CRICKET

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 124, 21 November 1931, Page 20

CRICKET

ByZ"Not Out" TALENT IN PLENTY

REPRESENTATIVE "FIELD"

TOWN AND COUNTRY

The first choice of this season's Wellington representatives is to be made by the new selectors, Messrs. W. A. Aldersley, K. C. James, and L. T. Cobcroft, during next week, the requirement being a team to represent Town against Country in the match starting on- election day. The country representatves are to be chosen by Mr. A. M. Ogley. Although the selectors have not had a great deal to. bo guided by so far this season, there is no reason why strong teams should not be assembled for this match, and it is to be expected that, so far as the town team is concerned, a stronger side will be assembled than on most previous occasions. The idea in tho past has been to use this match with the country representatives as a trial for some of the young players of promise, and this at; times has led to performance of co.untry players being shown in a somewhat better light than would have been the case with town's best eleven in tho field. This is not to suggest that the country cannot provide highr.lass talent. As a matter of fact, there lia'vo been, and are, some of the Domin-ions-best players in the country districts .under the wing of tho Wellington Cricket -Association. The fact that the country-districts have tho talent has reduced the town players' opportunities of appearing in Plunket Shield cricket, but the local asosciation's policy has been to encourage all'within its: area, and it will continue to do so until such.time —if it is ever reached — us the country districts themselves become a Plunkct Shield area. There is any amount-of good talent in the Wellington City area, and with the best offering from the country, Wellington should be able to place a strong side in the field for this season's Plunket Shield matches. One thing is certainit will lack nothing on the score of experience. There will be big cricket in plenty for local enthusiasts during the Christmas-New Year period, when Wellington is to-meet its engagements with Auckland and Canterbury at the Basin Ecserve. It will be quite a cricket carnival. There is a prospect of an even bigger attraction later in the season —early in' March—as it is on the cards "that the South Africans will come tp. New Zealand to play at least two -matches. It is understood that ft -definite decision regarding this visit depends upon the attitude adopted by the South African Board of Control, ■which now has the matter under consideration.

A Close. Call.

It is,invariably a risky procedure for a.captain to send Ms tail-end batsmen to the wickets early in an innings, and in the "Wellington-Kilbirnie match it came near to giving the latter team an outright win after leaving their opponents little- more than an hour to bat •with a deficiency of 11.0 runs. The batsmen appeared to be demoralised as the succeeding wickets fell quickly •until six were down for 19 runs. Had it not been for a successfully aggressive attitude adopted by Blundell, who swung a straight bat to good effect and refused to be shifted, Wellington might all have been, out before stumps. A regrettable feature of the close of the innings was the unwarranted_ barracking of Foley, who wont in eighth wicket down. His stubborn stand in the first innings, when he alone was able to withstand the Kilbirnie attack, had seemingly brought . him into disfavour with some of the spectators, and there was even some booing as he •went .out to join Blundell. Another unfortunate .aspect of an otherwise interesting and enjoyable afternoon's cricket was the umpiring. Two Kilbirnie batsmen were given out Ibw after the ball, in the opinion of many of the players and spectators, had first hit the bat, and in another instance a Kilbirnie batsman had the decision given in his favour when he appeared to have been run out. Further,, at the meeting of the Management Committee this week, the Kilbirai© captain had avcomplaint to make •with regard to a lack of agreement between the umpires' watches, and claimed the stumps had been drawn at least three minutes before time.

In practically every department of the game Eilbirnie outplayed their opponents, who have yet to produce on the field their strength oh paper. It was not' until Kilbirnie commenced trying for a run after every hit that the Wellington fieldsmen commenced to show the keenness expected of a senior eleven, and then they did some really smart work. Good fielding was done by Airey, in the country, and by Hollings in the slips, but failure to back-up returns to the wickets resulted in some costly overthrows. Blundell is showing improved form as a fieldsman this season.

Taken all through, however, Kilbirnie ■were better in the field, Bilby and Ward shining particularly, with Griffiths also above' the average. "Ward took two brilliant catches in the slips off Crook, the one which .sent Wiren back being an exceptional effort. Griffiths and Crook both bowled really well, although their figures would probably have been, different had Wellington batted in their usual order.

Kilbirnie possess one of the strongest batting combinations in the competition, all of the eleven being able to make runs against good bowling. Hepburn, Monkhouse, Coltman (after a somewhat shaky start), and Christoj,hersen. all dealt effectively with the bowling in this match.

Old Boys and Petone,

K. C. James's action 'in • declaring the first innings of Old Boys closed with the score at 209 for seven wickets certainly made the match against Petone-one of the most interesting of the series. Petone had begun well on the first day by scoring 65 for the loss of one wicket, and it appeared that Old Boys would have a hard fight to win on the first innings. However, excellent bowling by Duncan and M. Browne was mainly responsible for Petone being all out when 20 runs short of a win.

Duncan, whose six for 53 was the best performance in local senior matches, continues to bowl consistently well and it seems that this left-hander is'iil for another big "bag" this season. He Vs been worthy of more representative cricket than he has been given.

G. Patrick, May, and Brice each added 25 to the Petone score, the last two attacking the bowling vigorously. Brice practically threw Petone's chance of victory away when he tried to pull a straight ball from Duncan, and was clean bowled. The closing stages of the innings were most interesting, and showed that a risky declaration has its good points, particularly in making the game entertaining. James sent the tail in first in Old Boys' second innings with Dv Chateau to steady the batsmen. The latter compiled a, bright 38. This average to date is 32 for three visits to the crease. M. Browne proved his worth as a batsman with a sound 33, and will improvp. Ho abo promises well as a brnvl^r. W. Birrl has become much steadier in his batting than last season, and his 23 was a good effort. Roberts appears to be again, one of

the most dependable batsmen in thfl Petone team. Eotherham reappeared in this match, but the Petone team appears to be in need of further strength.

Midland and University.

By scoring 240 runs Midland had a comfortable first innings win over University, who scored 183. A bright innings by Dustin, who scored 65, was the outstanding feature of Midland's stay at the wickets. Once he had settled down Dustin played sound cricket. He played the bowling confidently and employed some pretty shots all round the wicket. He was eventually dismissed through being caught in the slips by Stevens off Bagge. Another player, who gave an attractive performance was Doueghue, who scored 35. Since he has. been playing senior cricket Doneghue has proved himself a very consistent batsman, and this season he seems to be batting as well as ever, although he has not done much scoring so far. He quickly settled down last Saturday and looked as if he was in for a big score. His innings was brought to a close comparatively early, however, as the result of his being out of his ground. Both Hutchings and O'Neil played well, the former scoring 36 and O'Neil 38.

Tor University Bagge returned the best bowling figures, taking five wickets for 62 runs. Harrison was next with four for 73. Paeeyaud Paetz played well in the second innings of the students. They were the not-out batsmen, and scored 46 of tho total of 82 runs. The loss of M'Leod and Aim has made quite a difference to University.

Hutt and Institute.

That Hutt are a strong eleven this season, was shown.again in their match against Institute, which concluded last Saturday. On tho first day, for the loss of six wickets, Hutt scored 400 runs, and although 214 were made by Biggar, the other batsmen gave some indication of their capabilities. Last Saturday Hutt demonstrated their bowling strength by dismissing most of tho Institute players cheaply. Judd had far more bowling than anybody else (26 overs), and succeeded in taking three wickets at tho cost of 100 runs. In nine overs M'Leod got three wickets for S2, and in 11 overs Aim got two for 50. M'Girr and Monk took a wicket each. Hutt thoroughly deserved their comfortable first innings win.

The Institute captain, Lambert, realised the responsibility he had thrown upon himself by his action on the first day, and he shouldered it manfully, though without much support. Ho scored a well-earned 121, and with Prince and :Henderson, saved the side from a.rout. Lambert and Prince put on 104 for the sixth.wicket, and the captain was assisted by Henderson in making 7S for the seventh. Apart from giving a chance at. 52, Lambert played a safe innings, though he was by no means afraid to hit' out, as his return of sixteen fours, three sixes, and a five shows. Prince scored 47, including 40 in four 3, and Henderson scored 26.

Institute batted again for 45 minutes, and in that time Banks hit up 50 and Owen 31, both not out. It was a pity they did not do so well in the first innings, although faced with, a different proposition. Notes. Jennings is making merry with the bat for Wellington in the second grade. He was in dashing form again last Saturday, a big score from his bat largely accounting for Wellington's runs being piled on at a rapid rate.

Calvert is proving to be a prolific run-getter in the Institute second grade team. He was on the job again against Wellington College Old. Boys, of whom Moore, formerly of Johnsonville, was the hardest man to shift. It was a coincidence that Moore made the same score (68) in each innings.

An outstanding performance "behind the sticks" was given by L. J. Brabin for Institute in the second grade last Saturday. During the afternoon Brabin captured seven wickets, stumping two batsmen and catching five.

W. Ivory, of the Wellington juniors, is in action again this season, although his play is no doubt affected by the serious injury he received last season when he collided with another player in the field. ■ '

L. V. Browne, of Wellington College Old Boys, who has represented Wellington in Plunket Shield cricket, has received notice of his transfer to Hawkes Bay.

A claim by a Melbourne writer that C. V. Grimnlett recently captured his 700 th wicket in first-class cricket has been queried by an Adelaide writer, who stated that Grimmett's total is well over SOO. The question as to whether matches in New Zealand are regarded as first class has been drawn into the argument. Cricketers will regret to learn that the death occurred recently, of the mother of W. Harris, captain of the Kilbirnie second grade team. This was the reason for Harris's absence from the team on the first day of the last series of matches.

Doubts are entertained in some quarters as to whether Gilbert's delivery is fair, and it is said that some of the New South Wales visitors to Queensland for the recent match were not at all satisfied that it was in order. Bradman did not express an opinion, except to indicate that he was amazed at Gilbert's pace—the fastest he had experienced.

It is incorrectly recorded in the annual report of the New Zealand Cricket Council that W. E. Merritt took 100 wickets in-first-class matches: on the New Zealand team's recent tour. Merritt's total was one short of the century mark.

Mercantile League.

Conditiors were ideal for cricket last Saturday, and as a consequence a. much more even distribution of honours resulted. J. Roberts (Smith and Smith) secured pride of place with 131, giving a thoroughly sound exhibition of batting against bowling that was by no means poor. . Roberts is particularly severe on any off balls that have a tendency to rise. He and Dobbs (56) carried the score from 74 to 210 before being separated. W. Crisp ("Truth") has the honour of being the first League player to secure.his second century, his 112 not out of a fortnight ago being followed up with 104 (retired) last Saturday. One or two chances went begging during Crisp's display, but as this was only the normal luck which comes to a batsman, full credit must be given for a fine, display.

Johnston (Wills), with 104 not out, was the only other batsman to reach the century, although several got to the sixties. Melville, of Nivens, who made 61, is maintaining a splendid average, his four innings to date reading 87, 48, 66, 61, with two not outs. This is a performance that Melville can be proud of.

Stone (James Smiths), five wickets for 7, and Gunson (Shipping), seven for 13, emerged with the best bowling figures, although several others put up really creditable performances. With centuries being scored every week and hat-tricks appearing periodically, the fieldsmen get very little recognition, yet in many cases the fielding lias won the match. Three men in particular who deserve special mention in this respect are Brough (Cowans), Smith (Sargoods), and "Waller (Smith and Smith), the last-named being responsible last Saturday for dismissing three of his opponents by splendidly-judged catches. Mr. H. J. Lawrence (League secretary) was absent from last week's committee meeting owing to illness, whilst this week Mr. S. W_. Martin (honorary treasurer) is also incapacitated. Mr. Lawrence's absence was Mb first for over five years.