CRICKET.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 23, 27 January 1912, Page 20

CRICKET.

(By Half-Volley.) Another round of senior matches, wa3 concluded on Saturday, and East A now lead for premier honours by one point. The defeat of the Central and North elevens was unexpected, as East B .and Victoria College have not shown much form this season. Central's defeat was due to lack of enterprise on the part of the batsmon. The College bowling on Saturday was really not very deadly, but the majority of the Central men were content to keep wickets up. A hardhitting batsman would have altered the complexion of the game in twenty minutes. _ Central required 14 runs for a full-point win when stumps were drawn. Hale's bowling was altogether too good for the Norsemen, whose, form in all departments of the game was poor. The fielding was simply atrocious, fully ten oatches being dropped. Grimmett was the star performer with the bat for East B, compiling 63 runs. He ■ also showed good form with the ,ball. Hales, who took six wickets, kept a splendid length, and, swinging with his arm, had the batsmen guessing all tbe time. East A had little difficulty in defeating Hutt, Gibbes bating finely for 93; and South beat Petone. The three following paragraphs are taken from the Bulletin: — Cricket, as_ a gate-money show, is still young and vigorous in South Africa, but in. Australia it is middle-aged, and in England it grows old and feeble. All the county olubs are said to have lost money these last two years. The newspapers inject strychnine into the veins of English cricket, and try to make out that it is as lively as its namesake, but dull play _ and wet weather have made it a weariness to the public flesh, and locally it is going the way of other sports, in which Bull remained pre-eminent until the younger countries knocked him gut. The old Marylebone Club will probably make an attempt to revive waning interest in the game by increasing' ,the height of the wicket. Douglas, as he appeared on the M.C.C. grouna in the Englishmen's match against Victoria, and in his first pottering innings of thp second Test, is a preposterous illustration of misdirected endeavour. A big, muscular fellow, and a champion amateur boxer at that, he wastes his time in trying to hat like a young woman. His one care is' not to open his shoulders and give his bashing capacity a chance. As_ a' cV.ptain of the team, he is a depressing example of how not to get runs at a reasonable rate, and as a defensive batsman he is merely a wooden fencer rather than a stonewaller. Lord only knows what captains of _ Douglas's persuasion ' think they are doing for their side by scoring at the rate of niria runs an hour, whioh was his period of dreariness on New Year's Day. If he stopped in for several hours he might do his duty by the grand total, but he isn't a. very resourceful potterer, and Bixty minutes is a fair average length of stay for him. Woollay came and went while his captain was at the wickets, but the tall , left-hander had scored 23 anyhow before he was caught off a mighty big hit, whereas Douglas presently was clean bowled for nine in all. The gentle boxer strikes one as being a bad tactioiah, and his example seems infectious. Mead bats like a giant afraid to let himself go. It is obviously absurd for a tall, massive man to try and beat the bowling' by blocking it, if a comparatively Tight-weight ol Cotter's stamp 'can frequently do his side good service by slogging. For the painfully slow batting in the second Test, the "Englishmen Tiad a better excuse th"an the Australians. They loßt a number of wickets through playing at balls which wore not at all dangerous if left untouched. J Men died, on the England side, in the ' attempt to get Tuns, so there was justification for the extreme caution of the men 'who slowly p*iled up a score. Seven out of 12 on the England side were caught, 'as against eight out of 20 of Australia. Undoubtedly the bowling o' the visitors was thb more frequently on the wicket, and they hit the Btumps four times in eaoh of the Australian innings. Only two of the Englishmen were clean bowled — by Hordern in eaoh case. Cotter took five wickets without shifting any bails, whereas Foster, a fast bowler, on the other side, hit the target throe times, Barnes got there four times, and Woolley once. Australia's need, now that Hordern has Jpst the bloom of his novelty, is a fairly fast bowler, who can -be trusted to get some wickets without assistance from the field. The "off" theory is all right sometimes, but the "dead on" theory is good all the time. The Australians were decisively beaten in the second test match, ' and it was rather remarkable that the tail-enders did better with the bat than those who are expected to_ make the runs. In the third test now being played, it was regarded as somewhat extraordinary that players not usually regarded as strong batsmen went in' earlier than the cracks. For instance, Hordern, in the first innings, was before both Hill and Trumper in the batting order. This circumstance gives point to a story _ about the_ seam in a cricket ball. It ia fairly prominent in a new ball, and some bowlers, whilo the ball is a new one, are able to swerve in remarkable fashion. The Australians have come to the conclusion,' after reviewing' the second test play, that both Barnes and Foster are remarkable swervers, and that they are able^ to send down this bewildering ball because of the seam. So to circumvent itheir gifts in this direction, Hill, after deep thought, decided to hold, back both himself and Trumper in the match in Adelaide, and so meet bowling rendered somewhat less effective, because of the seam in the ball being flattened, and consequently of no aid 1 to the, bowlei*. The device was an ingenious one, but unfortunately for Australia, the intervening men did not stay long enough to flatten the seam out, and when Hill and Trumper had to go in they, too, foil victims to the all-conquering visiting bowlers. The Australians, however, /appear to be doing somewhat better in the second innings, although their first innings failure should coßt them the match. — Australian exchange. The Wisbeck Advertiser gives the Englishmen's names, and puts some of the letters in black to 6how that the visitors "Can beat Australia." They are: — Hit C h , W A rner Iremo N ger Ho B bs Kinn E ir Dougl A » Smi T h Me Ad G U nn - Fo S ter S T rudwick * R nodes B A rnes Wool L ey Vine ' He A me The obvious retort to this is (says a Sydney paper) of course: — Matthe W s Cart E r Bar D sley . C O tter ' Horder N T rumper Arms T rong H ill M I nnott Ra N sford X elleway