CRICKET

Hawera Star, Volume XLIX, 15 January 1930, Page 6

CRICKET

SOUTH TARANAKI GAMES

COMPETITIONS RESUMED

SATURDAY’S PLAY REVIEWED.

When one team in any oouupetitipn lias .a continuous run 01 success, leaving iiui the rest tar ue-hind, interest tends to be lessened, and tno 00-mip-e----ttcion to rose its keenness. It is lax better, lor any spurt tnat competition siiouid be ciose and strong, getting thereby the besit out ot the teams entered.

This season, in South Taranaki, saw Old Hoys successful m every matcn played until last Saturday, when Okaiawa, an ways hard to beat, especially on their own ground, checked tnat run oi" success and won on the lust innings by the narrow margin of IS runs.

The match was marked by positions .at different times dining the- match which seem to be almost peculiar to the great old game, one team has a good score and leels fairly comfortable until the- opponents begin so well that nicy are within lairTy easy reach, of the total for half tlie wickets, and then collapse. The tail .refuses to wag exeet'p very feebly, and what looked like an easy win is turned into, a iegrettaUie loss-. Tins was the case in tliis match. * Okaiawa nan up quite a tidy score on a. ground on whch it is liauter to score than in Haweia-, no less than seven batsmen naming into double ngures. Old Hoys, after a bad opening partnership, and with one down for a single run. then goit to work. H. Barker and Oheevers put on 36, and the former, with Moloney and Hayes, did so well that only five wickets had gone when they had topped the century. Another -wicket put on 11, and the next six, and with only 20 runs to get and three wickets to falii, the position looked good- ana hopeful. But a match is never lost till it is won. Tire three wickets added but one run, and an innings that began so well terminated inglorioysly. The batting honours of the match easily go to H. Barker, who bore the brunt of the opening attack,' and, praying capital cricket, with a trouncing for all loose bowling, ho remained in to score an excellent 56, which included two hue sixers.

dree vers was going well, but very carefully, when a good one front Penny boat him. »

Pour of tlie Okaiawa bowlers divided the bowling honours fairly evenly, the veteran Penny getting, three wioketsi and two of the others two; each. Eden top scored for Okaiawa with a vigorous '2B, in which also- were two hits over the fence-. He played capital cricket.

He was closely followed 1 by the reliable Atkins, who compiled much more carefully a nice 26 not out. Crawford, Thomas, Penny, Betts and Martin all contributed a useful quota. Betts opened out much more than usual and Crawford, ialike, hit lustily, with 14 in five scoring shots. Chte vers was on the spot with, the ball, his off-breaks -being very effective, and be- accounted for six wickets at a cost of only 5.5 runs a-piece. When h© strikes a length. Cheevers is athvays dangerous. Curiously, Hawera put on the same total as Okaiawa in their match with Elt-ham, and of these Giblin was responsible for no less than 59, compiled in his brightest iand breeziest fashion. Ten times did a shot from his bat reach the boundary, and of these seven were in the last ten strokes. He- made the bowling appear very simple. He followed this with another cheery exhibition of hitting by getting 36 in eleven shots, two of them sixes. Associated 1 with him at various stages of the first innings wore Worrall 29 (not out;, and A. Stevens 18. Both played attractive cricket and made useful scores-.

Of th-e E’jtahiin bowlers, L. Donnelly, who went oil late-, reaped a small but rich harvest while it lashed, getting) tine© wickets for six runs. Arthur and Go'W»-r helped with two- each. In the second innings, 78 for six wickets declared,, Arthur and H. Donnelly shared) the- honours evenly. Gower and H. Donnelly did quite well in both- innings, getting 10 and 32 not out.) and 20 and 20 (not out) respectively. Avery, “pore et fils,” were the best gif the others. Hail-weather accounted for it he bulk of the wickets, getting four, while Giblin, Jennings and Malone each got two-.

In a race against time, Gower and H. Donnel'iy (Eiltham) hit everything, and rattled up 53 in very quick fashion. They wanted 113, but time was against them. It was, however, a merry ending to a good match, played in the friendliest spirit. School had a margin of 39 runs on the first innings, 129 to 90. A feature of the match was the very fine stand made by Guise (25) and Goodwin (9 not out) for the. last wicket. The opening School batsmen, usually so reliable, failed, and the brunt of the attack fell first on Thrush, P.aeey and Herbert, who. by scoring respectively 35, 20 and 10 took the side out of an awkward ]>osition. Jefcoate and Twist, for Kaponga, with four and three wickets, bore the bulk of the bowling, and both did well.

V. Betts, with 51 not out, was the hero of the Kaponga batsmen, and with Twist put on 66 of the total of 90 made. The former was in fine form and showed excellent defence, combined with great punishing powers,, as proved by his one six, four fours and seven twos.

Pacey, with three wickets, Stu Frock and Thrush with two each, shared the honours in bowling for School. Two batsmen were run out in each team.

Going in again, Kaponga had an interesting time, and rattled up 123 for , three wickets when tun© was called, j S. Betts had had luck in being run out first innings and l.'b.w. in the second just after getting double figures. .]cl'coate punished the howling unmercifully. and had 17 unbeaten when stumps wore drawn. V. Betts compiled a useful 17, Twist IS and Tonkin 17 (not out). The end of this match was, as in the I rrrece,cling case, the brightest patch and ,kept spectators keenly interested. The average onlooker likes to see the bright batsman at work.