CRICKET.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 4 November 1925, Page 6

CRICKET.

THE SEASON OPENS

ADMINISTRATION CHARGE

The season had a wonderful opening last Saturday and should go on it,s way full of vim and pep, and be recorded one of the best in die history of the game in Taranaki. This is the outlook, provided members will all put their shoulders to the wheel and make every club under the aegis of the association a live one.

The one association government, with practically sub-associations in North and South, takes the cricket memory hack a good few years, and is, therefore, a resurrection of the past. The change' was made In tlie wisdom of'the members at that 1 114.1 c, hut it was never considered good to the players at this end. All are glad to see that a reversion has been made to t the one association. It will give Taranaki a stronger footing in the council of cricket in the Dominion and a better chance in competition with other provinces.

NEED FOR G OOD WICKETS One great difficulty in all smaller centres is that of wickets, match and practice. Aird perhaps of the two the more important is the latter. Rut they both need improvement, if the game is to progress as it should, and as it will, if all co-operate loyally in both sections of the province. Some scheme for provision of better wickets needs to. be 'devised. It will be well worth while for the executive to see if a scheme is possible, to import soil, if necessary,, in order to make the best wickets/ Tlie co-operation of all should make this feasible. But in conjunction with, and as a corollary to any scheme, is the need for constant and regular work on turf wickets. As, lar as Hawera is concerned, these points seem to be the kernel of the, whole position ind to be the one thing wanting on an otherwise excellent ground. Probably the same applies to New Plymouth and Stratford.

NOTES ON THE PLAY

MIDLANDS v. OKAIAWA

The scores were only average in this match and the Hawera team failed rather badly in the one innings it had. Of the Okaiawa total of 105, no less than 96 were put up by four players and Mr ‘Extras’ was responsiule ior eigliteen —far too many. Penny was in a hitting mood, and his total of 22 included five fours. The same applies to Linn, who ran up 27 with five lours, a three, a brace and two singles. Kasper rattled up the unlucky thireen in four smacks and was then well caught by Inch. Giblin proved easily the best ol the Midland bowlers and clean bowled six of his victims, the other one being caught. He is likely to be one of the team’s most useful men. McKenzie was the only other bowler to do any good and took three wickets, including that of Penny. It looks as though tlie skipper would have been wise to have tried another change. Dalgleish and Neilsen ran up more than half the Midland total. Both batted exceedingly well, the former especially, and it was had luck that they were checked just as they were fairly in their stride. Neilsen was tempted to have a hit and so lost his wicket. It was a departure from his ordinary style. 611 the Okaiawa, ground, however, it seems necessary to go out and hit. Runs otherwise come very slow, because the outfield is not too, good. Inch made the only six of the innings' and then was caught. it was another day out for Penny, to be added to the long; list of successes recorded by him for his club. He has long been the mainstay of the team. He was getting in wonderful work with the ball and was responsible for dismissing four of the best batsmen lor the small tally of 15 runs. He is well backed up this year oy V. and A. Betts, Linn and Crawford, all of whom shaped very well. In tlie second essay at the batting crease, these players pretty well collared the bowling.

AIANAIA v. EXCELSIOR. (

The team from Manaia, certainly not its best, was quite outclassed by Excelsior. Only three made much headway against McCarthy, Mach in and Lay, who divided nine wickets —the tenth run out—equally. Machin secured his, however, for a good few less runs than the other two bowlers. Bairstow hit freely in. running up his good score of 42, and was then caught at the wickets by Grindlay. H. Hughes scored eleven, and the only other to make double figures was Oakes, a substitute, who smote lustily for 16, two sixes, and was unbeaten at the end of the innings. Excelsior had a day out and piled on over two hundred runs. Quite a number of batsmen showed good form, fullyrjQconfidence. which promises well MrYlic 1 season. ' Jiqmmond bad the best total, and dViiruuning up 43 he .showed form, generally presenting a straight bat to the balk Tie also made a number of good on drives. ■ Little,'opening the innings, ran up a very useful tally of forty. He has' a free style and hits hard. Six fours, all drives, were in his total. He had also several neat leg glides. But the most attractive innings from a spectator’s point of view was Lay’s, and he had had luck in getting his leg in front of one from B. Hughes just as he looked set for a big score. He soon played himself in and treated onlookers to a delightful exhibition of driving. Two sixes clean down the centre of the ground were fine strokes, and he also had four fours.

Jennings, an old member of a good Few years ago, who used to play a useful all-round game—besides hitting Freely he could bowl a good fast tball — •reated a very favourable impression in liis first appearance, and played sound cricket for his 37.

Mills (11), Kidd (11), and McCarthy (10) all shaped well. The last-named fell To a very good catch in the slips by H. Hughes,Who similarly disposed of Little In this match also Mr. “Extras”' secured double figures.

STRATFORD v. ELTHAM

Stratford “buried” Eltham with a vengeance, and the latter will need to practice if it wants to stand a chance. It is not so strong as formerly, hut has the nucleus of a good team that, with practice, should give all opponents a run. It had the luck to get Lambert and Cole pretty cheap, ly, both 1.b.w., and ,in addition Wood and Furrie the same often that four of a team go out that way.

Court (35), Wood and Furrie (18 each) were the most successful for Stratford, Priest and Soundey doing the howling and both getting fair averages Then Lambert and Cole proceeded to “go through” the Eltham batsmen, and six was the highest score registered. Lambert had the distinction of scoring the hat trick, all clean bowled, and ended up with six for a shade over two runs apiece. That the Stratford bowling was not un-

playable was shown in the second innings, when Ansford (36) and C/ Little (14) knocked both bowlers about to some purpose. Tlie others, however, again did no good.

IN THE NORTH. All scoring was small in North laranaki, with the single exception or New Plymouth, and its total was onlj 133. It seems to indicate that either the bowling is very good—-too good for the hat —or that the batting is weak In any case tlie bowling on Saturday must have been good and effective' to account for the consistently small scores. It will he_ interesting to see how it shapes when North meets South.

A FINE SCORE IN WELLINGTON

Plaving in a junior match in "Well ina;ton, Y.M.C.A. ran up 392 for four wickets. A young player _ named Franklin played a superb innings for 217 before being out, bitting nine sixes and thirty-three fours.

TEAM FOE AUSTRALIA. (by TELEGRAPH PRESS ASSOCIATION.) CHRISTCHURCH, Nov 3. As Ct. Dickinson (Otago) and J. o. Dempster (Wellington) are not available to'tour Australia with the JNen Zealand -cricket team they have been replaced bv M. Henderson and J. E. Banks, both of Wellington.