CRICKET

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 102, 26 October 1929, Page 22

CRICKET

B

By 'Nor out" LOCAL. CONTESTS

NEW POINTS SYSTEM

WILL PLAY SPEED UP ?

For the start of the grade eonipeti- : tiohs local cricketers had to put up i with: conditions not altogether to their 1 liking, but spine very fair showings wore'madc with bat and ball. In some ] cases batsmen did exceedingly well, \ that of Mackenzie in again registering i the first century of the season being the i most-notable in. tlio senior grade < matches. .Matches generally wcj-e in- i teresting, but they will bo mueli moro 1 soas-the" teams ; settle down'. .It is ' -expected-that the cricket will be even £ brighter than usual this season with the new system of points that has been ] brought, into operation. The award for ' an outright win has been doubled, and -1 it will be interesting to see to what extent'the play is speeded-up in the endeavour to secure the eight points i for a r full w-in.- With only two days, ' compared with three in England, in ' which to do it, the pace will need to ] be fast, except, of course, where teams ' collapse. The points system is the ' sanie as Itb'at in England, but by all ac- 1 counts it-did not have the success an- < ticipated in the county, competition. « The .inducement to go for an outright i win is all rig_t,.but it seems that the ] points., for a win—and a loss: —on the i first innings is not satisfactory, and* there is talk'of another alteration being • .made for the county"competition next ' season. To.the writer the awarding of • joints, for ; "a. loss oh the "first'. innings doesnot appeal. The chances are that < most of the senior matches in Welling- '. ton will be decided on the first innings, ! and.in those-cases the defeated-teams Tvill.receive three points, whereas teams ■ -which lose "outright in endeavouring to • speed up the play will get no points. ] Thfe team, which does its best to make i the ;play, attractive is entitled to at - -last just, as mueli consideration as the .team! which, behind on the first innings, elects to "play the roek" for" a ! sure.three points on the first innings. ' .-Apart from the scoring system, how- ! ever; the- indications are that tho sea■son V cricket will be good, especially ' with'several important matches includ- \ .edin. the, programme.' In view of the \ 'b.igjgamesj'fl trial, is being played on Monday,, but the choice of Wellington's j representatives will not be confined to ' the.'players engaged,in this match. J ttoivereity Start Well. ?■?■■ ■ •_ rl'o',University, who had first knock ■ in the-match withlast year's chain- • pipns, Old Boys, at the Basin Reserve i last Saturday, go at least two honours. ' First of all thero is the distinction of J having registered the biggest team score ' of. the afternoon, and secondly—and in ' tliis the. eleven is entitled to. share in • -the; .applauses-Mackenzie, one of their 'number, scored the-first century of the ! season.: The-dull grey; rain-laden clouds ' ■and the blustery nor'-wester did not ' "'worry Mackenzie. His' was a soUd in- ' nings,": patiently played. He gave a : chance just before he reached the 50- : mark, but beyond'this his score of 126 '■ was carefully compiled. Mackenzie has '. indeed made an auspicious start. .-. In compiling their score of 336 University took the whole of the afternoon, or just a little over four hours. H. C. Bailey and Mackenzie gave the team a good start, the partnership putting on 132 runs before Bailey, with a score of 41, stepped back to a ball from Elliott and hit his wicket. The second wicket went cheaply, and there were also three other lean periods in the play. The Bailey-Mackenzie partnership was the most prolific, with the Leys-Mackenzie association the next best. Before being separated Leys and Mackenzie took the score from 134 to 227. B. T. Leys, who scored 64, battod confidently, and his association with P. Wilson was one of tho brightest periods of tho innings. W. Dormer and A: C. Tripe, towards the close, also got going well, providing quite a good finishing touch. Old Boys' attack was in tho hands of F. T. Badeock, A. Duncan, H. Elliott, H. Lambert, and C. Parsloe, and so far as the number of overs each of these players had is concerned, Badeock headed the list with 33.2. The ex-associa-tion coach secured three wickets at a cost of 75 runs. Lambert bowled 23 overs, taking four wickets for 94 runs. He caught and bowled Mackenzie,, got Nelson and M'Leod (University's captain) lbw, and Caldwell was snapped ■up behind the wickets by James also off his bowling. Elliott was the other successful bowler, his figures being two for 67.' James gave good Bupport to'his bowlers. Besides taking Caldwell he also got his gloves on to a ball sent up by another of the University batsmen. Kilbirnie v. Midland. Ward, the Kilbirnie colt, put up a splendid performance when he registered 95 not ont in the opening match against Midland on Saturday. : Had it not been for his stubborn stand (in which Hepburn also figured with.credit) the side would have made a very poor showing for the opening day. • Towards the end of last season Ward played some very promising knocks and it looks as if he is going to amply fulfil that promise this year. Besides , being a batsman he is also a particularly good field close in. During the past few seasons,in Wellington there has been no more consistent performer with' bat and ball than W. A. Baker, of Midland. Season after season he has gone on getting runs and' bagging wickets, but ho never seems to get a real chance as a representative player. Baker has again struck form, with the ball early and he got among the tail-enders with' a vengeance on Saturday, which seems to be developing into something of a habit with him! Hutchings also bowled well for Midland, while, aided by the poor light Crook and Tucker, for Kilbirnie did much to retrieve their side's mediocre showing with the bat. In previous seasons tho scorers on tho Kilbirnie ground have had to make tlio best of the prevailing weather conditions, and at times their job has been a very unenviable one. Now, however, they have a very cosy little box in which to carry out their duties and in which they are well sheltered from wind and rain. Another addition to tho ground is a flag pole on which fly the club's two flags, creating a surprisingly different atmosphere. Petone and Institute. . . ; Several promoted juniors appeared in the match between Petone and Institute and generally they justified their elevation to the senior Tanks. After Petone had made a bad start Ritchie came to light with an innings that served to" change the complexion of the game. Although he did not at any stage gather in his runs quickly, he batted very steadily after a somewhat shaky start, scoring most of his runs on the off. G. Nicholls gave a bright display with the bat, as also did Spence, who went in well down on the list and showed that he" is "no't'afraid to attempt to carry, into- senior matches the reputation forl>eing a breezy batsman, which he acquired in the junior grades. • A big pait in the Institute attack was played by Fortune, the medium-fast trundler promoted from Junior A. Two wickets early in the game served as a promising start hut, although ho |

bowled steadily throughout a long spell at the crease, ho was unable to add to his bag. On the day's play his fielding shows room for considerble im-provement,-particularly with regard to returns to the wicket. Tho Petone team has a greater leavening of youth this season than for some years past. Witli tho exception of_ their skipper, Brice, whose leadership alone is an invaluable asset, apart from his still-to-bo-respected ability with bat and ball, the whole of the team must be. considered to have their best cricketing years still before them. There is every indication that with the experience and practice that comes , with regular play, the Petone side will ! mould into a strong, v/ell-balanced bination;--Mark Nicholls, who has been^ elected vice-captain, kept wickets, but^it is on tho cards that before long Tattersall, the ex-Hutt and Wellington representative player, will be donning the pads for the village team. Of tho Petone batsmen only two, Smallwood and Spence, were clean bowled. H. E. and M, F. Nicholls were both out lbw "to Rodgers, Ritchie and 6. Nicholls were snapped up by Dempster, wicket-keeping in place of Aitken, who was unable to take the field, and the remainder were caught in the, field. Brice and , Rotherham, in attempting i big hits, fell to almost identical shots to Bilby at mid-off. Wellington and Hutt. , The batting in the Wellington-Hutt : match at the Hutt' Recreation Ground , was only occasionally spectacular, but was rarely dull, and. considering the facts that it was the first day of the i season, that the light was often tricky, 'i and that the blustering northerly was • the bowlers' ally," Wellington's record of six men with double figures was a creditable one. . Wiren played a bright : innings for 48,. and Westbrook also i passed the 40 mark, while Cousins contributed quite, well to the-total of 201. : E. Judd, transferred from Midland, bowled well for Hutt in taking four wickets for 110.. M'Girr's three for? 38 was a good performance, as was also Warnes's two for 33. Ross was on for only one over, but put an end to Wiren _ successful innings without having one ■run hit. from him. Hutt, in. spite of an initial sot-back ; —the, dismissal of Biggar before the ' account had been opened—made a hopeful beginning,' the two men still in liav- i ing compiled 32 between thorn. In the Third Grade.. "Wayfarer", writes: —"On Satur- ] day afternoon I -cried in, as the Scotch folk say, at Karori Park to see the cricket, and brought up at a match between-the Kilbirnie and Karori third ' A teams.-. The wicket was plentifully covered with plantains.or some similar weed, and what grass was on it was very coarse. The other wickets on that part of the iground were in much the same - condition, and tho groundsman will have a busy time ahead of. him if he tries at this late stage to take the weeds -out. The trouble is that with -the weeds gone-there will be little left, and it may be a case of 'out of tho frying-pan into the fire.' It may be better to endure the ills'we have than fly to others that we know not of, hoping that _n another season earlier steps will be taken to eradicate tho. weeds and replace them by suitable grasses. "But I digress. The wiekets were slow on Saturday, and what bowling I saw mostly of the slow variety also. The wickctj however, played well - enough. Karori had first strike, but made a bad start, losing four wickets for 40. The earlier batsmen were very stiff, and cramped in style, and their poor footwork lost them many runs, particularly on the leg-side.. O'Neill was a bright exception, and.'although now somewhat of a veteran, had somo good shots in his 24. He kept his bat very straight, and made good use of his reach. When things were looking bad for.Karori, O'Ncjll found a good partner in Burt, the pair putting on 29 runs for the fifth wicket before O'Neill was bowled by Lockwood. "Burt commenced proceedings by picking a ball off his middle stump and dispatching it to the square-leg boundary, which led mo to the hasty conclusion that he was a 'shut-eye,' but I soon.had causo to change my opinion, for' ho batted exceedingly well, coming down hard and truo on anything dangerous, but dealing promptly ;ind effectively with, anything loose His strokes on the bu-sido were particularly good/but ho also scored freely to tho off with somo good squaro cutting and driving through tho covers. Ho had contributed a workman-like 40 when he missed- oiio on his leg stump, and he and Peter Nimmo had added 53 for the sixth wicket. "."By this time the Kilbirnie bowling was very wilted, and Nimmo and Huht^ using, the long.handle vigorously, ran the score up very quickly, the total reaching 209. Nimmo had ton 4's and threo 6's in his 63 and Hunt fivo 4's and two 6's in his 39 not out; but although their vigorous batting was exhilarating, they did not impress mo so much as did Burt. "Edwards was the steadiest of the Kilbirnie bowlers, who all lacked lengthy direction, and sting; but Lockwood, who was faster tsan any of the others,, sent, down an odd good one. The ground fielding was fair, but tho catching; was weak. O 'Noill was dropped in . the slips towards tho end of his innings, Burt was dropped at point —a very eaay catch—at 17, and Nimmo was dropped at mid-off when 43, and there were other possible catches which might have been' turned to account. Hancock, however, took a difficult running catch inthe long-field. "When the Karori innings finished : 1 had been shivering in the wind for > two hours and a half—what bleak . places theso city reserves can be! so I beat a hurried retreat for homo and the fireside. After my departure ■ Kilbirnie made quite a gallant attempt - to overhaul their opponents, getting within 50 of them before their last '. wicket fell, and gaining the three points for holding the winners to a first, innings victory. L. Nimmo came i out with the good figures of 5 for 25." P Umpires Wanted. Of playing members there are ; plenty in the various clubs, and there aro others on the non-active lists. Um- . pires are badly needed, and if non- ; active members of clubs and other enthusiasts would come forward and asi sist the game by undertaking umpiring ' duties their services would be greatly i appreciated by all. The Wellington i Umpires' Association, of „ which Mr. . "Billy" Hood is hon. secretary, is very i desirous of being able to supply offip cials foT'all matches. 1 Notes. L Tho newly-formed Seatoun Club is , making a good start. The members J are exceptionally keen, and the use ; which they are making of their practice nots at Seatoun gives promise of good results. ■ ;' The "Tramway Dollar Sports and i Pastimes Club" opened its cricket sea- . son at Kilbirnie Reserve on Tuesday, r about thirty' members being present. ■ The club is not taking part in any of . the competitions, but it has any amount . of good talent,, and this will be revealed > in.the special matches which- will be r arranged. > E. Horspool is the first Auckland I player to'score a century this season, i and he wins a. bat for the performance. It is stated that he batted right up to , his best form last Saturday, which was t Auckland's opening day. D. R. Gar- • rard was another outstanding perform---5 er with the bat last Saturday, scoring . 91 in about as many minutes. ! A conference of- representatives of the City and Suburban Cricket Assoeia--3 tions of New Zealand is to bo held in (. Wellington on Monday. The Hawkes Bay Cricket Association I has decided to enter a challenge for , the Hawke Cup.