CRICKET

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 120, 16 November 1929, Page 24

CRICKET

:., ;: »r 'Not Our" ) PLUNKET SHIELD

POINTS SYSTEM ADOPTED

LOCAL GAMES ;. /_;.. . v SENIOR CrtMMMONSHIP TABLE.

By decision of the conference of delegates to the New Zealand Cricket Council this week, a now system of determining. the winners of the Plunket Shield will be in force this season, in view of .what happened last season, ■when the .''.shield was awarded to Auckland," although Wellington had the better record, there is certainly need of a change. This the council realised, as it asked for suggestions from the major associations and at the same time- submitted the methods adopted in deciding the English county and the Australian Sheffield Shield competitions. _ Points in the Sheffield Shield competitions. are allotted as follows: Outright^win, 5; win on first innings, 3; loss on first innings, 1; in the event o£«a tie,'the match to bo decided on averages. Points are allotted in the English county championship as follows: ■ Outright win, &; win on first inninga, 5; tie on first innings, 4; no result on first innings, after six hours' continuous play, 4; loss on first innings, 3., ! ' '•.. ■ The-following recommendations were made.:—By Auckland: Outright -win, 8; owjtright loss, 0; win on first innings, 4; logs on first innings, 2; tie, 4 each; no result after six hours' play, 3 each. By "Wellington: Outright win, 8; win on firjgt innings, 5; loss on first innings, 3; /tw.on first innings, 4 each; tie on ni^teh, 4 eaoh; no result after six hWtirs' play, 4. each. (In the event of teams having the same number of points t&e Sheffield Shield average < system to ajSply).. By Canterbury: Outright win, Sljljwin on first innings, 4; tie on first iiSjdngs, 4 each; tie on match, 4 each; l&jfs on first innings, 2; no result after s|k hours' play, 3 each. By Otago: Out-' ri|ht win, S; win on first innings, 3; fijr^tinnings not completed, 2 each; loss ohj first innings, 1. By the Management Committee, N.Z.C.C.: Outright win, S; odtright loss, 0; win on first innings, 4jmloss on first innings, 2; tie on first innings, 3 each; tie on match, 4 each; EJg.result after six hours' play, 2 each. lilYVhen the matter was under consideration at the conference Mr. A. T. , Donnelly (chairman of the council), in reply ,to a question, said that under any of the suggested systems Wellington wauld.have won the shield last season. - tfbhe following system was adopted hy the conference and confirmed by the council: Outright win, 8; outright loss, Ojt^win on-, fir.st innings, 4; loss on first iijnings, 2; tie on first' innings, 2; tie .on<|match, 4 each; no result after six hours' 'play; 3 each. In the event of alitlie between two or more teams, the shield will be awarded on averages as js;!done,ui. .th.c Australian Sheffield Shield-competition. Petone and Old Boys. * ijthe Petone Oval has seen some exciting ■ finishes both in cricket and in Sugby: football, but more particularly iri.jthe winter sport. Interest has seldo'?a been keener, however, than it was laft Saturday, when the match against 084 Boys, was concluded. The enthusiasjh of'the local team is shared by its supporters, and although the . crowd scarcely-; reached .football dimonsions, it was of a healthy size, and there was no" doubt of its desire to see the home team get. in front. That -the game finally went to Old Boys is now past history, and the Petone men would be the last ones tq.-be-j grudge them their victory, which was! all the more deserved after their.narrow defeat in the;first match.. Old Boys' committed some fielding mistakes early in the innings :thaf' dost them runs, but they were not the errors of slackness. fieldsmen :were on their toes all the afternoon, and the. batsmen never found iftiasyjto- direct' the ball through \ the cordon to the open; field. In spite :bf\a heavy day with the ball, BadcocK;.at coyer-point, was an inspire ation to. the' rest of the side, and a. risky run was seldom attempted after the ball had been sent in his direction.' Both he and Duncan bowled particularly well on a day when ; it was advisable to keep the number of loose bowls down~ to a minimum. Parsloo also lent: able assistance in the ■ attack; frequently sending them down at a good pace. '/ The Petone men batted doggedly, but their inningsi - came to a somewhat ignominious ending- ; Throughout the afternoon it had'been a battle of wits between the" batsmen and their opponents as to whether Hamilton, who was well set and getting his run., freely, should see the most of. the bowling, or whether the. beginning of each over should find his partner of the moment taking .strike. Bnce^was.fairly successful in this direction'during his short stay, but Spence had plenty to do with his/bat during the: useful stand he made when he adopted unaccustomed safety-first tactics. Eventually Hope, the last man, was . with Hamilton, and survived the first.;few. balls by presenting an immovable bat. Two runs were needed WKfen Hamilton received the fourth ball of Jin over from Badcock. He'played it softly :into the slips, and set .off for the".jother end, but the. ball was fielded smartly and Hope was well out when the stumps were shattered. ..Hamilton's century was thoroughly well -deserved. Except for one hot chance, he; gave a faultless display, scoring his runs with clean, crisp shots n»3inly on the off. With the exeeDtion of,I'Ritchie, who was ut on- the first day, and Glover, he was. the'only one to show; any signs of mastering the bowling. ' "'."'■! Good: Performances. the total scoring of each «:& .vtras only moderate, there were «p-«fal good-performances with both oat and. ball; in the Midland-Wellington match at the Basin Reserve, won by the | latter eleven on the first innings.' In "♦■•jittiag department, the left-hander, W..1. Airey (Wellington) was outstanding', ;f or not-only did he play right through his team's first innings" for an unbeaten 120 (as mentioned in this column last week), but on Saturday again, when Wellington had another strike, -he compiled an attractive halfcentury, making his contribution to the 335 runs scored by Wellington 170. Airoy's 50 runs on Saturday included 6va boundary shots. The next principal ruri'-getter for Wellington was A. M. HoHings, who, following hia score of/2.0 in'the first Innings, got GO not out.''1' -'. ->... ■ •'. Midland's; chief scoring man was A. Doneghue. . He. got together 44 runs in Midland's Jflrst. innings, and then step-. ped'put".;Bnd flashed a merry bat in the BCcdnd innings for 40, his progress, incidentally, being checked by Wellington's main scorer, Airey. Doneghue, on his second visit to the wickets, hit eight .f.ourers." Dealing with -the bowling, A. M. Cousins (Wellington) came out with a heavy ".bag." -His performance in get-

ting seven of the Midland wickets iii the side's first innings for 21 runs was a sterling one. Consins bowled fourteen overs, thti third, seventh, and tenth of which were maidens. The opening batsmen for Midland (Doneghuo and Baker) put on 47 runs before they were separated. The saore was talcen to 80 before the next wicket fell, and then Cousins got to work in earnest, as a result of which the total first innings score only reached 122. K. Robertson (Midland) created a sensation on the first day of the match by taking .uu.wickets for ono run in one over, but jiist as noteworthy was Cousins's performance" on ' Saturday. AiiotHor" Midland bowler who did well.in,t|ie match was 'F. Bryant. He obtained four wickets for 01 runs in the first innings, and three for 73 off fifteen overs in Wellington's second innings. i Wellington, with 150 runs on the board for four wickets, declared their second innings closed, but they did not find Midland an easy mark. When time was'-up Midland had six wickets in hand with tho score at 105, so Wellington had to be content with a first innings win. Kilbirnie v. Institute. Although their opponents goj; to within fifty runs of them on the first innings Institute really had a fairly comfortable win against Kilbirnie. It was mainly owing to a splendid eighth wicket partnership between Hepburn and Tucker that Kilbirnie got as close as they did, although had some of tho other recognised bats struck form there might have been a different tale to tell. . . . • • " ■ Hepburn played a fine fighting innings for 51, which included eight fours. Another who played a very patient innings was Crook^ who scored 45 before playing one from Fortune on. Crook's1 total included three fours and one five, and he did not give a single chance. A dashing bat once he gets going is C. K. Hayman, an ex-Sydney first grade player. Hayman gave a bright and entertaining display towards the. close of his. strike, and his 41, which included seven fours, was mainly obtained ..with forceful shots on the off. Christophersen started his side off well.'with 33, and Tucker played a valuable innings for 21. Henderson and Fortune were the most successful of the Institute trundlers, getting 'four and three wickets respectively, while Prince bagged two at a cost of 24 runs. By One Run. Hutt. had a close call last Saturday, when they managed to snatch victory from .University by only one run. A first innings score of 201 was not such a very big one for a team like University'to surpass, but although Mackenzie and Bailey began well for tho students, and Nelson and M'Leod both made useful contributions to the score, five of the team failed to reach double figures. M'Gi^1 and Aldersley were in deadly form with the ball, and tho prospects of University's passing the 201 mark were not at all bright. Howover, the association of Tripo and Blandford, ninth and eleventh men, sent the students'" hopes soaring. Both played' for safety as well as for runs, and :slowly but surely the score mounted,, until 200 was up. But there it stayed, for with the next ball M'Girr took his fifth wicket —Caldwell's—and Hutt had won ( by a single run v and so gained the honour of being the only unbeaten team in the competition. University -were_. admittedly unlucky, especially as Mackenzie, their opening batsman, can usually be relied upon for more:than.the 19 runs he made. But that in*no way .detracts from M'Girr's splendid bowling performance of five wickets for 63 runs, and for the special effort he must have made to take the last wicket. Moreover, Hutt proceeded to prove their worth as a batting side by putting on, in the second innings,- 109 for only one wicket, Lees (53) and Biggar (41), both not out, being the chief scorers. In the .Third Grade. "Wayfarer" writes: It was cold and biting at Lyall Bay on Saturday when Marisfc took strike against Seatoun A. thirty-five minutes after the prescribed time, of starting. A bad start was made, half the side being out for 19. At this stage,'however, M' Glinchy, who had been presenting a solid defence, was joined',;by.,, Molloy. The newcomer quickly.got to work, showing more enterprise ''than his predecessors, and the partnership yielded 22 runs before Molloy-. .was/ out.'. M'Glinchy received fu. tlteir fielp from young Ken O'Connor, a school boy, who was n6t afraid to hit out, arid who was unbeaten with ten to his credit.when the innings came to an. end for, 65. M'Glinchy, who had seen nearly the whole side out, contributed 28.7": „.;-;.-.. • • -.■■".■'■■■■ Canute; ■' boiling .."donkey-drop's," with" an'occasional fast one not in the least 'disguised, was the most successful"^ bowlers tried. Most of the Marist batsmen have yet to learn that there is no surer-way of committing batting suicide than to try to play a slow bowler, standing fast-footed in the crease.' . " The'Seatoun fielding had some ragged patches in it, but Hill kept wickets well, taking the leg stuff in good style. Bowling.very fast, with a low deliv-ery,,-Beaton skittled the first two Seatoun wickets -for 18 runs, but Canute and Tucker, the -.. former hitting hard, and the latter scoring by crisp shots all round the wicket, put on 47 together before Tucker, apparently somewhat to his surprise, was caught at square-leg by. a player-wearing a dark suit, black' boots, an -overcoat, and a felt hat Canute, met with exactly the same fate a tew balls later. He had played a torceful innings for his 45, made in 40 minutes and including three 6's After his departure Charles took up the running, and rattled on 56 before the innings was declared closed at seven for 107, Marist made a better showing m their second innings, and had if up tor one wicket when stumps were drawn. " i>, * On the adjoining wicket Kereniho and' Ashenden, the Kilbirnie B bowlers, continued tjieir; devastating career, their victims on this occasion being United B, hitherto unbeaten, who were dismissed in their second innings for" five Cook, a fast bowler, with' a. good action, making the most of his height Unil t d eVCa WiCl?et3 f°r 51 rUM fo' "Keeps the Team Smiling." Test matches in lew Zealand are not regarded in the same" serious light as. tooso played in .Australia, but the fortunes ot the team under, A. H H Gilhgan's leadership will be eagerly followed: (says an English writer). Sur-" prise has been expressed that the captaincy of the team has been given to the youngest of th.a Gilligans, but on his day:;few batsmen are more attractive to watch. Harold Gilligan is also blessed with the virtues of tact and good-fellowship. I have never met a more even-tempered cricketer. ■ Nothing can ruffle him. A few seasons ago when he was making few runs, a member of tho Sussex Club asked the county secretary why young Gilligan was kept in the team. The reply was: 'Because he"keeps tho team smiling " "Although officially described as tho M.UG.'s team for New Zealand, the side are to play 'four matches in Australia," tho writer adds "I wonder what tho Sydney crowd will think of K. S.. Duleepsinhji? It is 32 years since Duleepsinhjis uncle, then Prince Eanjitsinhji, went to Australia as a member of A. E. Stoddart's team. The world 'has advanced since 1897, and 'KanjiV nephew, on his merits as a man and.as a cricketer, should be one of the most popular men of tho team. Duleepsinhji's disposition is as charming as his off-drive."

■.■■•■■■.■. OutrUht. : ' . T»\ L. Hatt 0 s Kilblrnie a 0 Fetone 0 0 Institute 0 0 Old Boys 0 0 University 0 0 Wellington., .... 0 0 Mtiiland' ...... 0 0 First Iu. W. L. 2 0 1 t 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 2 Clip. D. Pts. 0 10 0 8 0 S 0 g 0 S 0 S , 0 S' i 0 6