CRICKET

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 73, 8 March 1933, Page 3

CRICKET

GAMES IN HASTINGS FIVE CENTURIES RECORDED.

(By

“Mid-off.”)

Making hay while the sun shines is the policy of Tomoana at the present time, and they followed up their victory over Old Boys by getting on top of the Whakatu bowlers on Saturday to again pile up the runs, It was from the previous meeting of these two clubs that Tomoana entered ou a new lease of life, aud in their keeping rested the Challenge Cup. Whakatu presented them with the trophy, and Hastings and Old Boys made fruitless efforts to take charge of it. Tomoana had their owu way in all three arguments, and the performances place the team now as the strongest side in the competition. It was bright and refreshing cricket on Saturday, though for the most part the spotlight was directed on to Somervell and Mitchell, both of whom ran into three figures.

Both played excellent cricket, and neither gave a real chance, though Mitchell was on “thin ice” twice. The pair batted carefully and correctly , until the score was in the vicinity of 100, then they opened out their shoulders to score at a fast clip. The spectators, who showed a big increase in numbers, were most enthusiastic, and rightly, so, for the side generally gave an entertaining display. Somervell, after despatching 16 balls to the boundary, was deceived by I’atterson at 110, and left Mitchell to carry on. The incoming batsmen went for the runs without much consideration for their wicket, while Mitchell belted his way into three figures, which included thirteen fours. He gave two possible chances at 83 and 90, but, like Somervell’s display, the hallmark of excellence was upon it. Whakatu had a tiring day leatherhunting, and next Saturday will have to set about making their reply to the tunc of 328—a rather formidable task. Les Fisher was seen in a new role, that of bowler, and though his “cough drops” did not inspire respect, he certainly collected wickets, and finished up with the best bowling figures—four for 61. This newly-discovered talent adds to the usefulness of Fisher. He can hold his own with any of his teammates with the bat, more particularly so when runs are badly needed, and he takes some beating as a ’keeper. A most handy man in a team is the popular Les.

Over at Nelson Park wickets were not at such a high premium, Old Boys and Hastings finding runs somewhat difficult to make, though the wicket was in good order.

Considering that they batted three men short, Old Boys performed well to make 182, Coach Lambert was the chief contributor, though it was far from being his brightest display. He exercised a good deal of care in the compilation of his 55, which sum was badly needed. Graham and the youthful Apsey, followed by Craven, also contributed tidy sums. Graham played carefully throughout for his 37, and Apsey was much the sam e way, though more attractive to watch. The “fireworks” came off Craven’s bat, the majority of his scoring strokes notching him four at a time.

But for a great knock by Cyril Martin, Hastings’ reply would have been a dismal one. Lambert, Craven, and Knuckey had the team well tied up, that is, with the exception of Cyril, who stepped out to the bowling and laid the wood on good and Lard. His innings saw five balls lifted outside the playing area for six apiece, and half a dozen other balls realised 24 runs between them, the total when stumps were drawn being 78 not out to Cyril, and 1’42 to Hastings. Geor was the only other batsman to make a respectable showing, and with resumption of play on Saturday Ray Martin will join brother Cyril with the rather hopeless task of knocking up 41 runs to secure a first innings lead. Three Junior Centuries. Century-making was not confined solely to the senior grade on Saturday, three juniors contributing three-figure scores for their respective teams, bringing the total number of centuries to five for the afternoon. AVaymouth was the star performer for High School, and out of an aggregate ot 153 he contributed 109 against Albion, who mustered up only 44 runs in reply. Whakatu struck batting form and compiled a total of 253, ot which Pell mad e 104 and Morley 110. The opponents were Fruitworkers, who made the result a draw by batting out time and making 106 for the loss of four wickets. Old Boys collected an outright win over Tomoana, and as a result they are now leading in the championship table by two points, Fruitworkers being next on the list. THE TEST MATCHES. BATTING AND BOWLING AVERAGES. Striking evidence of England’s greater batting and bowling strength, compared with that of Australia, in the latest series of Tests just completed, is forth-

coming in the averages, which show England in a very favourable light. Whilst there lias been a certain inconsistency about the individual batsmen, from the team aspect, England has been the stronger side all through the tests, four of which they won. Undoubtedly the greatest asset England possessed was that it had no long "tail,” the visitors always having someone to rise to the occasion when the necessity arose. On the other hand Australia relied almost solely on its first five or six batsmen. Possibly England’s advantage jn this respect was due to the policy of keeping, as far as possible, to the one team, whereas the Australian selectors introduced new blood for every game. Indeed, it will be admitted by all that some of the Australians did not have a real chance to prove their worth in that they had but one game. Six players took part in only one match, and two others in two matches, and of the 19 players chosen, only four played ten innings. Paynter secured the best average, but pride of place really goes to Bradman, with Sutcliffe and Hammond next. Curiously enough the last two mentioned made the same total and have the same average, whilst they are the only two batsmen to make 4<jo or more runs in the series. In view of all that has been written and said of Larwood's influence on the Australian batsmen, his bowling figures, whilst better than any other bowler’s in the scries, are not exceptional. England relied on five bowlers —Larwood, Allen, Voce, Verity and Hammond —whereas Australia depended almost entirely upon three —Wall, O’Reilly and Ironmonger. The individual averages for the series are as follow: — ENGLAND. BATTING.

AUSTRALIA. BATTING.

t GAMES AT NAPIER. , c TECH. OLD BOYS IN FORM. f (By “Spectator.”) I The commencement of the i penultimate games of the senior I r competition were made in perfect weather and on just as perfect wickets last Saturday, when Tec. Old Boys took an all-day lease of the wicket against St. Johns. I Opening with Elliott and Stephenson both men settled down quickly and i gave spectators an entertaining d's- , play of batting coupled with great lire- | liess in running between the wickets. , At 56 Stephenson fell n victim to his temerity, run out, and Elliott went 1 the same way shortly afterwards, but . not before he had compiled 117 (15 fours and one six), his second threefigure score of the season. More trouble was in store for the 1 Saints, for by this time Geo. Brown 1 was well on the way for three figures, i too. Evans stayed with the young fel- i low for awhile, but left when he had reached 20. However, Pirie, next in, attacked the tired bowlers fiercely, and at stumps Brown was undefeated i with 101 mill Pirie still going Strong I at 66. With a total of 390 on for six

wickets it was a great day for Tec. in every respect. On the neighbouring wicket H.S.0.8., thanks to a fine stand by 11. Heaney, struggled up to 197. Reaney has not had a great deal of success with the bat this season, and it was pleasing to see him unfold some choice scoring shots in amassing his 59 not out. Mahony, who for a period after Christmas made a succession of tidy scores as opening batsman, was got rid of cheaply in this innings, but Swinburne, Ennor and Kenny rendered material assistance. T. Heaney, suffering from a poisoned finger, just reached double figures, although his score was officially recorded as 9. Matt O’Brien had a great day with the ball, gathering no less than six victims, while Geo. Stevens gathered one. in each of his first four overs. With 131 on for five, there is hope for United, especially as O'Brien is 46 not out. Temperton, last wicket the previous week, was opening batsman. this time, and he showed his appreciation of the change by compiling a very useful 36.

In. N.O. H.S. Tl. Av. Paynter .. 5 2 S3 184 01.33 Sutcliffe .. 9 1 194 140 55.00 Hammond 9 1 112 440 •55.00

Wyatt ..... 9 2 78 327 4G.71 Pataudi ... 3 — 102 122 40.66 Verity .... 5 1 45 114 28.50 Leyland ... 9 — 86 306 34.00 Larwood .. 7 1 98 145 24.16Allen 7 — 48 163 23.28 Jardine ... 9 — 56 199 22.11 Ames 8 1 69 113 16.14 Voce 6 2 8 29 7.25 Bowes Z J 4 4 — Mitchell ... 1 — 0 0 0.00 *Not out. BOWLING Huns. Wkts. Aver. Larwood 644 33 19.52 Mitchell . 60 3 20.00 Verity ... - / f J 11 24.81 Voce 405 15 27.13 Allen 593 21 28.23 Hammond 291 9 32.33 Bowes .... 70 1 70.00 Wyatt ... 12 ' 0 —

In, N.O. H.S Tl. Av. Bradman . 8 1 103* 390 56.57 .McCabe ... 10 1 187* 385 42.78 Darling ... 4 — 85 148 37.00 Woodfull . 10 1 73* 305 33.89 Lee 2 — 42 <) 1 28.50 Richardson 10 — 83 279 27.90 Oldfield ... 7 9 9 136 27.20 Fingleton . 6 -— 83 150 25.00 Ponsford . 6 — 85 141 23.50 O’Brien ... 4 — 01 87 21.7 5 Nagel 0 1 21* 21 21.00 Alexander 9 1 17* 17 17.00 Bromley ... 9 — 20 33 16.50 Kippax ... 2 -— 1!) 27 13.50 Grimmett . 6 — 1!) 12 7.00 O’Reilly ... 10 — 19 61 6.10 Wall 8 1 20 42 6.00 Love 2 — 5 8 4.00 Ironmonger 8 3 8 13 2.60 *Not out. BOWLING. Runs Wk Is A VPT Wall .. 40!) 16 25.56 O’Reilly .. 724 27 26.81 Ironmonger .. 105 15 27.00 Lee 103 4 10.75 Bradman 41 44.00 ' Nagel ., .. 110 2 55.00

Grimmett 32G McCabe 215 Alexander .... 154 Kippax 3 Darling 14 Rromley 19 5 65.20 3 71.67 1 154.00 0 — 0 — 0 — u e C 1 h The following is a summary of the F games played to date: — Games Eng. Aus. Games 0 Played. Won. Won. Drawn. In Australia 72 32 38 2 lu England . 57 19 13 25 1 ■1 —- —— — Totals ... 129 51 51 27 1 ___ * — — —_ I Rubbers .... — 14 11 2 I