CRICKET

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 31 October 1925, Page 14

CRICKET

Despite the set-back of three wet Saturdays, so bad that play had to be abandoned, the game flourishes and gives prospects of being particularly good this season. In Hawera there is much more inducement to play than there was some years ago, and interest should be at high water mark when one realises the lovely ground on which the cricketers have to play. Though the wicket is not perfect, it is, generally speaking, pretty good and the outfield is something cricketers in some other centres would envy and on which they look with envy, not unmixed with wonder that ground fielding is not practised more, and consequently better than is sometimes seen on that ground. There is no excuse on such a ground for slack or inefficient fielding. That part of the game to the enthusiast; is as attractive as good batting or bowling, and a slackness in the field is a crime for which there should be no excuse. It is besides one of the most useful “avenues” for keeping down runs, and by the way, for securing wickets. The man who has a sure pair of hands for catches and can pick up and return in one combined action is an asset the value of which it is hard to overestimate. He is always liable to get a wicket, almost as often as the bowler, provided always that his wicket-keeper can deal with a sharp quick return. There is little doubt this part of the game is not so efficient or so much practised as it should be. Good fielding makes the game doubly interesting, and many a run has been secured and a wicket lost through clumsiness or carelessness. And there is no excuse for a failure in this respect. Consistent practice in taking the ball from all sorts of angles and in all kinds of attitude is the only remedy It is worth much more attention by captains and committees.

• The record of the first meeting of the combined Taranaki Association is very inspiring reading and seems to forecast a better season and a brighter future than has ever been before in the history of the game in Taranaki. It has an optimism that is altogether good and a programme which will give every opportunity to try out the practical quality of that optimism.

The Hawke Cup will be one of the outstanding features, and there seems no reason why Taranaki combined should not have a very good prospect in the near future of annexing that cup, given to New Zealand by one of the greatest enthusiasts and supporters the grand old game ever had. . Divided, neither North nor South had a possible chance. Combined they should stand a very good one.

Outside matches are an important feature in the life of the sport, and the list of matches set down for consideration and possible playing is an extremely comprehensive one. If the association secures anything like the number suggested they will do very well. It is extremely good to see the inquiry made about the guarantee necessary to secure the match against South Australia. That would be a great attraction, and if it should come to Hawera would be the greatest lift the game here has had for many a year. One recalls with interest the visit of the Australian team under Noble and the Lord Hawke team under Plum Warner. And we could offer them much better conditions than were possible in Bayly Park, though it must be admitted the wicket was fairly good. In this connection it may be urged that more work and trouble should be given to the preparation of wickets at the park. It would, add much to the joy of the game, both to player and to spectator, for in that case the batting would be better and so more enjoylable to the spectator.

PERSONAL. ■ It is a tribute to the good work done by Mr. J. Nielsen that the new association re-elected him hon. secretary. He has put his heart into a game which it is quite evident he loves, and consequently it is no hardship to him to work for its best interests. It is interesting to Hawera players to note that the Taranaki delegate is Mr. G. T. Weston, of Christchurch. Twenty years ago Mr. Weston was a leading member of the Hawera Club, and, to the best of one’s recollection, kept wickets for his club besides doing much serviceable batting. It is a direct link with the past to have such a good and one whose interests will naturally lean a lot to Taranaki. Up Samoa way (says an exchange), one half of the population appears to subsist for tbe pleasure of inviting unoffending visitors to various games, and soaking them thereat. H.M.S. Dunedin last month incautiously poked her nose into the harbour at Apia. Promptly, cricket and rifle shooting matches were arranged by the residents. The naval cricket team played the Nomads, a side which comprises whites and natives, and it crashed badly. In its first innings H.M.S. Dunedin scored 49, a demon bowler, Togimanu, getting five wickets for six runs. Nomads replied with 126, and in its second venture, the navy just managed to stave off an innings defeat with a score of 85. At shooting, the ship made 219, the Apia side replying with 238. The ship then scored 240, but Apia settled the issue with 283.

CRICKET WITHOUT EXERTION. • "Whore would you like to field?” is a question one often hears asked by a club captain as the teatn strolls out to the wicket. 1 The replies are various, but "Somewhere close in,” is the response of a firm majority who have a rooted objection to too much running about, or who have never been able to throw. So there are always candidates for the place of mid-off, mid-on, point (a prized position which entails no undue exertion) and in the slip—second slip is a safety spot, for the snick to leg is laboriously chased by "slipper” No. 1. The answer that the captain likes to get, "Oh, anywhere ” is seldom heard. What are the reasons? Age, of course, in many instances; weight in many more; and laziness, the only excuse of the brotherhood of slackers.

Thus writes D. L. A. Jephson, excaptain of the Surrey eleven, in the London Evening News. He goes on:—• It is strange that in any team there ara so few really good throwers; we see

one man winding himself up like an eight-day clock, and then propelling the ball skywards, only to land half-way between the wickets. We see another standing stock-still, a “little mound of earth," to use the old expression, while the ball trickles to his feet. Stooping leisurely, he rolls it back underhand, perfectly satisfied with his slovenly performance. Stiffening Muscles. The art of throwing comes naturally to most boys. How is it, then, that this ability diminishes as the years go by? Laclt'of practice is the principal cause, as the throwing muscles, if only used occasionally, stiffen; if held in complete abeyance, they atrophy. A greater believer in the value of a good return was Gregor MacGregor, the old Cambridge, Middlesex and English player. Every member of his ’Varsity team was made to throw. His plan was to take out a pair—let us say, F. S. Jackson and R. N. Douglas —and place one on either side of the wicket, starting at a range of 30 yards, which was gradually increased to 80 yards. He himself stood at the wicket. Then: Jackson throws in. MacGregor judges the return, leaves it alone, and Douglas, charging in, plugs at the stump, and so on, the ball flashing backwards and forwards until MacGregor stops one‘to give the sweating throwers a moment’s breathing space. The great stumper invariably refused a half-volley or a “yorker’’—refused with pungent comments on 'the futility of such efforts. A full pitch or a “first-hopper" were the goods he wanted.