CRICKET

Evening Post, Volume LXXXV, Issue 57, 8 March 1913, Page 14

CRICKET

♦• (By "Half -Volley.")

'Uncongenial weather conditions mado last Saturday afternoon miserable for cricket. The seating accommodation at the Basin Reserve wag not overcrowded, and those who did attend had for their pleasure but one senior game and a junior battle on No. 3, where Sieeon was cheered along to and past his century by a small band of enthusiasts. South was due to meet East A on No. 2, but when its side was apparently three or four short it was decided to default to their opponents. That decision had hardly been arrived at when a couple moro wero discovered, .but the match had gone by default. The South Club is decidedly unfortunate in the matter of not being able to gather an eleven every Saturday. _ This fact serves at least one purpose — it gives the opppnents of the district scheme a/ text round which to weave epecious argument in favour of the • old and archaic club system. This is good manual, if a doubtful mental exercise. When O'Shea dropped Wynyard late in the afternoon, East B lo6t a splendid chanco of leading the inconsistent North on the . first innings. Five of the best wickets wcro down for 87 (East B had jfofc 126) wUen Blacklock and Wynyard joined forces, and the pair added 17, and played out time. The fall of another wicket would havo brightened East's prospect* tremendously, but the chance . was missed. The main f n -»tures of this contest havo already I been vat out in The Post. Wagstaff ' (East) 13, and Hiddlestone (North— his beet innings this year) both batted spiritedly for 56. Southall's slowb came in for some punishment. Dooley struck a patch for East B. getting "Wilson (out to a hand catch), Crombie, and Hiddlestone at tho oxpense of 23 run 6. Dooley's length is not a strong point. Hales kept an end going, but the veteran, though he bagged a couple of wickets, had no luck. College, thy name is Inconsistency ! A time there- was when the students wero not worthy of much consideration, but College are now a team with possibilities — if they can be relied upon to reproduce their late form in , their next matches. But can they? Witness their extraordinary . effort against North— admittedly the strongest batting side 'in the competition — and their ■no less extraordinary downfall on the following Saturday. Heftce the query. - In their present game with Petone they have a ' good start ; and Petene are a fair team. As the scores indicate^ the match, as far as it has gone, is interesting, with a promise of a still more interesting finish. . Victoria College, in their first innings, have compiled 178, and Petone have but 50 up for tho lose of four good wickets. One can only conjecture what to-day will bring forth, but certainly things are not looking too rosy for the i suburbanites. For the cricketers on Saturday, Petono was a good place to be out. of. A cold bleak northerly blew down on to the ground, making things decidedly unpleasant for the fieldsmen. The action of Dickson, Birch. Burns, and Co., in. providing plenty of leather-hunting for the Petone fieldsmen is, therefore to be commended. Petotie, however, did not require much incentive from ■ the .Collegians to work. The northerly made it an unpopular day for loafing, and the Petoneites' fielding in consequence wa-s very keen. College found this out to .their cost, when threa men were Bent back to" the pavilion— run out. If anyone doubts the truth of this assertion, let him ask Dempsey, who paid the penalty for taking the fielding too lightly. Atmore could be called in to corroborate. Special mention must' be made of Cate's work behind the stumps. He was very sound, letting but a few past him. Brice had a fair average (the past tense is used advisedly), but it was his misfortune to meet Dickson, 1 and now he hasn't a fair average. Hardham was also left lamenting. Hardham was Birch's particular weakness, and Hardham's averago suffered in consequence. Bnt he had some consolation, getting Howe's wicket with the fifth ball of his first over, when tho batsman appeared set. Birch was hitting merrily when he fell a victim to M'Kenzie, who brought off a brilliant catch. He Beemed to anticipate Birch's stroke, running half-way -up the crease to bring off the catch, falling full length in the effort. When Petone went in, Dalgleish and Brice made trouble for them. Tho bad light had a good deal to do with the disposing of the four fetone men, two of whom wore 'certainly unfortunate in being out when stumps were drawn. It seemed as if Brice would carry his bat out. Tho last ball of the day he played on — one from M'lntosh. I Owing to a number of lads having to attend compulsory parades on Saturday last, only one Boys' League senior grade matoh was played. This was St. Anne's versus Marist Bros., resulting in a win for the latter team by nine wickets. Practically the only outstand- j ing feature of the game was the excellent fielding on the part of tho Marist boys. Put briefly, every player did his best, and the other League teams would do well by taking a leaf from Marists' book. The, 'keeping of Macauley (Marist) was a treat to watch, and very few balls went past him. By their win Marist have now a lead of four points over St. Anne's, Donald M'Leanstreet P.M., and Newtown. The latter two teams have, however, three more matches to play, while Marist have only two more fixtures. From the respective positions on the championship ladder, a, oloso finish for premiership -is anticipated. In the junior grade, Institute had a ; romping- victory • over . Mount Cook, win- I ning by over, an innings. Mount Cook'B second strike yielded but four runs. Bell gave an excellent with the oat for Institute, and ' before ho was dismissed had hit up 56. Though his style i 3 as yet elementary, ho is a hardhitter, and always believes in opening his shoulders to any loose balls. This same boy is also a rather good wicketkeeper. Trinity won from Central Mission by default, and with St. Anne's still retain their position at the head of the championship list. Of the three Senior fixtures played at the Basin Reserve on Wednesday afternoon, two— Rivals v. Oriental, and V.M.C.A. v. Artillery — provided interesting finishes. The first-mentioned match attracted chief attention from the spectators, tho final result (as to whether Rivals could obtain a four-point win) being in doubt right up to tho last minute. Luck was against them, and time was called when they required only two runs, with five . wiokets to fall, to pass Oriental's aggregate score. They therefore had to bo content with a twopoint win by 113- runs on the first innmgß. Rivals' first, innings yielded 176 runs, to which' George contributed 39, and Dr.-M'Evedy carried his bat for 36. In their second striko, Oriental adopted tho hitting-out principle, which, in the majority of cases, was successful, their tally . being 154. It is intending to note that only ono of tho ten wickets was bowled, the remainder being caught (3), run out (2), and stumped (3). As wicketkeep for Rivals, tho Rev. Bartlott caught the eye of the onlookers, and he alone was responsible for tho dismissal of four players — three stumped and one caught. He was smart in every respect, and snapped up' the ball from either side of the wicket, with a neatness that was a treat to witness. Smith's bowling did not appear to trouble the batsmen so much, tor they all hit out to hfs deliveries, with the result that his | average at the conclusion of tho in- | rungs was four for 55. For the losers, Gouriay was most successful with tho bat, getting 36 before being stumped. Day, also stumped, batted well for 24. Rivals - commenced their second attempt rather poorly, and had lost five wickets tor 40 runs when time was called. Some discussion occurred as to the actual time when play was stopped, it being generally thought that there wero still a few minutes longer to go. Had play been continued, Rivals would have undoubtedly, been • rewarded with a fourpoint win. 'V.M.C.A. experienced little difficulty in defeating Artillery, who wero in second place for the championship. The winners first strike produced 161 runs, the chief scorers being Rev. E. O. | Blamires 70, Attneave 27, und _ Varney 27. Blamires had 69 runs to his credit when stumps were drawn the previous week, but, ho had only added a single to this total this week v/hen he was caught in the clips by. Wilson. Artillery, who

were nil dismitised for 99 in their first innings, did much better in their second, having lost seven wickets for 148 runs when they declared, leaving V.M.C.A. 86 runs to got to win, with a little over half an hour i'o play. This was easily .accomplished, with six wiokets to spare, and V.M.C.A. secured four points. Wilson batted m«(st attractively for Artillery, having 78 not _ out to hia- credit. Six bowlers were tried, but ho treated all with ease. M'lntyro 27, and Dr. Gilmer 22, were the only other Artillery players to get into double figures, both giving good exhibitions. Bale and Blamirea opened V.M.'s second innings, and both indulged in hard hitting. When his score stood at 21, Bale retired, as he_ had to be at work at six o'clock. Blamifes was caught 'in the 'outneld after scoring 45 for about half an hour's play. In their match with Vivian^ Union, continuing their first innings, were all out for 162, to which Warne contributed a well-played 56, M'Gill 29, Haines 26, and Harris 24. Mills and Hollis bowled best for Vivian, tho former getting five for 41, and' the latter three for 41. Batting with three men short, Union went to pieces, and when the seventh wicket fell had only 52 runs on, Hollis being not out with ' 12. The wickets wero secured by J. O'Sullivan and Warne, tho former getting three for 31, and Wai'no four for 17. Requiring 18 runs to win, Whelan and Mulford opened Union's second innings, and soon wiped od tho deficit with a few runs to At a meeting of tho Marist Brothers Old Boys' Club, held on Thursday ovening, it was decided to send a team to Blenheim at Easter to play a team from St. Mary'B Club, The local boys will probably loavo on Thursday week, but final arrangements are to bo mado at a meeting next week.