CRICKET

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 7 January 1928, Page 10

CRICKET

SEASON FOR BIQ MATCHES SLOW PLAY RECORDED. VISIT OP AUCKLAND “COLTS.” No more interesting time of the cricket year exists than the present, rrehen. most of the big matches are played, contests for Plxmket and Walker Shields and Hawke Cup, and generally touring teams are abroad. Critics declaim severely against these .trophies as being detrimental to the ■best interests of cricket because of the tendency to lose sight of the game an the pursuit of the prize and resultant ALaying to win, without thinking o .the great sporting public who go to see good cricket and have not so much concern over the possession of. tlie trophy. But, in spite of this virtuous indignation, they, like everyone else, are tremendously keen to learn o± results of the matches and show a decided preference according as their interests lie. . a , • Some of the play m the Shield and Cup matches has been painfully alow, much more so than the quality of the bowling would make necessary. In fact, it has made the bowling appear to the reader much better than is the case. There is a small proportion of players to whom the “rock play is the natural game, but the ordinary man likes to hit when the occasion oners. Even when playing a strictly defensive game, the batsman can defend bard and many a single will come off a ball which is stopped in this manner. There have been and probably always will bo case* of sutbborn defence and nothing more, with a view to breaking the back ox the bowling, but the keen lover of cricket will ask that they be as lew as Auckland and Wellington won their fixtures against. Otago and Canterbury respectively. The former gained much more credit because, with a big total to reach, they put up a great performance and scored solidly, Mills nearly reaching his century. On the other hand, Wellington, with only 107 to get, made .a poor showing, losing five good wickets. Probably had they been up against it they would have put up a better performance.

A rather interesting cricket illustration of the bowling of a batsman in a match in Melbourne shows the bails knocked back towards the batsman and looking as though when they fell they would touch his leg. Langridge, the young Sussex cricketer, who is coaching in Auckland, is an enthusiast in Soccer and has generally played the winter game. Mr Beale, of Auckland, said, when in Hawera,. that the county authorities thought so highly of his play that they agreed to bear part of the expense incurred by his coming out to New Zealand, for the reason that they wished him to reserve himself for cricket. This arrangement was made when Bowley was making inquiries about a second coach to cope with the keen demand for his services. Mr Beale and Mr Langridge were so struck with the form shown by some of the younger players in Hawera that they undertook to make inquiry with a view to an offer on the lines of Langridge’a engagement and they advised the association to do everything in its powex to raise funds for a coach. Opinion at the recent cricket conference strongly favoured allowing professionals to play in Plunket Shield and Hawke Cup matches, because of the fact that their play helped largely to popularise tlie game. And it may 1)0 added that young players from districts that have no coach have the opportunity to watch the professionals and to get ideas from their play. The play of Langridge, though he is only 21, was an object lesson. His style was very sound and his shots all covered the ball to a very marked degree. His footwork was excellent. Mr G. T. Weston, of Christchurch, a former cricketer of Hawera, who has been delegate to the Cricket Council for Taranaki for many years, gave it as his. opinion when speaking at the jubilee of the Canterbury Association, that cricketers of to-day did not take the game so seriously as did the men of years ago or pay such close attention to their playing. He considered that conditions generally were much more favourable nowadays. Other old players criticised the fielding very severely and said that players did not as a rule strive so much to pick up and return hard to the wickets. They thought that batting was, as it should be, considerably better and that conditions nerw favoured the batsman. It is an extraordinary thing to see a strong M.C.C. side such as is in South Africa fail so badly as was the case against the Dominion’s team. It is Tarely that such a thing would happen. A South African bowler, Bissett, who hm.de a name in a previous tour of England, was the cause of the collapse But immediately afterwards, the same English team put up 220 for one wicket.

The possibility of some of the Australians selected for the New Zealand tour being unable to travel because of the allowance offered, without allowance for loss of time, being inadequate, brings up an interesting position and makes the line of demarcation between amateur and professional very thin. • This is a period of much touring among teams, sometimes assembled just because players are old friends and are thus congenial company for a tour. In addition they all love the old game and that creates a wonderful bond of camaraderie. But of the touring teams in- New Zealand none ha 3 a more interesting history than the Nomads, now on -tour in the South Island. As the name implies, they are wanderers and real tourists. The club belongs to the whole of the Dominion, and has members from all provinces, but it originated in a small way in Marton, and one of -.the oldest members is the skipper. H. F. Arkwright, now president of the N.Z. Cricket Council. They have toured all parts of the Dominion and are well known in Hawera.

Mr Beale's Auckland "Colts' " team goes back to 1914, but is all Aucklanders. Waiwetu (Wellington) —now defunct —also had a great touring record years ago, and there is now in the Waixarapa a team drawn partly from the same district. In Ashburton last week, r and now in Canterbury, there was a West Coast team. It is an excellent way of spending a holiday, of getting to see the country, and of knowing the people of other parts.

Referring to the Hawke Cup contest, it is worth recalling that Poverty Bay won the cup in 1918-19 season and held it till the following season, when Wairarapa went across and took it away. The Bay has challenged several times since, in. 1926 travelling the whole of the journey by car in the endeavour to secure the trophy. A. C. Maclaxen sent a message of congratulation to Ponsford on beating his previous record score of 424 —against Somerset 32 years ago. Curiously, it is stated Maclaren did not consider Ponsford ’s first Tecord over 400 as against first-class players, but waited until tho young Victorian made his second great score.

Bad fielding, says a Wellington paper, isj much too prevalent all over the country wherever cricket, is played. Referring to the Canterbury match, the writer says that slow and fast bowlers are both so expensive because far too many chances are missed. Memt had the Wellington batsmen tied up, and instead of two for 50, he should have had at least four wickets. Play in the interprovincial matches has been recorded, in many cases, as deadly slow. As a fact, there is far too much of this “rock” play, and it happens' mostly when a trophy depends on the play. For the sake of the game batsmen, should play with reasonable speed* Tho subject of dropped catches cropped up when the Auckland team was in Hawera, and Langridge remarked that it was a burning question at Home just as here. In county matches it was often seen and many a missed catch meant a big addition to the opposing score or even the fate of a match.

That the greatest players miss the simplest catches at times is proved by experience. One recalls the let-off given by Ranjitsinghi to the great fciouth Australian, Darling, against the Englishmen in a Test match at Sydney. He was “clouting the cover off the ball” and the Englishmen were at their wits’ end when he spooned one softly to point, and an agonised groan went up, said a critic, as Ranji missed the simplest of catches. Darling went on to make in all 176. The New South Wales 150 at Adelaide is the lowest second innings against South Australia by the State iu twenty-nine seasons. In all the years New South Wales and South Australia have been meeting, there are only three second innings totals by New South Wales lower than this 150, viz., 62, 148 and 126.

Alan Kippax had twelve innings up to Saturday last on the Melbourne ground against Victoria, with 74 as the highest score. He has been out lbw three times, and caught at the wickets four times in these innings. In all but three innings he has topped 20, but has been dismissed when seemingly becoming thoroughly set. In the Sydney matches he has scored 1113 runs for seven times out, the scores being 18, 45, 47, 197, 1, 65, 212 not out, 40, 271 not out, and 217 not out. The average is 159 per innings. E. P. Hendren gave what I have been told was a most interesting and instructive address to cricketers in Adelaide last week (says “Not Out” in the “Referee”). He dealt with general matters, and then with batting, bowling, fielding and other essentials. Many of the matters he mentioned were part and parcel of every Australian cricketer’s equipment years ago, but many of those we see these times appear to have grown up in a school which knows little of some of the absolute esesntiols iu high-grade play.

Five sixes in one over were 'hit at a match in Tasmania recently. The batsman made 103 and hit these sixes off a fast bowler.

“The hour has struck,” says an Australian critic, “for the young player of all-round ability.” He was discussing the need for the selectors to give youth all the chance possible because of the future of the game. It is worth consideration by all associations and all selectors.

MIGHTY SCORES. Ponsford now has the unique record of having made four scores of over 300 runs. He made 429 against Tasmania in 1922-23, 352 against New South Wales in 1926, and this season has a score of 437 against Queensland and another of over 300. This has beaten W. G. Grace’s record of three over 300. The great "W.G." made 344 for M.C.C. against Kent in 1876, 318 for his county versus Yorkshire iu 1876, and 301 against Sussex iri 1890. He had, however, a 400 not out in a minor match in 1876. There have been much larger scores Iu minor matches—A. E. J. Collins at Clifton College, 628 not out, in 1899; C. J. Eady at Hobera, 596 in 1901; J. C. Sharpe, at Melbourne, 506 not out in 1914; A. E. Stoddart, at Hampstead, 485 in 1886. A record distance was made by Rev. W. Fell owes at Oxford in 1856, when he drove a ball 175 yards from hit to pitch. This is believed to excel even the mighty English and Australian hitters of years gone by, Thornton or Bonnor. AVOIDING A PAIR OF SPECTACLE'S Every cricketer has a horror of a "pair of spectacles," or, to vary the figure, a "duck egg" in each innings. When the Australian Eleven was in England in 1899, Bill Howell clean bowled W. Troup, the Gloucester amateur, in a match at Eastbourne. Just as Troup was going for his second innings Howell was bowling at his top, and Troup had to face him. Behind the pavilian was a croquet ball, and Troup commandeered it. As ho walked to the wicket he handed the ball to "old Bill" as a present. Howell was highly amused, and the presentation put him off his bowling, with the result that his first ball to Troup was a full toss, which tlip batsman promptly hit for four.