither would any other self-respecting man, under the civcuiustnuccs. Wanted: A New Word! The match was decided on tho first innings, and ns College only made 252, East li won by 51. However, tUo two features of the seeoml day's play wero tho. good stand raado by tho College batsmen, aud thu simplicity of tho attack mado by East ]i It is truly unfortunate that the cricket dictionary does not contain any other word for alleged bowling than "bowling," as East B have the exact kind of stuff that requires the particular word that is still uninventcd. North and Central. ■ ■ Big scores rapidly. compiled may bo attributed to three factors—good wickets, good batting, and bad bowling—and very often to a combination of all three. In the North-Central match last Saturday, the bowling was weak, aud tho wicket was perfect, so that there would have been something wrong with tho batsmen had (hey not nit out freely. North resumed their second innings with the confident and irresponsible feeling that any team must have, in a strong winning position—a lead of twenty runs with teven wickets in hand-and they added 110 runs in considerably less than two hours. Everybody would have liked to see Wynyard go on from his 79 mark into threo figures, but ho scored only a couple of .singles before Ciillott found him out. Wiudley kept the game going merrily, scoring his 32 in attractive fashion. O'Sil'llivau was tho highest scorer of the afternoon for his side, but his innings was not remarkable for any special brilliaucy.' Ho has but a small stock of strokes, this player, but ho happens to be master of those he uses.

Phillips, although ho scored only 14, deserves somo mention for tho manner in which ho mado them. Ho is a very late player, and he uses his wrists more than most batsmen to push his stroko through. In this innings ho never once "felt" for a ball; tho ball was always there- and took it squarely on the face of tho bat. His last stroke was a beauty. Tho ball was easy enough, a fairly brisk full toss to the off, tho sort of bail many batsmon will leave alono or spoil, but Phillips ciuight it with a perfectly timed stroke, laid on in a Hash, and sent it through tho slips for four. Gillott took three of the five wickets which fell, and he took them all in a comparatively short spell with the ball. Ifo is puly a change bowler, however, and he was left on too long, with bad results. He is a left-hand slow bowler, who turns an inch or two from leg now and then, but his length becomes uncertain after half-a-dozen overs.

Blamires went on late in tho innings, and took the last two wickets fairly cheaply so far as his own account was concerned. Nono of the other bowlers tried did any good, (he one most mercilessly punished being Mitchell. i'or a time it looked 'as if even Blamircs's steadiness would fail to save his sido from an innings defeat, for when batsmen like Birch, Naughton, and Wilkinson had failed, prospects were not bright. Then Little came, and promptly began to hit. After Blamircs went, ho kept up his rate of scoring, almost altogether with strokes in front of the wicket, until when stumps were drawn ho had Co up. Ho hit five fours and nino three?. Boechey was tho partner who stayed longest with him for a wellplnyed III!. North's attack was sadly weakened by the absence of Findlay, and it was no time before the sting was knocked out of their bowling. Tlin heaviest burden fell on Finloyson, who bowled practically unchanged throughout the innings, and took three wickets for SB. Windloy, two for , 21, finished the day with tho best average i QUK-' M . iriii *?•''.■■*■. '■■'■ "The Bulletin" on the M.C.C. The latest "Bulletin" has the following from Adelaide: "Warner's English team, as seen oa, the oval here, has the great virtue of solidity. It seems to havo been picked with a special eye conditions. Tho captain himself looks younger than ever with his cap on, and with it off shows a domo liko the mental cupola of a University professor. 'The balder I get the keener I get-,' he said at tho Mayoral reception; at 38 he is batting better than ever before. F. I'. Foster (no relation of tho other cricketing I'ostcr) is all ginger and whipcord; Another Crawford is brilliant all round. Douglas, the' solid bo.ting-man. who beat 'Snowy' Baker in tho British championship?, is in the useful class. The • pros.'- are no less good. Strudwick has filled out a bit. Barnes and Hobbs and Rhodes and Guuri are unchanged, except that the last-named has developed a marvellous control of tho ball in batting. Hitch is tho fast bowler, not in form yet. Kinnoir is a littlo veteran, and can stay in all day, as can Vine. Woolloy is a big all-roun-der, and Hoarno a short one, very young. Mead is supposed to bo THE coming left-handed bat. And thpro are others, The team gave S.A.'s bowling a bad showing up; its great virtue is apparently going to bo an ability to make ,100 runs a day without Inking any great risk—and keep on doing it."

The Police Team. A few years ago the local police force had quite a useful cricket team, but.during tho past couple of seasons .nothing Lad been heard of it. Eleven men, bowever, doffed the blue .last Saturday, and turned out ill flannels at Kelburne Park, where they tried conclusions with the cricket representatives of tho "Evening .Post.". T'lie police team suffered defeat by some 20 odd runs, but they were unfnrtunato to loso as two of their number wore run out, besides which their poor ik-lding was responsible for the "Post" men making a groat many more runs than they were entitled to. There is some really good talent among the j't-liceraen, and Butters is a batsman wi:n would *e very useful in local senior cricket. Originally a Sydncy-sider, he played some good games in Auckland somo timo back. Gallagher anpears to Ho tho best bowler in tht team, but Miero is plenty of change bowlers, including (omeion, nnd Butters, aij , ! cliters nst yet produced. The English Bowling, "Point," in the Adelaide "Register": "It has been impossible to see the Englishmen all together, and that makes it difficult to estimate their strength as a team. It looks as though they will be a tough sido to dislodge from the wickets. They are sure to make plenty of runs, even in Tost matches. "Tho problem will be whether their attack is strong enough to keep tho Australian batsmen within bounds. Hard work will ♦'all upon Barnes and Foster, as tho stock bowlers. "Hitch will havo his uses, but ono doubts whether ho 13 fast enough or sufficiently accurate to be a. terrible eoureo of danger to men liko Trumpcr, Hill, Bardslej\ and Armstrong. Neither should Woolley's flow, medium leg-breaks seriously trouble them. "Hoarno on Thursday could bowl ]pgbreaks, though ho could not make the ball do wrong 'uns, and when ho did try tbo effort was not only apparent, but it cost him something in acouracy of length. Tho fenture of tho lioutk African, Schwarz, was that when ho googlied his length was so accurate. "Vine's leg-breaks lack tho nip from tho pitch of Braund's. , • "Tho Englishmen may be entertaining an angel unawares, but after seeing them at preliminary practice, ono luis como to tho conclusion that their batting is stronger than thoir bowling; and, although they may make good scores, their own bowling figures at. tho end of (ho tour will not look too llatluring."