At the Crease

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 102, 27 October 1923, Page 19

At the Crease

KEENNESS ESSENTIAL

LESSON OF OPENING PLAY

FEW BATSMEN IN FORM,

(By " Not Oct.")

Keenness is .an esßential to good criGket. The need for serious attention to practice was stressed in last week's notes, and, after 'the general experience in the opening games of the season last Saturday, it is to be hoped that players will make use of every opportunity :to become properly fitted for match play. Those who.have been particularly keen were in most cases able to make a creditable start last Saturday, but those who stepped into the game'without any preliminary preparation'. realised the folly of their neglect: Of course, there were many players who had little, if any, chance of getting their eye in before the start of the season," as .many of : the grounds were not available, and on the evenings on.whish practice was to take place last week the -weather put cricket out of the question, so that the failures last Saturday were not altogether the fault of the players. Another .matter which had an effect on the play last Saturday was the condition of the grounds, some of which were against the batsmen. And the wickets-were not improved by the shower of rain during the afternoon. Now that the season is under way -and the facilities for practice are provided, every effort should be made by the players to get the best out of the game. By giving of their best the players will create ,a. greater interest on the part-of „the public. The batting in the senior competition matches last Saturday. ..was remarkable for the number of small scores. During the afternoon seventy-five batsmen' went to the crease, and fifty-two of .them, failed- to reach double figures. Seventeen did not succeed in breaking their '"duck," seven of the V.M.C.A: team'being among that number. 1 On the town grounds the scoring generally was very low, but at the Hutt the local team put up a fine batting performance, in which M'Girr displayed excellent form and started off the season with' a century. Hutt have been very keen in their preparations for' the season, and with a ground available for play for a couple of weeks before the start of the season they were more for.tunate than I'most clubs. The result of making an early start with practice was indicated by their exhibition at the wickets last Saturday, when they, compiled 234 runs for the loss of seven 1 wickets., The next best scores of the afternoon were made by Wellington and Midland—l46., inr! 135 respectively— but th 9 bulk of Wellington's total war registered by two batsmen. The battinc by Old Boys,. Petone, V.M.C.A.; and Thorndon was poor. The bowlers, of course,, had a day out, and in their department there-..was one exceptional performance, that of Finlayson (Petone) who captured nine wickets for 27 runs and had a hand in the dismissal of the other y.M.O.A. player. . The fieldhi" in some, cases, notably .Institute, was good. Although it: is -unsafe to endeavour to sort out- the likely principals m tins season's competition on ono days' play, there appears to be no doubt that' Hutt, last years winners, will again be a very hard proposition, but when tlie other teams become properly settled down some of them will no doubt mate an infinitely better'showing than they dul last Saturday ■

Centuries, in the opening matches of the season ar.e not irausal. Sevnral- were registered on Canterbuvv's opening day this season. In Wellington last year two centuries, were scored in the"opemiur iiatehes-J. «.■ Hiddleston IPO for WelIWHtou against Old Boys, and E . U 1 lulhps 110 for Thormlo'n. against Lsti" ■ lite. ATGivr's three-figure tally last, oatjjmay makes the fifth he has. scored In local senior cricket. His .centimes are as lollow:. 124 for East (-1912-13) 113 for Last v; Old Boys (1918-19), 330 for Hutt v. Thorndon (1920-21), 159 iV Hutt v. Wellington (1922-23), 101 fcHutt v. Institute (1923-24). iU'Gm- slaved splenaidly last Saturday, and" while lie exercised a certain amount of core ho. was a^vays. ready .to -open his shoulders when the right, ball came along. Hutt ivere nqfc faring too well until. M'Gir* *ud Watson became associated. The tjair put on 151 runs hvcuick time before'bping separated,,and the display of battine •vas inspiring.. : Included in M'Girr's "■ore of 101, compiled, in 70 minutes, there were four 6's. He gave on* ehaucn n.t 60. M'G.irrhas been . batting well In recent seasons,,and it is evident that nis big score at the outset of this season.is due.to some extent to Jiw eagerness to be well prepared for the openms Same. During.the winter months he has ,had the benefit of baseball play ■.■ Hiddleston is another player who has been taking advantage of chances to practice, and prior to last Saturday ho had put m a fair amount of time on a fast wicket ln the Drill Hall at Buckle street. fl e was the. outstandina batsman on the Basin Reserve last Saturday and before being given out Ibw ho notched r4 runs in,.his usual attractive style He was unfortunate in not repeating his first performance in last season's competition.

Finlayson, the Petorie bowler took sixty wickets at an average of 9 51 last season, gaining the' aggregate for the senior grade. Performances similar to that-made by Finlayson last Saturday are as follow : J. Hutching*, nine for 40 (tast v. Pet-one, 1916-17), K. Tucker, nine for 46 in both innings (Old Boys v Petone, 1915-16), and ■ W. S. Brice/rim* for 23, eight ■ clean bowled (Petone t. Old Boys, 1915-16). H. Watson (Hutt) batted better than on any occasion last season, rattling on hi, runs in good style, and without giving a chance. Ac sent the leather over the boundary on four occasions. M'Kav a new man on the Hutt side, is also iikev- , this reason; in f ao t, the whole side appears to be stronger than it was last season " . ■

A. W.Duncan (OJd Boys) was largely responsible for preventing his team from being placed m a 'very poor position Ti" wld!? ntl '' and he was "Hy assisted by W. H. Stainton,the ex-Varsity playe.-, who carried his bat for 19. Duncan and Siainton made a last-wicket stand which doubled- Old "Boys' score. Collins, Ronaldson, Tucker, and F. Jop]in (Of Varsity and Wellington College) could not get going with the bat, and the strength of the Old Boys' attack against Midland was • not quite good enough to prevent Midland from gaining a lead on the first innings. Eonaldson ft led the posrtibn of wicket-keeper for Old boys. Jucker and Barclay took four wjekets apiece, and were not 'costly, but it was swange to find that G. Ijusk wno bowled exceptionally well for the 'Varsity jumnrs last season, was not given a trjaJ. That there are juniors who? are able to do well in senior cricket if given a chance was evidenced by the display by 7" h- ,V 005 er ' -who' made top score "(35) for Midland. Cooper played, for the V6iieke jilniors last'season," arid was well up in the list of aggregate scorers lor that grade. J. W. Hutching batted well for Midland,, and- others did moderately. Tha bowling was done -inainly by Judd

and O'Connor, the latter being promoted from the junior grade towards the end of last season. O'Connor is a good bowler, but he was asked to do too much last Saturday.

Hutt are being captained by H. M. M'Girr, Petone by W. S. Brice, Institute by J. Rodgers, Midland by W. A. Baker, Old Boys by D. C. Collins, Thorndon by W. Warne, V.M C A by G. White, and Wellington by C. G. Wilson. Petone will probably depend mainly upon bowling for their success this sea-' son though, they appear to be a- good fielding side, and they have players who can make runs. With the bat they did nothing last Saturday, the side being dismissed for 71, but the call upon the bowlers and fieldsmen was answered, and V.M.C.A. collapsed. Finlayson was the principal destroying agent, bagging nine wickets and assisting Brice with the tenth. J. Patrick, a brother of the Canterbury selector and player, was run. out after scoring a single. Sutherland., who played in a few for Petone last season, carried his. bat for half-a-dozen. Y.M.C.A.'s start of the season, i was disastrous. They broke- down bad- ! ly under the Petono attack, and only managed to muster 47. Boyer, a player from England, shaped well. M. Henderson, the Wellington rep. bowler, was top-scorer with 17.

Institute spent the. afternoon in the field, and they did gbod work, keenness and clean handling, exqept in two or three instances, keeping Hutt's score much below what it might have been with slack fieldsmen. Dempster- and Bur.t. were particularly smart in the field, whiia Massey, a young player who bowled well for Manawatu last season, and Foley, a young left-hander from Wellington College, showed promise aa bowlers. James was exceedingly good behind the stumps—the extras in Hutt's tally being otily one leg-bye and one no ball.

The only successful assistant to Hiddlestoii in the Wellington team was B. J. Kortlaug, who shaped well enough in getting^ 22 to suggest that, he should be again in the limelight this season. Jacobsen and Napier, two playeis from Hawkes Bay, and B. Harris were new men in t the team. Jacobsen was run out after scoring- three, but Napier, who is a bowler, carried his,bat for 9. Napier gave a lot of trouble to the Thorndon batsmen who went to the crease, the four wickets which fell being secured by Napier. With better bowling strength Wellington should be. an improved team this season. Thorndon appear to be a fuir side, and may account for gome of thq teams if most of the players strike I form at the right time. E. -Williams, a promoted junior looks like making runs, | and . Taylor, who captained the Wei- j ; lington Soccer! representatives, is a likely , I bowler. JUNIOR GRADES. i Chief among the performances in the lower grades last Saturday was a double century by Virtue, playing for Wellesley College in the junior 0 grade. The young batsman gave 'Varsity a merry timej but the excellent placing of his shots saved the fieldsmen a lot of energy. In Virtue's score of 212, not out, there were twenty-nine boundary hits, ten of them; being 6's The remaining batsmen on the Wellesley College side made less than half the number of runs scored by Virtue. Playing for Wellington junior, B. Monkhouse, who showed much promise for Scots College last' season, and I also compiled many good scores in the j Boys' League, handled a difficult position very creditably. He held his end up while Crombie-obtained the runs that were badly needed by Wellington. Without the assistance of Crombie and Monkhouse, Wellington's score' would, probably have been under 10, whereas it | was over 100. On the Petone Oval vie- . ket, which had been prepared'to meet the position created l>y the lack of grounds, the Midland and Petone junior" A team's encountered ' poor cricketing | conditions, and made very poor scores. In other junior matches some excellent ' bowling averages were obtained, while there were also a number of vigorous batting displays. Johnson, the ex-All Black, batted attractively ' for Midland junior B, and Edgar, a player from St.. Albans, Christchurch. showed that he was. capable of making runs. Scots College made a bad start against Hutt in the junior B grade, being dismissed for 11 runs in their first innings. Morrison, who_ played for Wesley last year, was the principal cause of the rout.-'bacr-cinjr five wickets for 7 runs. L. J. Brabin, a. member of the Junior Committee, has. given up -wicket-keeping, and was a very serviceable howler to | Wesley last Saturday. He captured six of the Midland junior B wickets for 74 runs. -M'Lesin gave a forceful display of batting for Wesley, his score of 64 including five 6's. Kilbirnie Junior A, who won the championship last season, have made a good start against Wellington, and should, have no difficulty in winning. The junior matches which were postponed last Saturday are to be commenced to-day, but thev'n-iU no t be concluded until the end of '-c season, and then thesecond day's pl«v will only be necessary in the event of" the matches having a bearing upon the championship.. . IN CHRISTCHURCH. The Christchurch competitions were continued last Saturday. R. C. Blunt made M 3, not out, in West Christ--i'"™ s, reply t0 ?' scwe by Sydehham of ,500 for five wickets (declared). Most of the attention was centred upon this match, in which the batting was sound rather than bright, for the West batsmen seldom forced the' pace, West placing for a draw. It succeeded, having lost three wickets for 250 runs at the call of time (say s the "Sun.") Riccnr.ton had piled up a score of -415 runs for ■ seven wickets on the previous' Saturday, and it declared at this total. The reply of St. Albans was poor, that side : making only 94 runs. It had to follow on, but its resistance stiffened, and, thanks largely to a characteristic innings by D. M'K. Sandman, which yielded 59, it played out time with a score of 166 for nine wickets, Riccarton hay.--ing to be satisfied with a two-point victory. Linwood managed to get a'threepoint victory over East Christchurch, but its batting^ did not suggest that it was last season's champion team. The match was fought at Lancaster Park. Linwood made 60 in its first innings, and East- got 78. But R. Read and G. W. Russell went through East. when that side batted for the second time, and the innings was completed for the miserable total of 38/ Linwood then scored 60 for five wickets, winning by the wickets in hand.

The -wickets were affected by the heavy rains and were. easy. The 'Lancaster Park oval has not yet recovered from the gruelling it received in. the football season, but the work of preparation is well advanced at Hagley, both the pitches and the outfield being good for so early in the season.

The best individual performances of the day were:—Eattin'sr: R. C. Blunt (West Christchurch), 143, not out; J. Young (Sydenhnm), 78. not out; T). M'K. Ssndraan (St. Albans). 59: K. 0. Talbot (West Christchurch), 37; T)r. P. S. Foster (West Christcluirch), 33, not out. Bowling: R. Read (Linwood). six for 8;M. Btigp (East Christchurch). four for 5:-W. T. Langhein (Rk'cartonl. five for 24 R. Counland (East Christchurch), five for 29:

HINTS BY JEPHSON; Some good hints to cricketers are -handed out by D. L. A. Jephson, Surrey's ex-captain, as follow :—. .If sou ai'e a batsman remsmber that

the straight bat may secure salvation; the cross bat invariably presages disaster.

If you are lucky enough to hit the ball to cover or in front of the wicket never say "Come on" and then shout ' flo. ; You will probably run out a better man than yourself. When you call run-

If it is a hard wicket you can' risk that showy and popular stroke, the forward one (though no one ever saw Ranji play forward, he hit the ball or played back), but remember when in doubt play back. To play forward is to play blind— to play back is to use that amount of eyesight that Heaven has seen fit to bless you with. And when you hithit with all you've got. If you are a bowler always bowl within yourself. Never bowl too fast and never bowl too slow.

Watch what you are bowling at, and don t mistake the brick-wall of an Arthur Shrewsbury for the kicking horse of a Gilbert Jessop. If you are a field, remember that t/ie wicket-keeper is equipped with pads and glaves; a genuine Aunt Sally. Ihrow at him like Hades. Don't forget that the bowler is unarmed; treat him gently. Bowlers are like birds of paradise, -few and far between. If you are a. captain remember that other people have corns; don't tread on them unnecessarily, use the emollient ot tact; by so doing from your batsmen, your bowlers* and your fieldsmen you will get their very best; that's what you are there for! NOTES. Dunedin players have won trophies as follow for their performances last season :—H Duncan won the bat presented by Mr. A. Draper for the highest individual scorer m representative matches ; R. lorrance the bat presented by the same gentleman for the best bowlineperformance in representative matches! tx. Dickinson the bat presented by the Otago Sports Depot for the best bowling average in representative matches: and A. W. Alloo the bat (also presented by the Sports Depot) for the best batting average in representative matches. The idea of a sole selector does not appeal to the Otago Association, which has appointed three selectors, Messrs. Martin, Galland, and Mackersy Canterbury finds that one selector is capable \r d°TO g ™C job| and {t llas aPPointed Mr. W. R. Patrick. The Wellington teams will be again chosen b y Mr. X Tucker, and it would be difficult to find a better man to carry out the duties. The Hon. J. Darling, M.L.C.. of Tasmania, is no other than the famous Australian Eleven captain, and great-hearted batsman of other days. .He is actively interesting himself in pushing cricket in his adopted State, having been elected president of the New Town Club, recently formed in Hobart, states the Sydney "Referee." «j,T!rC ijm ofh 8, h} AuEtra'ia for the Sheffield Shield this season are to be ipX 1$ f™*:7" At Sydney: llth < 12th, 14th, 15th January, N.S W V South Australia; 25th, 26th, 28th ' 29th January, N.S.W. v. Victoria. At Melbourne: 26th, 27th, 28th, 29th December, N.S.W. v. Victoria; Ist, 2nd 3rd,. 4th January, Victoria v. South Australia. At Adelaide: 14th, 15th 17th, 18th December, N.S.W v South Australia; 15th, 16th. 18th, 19tlvFebru- ' ary. Victoria v. South Australia. The N.S.W. Selection Committee.comprises Dr. Doidevra, C. G. Macartney and W. Bardsley. When speaking at the annual -meeting of the Canterbury Cricket Association, Air. W. Simpson (chairman) stated the , Canterbury's winning of the Plunket ■ Shield was due largely to the fact that the team was a young and active one. and great credit was owing to its captain, W. R. Patrick, for the control he .had of his team,, which showed great confidence in him.

The annual report of the Otago Cricket Association had the following note about schools' cricket : It is highly satisfactory to know that the interest in the schools competitions continues. No more pleasing sight, from a cricket point of view, is possible than the numerous schoolboys at play on the Oval f n^ other reserves during the week There are many promising young cricketers amongst these boys, and an effort should be made to see that they ;tre not lost to' the game after they leave school. Unfortunately many are so lost, and the proposal to form a Boys League to obviate this in the future should receive strong support. During the Christmas holidays Mr F. bhacklock (well known, here as a former coach), brought the Waltham School team to Dunedin to play a match against the George Street School. The visitors won rather easily, showing by their play that they had received thorough coaching, the local boys being at a distinct disadvantage in "this respect. , •

Discussing the season's prospects in Dtnedin, "Slip," in the "Otago Daily Times," says -.—One thing, at least, is almost a certainty—that there will be a more even contest for the championship this year. Carisbrcok's prospects have rarely been brighter, Albion have been strengthened, and Grange, who had matters all their own way last season, have been weakened by the loss of M'Beath and Keast. More even contests should arouse increased public interest, and this, backed up by greater enthusiasm on the part of the players themseves. should leave Dunedin cricket in a sounder position at the end of the 1923-24 season. The Dunedin Club is in asomewhat unsatisfactory position. Five or six of last year's first eleven have left the club, and the membership total is the lowest of those for the four senior clubs in the city.

The Rev. B. 0. Blamires will be playing for Albion, Dunedin, this season. He made three centuries for Hamilton last season.

H. Lambert, who formerly played in Wellin«ton ; : is now a member of the Taranaki Cricket Association's executive. At the last meeting of the Southland Cricket Association it was decided to forward a remit to the New Zealand Cricket Council's annual meeting suggesting that the Hawke Cup competition in future be run on lines similar to the Chatham Cup competition, the minor associations of each island playing amongst themselves to decide a winner for each island, these two teams to play off for the Hawke Cup, such play off to take place alternately in Wellington and Christchurch. It was emphasised that owing to the difficulties in regard to travelling with the cup in possession of v minor association in one island, it was very difficult for a minor iissociation in the other island to undertake' a trip to that island to play for the cup. D. Fiudlay, who is playing for West Christchurch this season, is connected with the aviation school at Sockbu'rn He represented Wellington before thu war. He is a left-hand bowler of more than average ability. He trundled well against Sydenham last w e eli, but was not successful in capturing a wicket (says "Cover Point" in the "Star") D. Findlay is a son of Sir John Fj'idlay. The Canterbury Cricket' Association were wise in their decision to rescind a motion previously carried that competition matches should be played on New Zealand Cup Day (says ""Cover Point in the "Star"). The Linwood, fit. Albans, Riccarton, and Sydenham Clubs wrote requesting a postponement. Some years ago the association tried the playing of matches on this day, and tlio result was a decided failure, almost a!! .ttir teams taking the Ueld very sliorthundedi