Cricket.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 27, 1 February 1908, Page 14

Cricket.

(By "Over.")

LOCAL CRICKET. With the commencement of the semifinal round of tho Senior Championship jast Saturday, the crickot &oa&on is -verging towards the close. Three days aro to bo given up to tho semi-final matches and tho "final is to bo played out to a finish. Tho cricket beason should therefore, tor all -spectacular purposes, finish ]iy the middle of March. The association may then send a team up to Auckland to play the present champions) a friendly game. Meanwhile the vihole interest of the game concentrules on the tussles bervioen Wellington and Midland, and between Old Boys and Petone. . "Wellington were on the defensive during most of their innings against Midland. Tho bowling of Upham and Mitchell was too solid for heavy scoring. ,Vare was the only spark of life in a tamo, colourless display. Ho hit a 6 'and 5, tho.first,n bsaut.iful off drive, and .tho second "a hoavy pull which f>kicd and dropped in the band stand.' _ Richardson playoil one of his typical inninga of sober, irestrained, correct crickot. Ho might have soon the rest of tho team precede .Jiihi out, had he not, in a moment of temptation, run out to Upham. His 'momentary temerity wos fatal, for. Wil•Hams whipped off the bails. Wynyard \sas in his best form i\hen Midland wont "in to bat. .His 38 not .out uas a brilliant pieco of~ work and should go far $iext Saturday towards establishing an advantage for Midland. Upham and Mitchell bowled practically ' unchanged through the _ Wellington innings. Mitchell was slightly tne more successful with 5 wickets for 47, but Up,ham ran him very clo&o with 5 for 51. Bruce and Hiokson were unsuccessful. If ;anything the odds are in favour of Midland on the whole match. - Old Boys showed their mettlo against Petone. Tucker was again a tower of strength to his side. Whenever runs are wanted he is there to make them, and he plays the game as it is required, '15 was a brilliant 'catch of Taylor's in the slips that got rid of him for 49. Monaghan and C. P. Blaoklook figured in a fina partnership, which added nearly a century to the score. Taylor was again to the fore in'a neat catch in tho slips, disposing of Monaghan for 70. Blacklocjc was bowled by Brice with a good ball for a score of 55. brothers Blacklock did well with the bat. J.P. put up 21 in quick timo, before siiecumbjng to Brice. Isherwood v.-as the only ono of the Petone batsmen who mado any show: As his score now stands lie will commence play next Saturday much on the same level as Wynjard for Midland—36 against 38. As both G^s Company and Newtown were out) of the semi-finals and out also at No. 3 wicket, not so much interest was taken in their game. The deplorably weak bowling and fielding of Nowtown gave Gas Company a very pleasant innings. Batsmen tcored' who had nevet scored before. Hodge and Spotteswoode created a record for the ninth wicket and are still going. 'Topp pleased his supporters highly by a neat 56, something- like one of his old innings. Wafers batted,prettily for 49, and Wauph tvas consistent in his 38. With their score at 352, for eight .wickets, tho many frienda of the Gab Company team will be,- regretting they did not como to light before. Of tho junior toams, Victoria College, which commenced tho season,disastrously, is rapidly working up to a victory. Against Midland juniors a fortnight ago they showed thoir quality by pluckily knocking up 280 in thoir second innings again Midland's 199—and thih after V.C. had mado only 20 in their first innings. Midland lost six wicjjets for 71 in their neeond innings. Against Thorndon, Victoria tollcge maclo 169, 'nnd last Saturday hit up 160 against Wellington Bs 56. Something substantial may be expected from the college team at this rate. Perhaps it will be a victory. IMPRESSION OF AN OBSERVER . Gordon Riiscell, whose experience of criokct is. very Vide, including the game as played in England and-Australia, before leaving Wellington gaic his impressions of local cricket in an interview with "Over,"- the other day. His observations should proVeWaluablc, FrdW"'otis%'r^'fttions made on" many', occasions" _it wou^d seem that' Wellington cricketers indulge in- too muoh net p'raeliso which ha|B»<a. "disastrous effect both on a player's' Hbatting And -.fielding, capabilities. Constant tytfacticje at> the nets, whilst neglecting -uuden' field tfondition& v as nearly as begets a .false " confidence , which Meads fo tho easy fall of wickets fu matches. Net practice does not show up a player's faulty strokes, particularly in regard to cuts and snicks-, and at the wme timo from the bowler's point of, view it has many disadyantagen, as ho camzpt Judgo. whether a. certain ball which \ ha 3 boeu driven ha-i'4 againsi the nets would have, under ordinary playmg conditions, counted, a wicket to Ills credit. Consequently a slow bowler, who ordinarily bowls for the field, neglects /his function and bowls for tho timber all the time during net practice. Net practice is certainly an advantage where only two or three playeis are available, but as foon as a fair number of, men put in an appearance ,the nete> should bo discontinued During the early nineties, the Lancashire County eleven wero noted for their fielding abilities, and county elqvens which had been in the habit of making three and four hundred runs in an iunings counted themselves lucky if they got into tho Second century against the County Palatine. Lancashire at that petiod Hid not boast a plethora of bats, h,ut tho bowling and fielding x>f the eleven was magnificent and for a long time after Jack Crossland, the famous fast bowler, had been disqualified Lancashire lacked the services of a fast bowler until Messrs Stanway and Alfred Appleby unearthed Arthur Mold whilst playing for the Banbury (Northampton) club and .pereuaded him to accept' service with the Manchebter club in order to qualify for a position in tjho . Lancashire eleven. At this period Lancashire born cricketers were, tcarco. This was' accounted for to a large extent by the fact that the amatour sections were not of the wealthy claw and could not afford the t,imc to play. Mr. A. G. Steel, perhaps the best all-round cricketer of his "day, was able to play only a few seasons, and his brothers, H- B. and D. Q. Steel, were similarly placed Then many of the Lancashire clubs wero able to' offer such eplendid inducements to tho professionals that' it did not pay thorn to tkrow up permanent appointments - with tho clubs, (with tho advantage of an annual benefit which might run into £200 or £300 per annum) for a prospective place in the county eleven Tom Lancaster, the Enfield profeseioual, was in frequent demand, by the county, and though Mr. Appleby allowed Lancaster to play for tho county during -the first three da.ya of the week Lancaster' b services were not .available for Thurtday, Friday, and Saturday, »s -wa» rccpxire<t fc;r his clul> on Ihjit d*j-. A gcnoral rule of all Lancashire clubs was to dispense with net practice altogether two evenings during the week, and • engage in practice under field conditions, and to this system mußt be credited Lancashire'-s succeEß in (he field. Then again, whilst the county was hard up for b*tsmen, bowlers wero plentiful. Alee Watson, who perhaps, bowled more maidens than any other trundler of his day, R. G. Barlow, Johnny Briggs, Rev. J. R. Napier, S. M. Crosfield, were bowlers to'be reckoned with, and in the matter of discernment Lancashire were particularly fortunate at the expens-c of other counties, and Lancashire's action in this respect should be a lesson to all clubs who try a player onoe and then drop him as he did not "como off." Albert Ward, a Yorkshireman by birth, was given a trial in the Tyke's eleven hut failed to distinguish himaolf and wrs dropped Mr. Stannig, of Lancashire, offered Ward a place in the Ley land club's team. Ho accepted, and proved, a tower of strength to the county of the rod rose. Similarly Frank >Sugg was tru-d for jfJcrbyehire ana, dropped. Ho was as quickly snapped up and qualified for tho Lancashire eleven. Sugg, like Tylderfley, was worth playing for his fielding alone, but in addition, he was a mighty hitter. Johnny Briggs Was rejected by "Notta" and tho Notts county committee miibt have deeply regretted the lots of Johnny's services, albeit they hung on to Joe Briggs, Johnny's rider brother. The Brigge, though Nottingham born, early removed to Lancashire where old man Briggs was protrssional and groundtman fop the Witlnes ClnV .lohnnj estrn«i hi» placs in the ccuuty eleven, alonmide Walter Kobimou,

first as a batsman, but ultimately, as all cricketers know, retained his place as a trundler. Hi 3 ntural ability as a bowler was largely developed by R G Barlo\y and Alec Watson, who were old established county plnyeis. The match between England and Tasmatia at Launceston was not vnry fully reported, as being of minor importance, as compared with the te>t matches, but tho detailed' scores may be interesting to readerf. Tho wicket woro considerably in tho hot weather, which ako affected tho lilaycrs, notably Gunn. The visitors won by 120 runs. Following aro details; — ENGLAND— First Innings. .T. B. Hobhs, st Dodds, b Tabart ... 104 N. G. Hayes, lbw, b Richardson ... 6 F. L. Fane, o Dodds, b Richardson .«. 14 lv. L. Hutchings, c Smith, b Richardson . . ... ' 37 .L.Hardstaff, b Martin 66 G. (thiui, c Harrison, b Windsor ... . 46 R. A. Young, c and b Tabart . . 8 Tj. C. Brauhd, c Tabart. b Richards-on 16 L. N. Crawford, c Richardson, b Tabart 11 W. R. Rhodes, not out .. , 7 C. Blytho, b Richardson 0 Sundries ... • ... „. ... 6 Total 321 Bowling.— Richardron, 15 overs, 1 maiden, 87 runs, l^wickft; Frost, b overs, 0 maidens, 36 runs, 0 wickets ; Windsor, 14 overe, 0 maidens, 79 runs. 1 wicket ; Martin, 6 Rivera, 1 maiden, 41 runs, 1 v.'i<*Lct ; Horriuon, 0 overs, 0 .maidens, 26 runs, ' 0 wickets ; Tabart, 11 overs, 0 maidens, 46 runs, 3 wickets. TASMANIA— First Innings. R. Hawsoit, b Crawford . ... 41 T A. Tabart, c Hardstaff, b Crawford ' 57 C. Martin, run out 0 E. W. Harrison, b Crawford 54 E. A. Windsor, b Crawford 18 J. Dodds, b Hayes ... 6 W. Richardson, o and b Braund ... 15 E. R. Ward, run out 8 H. 0. Smith, not out 36 H. Henri, c Young, b Braund ... 15 A. E. Frost, o and b Braund ... 3 Sundries 23 Total 276 BOWI/IXG.— Blythe, 20 overs, 6 maidens, 46 runs. 0 wickets ; Hayes, 0 overs, 0 maidens, 13 runs, 1 wicket ; Crawford, 23 overs, 0 maidens, 75 runs, 4 wickets ; Hutchings, 0 over?, 0 maidens, 19 runs, 0 wickets ; Braund, 21 overs, 4 maidens, 66 runs, 3 wickets; Hardstaff, 0 o\er», 0 maidens, 7 run?, 0 wickets: Rhodes, 11 overe, 2 maidens. 27 runs, 0 wieketh. Umpires: G. E. Pennyfather and W. Lawrence. ENGLAND. — Second Innings. C. Blythe, b Windsor • 21 R. A Young, b Rirhardson ... 1 J. Hobbs, c Frost, b Windsor* ... 65 R. L Hutchings, b Windsor . ... 15 J. Hardstaff, c Hawedn, b Martin ... 85 L. Braund, c Hawson, b Windsor ... 9 J. M. Crawford, b Martin ... 22 E. Hayes, c Martin, b Windsor ... 4 F L Fane, c Tabart, b Martin ... 7 W. Rhodes, not out ... ... ... 8 G. Gunn, absent , , 0 Sundries 12 'Total ~249 Bowling. — Richardson 72 balls, 1 wicket, 12 overs, 1 maiden, 60 runs ; Windsor, 114 balls, 5 wicket*., 19 overs, 2 maidens, 85 'runs: Frost, 24 balls, 4 overs, 23 runs ; Martin, 51 balls, 3 wickets, 7 overs, 38 runs; Hawson, 12 balls, 2 overs, 9 runs. . TASMANIA. -Second Innings. R. Hawoon, h Blythe " 41 T. Tabart, b Crawford ... — 4 C. Martin, o and b Braund 10 W. Richardson, b Crawford 1 X, Dodds, b Crawford ( 6 K. A. Windsor, st Young, b Braund 75 H. O. Smith, b Crawford . ... 4 A. K. Ward, c Rhodes, b Blythe 16 A. E. Frost, b Blythe 0 E. W. Harrison, not out 11 K. Henri, absent „. ... ( ... 0 Sundries ... ...' ... ... 6 Total "l 7? Bowling Analysis — Crawford, 108 balk, 4 wickets, 19 overs, 6 maidens, 50 runs ; Braund-, 60 balls, 2 wickets, 10 overs, 1 maiden, 54 runs ; Blythe, 84 balls, 3 wickets, 14 overs. \ 4 maidens, 35 runs; Hutchings, 18 balls, 3 overs," 23 runs : Rbode3, 18 balls, 3 overs, 1 maidei , & r-'.ns.' v "", " i' ' ~ ( i "■''