Cricket.

Evening Post, Volume LXXI, Issue 47, 24 February 1906, Page 14

Cricket.

£Br The Mm.] Bowlers had a dny out last Saturday in the opening of tho fifth serios of heats, and small scores foil to nearly all the batsmon. During the afternoon 601 runs were scored in the three matches for the loss of fifty-six wickets, whioh is an avfirttgo of loss than 10£ runs per wicket., ,On the first day's play in tho foiii'th .series .of heats 813 .runs wero, scored^ for forty-three wickets, whioh was ah ayerage'df jitst'upon 19 runspdr. i Nearly all tho six teams completed. an innin'^s',' on > Saturday,- .which Is >, mostr 'imngnftliy rapid' state of • "things j ► but, although there Was a larger crowd than usual ;on the Bnsin Besorve, it melted away- beforo tho regular hour. This was probably duo to tho fact that from 6.30 to k 6.30 o'clock things were going slow on tho three pitches, and— this most dls^ted _ spectators— tho Phoenix team utterly 'failed -to put up tho ex-, pected good fight against the Mldlandcrs. The Gusworkers occupied two and a quarter hours in making 05 runs. Tho table, itb -the foot of my notes will show the 1 position 'of i tho games at the close of the afternoon's play. Tho ."Midland team was excellontly handled ' When their opponents were batting, and at) ; the batsmen woro not well skilled-, in iho, • art; qf placing tho balls, many runs .wei'e .saved .which would havo Jjeen^ aeore.dj had -.the- floldsmen 'been other „ 'than ■ Mldlanderu. Tho Phoonk fieldsmen gave Mdwatfr, (63) a life, and tho;i ho put 18 mow runs on the score'sheet. The two Midland colts, Atkinson and Murphy, aro particularly ' bright ■ examples ot smart, na'rd-worklng; mn^ saving fieldsmen, and Atkinson won frequent and well-deserved applause^, , Despite the fact that the - ground , was rather 'dead, expross-bowlor Upham was wonderfully successful. Of his Hrst ten .overs, seyon were maidens, four sirfgles were scored, and, ono wrokpt, secured >by the bowlois There, wero three maidens in tho othor eight overs, a wicket foil to Uphanf about every ojther over, nnd only 1() run's rewarded tho Tiatsmon. The Midland _ ctvptnlii's five wlcketa cost 14 , who had not done anything with /tlio ball previously during the .soft,son,' had a day , out bowling from, the Cnlddoiiiatt end, ho got a lot of work on tho ball,, curling in Irom leg in a manner most disconcerting to batsmen , and completely beating iMowatt, Hutchings, Barron, f williams f and Murphy, whose wlokets he captured at less than 9 runs ! apfec^ / Unce fell away from graco 1 both with the, bat and bail, scoring only 2 runs and capturing two wickets ;at a' cost of 37 ■runs, which roatiUiS pull down hisavor-' 'ages', with a gruat thud. '■ Vio. Waters was the only member of his "team who put any vim into his totting and, was unbeaten with 26 out 61 the 69 scored when time was culled. ' Claude Hlckson has not. during most recent times, kept up the bright promise of tlio .earlier part of. the season. I& tho last two patches . his, scorus have been only '7]and '4, 'which nre paltry alongside the 10,, 10^, land 74 ''Of tho previous frames.' ' Still, ho has a Cup average of 42. . ' i Mowatt (b'3) and Hutchings (38) mad 6 things good and lively during the early part of the I ' afternoon, carrying the score from 15 for the first wicket to 98 for the second, and making between them one-half of the whole team's scoro. The slowest of slow gomes was played on No, 3 wicket between Wellington and Gas' ,Co.,< Barney Weybourne (30, oat of 59) being tlio only batsman who put in attractive work. ls»LesliaAAshbolt's friends were par^culftrly w hftjmiiy,, engaged in watching his fdweftof-itreaglh jplay for', the Gas'workers; because the youngest Ashbolt '•whs riot deemed goad enough to he pro inoted from the junior to tho senior eleven of. the Wellington Club. On 'Snt- ! trrday he scored 45 'of a total of 95 runs, and lie was fall of runs when his team had emptied out 'all its batsmen, so that I, A, carried ou^ his bat., In the previous match (against Midland) the young baiiman ' scored 28 and 12. ' Tom Hales had & return to hU best form with the ball, capturing hard-hit-ting Rodgrttvd (3), the usually consistent Laws (I , M'ttay (2), Watigh (0), and M'Dermid (0), for n, total of 30 ,runs. Seven of his seventeen oVci's \vere maidens, ' ' '•■ In, the 'previous match Ohns, Gore had the misfortune (for himself and his team) to break 'a. smdll Bono in one of, his hands, and his place in the tenm was taken by Joe Nmsu, of Wellington's second eleven. Nash did well with the ball, .getting', three" .wickets ' for 22 tuns,. The raoord of the Newtown team goes from bad to worse, for on Saturday Coningham and Sisson made 16 runs each,' and the rest of the team (plug 6 extras) added 19 runs! Here is the team's scoro for this season : 69, 72, 80, 141, 82, 62, obf 94, 40. •If the Nowtown players would only take their courage, as well, as tho bat, in both hands, the score-sheot Would tell n, different tale. As it is, iWholi Co'ninghflm fails to score, they are liko a party of amateur actors when the " star >f is off the 1 stngfr. Coningham's scores for the season, have been: 23, 24, 0, 91 not oiit; 7, 21, 4, 16, 16, whioh gives him an average of 25 runs, i Although bowling to a cross wind, Monaghan cftptured four wickets flt aj cost of 7 runs d-pigflo ; bufc Ken. Tttckbr wns the destroying angel, getting the Newtown men, including .Sisson and Coningham, tied up in a knot. Whon they dfsentangled themselves tho batsmen found that, in thfrteen overs five of them had given up thoir wickets to the smilesome Ken at a cost of just ft fraction under 6 rung each I With the exception of the consistent Blackloek brothers, Mon&ghan, and Jacobs— who scored 109 out of 149 (Including 24 extras), the Old Boys were overcome by the trioklnesses of Coningham, who got Wills (81, Dixon (6), Beochey (1), Kirkcaldio (OJ, Meeks (4 . But his five .wickets cost Coningham 60 runs, and bo bowled 25 overs, of which nine were maldehg. Tho following ftguros show the state of lho several games' at the fall of each wicken— , . ,

, , I»kt2wd« iw Aw 6n 7w 8w Ow lbw Nswtrtwn 32 34 47 47 48 48 4fl 48 40 • Old floyi 8 13 M 32 60 60 108 111 121 140 Out Co. , 3 4 7 28 32 62 77 60 81 96 Wellington' 1 10 10 48 48 62 63 09 Midland 16 08 99 111 MJ 1« 141 142 164 180 Jlioenlx 17 ,31, 31 , 39 47 02 66 hO 62 „ , *BnUed on* «liort.