Cricket.

Evening Post, Volume LXXX, Issue 134, 3 December 1910, Page 14

Cricket.

(By "Half- Volley.") There is no necessity to go over Saturday's matches again in this column ; they were sufficiently covered in Monday's Post. A few interesting notes from overseas are subjoined. . Says the Bulletin, in respect to the South Africa-New South Wales match : — "In the days a-rear, the people who ran the scoring-board at Sydney Cricket Ground used to label cricketing parsons, doctors, and so forth with the prefix which indicates their calling. This match against Africa saw a change. Parson Waddy was plain E. F., and Dr. Hordern was plain H. V. The idea is a good one. In Australia all cricketers are equal, and receive the same -pay; therefore all distinctions should be left aside. Cricketers who had not climbed the diamond ridge were always consumed with anxiety lest the practice should "extend, and Bill Smith be' marked Sausage-maker. Sausage-making, ' properly done is a very skilled cbusiness, demanding judgment, much sound knowledge and excellent -taste ,• but it doesn't sound a dignified occupation. "African captain' Sherwell is a champion tosser, and in all three matches has had the luck to win the right to do as he liked. But, somehow, the luck seems to get gone at the knees after deciding the toss. "The charming uncertainty of cricket is somewhat in evidence just now. South Australia smashed Victoria by six wickets, and was downed by the Africans with ,a margin of 281 runs. Then the. Victoria that South Australia had beaten so badly walloped the Springboks by five wickets. Now, the Ma State, which considers itself the salt ot Australiaj has downed the ■ Springboks by just three wickets, two less than the number by which Victoria did the trick. The outstanding feature is that the Africans are heavily handicapped by being unaccustomed to wickets such as they are called to play on in Australia. Their victory over South Australia showed that .they had made good use of their practice time, and the fact that they did better against N.S.W., which is undoubtedly much stronger at cricket than Victoria, suggests that they are improving all the time. The question is, will they improve fast enough to have a reasonable show in the tests? That question has a direct bearing on the amount of the gate. "One thing to be admired about the Springboks is that they never get their tails down. When Trumper and Bardsley were smashing the bowling they took it as philosophically as they would maternal milk. Seventy years of fighting with overwhelming native odds have left that trait in the African character. They just pegged away, showing no signs of fluster or nervousness, and when the opportunity showed its nose-tip Thumper was stumped. "The trouble with the Africans is that they are too solid, too safe. They pia,/ the game and take no chances — and lose runs. They apparently imagine that the bat is an instrument to stop the ball with mostly, and 'to hit with when favourable opportunity offers. On Monday Trumper and Bardsley showed them that it is a weapon with which the bowling is attacked. 'And in the matter ] of running the Africans are over-cau-tious. The Australians "sneaked 'em" on every possible occasion, and the Africans took them only when they were legitimately on offer, and the fat tur- j key went to the venturesome. "New South Wales cricket selectors know when to come in out of the wet. Having displayed a lack of perception by omitting B. J. Folkard from the twenty-five gentlemen who were chosen ! to practise for inter-State and international matches, they redeemed the blunder by hastily including Folkard when sickness prevented Scott taking his place. How they would have justified the passing over of the others of the chosen band is hard to imagine; but fortunately Folkard's inclusion has been fully justified by his performance. He broke the South Africans right up with his six wickets for 37, a.nd the rest of his performance was distinctly high-class. In the other innings he took two wickets for 53, and batted well for a bowler, knocking up 28 and 13. Presumably, had he turned out a failure the excuse would have been that his terrific score of 24-1 the previous Saturday had come like the revelation of St. Paul, suddenly and with mandatory' emphasis. " The bowling records suggest that it would be well if Cotter and Kelleway were taught the game before being included in the State XI. In the first innings of the Africans Cotter slung three no-balls and Kelleway five ; and in the second innings Cotter perpetrated one no-ball and one wide, and Kelleway two wides. A total of four no-balls and one wide to Cotter, and five no-balls and two wides to Kelleway. Still, it was not all one side. Even the mighty' Nourse sent down three wides. "In the matter of time-wasting the S' African cricketers have nothing to learn from the Australians and Britishers. When one of their wickets falls the retreating man gets slowly to the pavilion before his successor goes slowly forth to battle. There is no meeting the trouble half way. A S' African bowler goes through a form of " getting his arm in" before starting hiß attack. Time is wasted with malice aforethought. F'rinstanc'e, at a few minutes before 12, when play is to begin, both teams are at liberty to practice, and there is nothing to stop the forthcoming bowlers from " getting their arms ig." Seemmgly

they would scorn to do anything so reasonable. The men who were practising go into the pavilion, and at 12 o'clock they march out to the wickets. Then the first bowler delivers three or four practise balls to one of his mates in the field, to get the length, or the swerve, or Lord knows what. Why this vain parade of unreadiness? And v/hy the retirement for afternoon tea when an innings is about to terminate? T'other Saturday, at the Melbourne ground, the last of the S' Africans went to the wicket on the -right side of 4 o'clock. He was a damaged men, and a long stand for the last wicket was practically impossible. Yet the teams knocked off at 4 p.m. precisely for tea, and were away twenty minutes. Then there was another five to ten minutes of cricket and the side was out. So they all came back to the pavilion, and nothing happened for another twenty minutes, save the rolling of the pitch and the weary sighs of the tired payers."