ON THE BASIN.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1634, 28 December 1912, Page 7

ON THE BASIN.

FINE EFFORT BY LOCAL MEN. ONLY A FEW BEHIND. MELBOURNE NOW BATTING. Glaring- sun—the hottest ■we have had this year —lit the Basin Reserve yester-, day afternoon, when the-exciting battle .which is now in. progress, between. Harry Trott's South Melbourne eleven and the Wellington : representatives, was continued. As things stands,, the Wellingto'nians are only four runs behind on the first innings, and, though to-day will probably ■ aftord insufficient . time for' a fight to a finish,": everything indicates that to-day's proceedings will bo well worth going to see. ' . v . Those present: yesterday included his Excellency tho Governor (Lord LiverT'ol) and,'.party, 1 'tho 'Prime Minister• hlon. W. I'. Jlassev), Hon. 11. 1). Bell, K.C., Hon. Dr. Collins, M.L.C., and the' Mayor (Mr.' D. M'Laren). His Excellency walked from Government House to the ground,'. and was met at the. gates by 'officials of the Cricket -Association. He was accorded an ovation by the spectators, and then. Mr. G. H.' S. Trott (the visitors': captain) niMshalled his men, who were fielding, and', cheered the viceregal party .in the grandstand.. . . yiowing'the details of yesterday's play, there is not much suggestion ,of fastcricket, but the spectators had. plenty. to. interest them. In faot the matcn becamo quite exciting when tho Wellington score reached the 200 mark, and gradually mounted towards the total of tho visiting team's first Winnings. ; The ninth ; wicket fell at: 216—just. 11 . runs short of the Melbourne; : lueii's total. . Seven runs later;,the - .'"- last '.'Wellington wicket' fell, - : nnd. the" crowd—a sportsmanlike crowd' by. the way—though disappointed' that : the other four runs; had not been made/'applauded the dogged effort by the local men.-. The visitors had, an hour to bat when the innings - closedj''." and, although they opened very' badly,'..'they had,put on 47 runs for two wicseta at the drawing of stumps. ; '. '

How to Smash a Partnership. Features of. yesterday's play .were the Latting of Midlano and the K-ev. Blamires and the howling of'Kyle. "Midlane-, who, made topscore, 43, :on . the Wellington aide, gave no real chance. His partnership with-Blamires addsd runs, and liis own score included 5 fours; '4 threes/ and 'a brace of tvos. Blamires, who op-' ened liis innings; by. "watching every ball from the bowler's: hand," ; became. thoroughly set later, on, and seemed in a century .-getting mood.' Unfortunately for the popular Central man soine one else also had his-eyo ; on: the. situation at this stage. Captain Harry Trott, with 'his long experience;-. .' apparently; scented trouble, from .the partnership.. Cricket history, is redolent with famous partnerships "that have been dissolved by Harry l'rott. Tlier.e. is : .i either. space; nor time to recall; them here—Dr. W. G. Grace and others have ere this' fallen; fast, and •often to the :yictorian's,."subtle, ones"—. and no doubt' the veteran felt confident yesterday that ..ho • was the most ' suitable member-, in. tbe South Melbourne Club to dissolve the firm of Blamir.es and Midlane. At all events,', tlio. fact remains that when the score had mounted to 146, with only, three wickets down, and Blamires, going strongly with 27 -up, "G.H.S." went-on. The scene, as the poet has it, was at once 'changed,. Blainires cocked, the first "ball up at point, and Giller' lield it safely/ ,The partnership, had been dissolved,' ? but Trott was ~ hot' satisfied with merely, .disposing.. of ; "the . senior partner,"im plater on;',he- brought'.'iiliout the dismislifl' of-Midlani;'l-.""'r

It was,lust what, the crowd might have expected' .of . him, ,• and , made up. for'. a disappointment which V was. .'experienced later. '.TJua. jria ;tjie- early ? dismissal of Scott iff .the -visitore second' linningsi Something big was' expected of - him, had •fe.got into, fiis stride. - 'As; it was, - however, he tfas nearly, run out beforo scoring, and then, after, scoring, half-a-dozen■ in quick.'Vtiine, he was clean-bowled by Southall. ';. V - ' The Teams, '' ; ' ■ ■ . The following, are representing tho visitors:—G. :H.•'§.'•• Trott, ■ W. H. MacCormaci, S. .Sykes, W. Scott, J. P. Giller, J. Kyle, A.-Kenny,'E. Deas, H. Kelly, T.. Purvis, and A. Pentland. , The Wellington team 'is:—J. P. Black-, lock (cap'tain), D. Naughton; .E.'Phillips, E. M. Beechey, E. 0. Blamires,, T. E. Southall, A. H. fenton, 0; V. Grimmett, C. W. Robinson, G. Schmoll, and F, A. Midlane.. , The Details of the Play. " When play commenced : shortly, after • 2 p.m., the. position, was that South.. If el-, bourne had made 227, while Wellington had one wicket down for 83 runs.. Phillips and Beechey, the not-out men, faced the' bowling of .Giller and Kelly. Scoring was slow. . Kelly's, first three overs .were maidens, while Phillips was only able to gain a couple of singles off, Giller. Eventually Beechey cut Giller to the boundary/for 4, but the bowler "Sad hiß revenge in the same over, as Beechey . was taken'at the > wickets. 92—2—21. ' Blamires joined Phillips, but only to see the'latter put the first ball of Kelly's next over up in the .slips, where Kyle held it. 92-3-42. ■ Midlano followed, and scored a four and a three with lee-hits; in • Kelly's ovors. Blamires brought up the .tentury _with ft single off Kelly, and /later., hit Giller twice to the boundary/ At 108 I(9nny relieved Kelly,' and. "Midlane scored ; a single oil the newcomer, while Blamires' gained two and four in quick succession, and then .put one up in a safe place. At 119 Kelly came on the north end in place of Giller, and Midlane scored thiee with a . nico late cut. When . Bli»mires had made 19,, Pentland ; missed a a possible chance of stumping him off Kenny. At 1-1S Trott went on and his first ball proved fatal to Blamires, who placed it into • the, hands -of .Giller at point. 146r-4—27. .. : Blacklock followed 'and, after -going through , several overs without scoring he chopped tho first ono from Kyle into Kelly's hands at second slip. 149 6—o. Fenton made 7, MidlanoVwas making double that number, but was then, clean bowled by, Kyle. 17J—6—'7. Pour Tun's later Midlane jumped into one of Trott's deliveries, but forgot to hit the ball and-was promptly stumped. 177—7 —43.-' The East batsman had played a sterling innings 'and was greeted with applause as he retired. Kobmson and Grimmett carried the score to 192 when tho tea. adjournment' was taken. . On resuming a useful.partnership ensued. The second century was hoisted, through Eobinson' driving Kyle, to the boundary. . At 212 Kylo clean bowled Eobinson, and in the. next, over M'Cormack clean bowled Grimmett. 216—9—19. Schmoll and Southall were not a happy pair. The latter should have been run out, but-. Kyle, who received the return, was not aware that Southall was attempting a runl It made little difference, as Southall was almost immediately afterwards caught and the innings closed for 223—a creditable performance. Sykes arid M'Cormack opened tho visitors' second innings - to the bowling of Eobinson and Southall. For the first halfhour, run?: came very slowly, three of Southall's first four overs being maidens. Eobinson nearly had Sykes caught'in the flips in his second over and later he took' his zniddlo stump'with the third ball of his fifth over. Scott, who followed, missed the next two from Eobinson and got down to tho oilier end by means of a byo. M ! Cormack hit the next ball and Scott was nearly run out in backing up. Ho then scored two and four off the first two deliveries from Southall, but was clean bowled with the third ball of the over. 17-7-2— G. Giller became associated with M'Cormack and the score: mounted steadily to 10. A double change of bowling was tried, Grimmett replacing Eobinson, and Blamires going on in place of Southall. The, batsmen, however, were not disturbed and the score had reached 47 at the drawing of stumps.-... . Details are appended. Wellington—First Innings, D. Naughton, 11211112, b. Kylo 10 33. Phillips, 14222311323124241211, c. Kyle, b. Kelly r ... 42 E. M. Beechey, 114-1111211124, c. Pentland, b. Giller '. 24 JE. 0. Blamires, 141242113311, c. Giller, b, Trott 27.

P. A; Midlane,' <81113414312342411, st. Pentland, b. Trott- 43 J. P. Blacklock, o. Kelly, b. Kyle 0 A. H. Fenton, 241, b. Kyle 1 C. l'\ Grimmett, 11141344, b. M'Cormack 19 C. W. Robinson, 41141421, b. Kyle ... 18 G. Sohmoll, 2, not out 2 T. R. Southall, 1, c. Oilier, b. Kyle... 1 Extras . . 30 Total J:.......... 223, Bowling Analysis. Oyera. M.O.' Uuns. Wkts. SCOtt 11 5 . 11; — Kelly 18 5 39 1 Kylo 22 12 41 5 Oilier ... 15 7 25 1 Kenny 8 2 25 — Trott. 11 2 45 2 M'Cormack .... 2 — < 1 South Melbourne. First innings 227 Second Innings. W. H; M'Cormacii 111113114, not out 14 S. Sykes, 1112, b. Robinson 5 W. Soott, 24, b. Southall : 6 J. F. Gilter, 121211234, not'out 17 Extras 5 Total for two wiokets 47 Bowling Analysis. Overs. 11.0. Runs. Wkts. Robinson. ... 8 2 13 1 Southall '8 4 12 1 Grimmett'.. 2 — 12 — Blamires ......... 2 . — 5 —