SOUTH TARANAKI CRICKET

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 6 March 1935, Page 4

SOUTH TARANAKI CRICKET

SATURDAY’S PLAY REVIEWED W. BARKER’S GOOD SCORING COMMENT BY “MID-ON.” IV. Barker’s average must be the best in South Taranaki, if not in all Taranaki, for he lias been very consistent. Last Saturday lie batted spundby against Patea and .was undefeated at stumps, lie’found the’boundary seven times, mostly with cover drives. Old Boys were without H. Barker to lead them, and some others of the regulars. Some of the. Ef team filled the .vacancies -and Hammond distinguished liimsclf by his splendid fielding and three catches. This player is very fast and lias a safe. paNt of hands. The result was an easy victory- for Old Boys who had 11)5- ,on f oF'the loss of two'wickets at'stumps in reply to Patea’s 88 runs. Patea commenced badly until Jones stopped the rout to play a g;ood innings, with nicely, placed shots, for 31 not out. Thrush was in good fora with the ball and showed some of the form he had early in the season. Sturroek’s tally was only two wickets for 19 runs, but the batsmen did not find him very easy to play. Old Boys’ fielding was alert, five catches being taken and two batsmen were short of the crease when the ball was returned. Thrush and W. Barker opened for Old Boys, but' the former was soon caught off McKenna. Duke and Barker then carried the score slowly along till TTuke was bowled by Archer. Sturroek then came on the scene and lie livened up the scoring, though he appeared to have some trduble in timing Archer’s deliveries. However, lie looked for the best' scoring stroke off them by attempting late cuts. The pair headed off the visitors’ tally and then quietened down again, but the Patea field was pretty well placed and many good strokes did not reach the boundary. The Patea bowling was not dangerous.. I noticed that Pauling was in the published list as an emergency. Rather hard to understand, for he bowled as well and better than most of. the trundlcrs wno were here on Saturday. If he lias been left out for one of the others then a mistake is | being; matte. Pauling is young and the , simplest way to lose the young players to tennis, anti so forth, is to leave them out once or twice.

Lively Cricket. The Kapongi* ground has seen some big scoring tilts season, and on Saturday lust the township team had a merry time at the expense of Hawera. As. a. coincidence, let us record that Des Forges scored 59, Reg Eden Avas run out fbr 59 and Dormer retired for 59. It may be as well to add tfiat Hawera’s- total was 139 and Kaponga called enough when the board showed 209-and-when:-V. Betts was 39.

Penny and Fraser appear to have lost the liabit of giving HaAvcra a reasonably good commencement for, on Saturday it Avas left to Meuli and Des Forges to sliOAy the way, Meuli contributed a useful 21 and then Des .Forges showed a return to form to make Hawera's total a reasonably good one—for HaAvcra, anyway. Incidentally, HaAvcra appears to have difculty in keeping its team at full strength. Stan Betts bowled avcll for Kaponga, but Harrison, got better figures and Pascoe better still.

Kaponga commenced strongly and Reg Eden had a great time, while Court plugged along so that Kaponga got a good start. Stan Betts went cheaply, but Dormer was unperturbed and by sound batting reached the' popular 59 before he retired unbeaten. The home team scored very quickly and sadly trounced the boAvlers. The latter AArere, of- course, .handicapped by the short boundaries. It is a difficult matter to get batsmen, caught ort a small field. There are not-many ifixes hit on the IlaAvera ground, Avhieh gives the boAvlers a better slioav.

A Close Decision. Stratford visited H.Twera to meet Power Board and managed to win by 11 runs. It appeared to me that an earlier change in the home team’s boAvling might have made all the difference. Buist keeps himself on too long. It may be that if the fieldsmen 'were li\-olier or better able to take catches his figures would be better, but the score cannot bo altered. Batsmen arc not often caught making the same mistake.-

it is significant sCA-eral occasions a change of bowling, generally made too late thougn, lias had good results. Crotty is a much better boAvlcr

than some people appear to think, and he would be better still if he got en couragement. On one afternoon matches it is time to change when 20 runs are up. Crotty and Geaiy, y were given the ball when Stratford had four down for 90, rattled out the remainder. Crotty’s figures were 3 foxfour, including F. Young, who had enjoyed himself knocking the other bowlers about. Geary’s three wickets cost hifl 10 runs. F. Young was topscorer for Stratford, and he batted freely, making some nice drives. Snell who,” by the way, played in the B grade a week before, got 13 runs and then the procession.

Crotty and Geary opened for Power Board. - The former must have been irt a hurry to get away with Bishop, for the latter was in on the fall of the third wicket. If there was no necessity for this arrangement, then the Power Board skipper should not have put these men in when lie did. The order suggested that some good men were kept in hand to stop a contemplated rot. The surest way to get a rot is to put your Avorst batsmen in first. Geary and Lendrum did fairly well, but Hughes and Sargeson made a great effort to bring up the score after Galycr and Buist nad gone for a few runs. Geary had bad luck in playing on a spinning ball sent down by Beere, who bowled very well. The ball touched the pitch and spun back on to the stumps to remove one bail. Geary was not quick enough to slop the quickly spinning ball with his foot.

McFadyen’s Batting. McFadyen 'and Longstaff were responsible for stopping a Very definite rot that had set in when Old Collegians’ bowlers were dismissing Ha-j wera cheaply. Cropp bowled Avithj some pace AA-ith the wind and was very, accurate; and Mann, at the other end,' bowled very steadily. Longstaff held up the -procession till McFadyen joined him. The latter played very steadily and watched the boAvling very carefully. Slack fielding gave him some! extra runs, but his innings was full of merit, his footwork being adjusted to the matting. His example fired Edwards to notch a feAV runs and Hawera pulled up to get 97 luns. Old Collegians could .get only 6.11 runs and L. McCarthy was a long time there for his 17 not out. Mann got a rather lucky 16, but no one else made any impression. Stevens made full use of the Avind and flighted the ball deceptively at times. Fairweathcr endeavoured to use the wind coming from the south across the pitch, but his direction aa\us not accurate. Lobban cleaned up the tail end in no time, and a poor display left Old Collegians Avell behind. The latter’s fielding Avas as usual good in parts. Win for High School.

At Stratford Hawera High School, gained a decisive victory o\-cr Strat-j ford. The boys appear to have settled down, though one or tAVO of them appear, to have lost form. Whitehead showed a recovery of form and played a confident 3S that capped the matter for his side. McKay, avlio shows steady improvement j with bat and ball; and Thomson helped j substantially to give School a total of 121 runs. Stratford’s chief contributors; to the score of 84 were Beal (24) and! Adlam (20) and they Avere well down; in the batting order. Manaia’s score of 90 was not formidable for the leading team, but Stratford Technical could not get half of it. The Technical side haA\! lost Betts,' Foley and Bamford and their absence must appreciably weaken the team. Hobday was Manaia’s highest, scorer with 35, Avliile Barnes just reached the tAvcntics, Avlicn lie AA’as sent pavilionAvards. Anderson, avlio is reputed to be a very promising lad, took four Mauaia wickets for 15 and I. Ryburn collected three for 17. Kelly Avas the only visitor to get double figures and he was the last man in. Hobday bowled Avell and his average must be nearly the best for Mauaia. Cyrus Whalen’s three wickeTs cost him 10 runs, but Hobday got one more wicket for one more run.

Town v. Country. The Taranaki representatives in the Country team that defeated . City at Wellington did Avell. Christensen upset things for City in the first innings and for a fastish boAAuer on a good wicket his figures (four for 69) wore very good. Ifc and Hatch started things in City’s second innings and each got three wickets. Banker was last but one to bat for Country in the first innings. The ucavspapers described his innings as the brightest of the afternoon, and he got a great reception. Every stroke was a scoring one and the crowd enjoyed it. It Avas unfortunate that he Avas sent in to open in the second innings, but he made a very gooß impression all the same: ,

G GODWIN CUP SERIES

NORTH V. SOUTH MATCH. •An interesting game between teams representing the northern and southern portions of the Goodwin Cup cricket competition area was played in Mr C. AVills’ paddock- last week-end. South won by a margin of 25 runs. The north team comprised representatives of the Meremefe- Mokoia and Manutahi clubs, while the southern players were drawn from Alton, Kakaramea. and AVhenuakura.

'South opened badly, AV. AVills securing two wickets with only four runs up. The innings closed for a total of 125 runs, S. Cousins compiling a quick 34, which included a six and live boundaries. P. Bourkc (18) was the next highest scorer, while extras roa-ehod the high total of 24. AA r . AA’ills and G. Scowu each secured three wickets at an average of five runs, while J. Galyor bowlod well, but unsuccessfully for four maiden overs out of a .total of-eight, AV. AVills took a briUi-

ant one-handed catch on the boundary to dismiss F'. Thame.

Tavo hours of play Avere left Avhen north commenced their innings and some quick scoring Avas done, T. Percy hitting four sixes and tA\'o fours in his total of 36. J. Galyer (19) Avas the only other double figure batsman. The Tunings closed for 100. Each team batted tAvelve men. Scores are:

South.—P. Bourke l.b.AA'. bT. Percy 18, C. Lord c Hunt b AY. YVills 0, A. Herbert c McMillan b AV. Wills 3, J. Gibbs 1> AY. Geary 2, Allen c R. AVills b G. ScoAvn 10, J. Edwards c Percy b AV. AVills 8, S. Cousins run out 34, B. Owen c J. Galyer b Kibblewhite 12, F. Thame c AV. AVills b G. ScoAvn 9, F. Taylor c C. AVills b AV. Geary 2, J. Archer not out 3, C. Lord b G. ScoAvn 0, extras 24, total 125. BoAvling analysis: G. Scoavii took three wickets for 15 runs, W. AVills three for 16, AV. Geary two for 13, Ft. KibbleAvhite one for 10, T. lercy one for 10, J. Galyer none for 12, N. HaAvken none for 12, C. AVills none 'for 12. , _ _ * North.—J. Couch I.b.AV. b C. Lord !I,V. AVills c P. Bourke b J. Archer 1 7’ H. KibbleAvhite b C Lord 5, J. Gal- ! er b F. Taylor 19, AV. Geary run out 1 3, T. Percy bC. Lord 36, O. W'llls ; i.B.av! b F. Taylor 4, N. HaAvken I.b.AV. lie Lord 7, G. Scoavii b J. Echvards 0 R AVills c C Lord b J. Archer 8, S Geary c F. Taylor b P. Bourke 1, McMillan not out 0, extras 9, total 1 100. BoAvling analysis: C. Lord four j for 10, F. Taylor two for 27, J. ArchI cr tAvo for 32, J. Edwards one for 20, P. Bourke one for 2.