CRICKET.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLI, Issue XLI, 10 September 1921, Page 9

CRICKET.

The Australians have concluded their English tour by" a solid win over the S6uth of England. That team has generally been a pretty strong one, and on paper this year looked good enough to extend the visitors. Tho Australians' score was remarkable for the proving once more that practically any one of the team can make a century. After the first three. or four failed, Anhsirong came, to light with a great score' of nearly 20ft, ;and with Andrews put up over 300 ' y between "them; A coincidence was the iCngiish score—l 9& in each innings. The mention of the playing of George Hirst in a match this week recalls the career of one of the most famous players who ever buckled on pads or bowled for England. Probably no name "has been pwre gloriously associated with, his County, Yorkshire, and with England. He celebrated his 50th birthday \thjs w«ak_ The event will .probably be made the occasion of a fitting souvenir of_ a long and noteworthy cricket- life! , Writing on this event, the Leeds Evening Post says: "George.Hirst will be 50 years of age on September 7. It is now a secret that a movement will shortly be started ta recognise- his jubilee by something mora tangible than the offering of personal congratulations. Hirst first played for Yorkshire in 1889,- though it was a -couple of years later before he grafted himself . so to say, on the county's cricket. He had his benefit in 1904, and the amount realised, £3703 2s, stands as a record for the game. Since tj^at year his services have been so great tb* Yorkshire and to the game generally that it might be said- he has qualified for a' second "*• It may not be practicable to launch a benefit scheme, but it is appropriate that Hirst's 50th birthday should be recognised in a substantial way. This paragraph, therefore, mayj>e taken as indicating that" -the cricket-loving public will be given the opportunity of contributing to a George Hirst jubilee fund; which the Yorkshire County "committee will probably head with a, donation of 50 guineas." ' - ■* , cricket in this district has emerged from the interregnum of winter, during which it haß given place to the sports of winter. The meetings held., this week seem to. indicate a prosperous and active season for 192 L The r correspondence in late issues of the Star, though it has perhaps, caused a little feeling in certain quarters, should do % good. The playing of .decent cricket demands above all the best wickets possible. Not one dub, but all, could make more effort in this respect. -„ It would be good for the game and would add immeasurably to the pleasure and also the play of the members. Kays a Home paper on the other interests of members of the Aii&tralian team: — "Arthur Mailey,' the purveyor- of googlies, is 'slightly touched,' to quote a friend, on the subject of art. .He has studied under one of Australia's most distinguished painters and teachers, and it is quite questionable whether Mailey extracts most gratification^ from deluding batsmen to their downfall or sketching and painting. 'Mailey is so entranced with old London that he would like to .live in England. -" ''Those who have observed C. E. PeL Je\f run-saving on the boundary will not be surprised to hear that his hobby is sprinting. In the colours of Prince Albert College Adelaide, he was irresistible over the short distances. But for that Great Interruption—the war — he might havg made an immortal name for himself at the Olympic Games. But while fine training for the spirit; leading a bunch of 'Anzacs' through a year "or two of- trench warfare is apt -to cramp one's style, and shorten the stride.*' ' Hendry, it is said, if cricket had not .caught him young would probably have been an international polo player. He has a r»assion for horses. Told" by 'the Athletic News of the / winning hit in the second test match at Lords: "Not a single maiden over was recorded while the Australians made 1 129." The winning hit was a curiosity, I for' the ball slipped out of Durston's I hand and lay practically dead in midwicket. Of coarse it was in play, and

Dufston ran to gather it. But HarfUley got thoro first and liit it to tlie palittgs by tho square tojr route. Many ye are ago A. N. Hornby had a similar ex- i perionce in a big match. All the same, was it either nice or necessary for Bardsley to do this?" The ball was not dead, and Bardsley's act was legitimate, though unusual. Not so many years back, in an inter-State match, Sydney Redgrave, while batting for Queensland, ran halfway or more down the. pitch on the Sydney ground and hit a ball lying there (after it had slipped from tho bowler's hand) to the. fence for four. It is usual to allow the bowler to recover the bull in such a case. The veteran does not always lag superfluous on the stage of cricket. Re. cently fast-bowler George Hirst, reappearing for Yorkshire, materially as- , sisted in a victory by 113 runs over, Notts, scoring GO in 70 -minutes by bright and faultless cricket. Ho recently said to a Yorkshire journalist that after seeing some recent cricket he felt like playing again to see if he could not knock the bowling about. He appears to have succeeded, I In a striking list of champions who died when comparatively young and at the zenith of their fame, cricket has two shining examples saya t^e Sydnoy Sun." The paper says The untimely end of Victor frumper at the age of 38 closed the career of the most delightful i batsman of all times. The sport is fielI dom discussed without reference being i made to his name —a name which is the paragon of all good things and aU good fellows in the cricket world. Fate seemed unkind, too. when Albert Cotter gave his life fighting for the Great Cause on tho fields of Mesopotamia. "Tibby," as he was affectionately , known among all followers of cricket, was 34 when his name appeared in the c&ualty list trhder the Tieadmß •/Killed :. in action," and yet in a few brief sea-j 1 sons he was the hero of achievements | which entitled him to a place amongst i the world's greatest bowlers. ,