HOLIDAY CRICKET

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 2 January 1941, Page 7

HOLIDAY CRICKET

MANAWATU TEAM’S VISIT NELSON 103 UP ON FIRST 3 j INNINGS . ! The Manawatu cricket team which * j has been playing matches in the counr : try districts since Christmas commenc- : led a two-dav match against the Nelj 1 son provincial eleven at Trafalgar Park i yesterday. The end of the first day s play saw Nelson in a quite strong posi- ? tion with a lead of 103 on the first in--1 nings. s Except for a solid performance by C. Me Vicar, who scored 55 out of a total of ; 89, Manawatu’s first innings was more , or less a procession. It appeared that t the wicket during the morning gave the l bowlers considerable assistance, Ralfe : Stevens and Hall, each taking three i wickets at a cost of only 14. 19 and *lO :, j respectively, while A. Newman took one I for one . i Nelson’s first innings produced 190 ) ! runs after four wickets had fallen for > j 40. and that total could have been re- :> duced if several chances had been ace i cepted. Newman made 35 after giving an early chance, and O'Keefe, who i made 33 also had a life when he was

4. The two bright spots of the innings were the performances of Birch (50) and Stevens (32). Birch displayed many fine off strokes in reaching his half century and went out in an unusual manner when he played a ball from Millar gently on to the wickets. The ball lodged against the foot of the stumps without knocking off a bail. However, an appeal led to an inspection by the umpire and an inspection showed that a bail had been dislodged. Stevens batted very soundly and his total included seven fours, one of which was run out. In dismissing Hall. Collis took a brilliant one handed low catch behind stumps. Downes, who took six for 69, bowled particularly well for the visitors. At 6 p.m. Manawatu commenced their second innings and the opening pair, McVicar and Billing played out time until stumps were drawn, for 26 runs. Scores: — MANAWATU (First Innings) C. McVicar. c Stevens, b Hall 55 D. Billing, b Stevens 0 F. Collis, c Organ, b Stevens 0 B. D. Millar, c Hall, b Stevens .... 0 J. Gallichan, b Hall 8 L. Hart, lbw, *b Newman 8 C. Hart, not out 1° T. A. Downes, lbw, b Ralfe 0 F. Hart, lbw, b Hall 8 K. Mullins, c Hall, b Ralfe 1 ' P. Kendall, lbw, b Ralfe 0 Extra 1 Total 89

NELSON (First Innings) S. Wilde, b Downes 12 L. Scholfield, c Mullins, b Kendall .. 1 A. Newman, c Collis, b Downes .... 35 F. Bowers, b Downes 4 R. Ralfe, low. b Downes 5 M. O’Keefe, b Kendall 33 J. Birch, b Millar 50 J. Ching, b Downes 1 J. Steavens, not out 32 C. Organ, c Downes, b Gallichan .... 2 J. Hall, c Collis, b Downes 4 Extras 11 Total 190

MANAWATU (Second Innings) McVicar, not out 17 Billing, not out 9 Total none for 26 Messrs T. B. Louisson and R. Haycock were the umpires.

WELCOME TO VISITORS Prior to the commencement of the match, the president of the Nelson District Cricket Association (Mr W. B. Griffin) extended a very cordial wel- ■ come to the visitors. Recalling the ! visit of the Manawatu team two years i ago for the Hawke Cup preliminary match, Mr Griffin said that the local cricketers and supporters had the highest respect for the visitors, both for their cricket and for their sportsman ship. Manawatu cricket had been of a very high standard for many years, continued the president, and in his opinion a standard which was not I reached by any other minor association lln one way it was regretted that the i visitors were not here in full strength because Nelson had very vivid memories of Pritchard and Norris, but perhaps it would be better for the local side, although from all reports Downes was a player to be reckoned with. “We liked the members of your previous team,” said Mr Griffin in conclusion, “and you are therefore doubly welcome, and on behalf of my association I wish you all a very good time during youi visit to the Nelson district.”

The manager of the Manawatu team (Mr J. Gallichan) thanked the Nelson Association for arranging the visit of the present team, which he'said was the direct result of the previous visit when members of the Manawatu team reported very favourably on their stay in Nelson. Up to date, said Mr Gallichan, they had enjoyed their stay immensely, and in conclusion the visiting manager expressed the hope that the visit would further the spirit of friendship between the two associations.

Greek Army’s Tactics ACCOUNT OF VISIT TO BATTLE FRONT Day after day the news about the Greek war has something of a sameness about it. All the time, it seems, the Greeks are making small gains here and there. Even when a place of importance is taken it is hardly a surprise because its fate has been sealed for some days. This is a natural corollary of the Greek manner of conducting their advance in the mountainous country in which the war is being waged. Their method of fighting emphasizes the importance of terrain, man and beast of burden and minimizes the importance of the more modern weapons, such as heavy artillery, tanks and planes. Greek Methods “This is the soyt of thing which goes on every day,” writes an American correspondent with the Greek army. “The Greeks progress always along the cones of the mountains, taking their lighter guns with them and keeping the Italians along the roads to avoid encirclement. The lieLd artillery then comes up behind and the relieving Italian detachments covering the retreat are pounded by artillery while the infantry surrounds them. The results of these tactics have been to give tbe Greeks a constant stream of small victories with a total bag of many prisoners. mules apd equipment, captured intact and usable.” In a few days at the time the correspondent was there —the early part of the Greek thrust into Albania—the Greeks at that particular part of the front, had captured more than 1000 prisoners, 2000 seven machine-guns and 12 tanks, all in good working order. “The Italians,” said a major, “give us all the equipment we need, and if we get planes from Great Britain and America we shall have all we want.” Italian Equipment Used The trend of the battle was vividly proved by the steady stream of Italian equipment which the correspondent saw moving up the road to be used against the original owners. Big trucks, of both military and private origin, were crammed with soldiers and ammunition. All the Greek couriers were using the high-saddled, small-wheeled Italian bicycles and heavy motor-cycles. lie did not see any tanks in action, but this was possibly explained by the fact that the Italians had already found that this type of country was unsuitable for tank attacks. Since the Greek attack developed its full force the Italians had not seemed to have evolved any method of halting it. All they succeeded in doing in the small area with which the correspondent was acquainted was to bomb a village, where a priest and some soldiers were killed. The Italian planes cannot see the well-camouflaged Greek positions and, though they dropped hundreds of bombs in the one small sector of the front under review, they did not once touch the main road or any of the bridges. Italians Fight Hard Nevertheless, it should not be supposed that the Italians were not fighting hard. Greek officers admitted that the enemy was doing his best in many cases to fight till his ammunition ran out. The Greek tactics of bombarding a road from both sides and forcing back Italian artillery was cutting off many Italian infantry units, which cannot move down their limited space in an orderly retreat and so, when their ammunition ran out, they usually surrendered. The American correspondent saw the culmination of one of the typical small Greek manoeuvres which, in the aggregate, have given them such notable success. From a hilltop overlooking a village where a remnant of Italian battalions was cut off from all aid, he saw Greek field artillery drop shell after shell into peasant homes defended by Italian machine-guns while Evzones (Greek mountain troops) struck through the surrounding woods in Indian file, waiting to get within hand-grenade or bayonetfighting range. The colonel in charge of the operations said that that night there would he many dead and in the morning many prisoners. Signs Of Failure This fighting was taking place in the country through which the Italians had passed as they invaded Greece. Along the passes where Caesar’s legions once pursued Pompey through the forests of Epirus there was now a new imperial road studded with misery and punctuated with graves. In one place was a derelict pile of rotting horse carcases, fragments of uniforms, wrecked machines and pockmarked earth, marking the place where Greek artillery lire broke (lie impetus of the Italian advance. Uncounted corpses that not long ago lay in the fields had been removed, hut within clusters of trees a mile from the road the bodies of the invaders still lay in the shade. Not far north was a fine old Turkish bridge, now battered out of all shape which might recall its old symmetrical design. It was here that the invading battalions rushed back pell-mell into Albania when their retreat was cut off by concealed Greek positions. Again the bodies were no longer there, but a shambles —trucks and motor-cycles rusting in the stream bed where they fell—marked the confusion which culminated the imperial quest of the ItalBefore And After The bridge was still plastered with gaudy posters fixed on its sides by the enthusiastic invaders as they marched to battle. The posters said: “Long live imperial Italy,” and “I recognize no obstacle.” The epitaph to this retreat was written on tbe Albanian frontier. It. was there that the Italians ripped up the old border markers as a symbol of new expansion and it was there that small military cemeteries commemorated the end of that expansion. Within a square plot, arranged in five lines, were 57 graves, each marked with a rough wooden cross. The crosses were large enough to carry the surnames and initials of the occupants of the graves. A few yards away was a filled-in trench where dozens of other bodies were entombed in disordered haste. Half-interred corpses lay between. In Ibis part of the front the Greeks were then advancing at the slow but methodical rate of about two miles a day. Toward the end of the day about, which the correspondent wrote, a Greek messenger arrived on a captured Italian bicycle. As he passed he stopped and picked up a small piece of plumage from a cock's tail fluttering down the road. An officer said: “They come by every day now in the wind. The Bersnglieri wore them. We keep them as souvenirs.”

BOWLING O. M. R. W. J. Hall 14 0 40 3 J. Stevens 6 0 19 3 C. Organ 3 0 10 0 A. Newman R. Ralfe ... 8 3 14 3 M. O'Keefe 2 1 3

BOWLING O. M. R. W. Downes 17 2 69 6 Millar 5 0 32 1 Kendall 13 1 53 2 F. Hart 10 7 6 Gallichan 3 0 18 1