Cricket.

Evening Post, Volume LXVIII, Issue 134, 3 December 1904, Page 14

Cricket.

[By The Mid.]

The Austral-Midland heat ended unexpectedly on the Athletic Park last Saturday afternoon. The newcomers went down like ninepins before the onslaught of Upham, who found the "spot," and was practically unplayable. At one stage of the game Upham had bowled three maiden overs and had secured four wickets. The game was over in an hour, with a win for the Midlanders by ten wickets. Upham had to send two men in to open the second innings to score only one run to win. Davis got on to Bartlett's fir,st ball, and three runs resulted. . Senior players who have played on the wicket allotted to them on the Athletic Park complain that the pitch, is not good enough for Senior Championship contests. The wicket, the complainants say, altogether favours' fast bowlers. Others, again, 'declare that on Saturday last the wicket .was. a really good one. . 'The custodian of the Park ground says that the best wicket is on the western side, which is, allotted to the juniors. It is suggested that the seniors should either be given the best wicket on the Park,' or 'the three senior- matches should be played on the Basin Reserve. These, lines by D. Ir. A. Jephson, in Fry}s Magazine, should be writ large on the mjnds of Wellington players : — The measure of good fielding, let it be Filled to the brim for those whose hands are sure, Who'd rather save a certain boundary Than tons of virgin gold, however pure. The morrow's sun shall shine again for these, " ' And in their clenching hands the leather ball Shall rest, as moonlight on the thousand seas. Bishop Wallis has become one of the "Vice-Presidents of the Thorndon CiUb. THIRD-CLASS NOTES. Since the championship was started in '89, the Wellington Club has up to the present, never had the actions of its thirdclass players cavilled at by the controlling body. The old boys of the College in the Wellington Club are wrath at the action instituted by the reps, of their Alma Mater, as the incident does not coincide with their earlier educatiou on matters relating to a clean sport. Third-class cricketers have been aroused this week over the action of the captain of the Col'.ege A team claiming the game against Wellington last Saturday afternoon. Mr. J. Barclay, the Wellington skipper, has forwarded a written stateme&t to the Association, in which he states that the toss for choice of innings took place before 2.15. After this question was settled Barclay called on E. S. Pearee to accompany him to the wickets, but before the pitch was reached the former player, at the request of the College side, provided a scorer for the team. On arrival at the batting-crease the College captain claimed the match on the ground that play had not . started by 2.15. The course usually adopted in connection with a dispute arising out of third-class matches is to send the case down to the Third-class Committee, which reports its decision on the matter to the committee of the Association. If ten delegates are not satisfied with that verdict a special general meeting of the whole Association can be convened for further discussion of the matter. The Gas Company illuminated Karori with a score of 83. The earlier batsmen were far too eager, and the side would have collapsed but for a serviceable stand made by Taylor (19). and Wilson (19). M'Cosker with his leg and off break was hit out of the- ground by a Karori player, who was severely damaged from what proved the last ball of tho day. Lingard (four for 24) went in for pace, which the fast wicket assisted. P. Medcalf (39 not out) saved Karori from disaster. PyeSmith and Finlayson tampered with the gas meters, and their success with the ball delighted the large number of Korori residents who were on the ground. Ross kept wickets in fine style for Gas Company, but he should curb his present tendency to take the ball before it leaves the playing area Even scoring was tallied in the first innings of the Johnsonville-Thorndon heat. The former club broke *way in the second venture, thanks to a bright display from Fred. Cording, who has 33 not out to his credit. This player took up the secretarial work of the Johnsonville Club this season. W. Tremewan did splendid work for the suburban team during the afternoon. • He scored 30 and captured six Thorndon wickets for 20. Thawjey, Leydon, and Burbush, the trio of town bowlers, annoyed their opponents during their- first visit to this locality, but the first-named player should have been put on earlier. Leydon (21) also batted well, but. the, failure of Martin with the bat was a disappointment to the Thorndons. J. D. M'lntyre has notified his intention to present a trophy to the Thorndon batsman who succeeds in scoring 50 against the redoubtable Johnsonville team in the second innings. The Newtown team should have a good game with St. Patrick's College if drawn, but otherwise their task of notching a victory this season appears to be" very remote. The Australs did not have to worry to any extent to turn Newtown out for 55. Australs put on 124, Humphreys being unbeaten for 55, despite the efforts of Sexton and Co. to dislodge this player. Davenport (six for 22) was again to the fore in the bowling department. Six of the V.M.C.A. team reached doubles in the Wadestown game, Arbon, Jantke, and Galbally leading the way in a total of 148. The overmatched Wadestown combination went out for 64 and 41 for seven wickets. Taylor scored 23 not out of the second total, and saved the side from being annihilated. Joplin, a son of the dominie of the village, bowled very steadily, and his average of eieht for 33 speaks for itself. The Phoenix-St. Patrick's College docs not need much comment. The result of

the game points to an easy victory for the former team. The Collegians would have had a far more enjoyable season had they entered a lower grade of the Association championships. Segrief scored half the College total, and secured four wickets for 5 runs, the one bright spot of the College display during the afternoon. The Midlanders, after a smooth trip to Day's Bay, ran into heavy weather on arrival. Davis and Mitchell at the tail end of the innings assisted the score to 67. The Albions, without losing a wicket, passed this number, thanks to Butler's well-timed stroke on the leg side of the wicket. His partner Jamieson (23) also showed good form against the' Midland bowlers, who never got into their stride. The wicket assisted the off break which Wilson cultivates, but the capital length maintained by Woods upset the batting pretensions of the 1 earlier Midland representatives. On the day's play Winters and his merry men should score the Albions' first victory in the third-class championship. Heavy scoring took place on the College Ground. Buddie (90 not out) and Male (31) made a fine stand for the last wicket, which fell at 211. The College B bowlers were tied in knots by the exstridents, who got rid of their opponents for 93. The College B division has a heavy task in front of it this afternoon, and on present form Male and Bell will take a lot of stopping. The Wellington team showed its contempt for College A by scoring 255. "Long" Pavitt knocked corners off the bowling in compiling his century. Maude (34), Barclay (24), Pearce (20), O'Connor (29), and the veteran Clementson (13 not oat) were also vigorous in their protest against having the match counting a loss before the game is concluded. The Collegians backed up their contention by scoring 101 for four wickets. T. Brodie led the Collegians with a score of 42. He resumed batting at 2.15 this afternoon. / A Philadelphia (U.S.A.) amateur, E. M. Gregar, hit the ball out of the ground for six each time no fewer than eighteen times during the past season. Tom Hayward, the Surrey professional, required 144 runs to bring his aggregate for the season to 3060 runs when he went in to bat on 30th August at the Oval against the South Africans. He obtained them with 53 to spare. Gilbert L. Jessop, the Gloucestershire captain, eclipsed all his previous records for fast scoring by making 55 runs in fifteen minutes, playing for South, of England against the South Africans during the Hastings week in September. No' other player on his side seemed to be abie to make any stand, however, during the innings, which ended for a total of 237, Mr. Jessop's full score being. 159, not out. The South African cricketers proved themselves worthy opponents to the English County and other first-class mixed elevens. Their performances greatly exceeded expectations. Out of 26 matches played, they won just half, lost three, and drew ten, including the memorable tie match at Lord's v. Middlesex. David Hunter, the popular Yorkshire wicketkeeper, who has for seventeen years been -stumper for his county, in an interview at Scarborough Festival, said he had taken over 1000 wickets since he commenced first-class cricket, tjp to the end of last season lie had caught and stumped 929, and this season up to date 78, making a lotai of 1007. This is a record for a wicKefkeeper. Hunter is 400 points to the good as compared with M. Sherwin, who played 21 years for Notts.