CRICKET.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 6 January 1923, Page 3

CRICKET.

COMING EVENTS. > Jan. 5, 6, B—Auckland v. Otago, at Dunedin. Jan. 5, 6, B—Second Test, M.C.C. v. New Zealand, at Christchurch. .Jau. 9, lU—M.C.C. v. Ashburton, Soutli Canterbury, and North Otago Associations, at Temuka. Jan. 12, 13, 15—M.C.C. v. Uiugo, at Dunedin. ■ Jan. 20, 22—M.C.C. v. Southland, at Invercargill. Jan. 26, 27, 2u—M.C.C. v. AVellington, at Wellington. Jan. 26, 27, 29—Otago v. Canterbury, at Dunedin. Jan. 30, 31—M.C.C. v. West Coast, Nelson, and Marlborough Associations, at Nelson. I Feb. 2, 3, s—Third Test, M.C.C. v. New Zealand, at Wellington. Feb. 6, 7—M.C.C. v. Rangitikei, Manawatu, and Wairarapa Associations, at Palmerston North. I iFeb. 9, 10—M.C.C. v. Wairoa, Poverty Bay, and Hawke's Bay Associations, at Napier. ; .'Feb. 14, lo—Wellington v. Southland, at- Invercargill. ■Feb. 16, 17, 19—xM.C.C. v. Auckkland, at Auckland. ; .VlFeb. 17, 19, 20—Wellington v. Otago, at Dunedin. JFeb. 22, 23, 24—Wellington v. Canter- . bury, at Christchurcn.

The visit of the Aucklanders last .week to Hawera was very interesting,^ : not that they were such a great team, 7 although they played very nice cricket in the second innings, but the fact ■'lhat they came from the city gave „a breatji of new life to the spirit of cricket in Hawera. They made a most determined struggle for victory in the ..second innings, and just got home, though actually they had, two wickets to spare when the winning hit was made. Goodwin and Baddeley, and -afterwards the latter player and Park, were mainly responsible for victory. Baddeley is, of course, the famous Auckland and New Zealand five- - eighths, and plays as nice a bat and ikeeps wickets as well as he plays footifoalL j Mills, one of the young players, is a 'Son of George Mills, whilom of Hawera, ' whom many will remember. He showed " that he is a nice hat, but did not settle down to a long innings. George Mills is still a groundsman at Auckland. Another example of the dual capacity is Kingston, the famous All Black fullback* who captained North Taranaki. ._lis "keeping" was very neat and fgood, while his batting was sound and wery effective. ! McCarthy and Cole were the mainstay of South Taranaki in both Auckland ;.and" North-South matches. McCarthy ..got six wickets for 34, and Cole seven '•ior 53 and two for 25 in the Auckland match. Cole also scored 33 not out .and McCarthy 16 when runs were badly wanted. Against North Taranaki "McCarthy took six wickets for 34 and ■VCole seven for 44. The former scored *14 and 16, and the latter 46. "Mac" cwas getting a power of work on his : especially against Auckland, (which recalled his bowling of some .good few years ago. The Auckland slow bowler, Arblasuterj amused spectators a good deal with *;his "jazz'/ steps before delivering the | v'ball. He showed his power over the '■ball by his ability to break both ways ! .und -the trouble he gave the batsmen, , whom he got thinking very hard. "You have the nicest outfield I have '' played on for years," was the verdict. ' of . Captain Park, of the Auckland team, a lot of the fielding reflected the excellent field; some of it was un- ', deniably poor. Haughton, of the Taranaki team, is entitled to commenda- j ~tibn for a lot of good work in the field. The manager of the Auckland team j '-complimented New Plymouth players , .on their good play, and paid a special '. t tribute to the magnificent innings . played by Lambert. He said he hoped Tihat before long Taranaki would send .a team to Auckland, for he felt sure it would do good both to the teams and jAo the provinces. ( A : strong plea was made by him for .-encouraging and fostering the game in j :the primary schools, and he stressed the necessity of getting the foundations -of the game laid while the boys are .young, "for," he added, "that is where your reps, will come from." Captain Park, who, it may be stated, coaches noys at schools at North Shore, Auckland, endorsed this feature. He is a most enthusiastic advocate of primary. -school cricket. j While every credit must be given to .those South Taranaki schoolmasters • who for several years have devoted much time and work to cricket in their .schools, it must be agreed that the associations and the clubs might help in ■rthis most desirable movement. There is ample scope for work. j One feature of local cricket which was very prominently brought out last week was the urgent need for better wickets. Only by improvement in this i -direction can* the status of cricket be -raised as it might and should be. Better wickets would lead to improved play—better play to larger membership and increased publio support. There' are hundreds of old players or en- • thusiasts who would come out to see good play. The matter is of such great importance to the game that it is worth the associations and clubs considering and going into the question of really making wickets well. The «ost might be considerable, but the gain would be very great. Mr. Beale, oi Auckland, said he would be very gla<! - to give or procure all information thai would be of service. Everyone cannot bat or bowl well Ibut everyone can field efficiently, anc for bad fielding on such an outfield a! in Hawera there is no excuse. Gocx '.fielding will always save runs, and add: ■ tremendously to the interest of spec tators and the joy of the player. Prompt and ready backing lip b; "batsmen is most useful, means mor runs, and much more brightness in th •game. Many of the local players ar sadly wanting in this respect. The should take a lesson from some of th players seen here during last weel 'This also helps to popularise the ganu The succession of big scores in tn Auckland-Wellington match wa§ great tribute to ihe batsmen and seen ed-tn show that in tne match again? ; the Englishmen the players must hay . developed nerves pretty badly. Thei almost utter collapse can bo hardly a< counted for in any other way. Friday saw the open in a; of the second match ■with the Englishmen. Th© New _ea- ' land team was radically re-organised. That gref»t mistakes were mnde in the first selection was generally agreed as soon as it was announced, days before the play proved this was so. Auck- " lenders in Hawera were qtiite frank in their statements ths>t the selection of Aucklanders was bad and that at the most only two of those "elected should " ti'ave hnan con.si'l"'-fri. They all agreed that Dact-e should b-«ve be-en one of the -first considered. Besides his rattlin" --good present fona as a batsman, he is

known as a great field. Th« result of the First Test and the. caustic com- \ ment of the Wellington papers serve to I emphasise what was said in the Star i last week—that good fielding should be j considered first of all. The missed chances in the First Test of running J out aud of catching and the failure to : stop boundaries were responsible very [ largely for the huge score put up by 1 the visitors. And for these failures there is no excuse. No player is worth his place unless he is a good field. Bowlers and batsmen may fail to come off, but the good fieldsman has always the opportunity. His work depends on himself; not so much on the opposing skill of others. An interesting personality with the Englishmen was Mr. William Ferguson, of Sydney, who has been official scorer ; for every test match between Australia and England since 1905. He has been to England with four Australian teams, was official scorer with SherweU's South African team of 1910, Douglas' English team of 1920, Arthur Sims' team of 1914, and Ransford's team of ! 1920, which toured New Zealand. He met Maclaren's team on their arrival at Perth, and has been with them since. ' Entering a plea for slackening off strenuous serious work at times, a wellknown essayist saj rs: "If Germany had had fewer professors and a decent sprinkling of cricket and football grounds, perhaps things might have been different. Perhaps it is that we play too much ; but I'm quite sure that the Germans have played too little, and if there be a mistake on one side or the other let it be on the side of too much, rough play." j