CRICKET

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 2 January 1926, Page 12

CRICKET

N.Z. MATCHES TO COME. , in . i, 2, 4—v. N.S.W., at Sydney-. PLA Y ED. Queensland— Lost by an innings. Goulburn —Won by an innings and 156 runs. . Wagga —Won by an innings and 53 runs. -. Victoria —Drawn. Ballarat —Won by an innings and 71 runs. 7. South Australia —Drawn. In the rules of cricket it is not laid lown that “over the fence is out.” The Vlanageinent Committee of the W ellngtou Cricket Association, however, lo'lds that while “over the fence” may neau “out,” so far as a window pane s concerned, the batsman who sends a inll out of the playing area has to pay ■ o r any damage that may occur Already this season damage has been lone bv big-liitting batsmen, several .vindows in the vicinity of local playng areas having been broken. The lit in most cases realises six runs .to :he batsman, but if the ruling of the Cricket Association is to be applied the ion our and glory of a “sixer will be •ostlv. The bowler who tempts the batsmen to “open his shoulders,” is lot asked to carry any of the financial burden.' Following in father's footsteps—ln a schools cricket match the other day beween Waltham and Elmwood, the Waltham eleven was captained by a so r jf -\V. It. Patrick, captain of the New Zealand cricket team, and the Elmwood team by a son of J. F. Peake, manager of the New Zealand team. Waltham won rather easily, thanks mainly to a three-figure score by young Patrick, and the most successful bowler for Elmwood was young Peake.

C. G. Macartney, Having demonstrat ed his retention of form, is sure to win a place in the Australian cricket team for England once again.—Sydney Rcfereg; In a mid-week Association match at Melbourne on October 7 some hurricane scoring was. done for the Argus team by E. Eastman, who scored 145 in 50 minutes. He reached his century in 1 1! 5 minutes. The force of his hatting may be gauged from the fact that he.hit Id sixcs.Jfour off successive ba 11s and. nine fours. • The-* --Sydney Morning Herald critic says bf.’the match between Australia and The Rest: “The match was suggested by the Australian Board of Control in- order -to assist the Australian selection committee —Messrs. H. L. Collins (New South Wales), J. Ryder (Victoria), and Clem Hill (South Australia) in its task of choosing players for the English tour of 1926. Two trial matches in addition to tfte regular Sheffield Shield matches will be played during the season.” Some ancient history: The first cricket club in Australia was the Military Cricket Club, formed in 1820 in Svdney (says a writer in Melbourne Punch). The first scores on record were those of a match played in Hyde Park between the Marylebone and Australian clubs for £2O a side. The first inter-State match was between Victoria and Tasmania, played at Launceston in February, 185.1, which Tasmania won by three wickets. The return match played at Melbourne in 1.852 was won by Victoria by 01 runs. The match started at 9 a.m., and at 1 o'clock a bugle sounded for lunch. There is still one survivor of the historic first match between Victoria and New South Wales in 1856. David M. Serjeant, who scored 7 and 5 for Victoria, and played the first ball of the match, is still alive in England, and was knighted in 1922. TRICKS OF THE BOWLER. Towards the end of the cricket season a sensational story was told con corning a well-known amateur bowler. Ir was said that, by ingenious means, he was able to raise the seam of the brrl-1, -and so gain an advantage. The object-of raising the seam is, of course, to mhke the ball swing, and it is “not cricket.” But tam assured by county players that the practice is by no means new. This, however, is no reason why it sln'juJd be tolerated. It was expected that some inquiry would be made,, but it is apparently a matter which, has been forgotten, or not thought worth while bothering about. During the last M.C.C. tour a somewhat'(Similar story came from Australia—that a bowler there was in the habit- of carrying powdered resin in his trouser pocket. This would be a valuable trick to enable a man to grip the ball firmly. But almost as long as the game has been played, the use of re.4i/l has been alleged, without, how ever,' (ft single case having been proved. The Australian bowler may come to England next summer, and one is then prepared to discover that, the story owes (its origin to imagination.

PLUNKET .SHIELD HAS CAUSED MAXV KEEN CONTESTS. Until recent vwirs the story of tlie Plurikpt Shield was largely one of the struggle for the trophy between Auckland .and Canterbury. In fact, until sifter the war these were the only two provinces to have their names on the shield.. Tt was in HUS that the name of Wellington first appeared on the trophy. It was not until the 1924-2.' season that Otago won it for the first, time. Otago thus are the present holders. fn the days before the war, and for a year or two after, the shield was competed for on the “challenge” principle. but now it is run on the Sheffield Shield principle, a series of matches between Auckland, Wellington, Cantor bury and Otago being played each year. All things considered, the present system is the better of the two. It is more likely to ensure that at the end the season the shield will be held by the province that has the best team Further, under this system, each centre is assured of two home matches every alternate year, with one home match the other vear.

ERRORS QF FIELDSMEN

Ernest. Jones, the old fast, bowler, considers that if there was more practice in the field, bowlers woulu not. havq so much cause for complaint over faulty throwing in. “Intelligent anticipation of .shots .and t mining forwaic! to meet the ball would save many runs." he says. “In throwing in fieldsmen often make the mistake by looting where the batsman, is, before they take no the ball,” Jones proceeded. “Fumbling invariably results. fieldsmen appear to be rooted to one spot when posited. All should know that half-volleys are driven, long hops hooked, and that leg balls are glanced, and not sent to cover. By carefully watching the- ball an idea of the iesultant sbott can often be gamed and the fieldsmen should move with ..he idea of intercepting the leather, and not wait until it comes his way.

IMPORTANCE OF FEILDING. Manv of us have been stressing the importance of fielding, even going so far as to say that this is the most important feature of the game. A stiiKillustration of this was given in a match just finished in Wellington between the Institute and Wellington teams, for the senior championship. It was commenced on Saturday week, and. thanks to many indulgences by the fieldsmen, the Institute team ran up a big score of 475 runs for five wickets, one batsman J. L. Banks with a handful of lives to his credit, putting up 260, a record individual score for Wellington. When the Institute players took the field their value as a team was soon manifest. They are mainly on the young side, and were on their toes, and roused the spectators to a high pitch of enthusiasm by their performances Catch after catch was accepted, and when the last man on the Wellington side had lieen dismissed, the seorebooK showed but 183. All the catches that were offered off Massey’s (Institute) bowling were accepted bv his f'el'ow fieldsmen, while the Wellington bowlers must have been thoroughly disheartened when catch after catch was dropped off their bowling. WHAT IS A .NO-BALL? A request has come fo the Free Lance from a member of th e Wellington Umpires’ Association that a definition of a “no-ban” should be given. He states that amongst the younger players, more particularly, a very hazy idea is prevalent as to where their feet should be at the actual moment of delivering the ball. The ru’es on the point are very clear: — 10. The bail must be bowled; if thrown or ierked either umpire snap call “no-ball.” . 11. The bowler shall debver the ball with one foot on the ground behind the bowling crease, and within the return crease, otherwise the umpire shall call “no-hall.” Where’s the Puzzle? These rules seem (says the Lance critic) to b e perfectly simple, and not possible of being misunderstood; at any rate as far as the position of tlie feet is concerned. The bowling crease is eight- feet eight inches in -length, and the stumps—eight inches in width—nre placed in the centre of the chalk line At the ends of the bowling crease, and it right angles to it, are placed the return creases, which are deemed to be unlimited in length. When the ball is delivered the bowler must have one foot on the ground in the space referred to. Thbre_ is nothing to prevent a bowler having both feet behind the bowling crease, as long as one of them is within the return crease. But if a bowler’s foot is o;i or over either the bowling or tlie return crease when he delivers the bal ; the umpire should call him.

AUSTRALIA’S TEAM FOR ENGLAND. A Melbourne journal is conducting a plebiscite to ascertain the views of the public as to who should compose the Australian team for England next year. Fifteen men will go. When the last mail left the state of the poll was:

THE AUSTRALIAN SELECTION (By “Not Out,” for The Referee.) in selecting the fifteen players for England, the three cricketers upon whom the responsibility will fall have to bear in mind that tiie team will be without two of its most successful elements in attack of 1921, that is E. A. McDonald and W. W. Armstrong. Tinloss of McDonald cannot be made good from iho talent seen in action.this season. That of Armstrong may be made good by C. V. CtrininiQtt. on good wickets, and by a good left-hand bowler on impaired wickets. It will be most interesting to note how the selectors solve this problem, to note their attitude towards the plethora of righthand medium pace bowlers offering, and to note to what degree they are prepared to bring in youth for the batting with so many old players bidding for positions.

1. Collins .... 3489 .... 3476 3. Oldfield .... 3453 .... 3449 .... 3438 6. Ponsford .... 3408 .... 3299 .... 3113 .... 3044 10. A. Richardson .... 3029 .... 2884 12. Love * ... 2829 13. Tavlor ... 2621; .... 2588 15. Jlardslev ... 2481 ... 1765 17. Richardson 18. Blnckie .... 1459 731 579 20. Kllis 336 244 197 23. Scott 183 24. Rock 117 68 33 32 32 20. Hnrtkopf 20 20 Fourteen other players ceiled less than 20 votes. have re-