CRICKET.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2109, 28 March 1914, Page 12

CRICKET.

, Q. • ■£- [By the Breaker.] MID-WEEK BATTINC. The following aro leading batting and bowling averages of senior players in the .mid-week association, up to, and including Wednesday, Mardh 18. The list was compiled by Mr. J. 0. Cusack:

THE- BOWLINC. Runs. Wkts. Avge, Niton (Rivals) n |6 Beard (Artillery) 28G 3a 8.1 M'Girr (Union) ......... 403 40 10.7 Taylor (Union) 246 23 10.6 Kinvig (Rivals) 316 28 11.2 Harris, V.. (Artillery) 327 29 11.-i Burke'(Rivals) ■ 241 20 U5 M'Gill (Union) 326 27 l-.Q M'ilalion (Artillery)... 147 1- 1--2 Dr. Tolhurst (Rivals) 170 12 14.1 Dempsey (Oriental) ... 429 29 14.7 Masters (Oriental) .... 239 1j 15-9 Dr. M'Evedy (Rivals) 203 11 18.1 Warne (Union) ' 237 11 j-5.5 Cording (Oriental) : 343 It 24.0 The following are some good bowling performances during the season by midweek players Harris (Artillery), six for 11, Artillery v. Rivals, February 4: Niven (Rivals), six for 13, Rivals v. Oriental, December 3; Dempsey (Oriental), four for 9, Oriental v. Union, March 18; Kinvig (Rivals), three for 9, Rivals v. Union, January 14; Masters (Oriental), fivo for 16, Oriental v. Rivals; February 11; Beard (Artillery), six for 21, Artillery v.' Rivals, January 28; M'Girr (Union), fivo for 20, Union v. Oriental, March 18; Taylor (Union), five for 20, Union v. Oriental, March 18; Burke (Rivals), three for 12, Rivals v. Union, January 14; M'lntyre (Artillery), three for 13, Artillery v.. Union, December 17; Bonner (Union), thrco for 13, Union v. Artillery, December 17; M'Gill (Union), three for .14, Union v. Rivals, November 19.

How the Tour Strikes Lavor. ."Writing from Wanganui to an old cricket comrade in Melbourne, Frank Laver says:—"At Auckland I played my Hirst gamo. Dr. Dolling bound, my tw6' fingers-together, one finger acting as'-J.'splint for the other, ami this enabled me to play, though ::t interfered with my bowling and made my right hand useless for fielding. The jar when batting was not pleasant. • _ ; "The school teachers ,of .New Zealand wore holding their encampment at Hiwrera," and we were invited to an entertainnient.'givea.by them iii the town. Of course, Arthur Sims and I had to respond for the Australians,' and we had them in roars of laughter,., jn' relating some of our experiences.. • ; "We had a long tram .journey to Wellington, and a large number of the Wellington cricket officials wero at the station'.to meet us. Next day the Mayor welcomed us at the Town Hall, and gavo us the free use of the tramway by a special pass. Paul.Dufault, the tenor, and'his company, who were performing at the Opera House, made us their guests for the evening. In tho evening six of us were guests of the Hon. H. D. Bell, Mr. Rhodes (another Minister) .being present. • i '(After the first Wellington match we hacJ;.ano*thcr long train journey, but it jwas : interesting. After we passed through the Manawatu Gorge, which I was .very pretty, we saw some magnifiI cent sheep ■ country. At Hastings the j president of the New Zealand Cricket iCouncil and others, joined us.in our Upecially-reserVed carriage, amongst I whom 1 was' Jack Board, the English ; cricketer. On the ground the Maypr of Hastings welcomed the team, and at luncheon the Cricket Association gave «. welcome, so wo had' three welcomes in i 24 hours, and narrowly escaped another, j "Our next match was .at Gisbome, -whither wo travelled by steamer, arriv!ing at 4 o'clock in the morning. Even jat tnat early hour there was a crowd ;to meet ,-us. They drove us, to tho hotel, 'and at 10 o'clock tho Mayor gavo us a ..public welcome at tho Town Hall, which iwas crowded. The Poverty Bay Club ' gave (.us a luncheon at the club-rooms, j and the .Gisborne Club a 'social', in the ' evening. On tho Sunday wo all motored ;out to Ensor's Stc.tion, and received a I right royal welcome. On our way back jwe had afternoon tea at Lysnar's, where 'a. large party was assembled. 'Amongst | them were tho officers of the warship [Philomel. These afterwards entertained us on board. AVe had another long 'railway journey, this timo to Wanganui, (where wo arrived dead tired at 9 o'clock ian the evening. -Wherever we have gono j we .have been ftreated . with much kindness and hospitality."- ■ •

; .The One Thing Wanted. ' "Wellington, as a cricket side, can hat a little; Wellington can bowl a lot. One sees that much, quite plainly, on lookino' back at th© two Australian matches. But," can Wellington field? Ho would Ibo a bold man who would say 10s.' ■If Wellington could field, as a representative side should field, both Australian encounters would have disclosed a very different tale, good as tho actual tale was. As for the Plunket Shield, it would liavo boon hanging gaily among our scalps and trophies long ago. Moro than that the crowds aud the gates would grow and grow. The public , lovo anything full of emotion aeroplanes, sprint races, locomotives, Towdy political meetings, tho savage en- j counters of pugilists, tho "movies" at the picture palaces. They will stop on tho Oriental Bay Road to look, hard at a buzzing motor launch, but would not deign her one glance if she wore _ at anchor. Plainly, motion is the thing. And what can givo cricket tho idea of motion bettor than real fielding—fast footed men backing up everywhere and snapping the chances all tho tinio? When" the fielding trophy was being collected, oiie of tlio contributors {Mr. W. IT. Morton-, City Engineer) said;— • "In tho last five or six vflars I have onlv seen two first-class exhibitions of fielding here. One was by Harry Trott's .South Melbourne olcvon, and tho other by Wanganui College. I do not think our representatives could go in for anything that' would pay better than fielding practice. It gets the other side out. and it delights the spectators." Very true. But good Holding will

never como- without fielding practice. Only the Petone men have carried it out here, and tho results have certainly compensated them for the trouble taken. Auclclanders useß to do it in Relf's time, and it paid them too. Wanted Prompt Returns. . A point worth noting was 'raised at the meeting of the Management Committee this week when Mr. M'Connell (representing the Third Class Committeo) said that the utmost difficulty was experienced in getting tho secretaries of third-class teams to send in particulars of results. It should hardly be necessary to appeal .to tho secretaries to mend their ways in this particular, for it is equally in the interests of their own' clubs and of an efficient control that they should send in returns with businesslike promptitude. 'The opposite policy (now go much in favour) contributes to tho creation of a tangle such as has arisen this season in the thirdclass competition, and necessitated a play-off game. • Moreover it makes it almost impossible for adherents of the game to take any interest in the lowergrade matches since they aro unable to find out how the teamß aro getting on. At tho Management Committee ■meeting. Mr. M'Connell mentioned the East team as an honourable exception to the prevailing neglect, i The secretary ought to get a medal. .

correspondent's Suggestion. Says a correspondent:—The season for .1913-14 is drawing to a close, and I would suggest to the Wednesday Association that it should, if possible, provide against a repetition of what happened on the Basin Reserve last Wednesday. In ono game each side played a scratch team, utilising players outside the association. When the competition •is beyond doubt (as in this case), and when a representative match is to be played, I thiilk a trial game should be organised. Some Stray Singles. Our cricket management is to be complimented on t : ho tact that they have lot little or nothing interfere with the senior grade matches this year. Postponements kill interest. ''Jonah" Jones, playing- recently against „ a South Fremantle eleven (W.A.), took nine wickets in an innings, all clean bowled. . Ho has, howover, lost that lightning pace which we saw when he was in New Zealand with G. H. S. Trott's team. Sic transit gloria, mundi. The telegraph has just advised that M'Mahon has been dismissed for 0 by the Australians. The whole battalion of "I told you so" may now 1)0 expected to burst forth at once.

There was more aeroplane than cricket talked at the Basin Reserve on Wednesday. Someone—l think it was Dr. M'Evedy—suggested that Rivals and their opponents should toss up as to who should have the match, and then adjourn in a body to Athlotic Park. Some of the Wednesday catching this week wa3 very good. : Trusco-tt got Vie, iHarris right on the feiico, and M'Girr nobbled a smart one that sent Dr. M|Evedy back. Sixpenco admission to the Basin today is cheap enough if the Petone-North straggle comes anywhere near what it is expected to be. Some enthusiasts wish to , subscribe another fielding trophy lor the Canter-bury-Wellington ma toil. Two strangers called and left 2s. 6d. each at The Dominion office. Two others called and put down their names. Owles, of Artillery, might have been given the benefit of the doubt in the l.b.w. decision which dismissed him in the match-with Oriental on Wednesday. He was struck well up over the knee with a rising ball. Mr. F. C. Raphael, hon. secretary of the New Zealand Cricket Council, is representing the council at the second Test match at Auckland.

Junior Mld-Week Ladder. The returns for positions in the Wednesday mid-week junior competition' have been compiled by Mr. J. 0. Cusack, and read as follow: — , - Played. Won. lost. Pts. George and George 8 8 0 30 Oriental 8 jj 7 Union 8 -6 2 20 Chemists 8 4 4 -16 Artillery 7 1' 5. 4 Y.M.C.A. 7 . J 6 f AVardell's 7 16 4 St. Patricks' Coll. 5 0 5 0 Oriental and Artillery each played one unfinished game. .

Hints by a Mastar. Quite good things have' recently come from the pen of A. S. MacLaren, tho well-known cricketer. Writing hints on tho game in a Home publication (for boys, by the waj'), he states: "Patience, in batting, is good, but patience docs not mean stodeiness. Overtossed and-loose balls should be punished, especially hy such of you as are , strongly built. The patience I would counsel consists mainly in learning to Wait for such deliveries, instead of trying to score off balls too good to bo scored from. It is not patience, but mere folly, to pat back balls you could easily hit. A tip t'> bowlers: In no grade of cricket is Variation in the height of the ball,as much attempted as it should be. You will find this pay. Some of you have it in you to become clinking good fieldsmen: All can become at least fair by assiduous practice. Don't play golf I It is the absolute antithesis of cricket. I never fail to spot golfers at the nets. They tuck their elbows into their sides, and make short stabbing shots. The best batsmen go right through with every stroke. Golf in the years when cricket is being learned will spoil your ability to do this. But racquets—hard ball or soft—and lawn tennis harmonise well enough with cricket. Everyone will not agree with this, I know—as to tennis, at least. But I am sura of it. The tennis strokes are I follow through strokes ; that's why tenI nis won't hurt your cricket." £200 for the Tour. The terras suggested, (and provisionally agreed to) for the Australians' tour of South Africa are a team of thirteen players and a manager; expenses, and £200 personal allowance each; programme to start with a match at Durban on December 1, 1914; 20 matches in all to bo played, including five tests; tour to conclude on April 17, 1915; absence from home entailed on the part of the players, about five and a half months. In some quarters in Australia it is not considered that the £200 each pro-, mised the men going to South Africa will attract all tho leading cricketers, and that the board would seem to liavo in view the attracting thoso men who put the before their pockets. '"The World fit Cricket" (London) expresses its opinion as follows:—"But—a big biitl —how many crack Australian crickoters can afford to do this ? They are not wealthy men, for the most part. They cannot afford to leave their occupations for six months or more without adequate compensation. In this particular. case £200 may be adequate. Tho tour will not take as long as one in England. But there are bound to bo differences of opinion as to its adequacy."

' •: -a is .3 ® 2 ; I hII* ; Wilson (Artillery) ... 259 *115 6, 1 51.S Waino (Union) .......... 35B 87 9. 1", 44.7 Harris, V.. (Artillery) 215 s 78 7 2 1-1.0 Dr. N. Hales (Rivals) 71 68 2 0 35.1 M'Girr (Union) ...... - 420 102 14 1 32.3 ", tKinvig (Rivals) ...... 254 *64 11 3 31.7 George'(Rivals) 220 42 10 3 31.4 Taylor (Union) 205 *42 13 6 20.2 . ' Harris, F. (Artillery) 27 *14 2 1 27.0 Smith (Artillery) ...... 179 tO 8 1 25.5 Truscott (Oriental) ... 174 79 10 2 21.7 Greig (Rivals) .... 139 71 7 1 23.1 Paton (Artillery) .... 91 36 4 0 22.7 Low: (Rivals) ............ 20 *20 2 1 20.0 Milla (Oriental) ...... 57 47 3 0 ■ 19.0 . Dr. M'Evedy (Rivals). 170 46 11 1 17.0 ', Dempset (Oriental)... 198 31 13 1 16.5 . M'Gill . (Union) , ,187 "42 14, 2, 15.0 Dr. Tolhurst "(Rivals). 139 84 9 0 15.4 Biilman (Oriental)... 161 :53 [12 1 14.6 Gourlay (Oriental) ... 73 24 5 0 14.6 Owles (Artillery) ...... 117 29 10 2 14.6 Caterer (Oriental) ... 178 72 14 1 13.6 Maj. Hume (A't'lry.) 137 ! 55 11 1 13.. • M'Mahon (Artillery) 121 54 9 0 13.4 ■ Mummery (Oriental) 26 20 -2 0 13.0 • Cording , (Oriental) ... 169 -39 14 0 ■ Mulford (Union) HO 3414 - 11.6 Beard (Artillery)...... 68 40 8 - 11.3 ' Dr. Gilmer (Art'lry.) 65 20 7 1 10.8 . ■ ■ " ••Indicates not out. ,