CRICKET.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 14285, 1 February 1907, Page 4

CRICKET.

NORTH v. SOUTH CANTERBURY. LPiib Press Association.J TIMARU, January 31. The cricket match between North anti : South Canterbury was commenced at Geraldine at 4 p.m. Winning the toes South Canterbury sent their opponents to the wickets, and before stumps were drawn had disposed of them lor 177. Tne scores were ;—Patrick' 29, Robson i 23, Wood 0, Barrett 26, Fryer 13, Williams £0 Harper 19, Fuller 12, Humphreys 14, Crawshaw 0, Jones 1, Kinvig (not out) 5, extras 15; total 177. j Bowling analysis.—O’Callaghan, six wickets for 64 runs, Temple three wickets for 40 runs, Torrance two wickets for 47 runs. Play will be resumed at 10 a.m. to-morrow-TO THE EDITOR, Sir,—l think “ Mid-on ” should U. satisfied with the selection of the Caul terbury team for the match against j the, Englishmen nest Saturday. Of course, there is always room for a difference of opinion regarding, individuals, and personally, I am .sorry that it has not been found practicable to recognise the excellent performances of Wood, of St Albans, both with the bat and, in the field, by including him in the team. The selector is to be congratulated upon his regard to the fielding capabilities of those chosen. With such men as Lusk in the slips, the two' Reeses, Orchard, Lawrence and Ellis l in front of the wicket, Patrick and I Anthony extra slip and third man, ! Boxshall at the wickets, and Ollivler ■ everywhere, we have an array of fieldsmen probably second to none in the colony, and as the bowling (on paper) is perhaps a little weak, the fielding capabilities of the team should bo severely tried, and their performance should be well, worth seeing. In batting, the team might have been slightly strengthened by the inclusion of Wood in place of either i Patrick or Ellis, but as both these men are good change bowlers, in addition to their other qualifications, therselector has probably exercised wise judgment in prefering them. Our howling, as I have said before, appears to be weak, accustomed as- we are to the names of Callaway and Malone on the side, but “the occasion makes the man,” as 'in the match against Wellington, when, Callaway being absent, Ollivier came to light with, I think, eleven wickets for a little over 100 runs. In this match we will . have Bennett, one of the best length bowlers of New Zealand, Ollivier with slow leg-breaks, Lusk medium off-break, Reese left-hand leg-break, Patrick "tnedium off-break, Ellis medium' offbreak, Lawrence fast medium length bowler and Orchard slow left-hand offbreak. With this array of bowlers, some of them are bound to find the spot. Altogether the team is a strong " representative one, and as it is an open secret that the Englishmen are thirsting to revenge their last and only defeat so far, a keen struggle is bound to result, and this should certainly be the match of the season.—l am, etc., OBSERVER.'' TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —In rcgai’d to the correspondence appearing in your paper regarding the selectioif of the Canterbury Cricket team to play the M.C.C. team on Saturday, I would like to ask by what process of reasoning can the selector justify his inclusion of H. Ellis. This player just scraped into the Canterbury team which played the Australians two years ago, and has since been practically out of the game. .About a fortnight ago lie started to play for Linwood, and has so far made scores of 5 and sixty-four. Why should one performance be sufficient to get a doubtful man into the team? It appears to me very unjust to these players who work hard and score consistently during the whole of the season to find themselves thrust out at the last moment in such a manner. In this morning’s paper “ Hagley ” suggests that the English team should play against West Christchurch. The latter team would probably score' another of their lucky wins, this time by default. —I am, etc., LANCASTER. j ======■