CRICKET

Greymouth Evening Star, 27 February 1935, Page 11

CRICKET

OTAGO BEAT CANTERBURY.

[per press association.]

DUNEDIN, February 26.

The Plunket Shield match, Otago v. Canterbury, concluded to-day. Showers fell during the day and caused stoppages of play, and stumps were finally drawn at 5.36 on account of failing light. Otago won by 107 runs on the first innings. The scores were as follow: —

Otago in the first innings made 248. In the second innings they scored 241 for seven wickets declared. Talbot mad 69, Elmes 52 and Uttley 39.

Canterbury in the first innings scored 141, and in the second innings made 151 for 5 wickets.

PROPOSED INDIAN TOUR.

[BY CABLE —PRESS ASSN. —COPYRIGHT.]

FREMANTLE, February 26.

The liner Strathaird arrived to-day from London. Among the passengers is Frank Tarrant, former Victorian cricketer, who is seeking to arrange for an Australian cricket team to carry out a private toui’ of India at the request of the Maharaja of Patiala, who is providing £lO,OOO to cover the cost of the tour. Mr Tarrant said that he already had approached a number of Australia’s leading cricketers on the subject. ' BRISBANE, February 27.

Mr J. S. Hutcheson, a member of the'Board of Control, stated that, after a postal ballot, the Board had decided to reject the proposal of Mr. Tarrant, for a tour of India.

TRIBUTES TO HOBBS

LONDON, February 26.

"The Times’s’’ cricket writer says: “Hobbs is one of the four greatest batsmen of all time. By tremendous skill and a charming, generous character, he rose to a height equalled by Ranji.”

TEST MATCH RECEIPTS.

LONDON, February 26

The official takings at last year’s tests were as follow: —Nottingham £14,569, Lords £23,225, Manchester £16,227, Leeds £15.633, Oval £lB,658, the total exceeding the 1930 receipts by £11,032.

DIRECT-ATTACK BOWLING.

LONDON, February 26.

The Notts Cricket Club was given a further opportunity to clarify the position regarding direct-attack bowling, as the result of a full meeting of the Advisory County Committee at Lords, lasting for two hours.

Middlesex proposed and Lancashire seconded a resolution, which was carried unanimously, Notts abstaining, in which it was pointed out, firstly, that “although the Notts internal affairs are solely the concern of the Club, yet the counties and the well-being of cricket are intimately affected by the general position; secondly- the meeting considers that Notts, on occasions in 1934, did not abide by the agreement of the Board of Control and the Advisory Committee on November 23, 1933, whereby it was expected that the question of fast short legside bowling would be settled by the goodwill of the captains’ co-operation; thirdly, while noting ate Notts decision to abide by Marylebone’s rules, on February 4, the meeting finds it difficult to reconcile that statement with the resolution passed on January 16; fourthly, in view of the 1935 championship, it is essential that Notts should authoritatively make a statement as to whether it stands by the resolutions of November 21, concerning direcbattack bowling.” Derbyshire proposed and Surrey seconded a resolution: —“That this meeting believes the Notts committee’s statement in the interests of cricket, but views with concern the members’ resolution of January 15, which could only be interpreted as approval of bowling contrary to the spirit of the games. The resolution was carried unanimously, Notts abstaining. Eventually, on the assurance of the Notts representatives, that the resolution was not intended to bear such an interpretation, \the Advisory Committee decided to defer action until the Notts annual meeting on March 21, when the policy will be defined regarding direct-attack bowling. The Marylebone Committee subsequently confirmed 'the above resolutions. PLAY AND PLAYERS. Only one senior game was played last Sunday, when Marist A. met United at the Recreation Ground under somewhat wintry conditions. The outfield was slow and the wicket soft, which necessitated the use of a matting wicket for the game. Marist, batting first, had 249 runs on the board at the close of play, due mainly to an excellent opening partnership between 0. J. Morris (90) and N. W. Bayley (54). Bayley’s innings was sound, he giving no chances, and showing patience in waiting for loose balls. He would be much more successful if he employed the same tactics in every match. Morris played a more forceful game than is usual with him, and collected his 90 runs in good time. F. J. Bayley (19) and J. Mathews (23 not out) were the only other batsmen to make a stand against the bowling, which, though easy before the tea adjournment, strengthened from then on. Mathews, however, had a lucky innings, giving several chances, which were not accepted. Restieaux bowled best for United, and towards the close of the play, swung the ball considerably, several wickets falling to his in-swingers. Jarvis, for United, fielded consistently. The United ground-fielding was good, but several catches were missed through lack of anticipation. United have a stiff task ahead of them, being asked to make better than 250 runs to win a first-innings victory, and they will have to make their best showing this season. In view of the forthcoming selection cf a West Coast representative team to travel to Ashburton, it is suggested that the following players would creditably represent the Coast: O. J. Morris N. W. Bayley, F. J. Bayley, M. Marshall, J. Cornish (Marist); C. Restieaux, J. Measley, Simmonds (captain), Brooks (United); D. Knapp, J. Guy, Vaughan (Cobden).

It will be seen that there are eight bcwlcrs, a tleast seven good batsmen, and most important, a fairly strong fielding side. One consideration in selecting a side has, in the past, evidently not carried a great deal of weight with the selector, and that is the fielding capabilities o£ each player.

The first question to be asked when considering a player for selection should be, “Is he useful in the field? It is one thing to select a player whom one can count on for, say, 40 or 50 runs with the bat, and another to find that when in the field, he loses most of those runs through bad fielding. It is far better to select a side strong in the field and only average in batting, than to have a team that will make a large number of runs when batting, only to throw them away by poor fielding. The last two

representative games played will illustrate the point. The game against West port was lost simply by poor fielding, and the match played against Canterbury could have been made more interesting had the fielding been consistent. 4

“Does your husband always live up to (he promises of his courtship days?” “Always! In those days he said he wasn't good enough for me, and he’s still proving it.” Farmer: “An’ how's Lawyer Jones doing, doctor?” Doctor: “Poor fellow, he's lying at death’s door.” Farmer: “That’s grit for ye; at death’s door, an’ still lying.”