CRICKET.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 14 January 1925, Page 6

CRICKET.

VICTORIAN PLAYERS. TO TOUR THE DOMINION. BY CABLE--PRESS ASSOCIATION—COPYRIGHT, MELBOURNE, Jan. 13. The Victorian Cricket Association decided to accept the New Zealand Association’s invitation To send a team to the Dominion, the tour beginning on February 13 and extending until April. (BY TELEGRAPH PRESS ASSOCIATION. CHRISTCHURCH, Jan. 13. Mr. D. Reese has cabled from Melbourne to the New Zealand Cricket Council, stating that Victoria has accepted New Zealand’s invitation to send a team across this season. The team is described by Air. Reese as Victoria’s best. It will consist of twelve players and a manager, and will leave Svdnev on February 12. Ponsford and Ryder will join the team after the final test match at Sydney.

SHEFFIELD SHIELD. PROGRESS OF MATCH. ADELAIDE, Jan. 13. The Sheffield Shield match was continued to-day. South Australia in the second innings made 400 (Pritchard 01, Rundell 09, Eymill 110). Bowling, Andrews took three wickets for 92, Morrissey four for S 7, and Randell two for 03. ' Pritchard and Rundell played sound cricket. Rymill was sparkling and punishing all round, defying numerous changes iii the bowling. New Soutii Wales in the second innings have five wickets down for 111 (Gwynne 41, Kippax 31). SATURDAY’S GAMES. (Notes by “Quidnunc.”) The second round of fixtures in the South Taranaki competitions began last Saturday, arid tile day’s play recorded wins for Okaiawa, Stratford and Excelsior. As a result of the holiday spell howlers were on too, and some splendid performances with the ball were seen. Good cricket .was witnessed in the junior games: Excelsior trounced their fellow club members of the Midland by 10 wickets, Stratford B just got there against Technical .High School and Eltham beat Maiiaia- by six runs. Excelsior v. Midland.

Midland were unfortunately a couple of men short, Graham and Inch, and as both are useful in the howling department, their loss was severely felt. Midland’s first innings was a debacle, aiid more runs were expected from the side. McCarthy was well on the spot with the ball, and his analysis of six wickets for 10 runs was well earned. He kept a beautiful length, and nipped very quickly off the pitch. The faster ball was well under control, and hit the sticks four times. Machin gave good help with two wickets for seven. Excelsior made a much better showing, still a score of 128 is only a moderate one from such a good batting side. Monaghan was top scorer with 47, and showed his best form. His off drives and some of his hooks were beautifully timed, and rattled the boundary in great style. One straight drive cleared the hedge with a lot to spare. Stall. Lay showed some good strokes in.getting his 20, ancl one very good on drive is to be noted. McCarthy was going well when he lifted one to Crombie, fielding . substitute at mid-off. Fulton made . a quick 10, aiid then chopped one in off Giblin. Giblin dfd the I ion’s share of the bowling for Midland, and bowled really well. His four for 51 represented some hard work, lint I am infilled to think his fast one is apt to be too short at times. None of the others looked difficult. Midland’s second innings, although showing 90 runs, was not a good display of hatting. There was too much pottering, and an inclination to make more than one stroke at a ball. Davies showed the best form iii his 18, Nielsen got 11, Vow less 17 and Rlank 17, hut the only features of the iiiiiihgs were two good leg hits for six, made by Plank and Vowless off Fulton’s leg breaks. Fulton three for 41, Lay two for 14, Macliin one for three aiid Crombie one for 17 all bowled steadily. Mention must be made of the catching by the Excelsior side, which was of a kind rarely witnessed in local cricket; the catch by Monaghan at first slip off Thomas ill the first innings, aiid those by' McCarthy off Dalgleish and Crorhbie off Davies, both at short leg in the second innings, Were extVemelv good.

"? Okaiawa v. Manaia. Manaia failed badly on their own ground, and lost by .43 runs on the first innings. Okaiawa would have been in a bad way but for Thomas 61 and A. Betts 14, who (nit on 75 out of 109. The former has a happy knack of coming to light when needed, and shows a broad blade to the bowling. A. Betts is a promising bat, who is developing and should make a reliable rungetter. Sherlock in getting seven wickets for 30 bowled in his best form. His breaks make pace and calf for a stout defence, while his length is usually unimpeachable. BairstoW and Hughes were not so successful as usual. Manaia found the Okaiawa bowling straight and steady in length, with the consequence that they only made 66. Henry Hughes 10 and Cosgrove 19 were the only ones to make progress. Since the departure of Dr. Maunsell, Manaia have gone back in batting a bit, but 66 is not their form, and other sides will find that out very soon. Crawford three wickets for 24, Penny til roe for 23 and Crighton two for 15 all bowled quite well, and got their men chiefly by clean bowling them.

Eltham v. Stratford. The Eltham side quite fell from grace in its match with Stratford on the latter’s ground. Certainly the team was not a strong one, hut, at the same time, there have not heeu the bright displays as usually given by Eltham in former days. The baiting is in and out, anti Charlie Little’s sparkling form is badly wanted. Scores of 3') and GO are too bad to lie true, and perhaps the holiday season may be held to be accountable for the failure. Phillpotts, who got 24, is tlie only one of the batsmen in form, and lie seems more or less weighed down by the captaincy. Stratford did nothing grand in getting 1.14, but it sufficed to give them a substantial win. Wood made top score with 27, Cole got 24, Lambert 19 and Knight Id. Judging by the scoring generally the wicket was not favourable, and that is borne out by the figures of the .faster bowlers. Priest in getting eight for 39 maintained his good form, and there is no doubt that he has vastly improved this season. Phillnotts got two for 3G. For Stratford, Cole was too much for his opponents, and figures like six for 11 and five for 27 indicate good howling. He is a very useful man to have on the side. Lambert gave splendid help with four for 1G and two .for 12. if Lambert were to strike the howling form he showed about five years ago he would make the lqcal players sit up and take notice. Young bowled quite well in getting three for 13.

Junior Matches. Excelsior 15 gave the Midland B a good hiding in their match on Saturday. The former gave an excellent showing in stringing their 201 together. Smales 56, Walkley 54 iind Morrissey 23 all warmed up the bowling. Walkley got practically all his runs off a couple of overs. McCarthy 1.4 and Mackenzie 15 both batted steadily, and helped oil the good work. Midland went down for 71 before the fast bowling of Walkley four for 31 and Mackenzie six for 30. In. the second innings Dowdle 50, Bigliani 23 and Fairweather 20 all hit out lustily, while Mahoney with 14 in the first and 13 in tile second innings batted stubbornly. Mahoney four for 52, Fairweather three for 29 and Busing two For 32 bore the brunt for Midland. Stratford juniors beat Hawera Technical High School by 14 runs on the first innings, but at call of time the latter only wanted two runs to get an outright win with six wickets ' in hand. Trotter 33 find Gat ton 33 not out did the run-getting for Stratford, and Walshe 15 not out in the first innings of 41. and Cheevors 30. Walshe 12 and Allen 15 not out did good work in the second innings of 65 for four wickets. A decided lack of sportsmanship was manifested in this game, and it did not redound to the credit of the player concerned. It adds much to the charm of cricket if a feeling of good fellowship is shown and the accepted courtesies of the game are observed.