CRICKETS.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1324, 30 December 1911, Page 12

CRICKETS.

, [Br Thb BbeJleeb.] STrtE GOSPEL OF\ "GUFF."An Excited Man on the Shield Match, "Guff," says an indignant person just back from Chxistohuroh," is tho Alpha and Omega of the Plunkct Shield match between Otago and Canterbury. You never: saw anything lika it. Thoro was Prtsa guff, barrackfirs' guff, .officials' guff, and even the players themselves guffe'd a bit. Isn't it about time that eomotme, ;rose up in arms against this perennial giiff—Hmo that wo put ice in ouf hats, and mado some sober 1 sort of try to.see things as they really are? "The wicket was ;n6t difficult—it • was an iasy. batsman's wicket nearly all tho .time. Just one of those '. ordinary Lancaster Park wickets With any sting that it might have had taken out of it by the rain. Of course, you had to wait, for the ball lut, ,if you were content, to do. that, you could tidt got out without bad i :luck..;_yeS/..J.!.iftacLall that- story-about Sandman breaking a yard from leg. Mofeguff! AVhat's in a, break—oven a ' break' of "two" furlongs—lf the ball just hobbles off tho pitch as tame as a mar- < moset in the Newtown 'Zoo'? Well, thkt was Sandman. A normal wicket would have, suited cither him, or Reese tor Bennett about twice as well. What Icomcs of tho Otago batting after that? f-Just guff. I ''Mind you, lam not inclined to depreciate Canterbury. I liko them and I think that Cwith. fair fortune), WellingS ton can hardly beat them. Your average fCantabrian is a good sport, and a good .cricketer, but ho is slow to adapt himself ~t6 now c6nditions. Ha must have tho fast 'play forward' wicket that he is normally used to and, if yon give him that he can bat! But don't give him | any other kind of wicket—even a slow 'and.'e4sy one—Or he immediately sees (lionS in tho path. "All that by the way. My chief point Ms guff. Isn't it wonderful how these SQuthern people—Otago especially—will rdabble in hyperbole? Never a moulting and ancient duck appears on the edge • of.their pond hut it bc<!onle3 a swan; mover p* sld crock passes over their highwjjf Es".t they see a racehorse. Ha! and *4).l>s! The plain truth of the Plonks* iPHftU match is that it was f<(Uito an, ordinary game on a very or-l-dinary wicket, and tho best side won by 6*bout the margin they deserved." hA Good Game Spoiled. ' The Hawkers' Bay-Wellington match iim into a more interesting contest than (had been anticipated. Thoso Welling'tfinians who had looked forward to easy \ Victory for :tho homd team received quito pa number of rude shocks during the first ►day's play. Undaunted by the array of bowlers : 'that AYellingtcai put into the field, the Hawke's Bv men stood to their work. Board set the tune in a merry quick-time of run-getthu;, and theTO was an excellent response from the remainder of tho (team. On top of the fact that nawke's !Bay concluded the first innings with a (comfortable totaLof 238 runs, came the (easy dismissal of Beochy, Phillips, and j-Blamires. .Things looked bad for Wellington when the first day ended, though Kthe average local supporter would admit f nothing more than that a,fight was in '^prospect. The more optimistic .spirits, held that .; even though Wellington should retire with a deficit oa the first innings, they could easily .mako up for lost time in • tho second innings." All speculations were filial «t at rest by that ultimate factor in" own-air sport—the weather. The sqal-Jng.,that the, ground got ■ between tbo'two periods of .play, and the rain wlilo!* extinguished play,altogether ott Monday ofternoon, undoubtedly. spoiled <a fine fighting finish to the game. It is very doubtful whether AVellington would have been defeated if play had not been interrupted, but they would have found it no eisy. task to beat the.visitors.

The Default cf Mahoney. The dcadness of the wicket on Monday, when a late start was made, immensely favoured the batting "interest, but the Wellington batsmen in general ~ little by the altered conditions. Gibbes was almost a. solitary exception. He attacked tho bowling in a style which seemed to brills' tho century within easy Teach. At no time did he seem to Lave . .•any trouble ,in guarding; his wicket, and i with mighty strokes, principally by clean i driving., he sent'the'ball" to ail quarters \.of the field. As a ma.tter of fact, Gibbes Hooked like being the salvation of his ,-sido in this particular innings. It is on • this account ■ all the more regrettablo ; that his premature dismissal was duo -not iso much to tho effoTta of Hawke's Bay i as to the default of his partner Mahonev. i The circumstances do not permit of j;any palliation or excuse. ("ibbes called i his partner for a run. Mahoney came > out, but soon, turned, and went back. [Gibbes went on, and was within a few lyards-of-Mnhoney's-end- when ho realised how things stood. The point is [that-tho run-would almost certainly have tbeen brought oft' had Mahoney continued, .'instead of going back. Gibbes, after {.traversing.nearly'the whole length of the frpitch, had time to stop and turn .-round/before his -wicket went down., ! -. Itwas simply a case of a ."elfish player j sacrificing the wicket of another who was doing much more useful work. '■ '.The Gamo in General. The way in which the Hawke's Bay mon .'backed one another up in getting runs was an object-lesson, and stood out in 'strong contrast to the tactics favoured )by Mahoney. By a vigilant exercise of irningled keenness and uuition, the visitors I brought '.off' many runsby a very narrow [margin. In work of this kind they wero .•plainly superior to the local men. /There were some weak spots in the Wellington fielding, but, as a whole, it was markedly superior to that of the visitors. Berendsen was in capital form on both days; - behind the wickets. Boeohy was as lively a fieldsman os any on the ground, and-sont in his returns liko lightning. A Man From Gloucestershire. Johnny Board, the Gloucestershire professional, was a prominent figure at every : stage of the game. His batting, in the Hawke's Bay first inning?, was'the work of a master, and ho did capable work as a fieldsman in the slips. ,He did not at any time" field behind the wicker, that ■position heing filled by Ashci'oft, tho Hawke's Bay skipper. Board carries. liw . forty odd snmrae.rs lightly. Although he evidently found the heat rather oppressive on. the sultry opening day, ho made his 82 trips from wicket to wicket at a rattling gait, and was going strong until a mistake led to his dismissal. The Englishman takes the K<lroe seriously. When a Spectator got into his line of sight as he was batting he waved an urgent arm and repeated the gesture until the offender removed himself. At odd times, off Hie field, Board is to be heard expatiating upon tho latest things in. rules. , Of the prospects of cricket in the Dominion he takes an optimistic view, and he considers that NW Zcalanders will mako good. progress in tho game as the years go by. Board on the District Scheme. Board does not approve of the district Rchemc upon which en'ekot is organised in Wellington and in other towns. One of his objections is-that a district scheme deprives a man 6f tho freedom of deciding whom to piny with. Evidently, tho Englishmen sets great store by the practical value of esprit de corps. The Truth about the Test Match. Urickbats and bouqueta aro handed out in the last issue of "The Arrow" over Hie first Test match, as follow:— "We have had almost a surfeit of big criokrt for n few weeks, the long-drawn-out Test match, with its ■lengthy stretch nf patient batting anil slow fielding haying for the time being almost exhausted (■.lie's enthusiasm. The nialch was (lis-appointing-1" Australians, who found the cloven so solid on paper lacking in one of Australia's . greatest features—smart fielding. •:■■ , "The catching was weak, the ground work was little better. Time after time

runs ware got for strokes on Iho off for which tho batsmen would scarcely have dared to niovo with S. B. Gregory anil 0. G. Macartney there. "Besides, the off-fields, or somo Of theni, played far 100 deep, th«ro being little of that adroit anticipation of tho filroko shown by S. K. Gregory, save in tlio case of Trumper, and, at times, Hill and BaTtlslcy. "That the then wore at times lazy or stiff rather than palpably inefficient was shown -oil Wednesday, when excellent work was done. One never wishes to see such slovenly fielding in a Test nlatoli as this ono produced. And you know one side was quite as bad as tho other. "Ono 6f tho matters the Test match indicates is that whilo Australia is a. better sido than the M.C.C. t*ara, tho form of tho Australian players is not sj uniformly good as that of tho Englishmen.

"Tho general cry is that apart from Br.' Hi ;V. llofdcrn tho Australian bowling is weak. Well, Dr. Hordern is a member of tho team, and not an opponent." Archie MarLaren. Mr. Archie MaoLaren, who, it will he -remembered, married Miss Power, a member of the well-known Power family, of Melbourne, says an English paper, has recently taken one of Mr. Lionel Robinson's houses on his estate in Norfolk. Mr. MacLaren may go to the Argentine shortly with a cricket team. What he looked at. Mr. Alfred Lyttelton, M.P., the old English International cricketer, presiding at a dinner in honour of Mr. H. H. Hilton, for his victories in this year's British and American golf chanipi6nships, told a story of the troublesome onlooker. Ho was keeping wicket once to Dr. "W. G. Grace, when a spectator walked into the lino of flight. "Look out, William," he said, "there's a man getting behind the bowler's arm." "Never mind him, Alfred," replied the famous crickoter, "I look at the ball."