CRICKET

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 119, 13 February 1929, Page 8

CRICKET

By •

"BURWOOD”

During the absence of “Burwood” on holidays, these notes are being conducted by “Longstop.’

THE LAST MAN IN.

HOW BLACKIE MUST HAVE FELT

It is impossible to congratulate those responsible for/describing the fourth test ’ match between Australia and England—the most exciting test.match, perhaps, of the whole long series between the two ' countries —on the accounts sent to hew Zealand by cable. If ever a country was fobbed off with a scrappy and perfunctory account New Zealand was—and the interest here was intense. There was much that we would like to have known. We would like to have .known -the circumstances of Bradman’s being run out when he was the one man ’/of whom it could be said with confidence ’he stood between victory or defeat for Australia. ' - We know nothing—absolutely nothing—of how the English,field was placed,,and the drab?account breathed nothing ot the intensity that must have-existed among players and spectators alike as every ball was bowled, played, or missed. That, everyone must have been on tip toes of excitement goes without saying.’ Every run was, after Bradman -went, worth its weight in gold. The responsibility im- *■ posed on the shoulders of all the principals, batsmen and bowlers and fieldsmen, must have been immense. And yet we are allowed by the paucity of the account to know absolutely nothing about any of these things. '(■ " ' ■ Armchair critics may write columns about the slowness of the scoring. Bearing in mind the circumstances, and nil that the match portended, what would, you? ’ Was it not the realisation by every man ' ■' in the two teams that they bore with them the honour of their respective coun...tries in, point of cricket prowess and .superiority that caused bach and every one of them to eschew all rashness and plod solidly along taking no risks. The ' struggle was bound to be a dour one. One had ho right tb expect that joyoui - abandon’ which enables a man; free from care or worry, to: open his shoulders and • smite the ball mightily for sixes. Bather did one expect to see the acme of skill in trying to place the ball through an intensely active and alert field for singles or twos, and an occasional —very occas-' ional—four. The work of the bowlers was literally to dig the batsmen out. There could be no sending down a ball ' tempting the batsmen to hit on the, offchance of getting him out by stumping or a catch. That same batsman might., hit and he might get a four, and fours were very valuable at that Stage. The purpose of the bowler, no doubt, was to be always on the wicket and compel the batsmen to defend. While the batsman was defending he could hardly be scoring. And under the persistensy of, attack j by . first-class bowling the strongest de- k fence, when jthere is added to it the 1 strain of a match to be won, is liable to crack through nerves. When Bradman went. Australians felt only a miracle could give them the vic-. ' tory. But miracles sometimes happen, even in cricket. When Grimmett went at the ninth wicket Australia wanted but thirteen runs for Victory. A small total surely,., but how to get them was the problem. One could not envy the thought. : of Blackie, Australia’s, last man, as he saw the wickets falling,, and realised that he would be needed. Would he give Australia the victory—or would he fail to. achieve?- What thoughts must have’ •coursed through his' mind 1 One would almost expect that he was out before he went in. He must, under the mental pictures which the situation must have inevitably conjured up before him, have gone through the torture of the damned. And whSn Blackie came from the pavi--lion, down through the gates, and out on to the green sward on his long walk to / the wicket—the cynosure of thousands of eyes, he must have felt even more the' strain, if that .were possible. On him, and him alone, rested Australia’s chance of victory. The man at the other end — Oldfield—was an old campaigner. He , was used to tense situations. He was the participant in numerous Test matches and pot given torn display of .nerves. But Blackie was different. If hei should fail what would the public of Australia —the most critical public in the world—rsay? What could they say? Blackie did fail. He was out before he had scored. One can see him as he takes centre and looks round at the closelypacked field centred almost within reach of his bat. He watches, all senses alert, the bowler commence his run. .He sees r the ball on its way. He feels, gather than sees, the hands of the fieldsmen come forward in expectation of a catch they .long for. And still the thousands of .people watch with' bated breath, afraid to breathe. What wonder Blackie cannot live up to the responsibility. /England 'wins by 12 runs. For reasons that I have tried to explain no one need censure or blame Blackie. How many would have cared ‘ 'th put themselves in his place? It is not the run at the beginning that causes the,- . strain, but the run that is wanted at the end. If the world’s best batsmen could see the end of the innings or match from

the beginning, how many of them would be getting their centuries and hitting their fours? ,Very,few, I ween. There is not the mental strain in the first part, . and that makes all the difference. Of course, there may be nervdurness. but that is something all are susceptible to. ! One must not, forget.*too, the strain on the bowler is different towards the end of the match than at the beginning. He is fearful, as he bowls, and few runs are wanted, how many runs will be knocked eff the ball he is about to send down. Who won the match for England? Some would say Hammond, the phenomenal Gloucestershire century-maker. Others will sa.V that White won it with his remarkable bowling. But even with Hammond's centuries would England have won without White’s bowling? With White's howling would England have won without Hammond’s centuries? Maurice. Tate was In the team principally ,for hts bowling, hut it was his 47 in the last innings that helped to make England’s position better. The truth is no one man won the match. No two men won it. The whole team, let us hope, won it. Those who were unable to make many runs with the bat doubtless succeeded in saving many runs in the field. It is when we turn to fielding that we realise how farcical batting averages may be. Too often have we seen centurymakers with the bat drop easy catches in the field; and let go by boundaries that ought scarcely to have been singles. How often, too. have ,we seen the batsman who makes but a few runs, save numerous runs by smart work in the field. It is a pitv

that there is no system of keeping tally < of what is saved or lost by good or bad fielding. If it were possible to do this, and the results were - set off against the batting, some century-makers, might conceivably be in debit. , There is. on the part of the public, but very little realisation of what first-class Test cricket entails. Bowlers and fieldsmen must all work with a perfect understanding. The battle between bowler and batsman Is one of amazing skill. Every ball bowled has a purpose, and every ball blocked or defended Is a tribute to the bowler. If fours are not being knocked off the bowling and runs come slowly, don’t call the cricket drab and unenterprising. Rather seek for its cause In the skill of the bowler and give him the credit for keeping the runs down, though he may not take the wickets.

Rattling Up the Runs. Wellington received a severe drubbing at the hands of the Midlanders at the Basin on Saturday, the latter' almost parsing the former’s score without the loss of a wicket. The star trio in the Midland batting list all gave a good account of themselves, Baker making a merry 65, while Doneghue lost no time in rattling up his 63. Indeed, the whole pace of the scoring during the innings wns wonderfully fnst. A double century for two hours’ play is the kind of thing thnt will bring cricket back into favour .as a spectacle with the general public. Roberts played a sterling and unbeaten inninga, ajid Hutchings, who partnered.

him in a great fourth-wicket stand that produced 65 runs, compiled aVery at- . tractive 39. None of the Wellington bowlers appeared to have the slightest • effect on the batsmen who opposed them. It did not pay to be careless, but there was nothing tricky about their deliveries. This could not be Said, howeyer, of the trundling of Cleverly, who disposed of five of the Wellingtonians when they were taking first strike during the earlier part of the afternoon. His average, 7.2. was a snlendid one, ■ especially so in that he disposed of two cracks batsmen, Whyte and Hiddleston, before they were properlv Set. The pace of his deliveries off the pitch had the W 'lington batsmen baffled because, most of them made the mistake of playing back to him. Baker and Hutchings also did deadly execution and with the exception of Jennings the tail wagged but'feebly, the other seven batsmen • ' compiling 41 between them. A marked feature of the game was the alert returning of the leather by Midland when they were tn the field. On several occasions hard grass-cutters were nimblv snapped un when they would otherwise have reached the palings. Kilbirnie v. Petone.

The brilliant bowling of Rotherham, who took seven wickets for 59 runs, was responsible for the comparatively low score put up by Kilbirnie in their game against Petone. Bowling with a good length, Rotherham was dangerous all the time, and, as a consequence,, no high > individual score was registered. With JV runs to his credit, Harris was the most successful batsman. He played a good innings, but in attempting to hit, a six, nut one into the air, and was held by Mark Nicholls. Although unable to repeat his performance of the previous Saturday. Christopherson, nevertheless, held his end up, and was unfortunate in playing on with his score at 23. Ward also gave a good exhibition. but, like Christopherson. was not able to rattle up a century. as he did in the last game. Kilbirnie’v. Institute, his score being 12 runs. Though at times puzzled by Hope, who, bowling with the .wind, was comipg oft the wicket at a gmart pace. Hayman compiled 13, and had hard luck in being caught off a fast ball of Hopes, which glanced off his finger. . \ ‘ • Griffiths was the most successful with the ball when Petone.went?to teh crease. Bowling a well-pitched ball with a “lee ’snin • Griffiths ' was a constant source of trouble, his deliveries at- times beating batsman, wicket-keeper, and long For Petone H, E. Nicholls compiled the highest score. .Although on occasions badly tied up by Griffiths, Nicholls played a useful innings,, making 64 runs, before he was caught bv Hearne off Tucker. Despite several narrow escapes, Bmallwood w“?h a good bowling had 16 runs up. before he was caught in Sli With K lBB r runs S on the board for the loss of six wickets, against Kilbirnie s total of 140. Petone should hav.e a substantial lead when they complete their first in nlngs next Saturday. Old Boys’ Deadly Bowling. '

Parsloe and Bull were the opening pair for Old Boys against Hutt on, Saturday. The latter was dismissed for 3, and when Badcock appeared the’ spectators were eonfldent of seeing bright cricket. After hatting steadily for a few minutes Bad cock was bowled and caught by Beard without any apparent effort. Bwsloe was batting magnificently, and his fine off ■ strokes brought many a four to his credit. After giving a brilliant display, of varied strokes he was unfortunately run out, after making the top score of 60. Barclay, James, and Lambert all save creditable displays, and between them contributed a century/' The rest of the team succumbed to McGlrr’s deadly bowling.Hutt have already proved that they have bowlers of no mean merit, and there was no exception to that rule when McGirr took six wickets for 52 runs. MeGirr bowled with untiring zeal, and his speedy break ball soon laid many wickets low. ’ Hutt went in to bat and gave a very bad exhibition, Ross being the only batsman to reach double figures. Badcock and Lambert shared the wickets between them, having four and six respectively. Ross, the brilliant young colt, gave a pleasing display. His placing was magnificent, and he fought hard for every run. Badcock must be congratulated on’the way he placed him men on the field. The outcome of this generalship was that five Hutt men were dismissed through being caught." ■ . ' - ’Varsity ▼. .Institute.

Against Institute at Kilbirnie ’Varsity, compiled tlie useful total of 248 runs, to which, at stumps Institute had responded rwith two wlcketg'-for 46 runs. The outstanding. batting performances were those of Leys,'and Nelson. The former played an attractive innings for. 56, and the latter made soma good strokes in rattling on 46. i Henderson was the pick., of the Institute trundlers. Institute will have to Improve oii their opening shoeing to make up the leeway on ’Varsity s first Innings. ' ' -v. ■'' . Stray Notes.

A. Fairfax, who hit up» 104 tor New South Wales In their Sheffield Shield match with Victoria, is a young, tall, wellbuilt all-rounder. Powerful straightdriving was a feature of his Innings, which was a chanceless display. He’ has also' bowled' with success in Important matches during the season, and is regarded as a player of distinct possibilities. '£>. G..Bradman, the young Test player, who made 340 out of New South Wales’s 1731 for. six wickets,- eclipsed by 19 runs the record score for the ground, which has stood since 1882, when W. L. Murdock made 321. During his innings he crossed his 1000 runs for the season. His great innings-was marred by poor judgment in running between the wickets. Four times over-eagerness to run him out caused, the fieldsmen to throw wildly and allowed him to reach his crease in safety. Hooker ( the New South Wales bowler who took six Victorian wickets for 42 runs in the first innings of the match, ended his feat with the “hat trick. ’ Ebe'llng. Gamble, and Ironmonger being the victims. When the Victorians opened their second innings, with 448 to score to avert an innings defeat. Hooker bowled Austin with his first ball, making four wickets with as many consecutive balls. The playing of Andrews, Bradman, and Jackson in. the inter-State match against Victoria, after being chosen in the Australian 12. is stated to have given rise to much ill-feeling between members of the respective associations. It would appear as if the old jealousy between the States concerned Is as acute as ever. The New South Wales’ batting in the Sheffield Shield match with Victoria was marred by really puerile ineptitude between wickets. Fairfax is fast, but he, Bradman, and even Jackson showed complete Ignorance of the art of calling and confident response (says an exchange). Thev not only lost runs, but took too many risk's in looking for .singles, which should not have been attempted. Their judgment of value was also faulty, and it was solely owing to atrocious blunders by the Victorians that runs-ont were not achieved. The Wellington Cricket Association Is becoming concerned over the dwindling gates at the Basin Reserve, which have been steadily falling away during the last three or four seasons, and they are anxious to ascertain why, and to find a remedy. With over half the season gone, and only about three more matches to go the receipts are about £4O, against £9O last season, whereas three or four years back they were as high as £l5O. They are having a conference with the Director of Reserves on Friday on the subject of ground charges. . . J . On the Town v. Country match the loss will be about £5O. and Wellington’s share of the £9O profit on the Otago-Wellington match will be about £BO. The committee Is endeavouring to devise some means by which the financial nosition can he improved and the public attracted to the Basin Reserve.