CRICKET.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXVI, Issue 10450, 3 December 1927, Page 3

CRICKET.

(By “Willow.”)

NOTES FROM ALL CREASES.

POVERTY BAY PLAY

Senior games at the Oval this afternoon should provide interesting contests in at least three instances). School v. Celtic. Oitv v. Gisborne

Club and Civil Service v. Turangamii promise to l>d very even, with , the; {odds favoring neither team in any •' of these -flashes. Old Hoys should win over Poverty Bay Club in Ihe remaining match. Civil Service deserve hearty congratulations on their fine victory over, Gisborne, Club last Saturday. Their opponents were not at full strength, but the fact that the winners defeated both time anil the Club in . their final innings stamped their performance as. full of merit. They hit up the 90 odd runs reouired to win in an hour, winning right on t i me. Turanganui’s wig over City was also a splendid piece of work and much of the credit must go to Holdsworth. who followed np his 43 against Old Boys with a still hotter innings of 63, and Jennings who bowled so ably. Pope also played a- valuable innings, this man and lloldsworth saving the side from an utter deilvaele when they came together with half the team out for 13 runs. It is highly satisfactory to see that the new teams in the senior grade are. so well able to stand up to the older ones. Including to-day’s, there are three more rounds to ho played before the teams, are divided into sections. Celtic, School and Old Boys are practically certain of inclusion in the A Grade, hut who the fourth, team will he is decidedly uncertain. Poverty Bay. unless they can win their next three games, are out of it, but the .other lour teams are all “possillies.” Tf Gisborne or Tiira.nganui lose to-day, they also are almost certain to he in the It section, hut, should they, both win, the positions will be remarkably close, with only two points separating the four “possibles.” Whatever happens however, it appears that the full first round will, require to he played to determine the remaining team lor the A section.

Sheffield Shield Fixtures. 'Hie following are the Sheffield Shield matches for this season, the date on which each match begins being added: — : Yesterday—South Australia v. Viktoria. at Adelaide. December- 16—Victoria v. Queensland, at Melbourne. .December 16—South Australia v. .Yew South Wales, at Adelaide. December 23—Victoria v. New South Wales, at Melbourne. i December 23 —South Australia v. \ Queensland," ah Adelaide. December 80—Victoria- v. South Australia, at Melbourne. December 31—Yew South V ales v. Queensland, at Sydney. January 6—Yew South "VA- ales v. South Australia, at January 14—Queensland v. South Australia, at Brisbane. January 26—New South Vales v. Victoria, at Sydney. February 3 Queensland v. Victoria, at Brisbane. A Cricket Mystery. “P. G. H. Fender, who was 35 last month, is one of the unluokiest cricketers in England” states an English critic. “In five seasons since the war he has scored ICO.) runs and taken 100 wickets, he is a fine fielder in the slips, and is generally admitted to he the brainiest, cleverest, and best county captain in the country, and yet, with all- these qualifications, he has never captained England in a Test match, though he has. played m 12. This is one of the mysteries o' English post-war, cricket. England s loss, however, has been Surrey’s gain, for there is little doubt that the Oval side would have been a poor oim in recent years without. Fender’s captaincy aud howling. In spite of an attack consisting of change howlers — and some of them not very impressive ,-,nes —-Fender has so managed it that Surrey lias-always succeeded in tak]ncr a. respectably high position in the ■County Championship. For this Fender is mainly responsible, as Ills figures shew. "In 14 seasons (1910 to August 13, 1927) he has scored 12.119 runs (average 20.46) and taken 1262 wickets for 23.27 runs each.” If Fender was ten years younger, he would be almost certain to captain England. Solely on merit lie deserves the° honor, hut, uidortunately. only now are the social harriers in Old Countrv cricket being broken down. One had to be “of the blood’’ before . being considered for the posit-on and -that cost the Surrey captain his chance of the greatest honor in the cricketing world. Jji the last tao ,years the authorities at Home have f swept aside the old-fashioned pre- \ indices and sheer merit is now the deciding factor. , , The M.C.O. committee have long memories also and Fender -was a civ outspoken in his criticisms of Australian “barracking” when the 192021 English team visited Australia., As a- consequence, relations between the two countries, for a long time, were strained. It is significant that Fender has not represented England since ,he returned from that tour. A Cricket Relic. . The Australian Eleven of ISSO went to 800-land without a Test match boin°- arranged, but eventually a fixture was made, and the game was played at the Oval on September 6, < and 8. Although the match .was Australia v. England, it resolved itself, in public opinion, into a contest W. L. Alurdoch y. W. G. Grace, the respective on retains and champions with the bat <savs- a writer in ‘The Australasian’). When AV. G. Grace made,ls2 there was keen English enthusiasm, hut when W L. Murdoch, after making a duclc in the first innings, went one better, than Grace, and scored 1)3 not out in his second, the news rang through Australia with a note of trirmph. Associated with Miudoch in iVs great effort, and without whose Mfte assistance in a Lost-wicket p.u Lnersfcip, the feat would not have been Possible, was W. H. Moule now Jndo-e’Moule, the veteran of the \ ■«- tririan Cm.intv Court.bench, who inade *U runs “The o d man.” asi all cueW. 0. Gi-iifo, hfd m»T peculiarities,, hut lie was a cluvalious opponent, and. to mark Ins approcm-. Hi in of.his rival’s success, he gave Murdoch a gold breast pm, winch the Australian captain prim more almost than, any of Ins; -other posscs.Jr laions. 'Shortly before Ins. deat|i Murgave the pin to his old friend, |/>fiior -ifbrkhnm, one of the trustees . ? •' ) ; i J -- , i '

of the Melbourne Cricket-ground. Many years laTei.-, on his deathbed, Major Morkham gave the writer the pin. remarking, “I am sure you will value-this, not for its intrinsic worth, but because of' its associations.” 1 think the only survivors of that match arc Lord Harris on the English side, and J. M. Black-ham, 'J. Slight and \V. H. Moule,-of the Australians.

P_ Random Notches. f) . There have been some remarkable £ things in English cricket -this year, ,e I’ut it. is doubtful..whether this one has ever been bettered. When Rathe q met Ideal in the first-grade final ter n the Txineinatograph Cup at Wembley s last month, F. Smith,'a member o 7 it the Rathe side, was an opening hats, man. Alter one hour and 40 minutes of solid hatting the innings closed for the total of 20. and the said E. '' Smith had the remarkable score of ij —a “duck” not out! This" freak ; score is similar to one which, occurred in Sydney some years ago. One » of the opening batsmen for <i. side which totalled well over the hundred ; mark finished with a similar score—a “duck” not out—but he .did net face 1 a. howler once in all the innings! Messrs B. V. Scrvinegour OS. A.) T. s H. Howard (N.tfi AY.), W.’ L. Kelly I (V.) and B. J. Hartigan (Q.), have - been appointed a eoinmittee of the Board of Control to arrange a pro- . gramme for the next English team, - and to report to the Board regnrd- - ing guarantees and other matters in - connection with the tour. Schoolboy cricketers of Sydney are starting early to follow in" the"footsteps of Alan Kippax and his like. A : feature of the second-half of the ‘ Great Ruhlic Schools competition was ‘ the mammoth score compiled by The King’s in its "victory over Sydney i High School. The hoys from Rarra- , mat ta knocked up 649 runs for seven wickets, three individual si-ores being , 223, 106 and 109. Sydney High School was disposed of for MS runs. (hi the closing date Tor entries for the Auckland- Cricket Association’s compel:iLions, 77 teams had mitered, compared with 79 last year. The only new application for entry to the firstgrade A competition was thal-of Failed. a former suburban club. The North Shore Club, which laid two first-grade teams last season, has contented itself with one entry this year, lint it has put two teams in the liistgrade B. For this • grade t herefore there'are now 10 entries,; comparing well Avil.ii last year’s six. .Although they cannot quite account for the comparative lack of success of “Patsy” 1 Lendren in Test cricket, both J. Newman and L. C. Eastman, professional coaches in the South Island. say that they would rather have him in a side Avitli them than any oilier player in England. He is a wonderful batsman, and a great field. Newman says that Hmidron is ilie only fieldsman m England Avlioni he> would conijia re Avitli \Y. R. Hammond. of Gloucestershire. Eastman said that he. wop)d like to have Frank Woolley cn liis side as Avell. AYoolley is still a fine batsman, hut lii.s howling, lias fallen off. According" to the cricket writer of the Auckland “Star.” Langridgo, the young Sussex cricket professional. avlio came out to Xoav Zealand with Rowley.--made a most impressive first appearance for Ponsonhv. the club to .’which he has been allotted. The Avri--ter says of Laiigrid.go: He is a clever left-handed batsman. who knows the value of the stv-xight hat, and most cf hi,s runs.. come from clever placing and Avristy shots. With tlm hall Langridsre keeps-a a fine leim th. and. on a wicket- that suits him. he has all the left-hander’s facility of bowling. the { awlcAvard hall, which to the right-han-ded batsman pitches about the blind snot, and then goes sharply away to the off. ] The folloAviivi Otago pl.-ivm-s have I been selected for representative prno- t lice: G. It. Dickinson, AY. Douglas • (Cari,shrook), R. Clien-v, 11. AYliite v twieket-keener), AY. Sti-amr, R. t’• i Ter’-inr-o/Dunedin). J.-.Bliir. Rev. E. \ O. P-lamires. K. Duncan, -I. Shepherd, ; AA'. Vorratli (Albion). A. AY. Alloo. A. j Knight. A. Galland, J. Alc-Mullan, i Himes (Grange). Otago’s first Finn- t ket Shield match this season avUI be against- Canterbury in .Clii-istclini-eh i at Christmas time. f There lias been a real .shortage of hat-tricks this season (says a London 1 sporting paper). Bowlers seem to have lost, the knack, of shooting hats- <_ men out in Avliolesale quantities.' The f! late Schofield Haigli, of Yorkshire,. t lias probably more hat-tricks to his credit in first-class matches than any I) other howler. He performed the feat 11 on four occasions for Yorkshire—and c thr.ee times in Smith Africa. T. .T. t Matthew's, of Australia, is the only o cricketer avlio has two hat-tricks in t Test cricket to his credit, against -S'. " Africa at Afaric-hpstei- in 1912. |> F. E. AA’oolhw. the Engl kb crick- j‘ etcr, has a- great record. He is one of four cricketers who have scored over 30,000 runs and taken 1030- Avick- 0 ets. the others being AAL G. Grace, Hirst, and Rhodes; lie is the only ij cricketer who has scored 2000 runs ' and taken 100 Avickets in a season four times; lie has .played in 52 consecutive test matches for England; * he has made the .biggest individual score for an England team in Austra- c lia—3os net out in three and a-half hours v,. Tasmania, at Hobart, in j 1 1912. and he shares the English re- “ cord for the third, scA-enth. and ninth t 1 wickets in. tests a-. Australia, and for b the second Avic-ket v. South Africa. Alcre .and,more stories of “AV.G.” are being “created.” Here is a,n- -j.] other: Dr. Grace disliked les-ina his u Avickot if he could jioasibly avoid it. On one occasion he hit the ball high, into the- air, and, seeing the ficldo;, q shane' for a safe catch, turned to the r( fielding captain, and said. “I declare " the innings closed,” before, the ball q had time to drop. A pretty problem !. for the umpire j ( A Y'orkshirc cricket varn.: A viR si lage game Avas delayed for some time is because of the absence or an umpire, tl The home skipper, recognising an acquaintance among the crowd, hold t( eonA’erse Avith him and asked tlie'inan j-i to officiate. Tie Avas Avilling to do so. h “Aav root,” said the skipper. f.'Sitha-, s ] lad. Avo’rc fieldin’ first. AAJicneveivon .hear anvhody say ‘lluzzat?’ you A say ‘Out.’ Later on Avhen avc go in to hat, I’ll toll thee a. hit more.” 1)( Harold 'Larwood, the Notts and a: England fast hoAvler, Avas married by w special license at the Basfcrd• Regis.- li ter Office recently to Miss Lois Bird, of Hutlnvaite. Notts, states an Eng- hi lish paper. The wedding had been oi kept a. close secret, and only two of p. Lanvood’s personal Avero pros- st eat. . Larwood. a\:lio is 22, Avas orig- ci inally a. ininer, atKL_unlil a few years m ago was practically unknown as a, fast Li howler. He became a memher of llie w Trent Bridge 'ground staff avlicu ho rr Avas 19. iTn 1925 he played for Notts la second eleven, and did so well that hi immediately aftenvards ho obtained oi his place in tlie county eleven. h