OLDFIELD'S FORM

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 49, 27 February 1937, Page 23

OLDFIELD'S FORM

The finest piece of fielding in the N.S.W.-England match was shown when Oldfield jumped yards away from the wicket and. brilliantly caught a ball low down in his left hand. The appeal for ;a catch was not upheld because the ball touched Hardstaff's pads,' but the effort, nevertheless, was .brilliant, and worth recording. Oldfield kept wickets in his. best form.

Phil Lucas, of Central:,'. Phil is now quite one of,. Central's; best all-round-ers, just as his-father,. Fred Lucas, was once the backbone of the Ford Cricket Club in the early days of the league. . •'

Once in Johannesburg before the Boer War ; the writer heard Lord Hawke say that in his opinion more matches were won by good fielding than, by• great batting. If the Mercantile League teams would only buck up .in'/this;respect more, people would patronise "■ their games.

• Some . Mercantile Cricket League teams are complaining that they have to do without official umpires very often. This is -unfortunate, but it' is riot the fault of the Umpires' Association. ..That body does its very best to appoint at least one umpire to each game ;and, if the umpire does not or cannot officiate, the association has not the membership from which to draw a substitute.

The Justice Cricket Club seems to' have, struck an exceedingly lean time since the second round began in the Mercantile League B grade championship, and was hopelessly sv.-amped by Smith and Smith's team on Saturday. The principal causes were "hard-hit-ting" Henderson's 123 not out in Smith and Smith's innings and Dobbs's success in taking seven of Justice's wickets in the first innings for 27 and two for 25 in the second innings.

From today the F and G grades championships being finished, the teams from both grades will be pitted against one another in friendly games. The management committee of the league hopes that these games will be played seriously as they are designed to help in next year's grading.