CRICKET NOTES

Northern Advocate, 5 November 1931, Page 7

CRICKET NOTES

(By “Deepfield.”) The uncertainty of the present cricket competition was added to on Saturday, when Whangarei rattled up a huge score against Nomads, and Onerahi completely upset Combined Sendees. It is significant that a second innings was not entered upon in any of the four games. This serves to indicate that the association will shortly have to contemplate two afternoons per game. Whangarei have figured in two draws and Nomads in three. Both have vet to finish their first match.

HONOURS LIST. Batting. Wilson (Whangarei) SI Langlands (Whangarei) ... 58 n. out McDonald (Portland) .... 41 Hewlett (Onerahi) 40 E. Whimp (Onerahi) 35 n. out Attwood (Maungakaramea) 34 Bowling. Wilson (Whangarei) 6 for 31 Mason (Onerahi) 5 for 20 Lamb (Maungakaramea) .. 5 for 28 Competition Table. . P W.O, W.F.I. D Pts.

Combination Disrupted. Onerahi on paper do not look an extraordinarily strong side, but with Peter Mason (5 —20) and C. Hewlett (4—30) that good bowling, which means bowling good stuff at the wickets will still upset a strong batting side. 'Sixteen overs between them was sufficient to send the “Coalition” party back to the pavilion. Out of the total of 54 young Saul played very soundly for half the runs. Wilson and Matthews were the only others to make any sort of a showing.

No less than seven bowlers were tried by United in their endeavour to stem the tide, but the seasiders were not to be intimidated. The opening pair, Hewlett 40, and Lett, 17, made light of the attack to carry the score well past that necessary for n win. Hewlett, who is playing at present in great heart, made a. very nice 40, to be nicely caught by Chitty in slips off a mishit. Lett was very closely run out by a smart return from Chitty, McKenzie followed to make a, very useful 11, then Hroomfield, who had kept wickets very well, had the misfortune to be caught out for a I ‘ duck.'' E. Whimp, who appears to provide a stumbling block to good length bowling, hit hard for a very good 35, not out, half of which were boundaries. Peter Mason (.10) was out to a very good catch by Provan, right out in the deep field. Perry (12) was the only other batsman to add anything much to the total of 153, to leave Onerahi victorious by nearly 100 runs. In distinct contrast to the bowling of Mason and Hewlett (eight men bowled), not a single Onerahi man had his wickets shattered. Saul who bowled one over could have been used much more. Matthews, if available, should certainly have been used. Langdon has pace, and has been proved very useful, so also has Dennis. The fielding taken all through was pretty good.

Time Saves Nomads, (Contributed.)

Not all the thrills of the day were provided by Onerahi —United, for during the course of this game Whaitgarei batsmen were making hay while the sun shone. A very good opening pair in Cowan (24) and Langlands (58 not out), made merry against pretty good bowling from Brainsby and Hewin. Cowan after a hard 24 (mostly fine drives) was out to a good catch by Dunn, off Hewin. Stevenson apparently believes in laying on the wood to a good cause, for scoring with quick acceleration he soon put on a good 25 at the rate of a couple a minute, only to be caught out by Menzies off a. badly timed hit. Stevenson tries to go a little too fast; otherwise, with solid men like his opening batsmen to stay with him, and a little more restraint, his “mileage” will certainly mount up. Wilson (81) second wicket down, now put in an appearance, the score showing 2 for 72. Playing very freely, both he and Langlands picked the right ones to hit to see the score carried to 207 before a, separation. Wilson, his 81 consisting of more than half boundary shots, had a couple of let offs, but apart from this, never looked like being very much in trouble. He was out to a briliant catch at deep long on by Foote, one-handed, off Brainsby. Jones coming in did not stay long to make a “duck” and the innings closed af 4 for 211, with Langlands not out, 58, for the best innings of the. day. A very hard catch behind the wickets was his only mistake. The Whangarei wickets wore not touched, all being caught out.

The Nomad howling was not as bad as the scoring showed. Many good ones were sent up, and if the men had been more favourably placed, and several chances (hard ones) been held,

a different story might have been told. On the day it certainly showed that Whangarei were meant to win if an earlier commencement of Nomads batting had been entered upon. The Nomads fielding was wanting, several runs from overthrows eventuating, and at least a couple of run-outs were possible with more co-operation. Savident took a good catch to dismiss .Tones.

They say a team can only play as well as their opponents -will allow them and this certainly was correct in the case of Nomads,

Hcvviu struggled along lor a time, trying to hold the fort till .better times set in, but the depression lasted: Cotterell out-bowled by Wilson, Bavident caught brilliantly in slips by Wilson, and Menzies bowled by Wilson, Then Foote, who showed very sound tactics, joined Hewin, who went out immediately to a good catch by Chissell. Connell lost no time rattling on 11, but he wont the way of the former. Dunn, who has certainly played better innings, soon got into scoring mood, but Wilson with just enough break on the ball to trick the batsman, plus a fair amount of top-spin, caught him napping, bowled for eleven. All the time Foote kept plugging along, playing good cricket, very few decent balls getting past him. He was now joined by Brainsby, who pulled away from a similar ball to that which bowled Dunn, out for 4. Collins and Morton did the same, then Hedditch, just as time, and a certain win for Whangarci was looming up, joined Foote. ‘Several good balls from Wilson just missed the stumps. Jones could not effect a separation. A couple of uppish shots by Foote in his last over were out of reach, and thus ended a very exciting first encounter between these two teams. Foote’s innings certainly saved the situation for his side. It was certainly Wilson’s day out, for with his nicely compiled 81, and hi.j almost unplayable spin ball, he registered a. good all-round performance (fi for 51). Stevenson (8 —25) and Jones, against lesser material, would certainly have done great work. They were both bowling good stuff, and more or less kept the batsmen on the defensive. Langlands kept wickets very well.

. Onerahi Win. Two wins ami a draw now, Oncralii have still to play Portland, ’Karamea and High School. Perhaps they, in their turn may provide some more exciting moments to the followers of this supreme summer pastime. There will be no further matches next week and so we will wait and see.

Onerahi .... 3 1 .1 1 6 Hikurangi 3 — o — 4 Nomads .... O — O *f 3 MCaramea n O — 1 1 3 Services .... 1 1 3 Portland 3 — I — 2 Whangarei .. o — 0 9 High School 2 — — 0