ON THE CRICKET FIELD

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 27, 27 October 1926, Page 8

ON THE CRICKET FIELD

(By

“Burwood.”)

OPENING MATCHES CONCLUDES SOME BRIGHT DISPLAYS

The fascination that is cricket’s was realised to the full by local players on Saturday, . when the opening matches of the season were concluded in bright, warm weather on grounds that were in perfect condition. The welcome change from the dullness of the previous week was much appreciated, and more enjoyment was evidently taken in the games. An interesting finish resulted in the Thorndon-Institute clash at the Basin Reserve No. 2, where with only a quarter of an hour to spare Thorndon passed Institute’s good tally of ■270 with three wickets still in hand. The feature of the day’s play was the splendid innings of J 32 not out contributed by K. Mason (Thorndon). This promising young player, who undoubtedly won the game for his side, showed great ‘confidence and steadiness throughout, and exhibited some nice scoring strokes on the off side, his cutting past point being most attractive. His methods were not so effective with the leg stuff, however, and he often missed opportunities for good punishing shots. Valuable contributions to the Thorndon side’s tally were also made ,by Caulton (38), who battled in fine aggressive stvle; Price (41) and Roberts (28). ' Brice’s Century. The formidable attack of the Petone bowlers, Finlayson, Smyrk, and Brice, together with a great score of 127 by the last-named, proved too much for ’Varsity at the Petone Oval, and the students went down miserably by an innings and 50 runs. In their second innings Smyrk’s trundling was most effective, and. he: finished up with four wickets for 14. Midland’s Failure. • Contrary to expectations, Midland failed to reach Old Boys’ first innings total of 163 in the match played on the Basin Reserve No. 1. The Midland tail was cleaned up in short order by A. Ronaldson, whose figures were four for 22. The only Midland batsman who shaped with any degree of confidence were A. Doneghue (54), J. W. Hutchings (36), and J. Hutchings (24). Kilbirnie Defeat Wellington. On their home ground, Kilbirnie, with the able assistance of Badcock, secured a creditable victory over Wellington by 7 runs on the first innings. For Wellington, J. S. Hiddleston had scored a stylish 62 when he succumbed to Badcock, whose bowling was consistently dangerous. Badcock took four for 46. In Kilbirnie’s second innings Plant was in fine form, taking six wickets for 34 runs—the best bowling performance of the day. A Low Scoring Game. Low scoring was a feature of the Hutt v. Y.M.C.A. encounter, at Hutt, where the home team obtained a win on the first innings by 51 runs. For. the winners, McGirr (three for 35) and Beard (three for 31) bowled best. Preliminary Canters Essential. That cricket, like all other branches of sport, demands a certain amount of training and preparation from its players is a fact that seems to be generally overlooked by the older men in the game in Wellington. Youthful cricketers, with supple limbs, fresh from a strenuous season at Rugby or some other winter sport, come to the less vigorous summer game fully fit, but the veterans, after several months of hibernation indoors with occasional Saturday afternoons spent as spectators of the big football matches, stroll out on' to the field for the opening match of the

cricket season quite unconcerned as to their physical rustiness, certainly not having made any attempt to remedy the defect by taking a reasonable amount of exercise in preparation. This was illustrated at the Basin Reserve on the opening Saturday, when Arthur Hyder, ex-Wanganui representative, the Thorndon fast bowler, came to grief when making a delivery from one of his long runs, and having sprained his ankle, had to be carried from the field. Again, bowling for Midland on the Basin against Old Boys last Saturday, Jock Hutchings strained a shoulder muscle, and had to finish his over with baby, underarms. The Basin Reserve Geyser. The Basin Reserve, “Lords” of local cricket, presented an appearance more associated with the Rotorua thermal district than a peaceful cricket ground late on Sunday night, when the big main supplying Wellington South burst near the south end of the representative wicket and spouted a terrific geyser a hundred and fifty feet into the' air. Curving over to the puffing of a light north-westerly, the great spout was seen in the bright moonlight and glare from a floodlight as a mighty’, graceful parabola, stretching almost to the south-eastern corner of the field. As some hours elapsed before the supply could be turned off, thousands of gallons of. water soon lay to a depth of several inches over the eastern side of the reserve. However, a drying wind cleared up the ground, and enabled the Colts v. Wellington eleven game to proceed the following day. Auckland’s Wicket Problem. A prospective large increase in th* number of teams has provided the Auckland Cricket Association with a problem in obtaining sufficient wickets (savs the “Herald”). It is stated that 70 teams will almost certainly be playing, with a probability of about 78 being entered when entries close. L. Elliott, who finished up’ third on the batting list in Auckland club cricket with an average of 57.37 last season, is retiring from the game. There were many'who thought, he was unlucky not to win representative honours again, and his club supporters were expecting big scores from, him this summer. His retirement will be a loss to Auckland cricket as great as .the loss to his club. J Bowlev’s arrival in Auckland, his appearance in club cricket with, the Y.M.C.A. team, and the coaching he will give to promising young players, are expected to give a much-needed stimulus to the game there. His tarrival in the season when the first New Zealand eleven* to tour England is to be picked is most opportune. W. R. Patrick’s Retirement, At present it is the stated intention of W R. Patrick, cricket captain of New Zealand and Canterbury, to take no further part in representative cricket (savs the Christchurch ‘Sun ). That means that he will not be a candidate for selection in the New Zealand side to tour England next season. Patrick is going to confine his energies to club cricket, considering that he has had a long enough innings in big games. For years past he has been one of Canterbury’s bulwarks, and his grim batting has saved Canterbury in Plunket Shield games One has onlv to remember his efforts for the province in the season 1921-20, when he went courageously to the borders of century-land, in fine stands. A personality in New Zealand, cricket will go from the big grounas when Patrick leaves to another his position as a bold and astute leader.