CRICKET

Hawera Star, Volume XLIX, 16 November 1929, Page 12

CRICKET

-SOUTH TARANAKI COM= - PETITIONS.

THE LOCAL CLTJBS The cricket season. is g<» n g nicely in South. Taranaki and genexa > quite a good standard ol play xs maintained. The young players are hold their place, well and altogether the pros- ( pectii are good. fo;rllv | While the teams generally are lately strong, it is to be regretted that Hawera who have usually been able to enter..two teams, ocrnld . not do so this season. This means that a few playeis ■who are in excess of the eleven are often -without a game and naturally interest for them is lessened. It is good to see two junior school teams ior tins ■will serve to foster enthusiasm among the younger hoys and to have a markedly good effect on the cricket of the school"generally. But a junior team, xn .Hawera outside the School would lend added interest to the competition. Apparently the only other junior team ■in South Taranaki is Stratford and mroibably the difficulty of travelling will operate adversely.. If that can be; got over there should he some very good cricket in this competition, for which a series of matches is to he arranged. NOTES AND NEWS. The M.C.C. team, after being a long ■wav behind on the- first innings against South Australia, put up a great total m the second and dismissed their opponents for a small total. The brilliant Woolley, one of the older members of the team, came to light when wanted and with Duleepsinghx and Nicholls, put up hue scores, lhe two young bowlers, Bari-att (Notts) and Allom (Surrey) shared the bowling honours for the Englishmen. The victory is timely for, m view of the visit of the team to New Zealand, Dominion players will be pleased to see that the team is as strong as was reported. The better the team the more the Dominion men are likely to learn in the hne arts , of the game. The form of the team when they meet New South Wales and Victoria will be watched v.ery closely, for that will be a better test of their abilities. Mr Dan Reese, ex-New Zealand ana Canterbury representative captain, and the best all-round player the Dominion has produced, offered to attend the Sydenham Club nets in Christchurch and coach the players —they are all under 26 yeans of age- —on a Monday night. It was accepted;, and attendance of youngsters anxious to learn was very big. Sydenham is not the only dub; to be favoured, and so many others have taken advantage of Mr Reese’s offer that he- is engaged in coaching on four nights a week. It is going to- be very beneficial to New Zealand cricket. Alan Kippax made his first appearance recently for his club in Sydney after a severe illness. He is wonderfully popular in his home city and this popularity was shown by the reception be got in New Zealand to be well deserved-. His brilliant battling against Taranaki will -long be remembered. Much anticipation centred round the first of the Sheffield Shield matches in Australia, in which New South Wales met Queensland. These matches are a kind of “trying-out” ground for the selection of international players and the series of 1929-30 will be of exceptional interest in view of the coming tour of England by the Australian : In the match just concluded, in which New South Wales gained a narrow win, it WcVS good to that the colts who made a name against the Englishmen last year—Bradman, Marks, 0 Connor, and Oxenham —all maintained their reputation as skilful batsmen and scored exceedingly well. The last-named also bowled effectively. Brew is a Queensland bowler whose work will he carefully ■watched. HAWKE OUP. Taranaki will have to be at their best when they meet Manawatu —if this is arranged—for the Hawke Cup. Writing j of the cup the Hawke's Bay Herald ’ says: “They have a very shrewd idea of the value of the Hawke Cup in Palmerston North and the governors of the game there axe determined not to lose it if such a thing can be prevented.

Recently the Manawatu Association wrote the New Zealand Cricket Council asking that Hawke Oup matches be arranged for other than holiday dates, as it was impossible to keep a representative team together over the holidays.”

PRACTICE WICKETS. Some days ago Mr Dan Reese, of Qhristebuircn, in an effort lor the betterment of cricket in bis city addressed a letter to the newspapers making a special appeal to cricketers to devote more time to practice in order .that the game in this province might -be raised to a higher level.. The response to that appeal has not been very encouraging. Mr Reese says: “1 have now visited the various grounds and; have inspected both the match and practice wickets. The result of this; inspection was so disappointing that I fell it is. necessary to suggest to the authorities that something must be done if it is hoped to make first-class cricketers out of the material which we most certainly have at hand. To encourage players to practise, good wickets are essential.” This last is a point that has been stressed many times by other enthusiasts. It is the main factor in the improvement of cricket and it would be wise if every associatoin took up the question with a view to improving practice, as well as match, wickets. i A NEW ENGLISH BOWLER. In dealing with Notts season ol 1927 “Wisden’s Almanac’.’ thus referred to Voce;, after paying tribute to Sam Staples as .the star bowler of tbe side: “JbTint and Arthur Staples were fairly useful ciiajTges &tt ■times, naturally their work aroused no suon general interest as that of Voce, a lefthanded slow bowler. Tall, and possessed of a good delivery, Voce, if judicially coached, should make a name 10-i himseilf. Last year (1927) however as the summer progressed, he showed a, tendency to drop bis arm somewhat and strive for swerve to the sacrifice or spin. Unless he abandons this habit, he may easily lose what appears to be no small chance of taking rank with the leading slow bowlers of his time. Voce is the typo of left-hand bowler advocated for the Australian team for TiTngla.n/1 next year. Bowlers of the type are worth much more to a side in England than in Australia, as a rule., Voce is just 2Q years of age. In 1928 he secured 56 wickets at an average cost of 24.51, but this year he is among the elect with 120 wickets at an average of 17.02. THE TRADITION. (K. S. Ranjitsinhji, K. S. Duleepsinhji.) Who, that has seen it, does not love the glide, The pliant work of wrists in sympathy, The lightning torn that flicks the ban

aside, And bids us taste the game’s sweet luxury?

An hour of Ranji. . . I can close those eyes, And. watch again those moments charmed away; Glad am I, though the brilliant vision dies, To look upon another of his clay.

I cannot think the nephew dares as much. (Only one Ranji, surely, could exist.) Yet there is something of the elder’s touch — A lithe, familiar stirring of the wrist.

Applause rolls out, as from the surge of surf, A form is moving with a supple stride, A broader frame, that trod the same good turf, Surveys, content, the march of time ' and tide. (Who, that has seen it, does not love the glide;?) Already, the newphew of “Rangi” has achieved for himself a decided niche in the ladder of fame as a cricketer and shrewd judges consider him likely to outdo even his illustrious uncle. He will be one of the greatest attractions in the M.O.C. team in New Zea- ( land and anyone who has the luck to see him and Woolley going at their best will tsee something worth while in hatting. Both too are brilliant slip fieldsmen.