SPORT OF ALL KINDS

Evening Star, Issue 15432, 4 March 1914, Page 7

SPORT OF ALL KINDS

CRICKET. [By Umpire. ] Dunedin is fortunate in having the first test match against the Austarajiaitt played lwre. Tha will commence at 12 o'clock on Friday, and should prove a big attraction. The viaitore are exceptionally strong all round, and follower* of the gam* should not miss the opportunity of seeing th# cream of Australia at the wickets. They should provide players and the public alike with an ♦ducaticn in cricket. The New Zealand team are not too strong in bowling, and with the visitors out for record scores in their bi" games their crack bats should be wall worth watching. The public •should not miss this opportunity; it is one which, unfortunately, very seldom comes their -way. . The remarks of Mr T- T. Ritchie at the last meeting of the local association on the question of a coach for Otago cricket must liave been read with a good deal of satisfaction. As hinted in these columns more than once, the engaging of a coach has been practically decided upon, thanks to the liberal support promised by a number of prominent enthusiasts. The necessary funds will from all accounte be easily arranged, and it is now only a question of timo when the association "will be in a position to get a coach, and one who will be a top-notch plaver as well. Cricketers, it is hoped, will not overlook one remark made by Mr Ritchie, when he said that cricketers themselves must show some interest in the matter, and arrange to find a certain sum. One condition will be that whoever ia engaged will have to remain here for three years at least. It is indeed very gratifying to know that so many enthusiasts have come forward and offered to make a contribution each season towards the expenses of a coach. It shows that they havei * the interest of Otago cricket at heart, and aTe prepared to give it that posh along which is wanted just now. The game will flourish here again without a doubt. The association have adopted the suggestion to play a match between the team that met Canterbury and the eleven that drew with Southland. It should prove an interesting and keenly-contested game. There is every prospect of the junior representative team which visited Invercaxgill lately playing a game at Oamaru. The members of the team, it is worthy of note, visited Southland at their own expense—a very sportsmanlike action on their part. The encouragement of country cricket should have the hearty support of everybody, and it is satisfactory to know that the Vincent County team* have been incited to visit Dunedin and play a match against an Otago eleven on the 23rd of this, month. Members of the local association got a ehock the other night when the items on the expenditure side of the balance-sheet of the New Zealand team's tour were read. Two items that set them thinking were "tips £34 15s 3d," and "players' allowances, at 5a per day. £210." It will be interesting to hear what some of the other associations have to say on this matter. There is euro to bo some pretty straight talk when the balance-sheet finally comes up for consideration. Mr J. J. Clark (president of the local association), with his usual generosity, forwarded a cheque for £4 towards the expense of entertaining the Southland team. It is the intention of the association to give Mr Clark a fitting reception on his return from Sydney, where he is making certain inquiries which will be of benefit, to the association later on. He is a true friend of cricket, and his services to this province well deserve suitable recognition. ' Carisbrook B and Grans© are now level in the senior grade competition. Grange's defeat by Dunedin on Saturday was not altogether unexpected. The -winners have to specially thank Cramond for their victory. Cramond, who has been away from Dunedin for a number of seasons, gave a dashing display of batting. lie was one of the best bats we had here a few years 'ago, and Dunedin are lucky in having him back in their Dunedin are a good | ali-Tound team, who should have done Iwtter'this season. Gpoho are a hard team to beat on their own ground, and their win over Carisbrook A did not cause any surprise. Higgins, who was absent last week, again batted well. He is the mcft consistent scorer in club cricket here thk season. Ingram played another good innings for Opoho. He is one of thtir best bats. Carisbrook B easily accounted for Albion, who are not a strong combination. Their bowling was pcor, and Carisbrook took full advantage oi Albion's weakness in this department. Price, an ex-Christchurch player, gave his best exhibition so far in Thiisedin. He was at the wickets an hour and 55 minutes for 75, which included 11 4*s. Tuckwell and Prke put on tho fin& score of 160 for tha second wicket. They simply played with tho bowling. Tuckwell's 81 included one 6 and 14 4"s. He was at tho wickets for an hour and 30 minutes.

Albion in their first innings could do nothing agair-st the bowling of Rameden (fir« for 41) and Nelson (four for 4S). Their wickets fell as under:—One for 31, two for 40, three for 59, four for 63, fivo for 76, six for 83, seven for 87, eight for 87, nine for 96, and tea for 96. Ramsden and Kelson each bowled 16 overs. In their second innings they showed up better, getting 102 for three wickets. The veteran Tom Ritchie turned out for Albion, on Saturday. He made 17 in tho second innings. Shepherd was consstent -with the bat. He was top scorer with 18 in the first innings, and -was unbeaten with. 14 to his credit on going in a second time. "Williams also reached double figures in both innings, scoring 14 and 28, which included two 6's. M'Farlane's bowling did not tremble the Caxisbrook men. It T»s a perfect batsman's wicket, and Albion should have made more tubs in their first innings. Tbe world's record for an eighth wicket-pa-tnership is 442, made by Noble and Gregorv utaiaab Warwick. Trumper and Sims, in the match against OMfariwpy on Saturday, made 433 for the eighth wicket. Financially the Australian cricket season now approaching its close has been dlsUrou. Kp the Sydney ' Telecraph* of February 18). That was tne term applied to the position by Mr Green, SSroSrof the New South Wales Association, in making an appeal that bodv for the exercise of strict economy. The y association is not bankrupt by any means It has still an accumulated eS"balanced £1,863 (over £1,500 of , £u£J£d>. Bat it had £2 566 at the beginning of the season; and, despite the fxercise of care and the curtailment of outgoings generally, tbe l°*s cannot.but be regarded as severe. More than that, it is difficult of explanation. Why should cricket have attracted the public less this season than last? The question Why.' was put to the secretary of the association. His reply was: "You can't explain these things- It is only a temporary slump. Cricket will revive again." There is no doubt that there will be a revival, provided there are no more squabbles, and that an English team comes to Australia the season after next. .' , New South Wales has just terminated another highly successful and eminently '* satisfactory season in representative cric--1 ket seven of the eight matches having been comfortably won, the other lost by 19 runs. The 'Referee* says: "One of the weakest spots in the best eleven against stern opponents, men wno fought every inch, of the way with skill and regoorce, is that Victor Trumper's captaincy lacks, or has so fax lacked, that subtle inspiration wMci whips the units into a team, and keeps them going at top. It was this quality in his leadership for which M. A- Noble was so deservedly famed, and which, they tell me, so pleasantly marked the command of Warren Baxdsley at Melbourne and Adelaide this summer." With all the men who have not actually Tetired from first class cricket available, the following wonld b* something like the best State team {says the Sydney' Beferee'} : V: Tramper, C. G. Macartney, W. Bardsley, C. Kelhvway, E. P. Barbour, H. hj. C. J. Toter or T. J- Andrews, a.

V. HovtoQ. H- Carter, R. J. A. Massie, and either A. Cotter or J. D. Scott. r The Beat of Australia team wouud be constituted something like this : C. Hill, E. R. Mayn», J. N. Crawford, R. Steele, W. J. Whitty, and L. Winser (S.A.), W. W. Armstrong V: Ranaford, F. Baring, J. Rvder, and J. T. Matthews (Vic). "rTew South Wales has played 180 matches with other States, eleven a side, 116 having been won, 62 lost, and 2 drawn. It''is a 1 recoSU to be proud of, in face of the fact ! that a number of matches against the ; minor States the second eleven has filled ! the bill. Clem Hill's 105 against Victoria was his forty-fifth century in first class cricket and his ninth against Victoria, He has three times totalled 200 against New South Wales. In all, Hill has made over 3,000 runs airainst New South Wales, at an average of 51.48, and 2,772 against Victoria, at an average of 50.40. Big figures these on a side that has been vanquished oftener than victor. Hill has been playing in Sheffield matches for 20 years. Macartney recently made 227, the highest innings ever played for Gordon in firstgrade in Svdney, his 224 not out against Redfern hitherto taking that rank. He has batted three times for Gordon this summer, with results in keeping with those won for his State—viz., 162,98, and 227. He is clearly the batsman of the day in A. stralia. BOWLINC. [By Measvreb,.] As the system of finding actual champions is of perennial interest till perfection is arrived at (which is not yet), and as efforts are still being made to reach the goal, a talk on the subject will possibly be of interest to thoughtful bowlers. I have not so far met the man who is satisfied with any scheme hitherto tried; therefore any new ideas from experienced bowlers are worth considering. Following upon the discontent expressed over our local svstem of conducting the Association tournament, and hearing the North Island men proclaiming loudly that theirs was much better, the writer made inquiries from a gentleman who is an authority—Mr J. J. Roberts, "for long secretary of the Northern Bowling Association, who ran many oi their tournaments. Mr Roberts kindly supplied to me the following information :

The conditions of the North Island tout-- , naments were that Champion Rinks should, | as far as possible, be played under these conditions: Entries divided into sections of 10 rinks, and each rink to play every rink in its section. Section-winners and ties for first place to be again formed into sections of four or more, and each rink to play every rink in its section, if possible. Then the winners and ties for first place shall play off on the " sudden-death " principle, and the winner of the final to be declared the winner of the Rink Championship. A very apparent weakness of this system is the placing of all section-winners and ties on the plane of perfect equality. One section-winner may have won nine games, another only six, and the latter may provo to be the champions, which would not be satisfying to the rink who had won nino and possibly lost only one game. Most decidedly the North Island system leaves something to be desired. The matter is worth considering, as the next champions may be found under these conditions, and there is time for an improved system to be adopted, if it can be discovered. Mr Roberts recognises the weakness of the North Island system. For a tournament a couple of years ago he advocated the abolition of playing sectional ties, and suggested the putting into the finals all section-winners and those who had tied in their sections, with a clause providing that, in the event of any byes being required, those who had won their sections outright should receive the bye, thus giving the advantage to those whose play had, perhaps, entitled them to be placed in that position. He also advocated what, he considered to be a-still further improvement in regard to tournaments conducted under the sectional principle—namely, that every rink winning as many games as those rinks who win or tie in their sections should be placed in the finals. For in stance, if Section A were won by SJbnea with six wins and three losses, all other rinks in all sections who scored six wins and three losse-i should be placed in the finals, although not winning or possibly tieing in their individual sections. Mr Roberto points out that a tournament as at present conducted by the Dominion Bowling Association has to find the cham pion rink, champion pair, and champion single, and when a tournament is held in Dunedin or Auckland it naturally follows that more time is spent in travelling back wards and forwards than if the tournament were held in Wellington. Still, he is convinced that a satisfactory programme could be arranged in which tho champion rink, pair, and single could be found in 10 days, even though nine games were played in the sectional play in the rinks. He sees no reason why pairs and singles should not be decided or. the " sudden-death" principle, because by the time these competitions wers commenced players had had ample opportunity cf finding the strength of the greens in their rink games. Mr- Roberts is of opinion that the system under which the Dunedin tournament was run was a fairly good one, but required some modifications, showing, as it did, weaknesses/in several directions. One of these, was not playing off the pairs and singles on the " sudden-death " principle ; ana another that the players ought to have been drafted into then- respective competitions in the rinks on the Monday night after three games had been played. The reason given by prominent bowlers in the South for one defeat being allowed before a rink was put out of the championship was that it was thought necessary in order that visitors might get the strength of the greens. At the same time, he was unable to find any reason why a bye which a player has the bad luck to draw should count as a loss, and this is the feature of the system which to the great majority of bowlers is the most objectionable. Mr Roberts thinks that the programme at the Southern tournament was more suitable for, say, a three-days' tournament, and for such short tournaments it is questionable whether a better system' could be found. He was sorry to see in th'e South that non-playing umpires had not been appointed, because it was hardly fair—even to the man himself—to ask a player in an adjoining rink to go and measure shots in another rink when his absence might possibly militate against his own rime's success. He had always advocated the appointment of non-playing umpires, and had always been successful in getting capable men to act, who had materially assisted to the success of running tournaments and to the benefit of players and public alike. As to the system to be followed in carrying out the next Domniion Association tourney, Mr Roberts said that it was certainly the duty of the executive to adopt some universal system of tdurnament play, and to carry out tjhat system at all tournaments. It was not fair to find the chamEion rink this year under one system in 'unedin, and next year under another system in Auckland. The council of the association had made a grievous error in noi formulating a programme for the recent tournament instead of leaving the task to a committee in tho centre where the tournament was to be held. _ Should the association : at any time consider it advisable to hold twb tournaments in the'year—one to find the champion rink and the other the champion pair and single—he felt sure a good programme could be formulated. Mr Roberts also pointed out that there arc many systems whioh might be placed before the bowling world, and many of them have points of much merit. It would be very difficult, if not impossible, to get an absolutely perfect system, but in his opinion the sectional system as hitherto adopted in the North Island had given the greatest amount of general satisfaction.