GOLF.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLV, Issue 58, 7 February 1925, Page 12

GOLF.

During last week-end the available members of the New Zealand Golf Council played matches at Horetaunga (Wellington),, in celebration of the birthday of the chairman (Mr R. C. Kirk). Sides were picked and the matches were between teams chosen by the chairman and the vice-chairman (Mr J. B. Mac Ewan). It in stated that the professionals of New Zealand are showing their appreciation of the efforts of the New Zealand Council to make the professional tournament, to be held at Heretaunga in March, a success, by making their entries early. Nearly all the professionals have already indicated their intention of being present and every club should encourage its professional to attend: The prize-money, <=°." t [' b " t fd by the New Zealand Golf Council is £l6O.

, .CRICKET. % i MID-WJEEE -COMPETITION. JOTTINGS ON THE PLAY. (By '-Slip.") Beautiful conditions prevailed for the continuation of the mid-week, cricket coinp« titions on . Wednesday, but despite it all th 3 competing teams were in the unhappy pesition of having to. take the field shortSi nded. Old Boys were in the unhappiest p< sition of all for. taking first strike, they fa led to hold out till the arrival of the lae comers, and at the fall of the seventh w cket, the innings closed with the ruecho< te total of 64. runs to their credit. Albim despite the decree of the association permitting the High School Clubs to draw oi the non-competing clubs to till their ranks were similarly situated, but their bi tsmen made a much better showing and, w th 180 on the board for the loss of six wckets, the prospects of their gaining at leist three points are ,very favourable. Uallichan, who wis one of the late arri -als for Albion, counteracted his loss to tie attack by returning 29 (not out) with the bat, his partnership with Hollier being a very valuable one. . Railway batted nine men. but the eonti luation Of the innings to that advanced st lge was in reality quite unnecessary, but tley preferred to give their tail-end an o>portunity to increase, Itheir averages, nther than declare earlier and endeavour tc secure a four point win. Douglas and George gave Railway a e.iod start against Phoenix, a separation n »t being effected,until but two runs short 0 the half century. Still better things ware to follow for, when McVicar joined E ouclas a merry time opened Jor the fildsmen. The display presented a strange entrust in styles, for whereas Douglas t( ok plenty of risks. McVicar seldom lifted a ball. As a result the former was findii g the boundary line repeatedly while the li Iter was confining his attention to singles aid but an odd boundary. The partnership a lded 169 runs, of which Douglas contribued 115 and McVicar 64. .\\hen Douglas V, ent he "had carried. his figures to 154, thus heading the individual returns to dito this seaion. His figures included 14 fi urs and 4 sixes.. , McVicar promised to emulate his previois performances.in the Wednesday competitions by being .still unbeaten at the t.rmination of the innings, but when 61 S:orgio caught him out of his ground. In four innings he has returned 138 (not out), 2, (not out), 62 (not out), and 61 giving h m the wonderful average of ZBS.UU. Ongley was batting strongly when . a beautiful ball from Smillie, one of the introductions for the day, sent him back. Phoenix had the assistance of some n\e o-'six Gordon and Kia Ora players, and o-m of them in Smillie, of the Kia Oras r. .turned the best bowling average with four wickets for 55 runs,, three of which v ere forthcoming from his final over. Of MoVicar's total of 61 runs against 1 hoenix, no less than 39 were forthcoming [ora singles, the remainder being comp >?ed of lour boundaries and three two I. ■ Tremewan, the Gordon skipper, bowled f, .r Phoenix without success against Kailv ay, but fared better with the bat, having p aced 20 to his credit before play for the diy ceased. , . Douglas has now appeared three times ii local matches, his scores being 53 _ and l'.& in the Wednesday section and 20 in U ScSie' put up a splendid performance b -hind the wickets for Phoenix against Railway, for in an innings totalling 611, hs had only six extras recorded against hm He accounted .for Mc\ icar by a si nart bit of stumping, and to all appeara ices High School have in this player an excellent understudy to the first eleven

') eeper. . , ~T , Jensen, of the Albion Bide on Wcdnesdiv has recently tigured in the school sniior eleven, and on Wednesdays performance should make good his claims. Although he appeared to lack confidence i, the early stages, when once he had oened his aecount he improved, and putfug plenty of power into his shots was h idintc the boundary line with the majorit y of his strokes. His total of 45 cont; inod nine 4's, two 3's and three singles. 1 e has now appeared twice for Albion, a id on each occasion he has contributed Pieroy, who figured in the ranks of Old loys on Wednesday, is proving himself 0 «o of the most tireless fielders to be seen in action in either the mid-week or Saturday competitions. !',,_. . ~.• Wilson who headed the- Old Boys batting r 'turns on Wednesday, is showing excellent form in all departments at. present, and is vorthy of consideration, in, the represent*t ve team to meet the Victorians. It is a n.atter for regret that he cannot obtain bHter practice by participating in the tUturday competitions.' ""' Brace, who was hurriedly brought by C Id Bovs from the tennis courts when matt!rs we're running badly, had only placed a single to his credit when a beautiful onelunded catch by McDonald in the slips sent 1: ita back to tho pavilion. McDonald bore the lions share of the bowling for Albion against Old Boys, and finished up with an average of three wicke s for 3: runs. O'Keefe, who came on at tie tail end, accounted'fbr' two opponents, a: the trifling cost of six runs. Hollier, the Albion player, showed lmrroved form on Wednesday, his shots hav-, i ig greater power than usual, and his total cE 46 included nine 4's. Although partrered by such a free scoring batsman as ( aliiehan, ho quite outpaced his senior. Wilson' personally contributed just half cf Old Boys' total on Wednesday, Burke vith ten, being the only other batsman to enter double figures. At the completion of the third match. list season Old Boys and Railway were en an equal footing with six points each, I'ctailers, Albion, Kia Ora and Cordon all 1 living four points, but the two first named school teams had had a bye. ihis I Railway, with two four pointers (ino a default) and one three pointer, had U points, while Old Boys, with two three tointers and one four (a default) were but t point behind. Railway, however, increased their advantage when the two met 1 y annexing a three points victory, and lave now 14 points to their credit as i gainst 10 by Old Boys. Of the school t>ams, which are all a match in arrears, ,dbion has eight points (two four point i tins), while Gordon has three, the other two clubs being pointless. The batting returns of the Wednesday s -ction do not show the all-round improvei lent of the Saturday competition. At the termination of the fourth game Ra»way 1 ad registered 806 runs for the loss of 28 wickets, as compared with 939 runs for <8 wickets at the corersponding period in tho 1923-4 season. Old Boys had scored ■;l6 runs for the loss of 38 wickets, as i gainst 798 for 52 wickets last season. Of the four High School Ulubs only two in Cordon and Phoenix have played three j ames, Albion and Kia Ora having been compelled to forfeit one game owing to tho intervention of the term holidays and tho fulfilment of an inter-school fixture, i nd the comparison is accordingly based on I hree games only. Gordon show a marked i nprovement, having registered 672 runs i or 43 wickets, as against 489 for 55 wicki ts last season. Phoenix, however, have l.ot fared so well, having only compiled f 55 runs for the loss of 58 wickets, as i gainst 617 for 49 wickets. Kia Ora is in i n equally unfavourable position with 274 i uns for the loss of 40 wickets, as com,i fared with 615 runs for 58 wickets. Albion, however, bid fair to outdo their last seai oil's figures, for in two single innings I ;ames they have knocked up 394 runs for 'he loss of 13 wickets, as compared with 168—little more than twice that total—for he loss of 53 wickets. , R. 0. Blunt, the Ch'ristchurch and New Zealand representative, has compiled soma 'ood scores this season, his figures including 200, 131, 110 and 101. Of the four centuries that have been cored in Plunket Shield matches this seai on two have been made against Auckland md two against Wellington. D. C. Colins (Wellington) made 17E: and W. R. Patrick (Canterbury) 129 against Auckland, vhilst the Rev. E. O. Blamires (Otago) nade 117 and Anthony (Auckland) 100 igainst Wellington. Wellington critics consider G. R. Dicknson of Dunedin, the fastest bowler in

' New Zealand, declaring that he has direction aa well as pace. Otago has never had the honour Of holding the Plunket Shield, whereas Canterb lry haa held it on several occasions, it being in their possession a couple of seasons ago. Wellington are the present holders. WBllington has tried out 18 players in the Shield matches they have contested this, season, but only six in Hiddleston, Collins, James, Banks, McGirr and Badcock have participated in all three games. Auckland have called on seventeen players, and of them Horipool, Dacre, Smith, Allcott, Garrard and Gillespie are the only ones who have figured in all three. The following batting query, which is no doubt well known to local players, appeared in an English sporting paper: "I was batting, the bowler appealed for I.b.w. The umpire said 'not out. The ball rebounded about a yard in front of me. The wicket-keeper walked round the wicket and picked up the ball I thought to toss it back to the bowler, but instead he tossed it backwards into my wicket ' and appealed to the square-leg umpire, who gave me out as I was standing outside my crease. Was the ball 'dead' after the first umpire had- given his decision?" No, certainly not. Suppc«e, for instance, the ball had gone to the boundary, your side's score would have been increased by four runs, or you might have had the opportunity of running a leg-bye. The umpire was quite right in giving you out— run out" and not stumped. FOURTH TEST MATCH. ONLY ONE CHANGE LIKELY. The Australian team for the fourth test match on February 13 in Melbourne will not be chosen until February 10. But (says the Sydney Sun) as a preliminary the three selectors, Messrs Collins, Hill and Bean, will conduct an exchange of wires expressing their views on February 4. It will be interesting to see the personnel of the team, in view of the various expressions of opinion as to whether it should remain unaltered, slightly clu.nged, or almost completely remoulded with youngor men of promise. In some quarters there is a disposition to drop Vic Richardson and substitute Kippax. Even many South Australians advance that view, and others in Adelaide advocate the substitution of Grimmett for Vic Richardson. A rumour has gained currency that D. Pritchard, the South Australian left-hander, has been asked if he were available for the fourth test, but this has been denied officially. It is not likely that more than one change'will be made in the team. CRICKET REVIVAL. IMPROVEMENT IN ENGLAND. FORMER POSITION REGAINED. LONDON, Jan. 24. The Times, in a leading article, agrees with the Governor-General of Australia, Lord Eorster, that England now seems to have regained her former position, in the cricket world. "To Englishmen," says the Times, "that is what matters more than anything else. The mere losing of the rubber against so fine a side is comparatively unimportant." The Times adds that too much stress should not be laid on Lord Hawke's outburst against professionalism, which was made at a moment of righteous indignation at Parkin's criticisms, and in no way represents his real views. "Nobody else has done more than Lord Hawke for professionals, and his life's work has been devoted to their best interests," adds the Times. "COLLINS OVER-GENEROUS." The cricket expert of tho Times thinks the remark by the Australian captain, Collins' _ after the test match, that there was nothing to choose between the two sides is a trifle over-generous. "The Australians taken all round," fays the writer, "are probably not as formidable as in 1921. They have found no bowler to replace McDonald." The writer considers," however, that any deficiencies in this regard were amplycounterbalanced by rui^-getting. power, which, at any rate, on hard wickets, was limitless. * Even had the Adelaide Test ended differently, he does not think that England would have had much chance of winning the rubber. The Star says: "It is better for a good game to be lost than a bad game to be won. It is possible to congratulate both sides on their excellent temper and sport- • ing spirit. The runs made by the Englishmen were as enthusiastically cheered as the exploits of the Australians. The game was restored to the level of the highest sportsmanship, which recently has been lacking. We look forward to a renewal of these sporting games in England in 1926." THE DAVIS CUP. NEW YORK, Feb. 4. A challenge has been received from Italy for the Davis Cup.—A. and N.Z. cable.