CRICKET

Evening Star, Issue 22249, 29 January 1936, Page 4

CRICKET

[By H.P.S.]

FIXTURES. » February 7,8, 10, and 11.—Auckland v. Wellington (Plunket Shield), at Wellington. February 14, 15. 17, and 18.—Otago 7. Canterbury (Plunket Shield), at Christchurch. February 15.—Otago v. North Otago, at Oamaru; Otago v. Southland, at Invercargill; Otago Colts v. South Otago, at Baldutha. WELLINGTON GAME SURVEYED NOT A DULL PATCH There was not a dull patch throughout the Wellington-otago match. The feature of the game that is rare in modern first-class cricket was the fact that the bowlers appeared to ha7e more to do with the business than had the batsmen, and yet when one analyses the figures, only a couple of trundlers on each side came out with anything like meritorious figures, while se7en or eight batsmen in all obtained scores of between 40 and 70, so that on the whole the match may be fairly set down as an interesting fight between bat and ball. There were disappointments on the Otago side, the failure of Elmes, Cttley, and Dunning to get going with the bat making a difference in the calculations regarding the outcome of the match. Wellington, too, of course, had failures, Ward, as a batsman, and Ashenden, as a bowler, not coming up to expectations. Knight was again the outstanding batsman on the home side, and in addition to the number of runs credited to him, the manner of the making of those runs was decidedly attracti7e and batsmanlike. Indeed, nothing in the match was better, and judging by the display of the picked Dominion representatives this season Knight may fairly claim to be of Dominion class. Cavanagh, although he could not get beyond 13 at the first knock, played a real captain’s innings in the second, when on reaching 64, and looking as though there were a possibility of pulling the match out of the fire, he was dismissed in rather an unfortunate manner, one of Parsloe’s “bumpers” flying off his glove to be snapped up close to the ground at third slip. So close was it that the batsman was given out on appeal. L. Smith, who failed to score in. the first innings, played jpluckily in the second, and helped his captain to add 72 for the sixth wicket—a very valuable stand at a critical stage. ; Smith was last out, being* caught in the deep field when forcing the pace in an endeavour to put on as many runs as possible. Saxton and Kerr contributed useful scores in the first innings, but failed in the second, while Dickinson,' who has now become Otago’s eleventh man on the batting list, had not much opportunity to show batsmanship. Of Badcock’s displa- it is rather difficult to write. It might be slightly over-stating the case to say that he was responsible for the defeat, but it is not too much to say that his recklessness in throwing his wicket away had a very big bearing on the issue. There was no excuse at all for this, the state of the game alone warranting at least watchfulness on the part of a batsman coming in to pull the innings together. There were several innings of merit on the Wellington side, and although others scored a greater number of runs there was none who shaped better than Moloney, the ex-Otago player, who followed up his confident displays in the matches between M.C.C. and New Zealand with useful contributions. Lamason batted very soundly, and as befitted a captain made l top score of the match—namely, 71 in the first innings. Gallichan, O’Brien, .Blandford, and Ell also contributed fairly solidly to the total, and to their efforts the winning margin on the first innings was mainly due. Ell played a particularly neat and attractive knock, and Otago was fortunate in getting rid of this batsman for next to nothing on his second appearance at the wickets. But the main factor in Wellington’s win was the consistently good bowling of C. Parsloe. who was undoubtedly the outstanding bowler of the match, and his 11 wickets for 103 was a performance of which he might indeed feel proud. He was able to make the ball lift disconcertingly, and although the Otago batsmen should have . been able to overcome the temptation to play these awkward deliveries the fact remains that they did not, and several fell victims to this heady attack. Griffiths, with his slow leg-breaks, was of assistance, and here again the lack of footwork on the part of Otago batsmen helped towards the bowler’s success. Neither Ashenden nor Wilson was particularly dangerous, and Gallichan was used sparingly. On the Otago side, Dickinson showed glimpses of his old-time form, but could not sustain this for a sufficient length of time to cause complete rout to the batsmen. Nevertheless, he was, in the circumstances, a great help to the home side. Badcock bowled in his usual steady style, and was always difficult to score, from. Dunning also was very steady and difficult to play in the first innings, but fell off a little in . the second. Smith still shows inability to control ilis length, but with his spin is surely worth cultivating as a Fleetwood-Smith style of bowler.

Notes and Comments

i The fielding of both sides was quit* good, Mills, Otago’s new wicketkeeper, performing very creditably indeed, and thoroughly justifying his inclusion in that capacity. Blandford, the Wellington ’beeper, was also very sound and neat in his work.. AUSTRALIA MUST FALL INTO LINE There is no doubts now that Australia will have to fall into line in regard to the new leg-before-wieket rule. This is . indicated by the issue by- the Marylebone Cricket Club of instructions that the new law ,be given the widest possible trial in the coming English season (says the .‘Sporting Globe’). ' The club points to the success of the law when it was tried last season, -and requests the co-operation of all concerned to ensure its complete application. The appeal, it is said, is obviously directed to Australia, _ as well as to cricket organisations in England. _ • . . - England, South Africa, India, ,and the West Indies are all in favour of the rule; therefore it is obvious that Australia must follow suit. The. pity is that the authorities here did not <adopt it completely for the current season here and for the South African tour. Had that been_ done all our players would have gained experience of it, and there could have been no objection to its application to the test matches here next Season. As it is, we may now have to enter upon those games with the rule in force, and our. players under the handicap against England .that our authorities feared if the rule were applied to the tests in South Africa. As we have previously pointed out, the handicap would be less serious against South Africa than it might be against England. If the new law is to be applied to the tests next season it will mean that the only_ experience our test men will have of it will be gained in the games preceding the tests, for if it is adopted it will certainly be adopted for all r firstclass games. , HIGH SCORING The excellent innings of 105 not out which J. L. Kerr played for New Zealand against the M.C.C. team last week at the Basin Reserve served again to demonstrate that he is the finest batsman New Zealand, has at present (says ‘Sporting Life’). .From the start of Monday’s play Kerr was hitting the ball hard. He played practically all the strokes, : but perhaps the most spectacular, were those, on both sides of the wicket, against rising balls from .the,fast bowler,,H. D.Read. Kerr has now scored 324 runs*-:in* Tour -innings (once not .out) against-, E.HI. T. Holmes’s team—l 46 and 71 for Canterbury and 2 and 105 not out for New Zealand. In Plunket Shield games- and matches against the M.C.C. team so far this season he has scored 466 runs-at an average of 66.57. Kerr is going to be very hard to 'beat for 1 this year’s award of the Redpath Cup, at present held by P. E. Whitelaw, of Auckland. NOTES Kenneth Viljoen, the South African test batsman, whose cricket hitherto has been with the Orange Free State, is to become a Transvaal player. He recently accepted an appointment on the West Rand, and was expected to take up his domicile there in the middle of December. Viljoen’s transfer will mean a severe loss to the Orange Free State, and will strenghen the already strong Transvaal eleven. The task of pressmen at representative cricket games at Carisbrook is always made easier by the assistance invariably given by Mr E. .H. Downes, Otago’s official scorer. Mr Downes is' joint secretary of The High School Old Boys’ Club, and a great enthusiast for the game, besides being a very efficient scorer in club and representative fixtures. On him has fallen the mantle worn for so many years by Mr W. A. Rowland, recognised as one of the most capable scorers in the Dominion during his period of service. Otago’s final Shield match is against Canterbury, at Christchurch, on February 14, 15, 17, and 18. Although he scored only 19 Tuns in his one innings for New Zealand against the M.C.C. team, W. M. Wallace, nowin his third season as an Auckland representative in cricket, looks like being a very useful member of the_ Dominion side. He still has an inclination to flirt with the off ball, but he has good strokes, and bats \vith .resolution. His fielding at cover is: quick and sure. Wallace should be retained jri the New Zealand side. Provided he uses mors judgment in his treatment of the off" ball he should do well in the next New Zealand v. M.C.C.'match, for that is to be played at Eden Park, Auckland, where Wallace will feel more at home. All : his good scores in representative cricket have been made there against - Canterbury two seasons ago, 68 v. Wellington last season, and 85 and 100 in one match against Canterbury a few weeks ago.