PICNIC CRICKET

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 187, 6 May 1931, Page 9

PICNIC CRICKET

Good Form Displayed In Practice Game

NEW ZEALAND’S TEAM

By Telegraph—Press Assn.—Copyright.

London, May 4.

The New Zealand cricketers played a one-day picnic match against the Maori Club at Wimbledon. The pitch was wet and there was no play before lunch. The match was drawn.

There were twelve players In each team, New Zealand omitting Cromb and Matheson. The Maoris included Harold Gilligan, A. P. F. Chapman, and F. Gilligan. The game was played in a holiday spirit , For New Zealand, Dempster and Talbot both batted vigorously. The touring team created a good impression, and many commented upon the improved fielding. A large number of former New Zealanders was present at the match. Details:— NEW ZEALAND. First Innings. Dempster, st. F. Gilligan, b. Sharpe .. 51 Mills, t>. Palmer 10 Weir, c. Steward, b. Palmer 12 Vivian, c. Calthorpe, b. Palmer O Page, c. Calthorpe, b. Mitchell -23 Talbot, not out M Blunt, b. Mitchell .2 Lowry, 1.b.w., b. Mitchell 1 Kerr, not out • 23 Extras s Total for seven wickets 183 (Innings declared closed.) Bowling Analysis (incomplete). —Palmer took three wickets for 40 runs: Mitchell, three for 22; Sharpe, one for 53. MAORI CLUB. First Innings. Bennett, c. Page, b. Talbot 2 Mitchell, c. Alfcott, b. Weir - y Calthorpe, run out H A. H. H. Gilligan, run out Chapman, c. Page, b. Weir 23 F. Gilligan, st. James, b. Merritt .... 2U Earle, not out 31 Grimston, st. James. b. Merritt 4 Steward, not out 1 Total for.seven wickets HO Bowling Analysis.—Talbot took one wicket for 5 runs; Merritt, two for 3<: Allco.tt, none for 8; Blunt, none for .1: Vivian, none for 31; Weir, two for -0. The opening match of the tour begins tp-day, when the New Zealander s will meet Essex at Leyton. FUNERAL ATTENDED First-Aid Cabinet Presented London, May 4. Dr. Alfred Thomson handed over to the New Zealand cricketers the firstaid cabinet used by the Australians and South Africans in the recent tours. P. R. Johnson represented the New Zealand tourists at the funeral of S. M. J. Woods, the Somerset cricketer.

The late S. M. J. (“Sammy”) Woods, a Svdney man, went to England with the Australian team in 1888. He played for both Cambridge University and Somerset.

TO-DAY’S MATCH

Essex an Improved Side

The tour of England by the New Zealand cricket team commences in real earnest with the match against Essex at Leyton (some fifteen miles out of London) to day, to-morrow, and on dayIn 1927 Essex was the first county ,to be played and, largely through bad catching New Zealand had its colours lowered by ’five wickets. Mills and Lowry each made more than. 60 in the first innings, while in the second Dempster played an admirable innings for 79. In Essex s first innings McGirr took six wickets for 77. . . .* One player who will be missing from the field is J. W. H. T. Douglas, for many years captain of Essex and onetime captain of England. Shortly before Christmas, J. W. H. T. Douglas and his father, Mr. J. H. Douglas, were both drowned in a collision between two steamers in the North Sea. The leading for Essex is M. S. Nichols, the fast bowler of the last M C.C. team in New Zealand. Last season Nichols took 108 wickets for his county and played for England in the fourth Test match against the Australians at Manchester. L. C. Eastman, for a year or two coach to the Otago Cricket Association, is a leading Essex player; but last season he met with an injury which prevented him playing in more than one game. He was recently considered to have recovered completely, _in which case he will probably be playing this week. ■ Last season Essex was a stronger team than in 1927, so that our men Will need to hold ail the'c-tches that come their way if they mean to win.