Cricket.

Free Lance, Volume VII, Issue 350, 16 March 1907, Page 19

Cricket.

THE fust time the New Zealand representative cricket team has won a match on its own ground against ovei-sea teams! It is no wonder then, that a native-born New Zealander like myself should feed more than elated over the lesult of the match between the Marylebon© Cricket Club'b repi esentatives and the JNew Zealand eleven, for it marks an epoch in the game in this colony. In times that aie to oome many of those who took part either as players or spectators in the match under leview will tell the tale how on the 11th Maicii, 1907, a New Zealand cricket team defeated a team of Englishmen om the Basin JteBeive, at Wellington. • • • The match itself is one that can be remembered witih pleasure by all the players. It was contested an the best of spirit from beginning to end and' with a keenness that was really refi-eshing. Individually and! ooll'ectively the players seemed to do the best that was m them to gain victory for their respeci>ive sides, and on the run of t)he play the better team of the two won. For instance, the winning of the toss was not much good to the New Zealand team, tor there was a nasty spot at one end of the wicket whoicta had been liberally saturated with water to prevent the turf lifting out altogether as 1 the game progressed. A reference is made later on to the cause of this spot. Douglas, the best bowler among the visitors, found this spot early, and it became dangerous at times when he landed the ball m it — dangerous to the batsmen, I mean. And, as DougLaa was bowkng better than he bowled the last time he was in Wellington, it was not surprising to find' that the local men were following one anotlher in and out too quickly to please those who wished them well. The total they secured — 160 runs — seemed all too small for their ultimate success. The only thing the visitors hiad to complain of during the game happened 1 at this stage, and that was the dulling of the light for a while. But it was not bad enough to account for the showing of them- opening batsmen, for when stump* were pulled 1 out five wickets were down foi 80 rune. ¥oi a while after play was le&umed on Satuiuay it looked' as if the Ibs inns made by the New Zealanojersi weie going to prove much too sma.ll, but the glorious uncertainty of cuicke* was once more made evident, and when Upham and Williams had a ohase toi the possession of the ball they had been playing with, the Englishmen's &oore had only reached 160, oi five less than they were set to get. The beginning of the black-dapped' brigade's second innings did not promise anything sensational, for the hist three batsmen, Lawrence, Sale and! Mahony, were sent back with the score at 33. Hemus and 1 Haddon, the two Auckland^ers, with different styles of their own, brightened things up considerably. When the younger man was dismissed by a fine catch by Page the score had mounted' to 81. The New Zealand captain then joined the North Shore coach, and with theii association the colonial team got a firm grip of the game, and by the time Haddon wae dismissed the partnership had added 107 runs to the total. Williams kept his wicket up till the end of the innings, his tally of 72 (not out) being the highest of the match None of the other batsmen had stayed with him long enough to unduly worry the opposing bowlers and) fieldsmen, although Fisher's stay witih him added 38 runs. The innings closed! on Tuesday morning for 249 runs. • • • The Englishmen were thus set the good total for a fourth innings of 255 runs to get, but. as the wicket was really better then than at any period of the match, it did not seem too big a task to expect from them. Fox and Johnston opened', but luck was against them, for the former was run out without having played a ball. Johnston was bowled off his pads, Burns was just getting fairly into Ms stride when a brilliant catch bv Sale sent him back, and Harrison was not at all comfort-

-able while be was at the wickets, a fine catch by Mahony at third man lettering him before he settled down. Four good wickets were down with but 44 runs on the slate, and the visitors chance of winning seemed hopeless at this stage. Page and Douglas, however, raised some hopes among the vi&rtois, but,, after 50 runs had been added!, the former was beautifully caught by Hemus straight over the bowler's head. The ball came to him with the wind', and' was a very lofty hit. Branston was the last "star" batsman amongst the visitors, but he only came in to see Douglas given out lbw to a ball he stooped 1 lght down to hit to the square-leg boundary. At this stage six wAckebs were dlown for 97, and the visitors seemed to be resigned to their fate. De Trafford joined' Branston, but he wanted' to get the whole of thie> runs needed in quick time, and', as a consequence, was soon caught out, Tucker being the owner of the handte the ball stopped in. Ourwen joined Branston, and gradually but surely the runs came along. With the Latter dismissed' by a fine yorker by Downes, tine pnd was not iar away Torrens came and- went without causing much anxiety, Downes finding his timber-stack. May, the express bowlei, who _ was feeling used up by the toon, joined Cuiwen, and the field spread out in anticipation of some lively hitting. This partnership was remaikable mainly for the quickness with which the piair scored, but few balls being allowed to pass without runs being added. Finally, however, May returned the baJl to Fisher, and cheer followed! cheer as the stumps were pulledi out of the ground with the New Zealianders still in the lead by 56 runs. * * * The individual scores of the vanous batsmen were . — New Zealand Williams, 19 and 72 (not out), Lawrence 13 and 18, Sale 19 and b Mahooiy 17 and 1, Haddon 5 and 71, Hemus 38 and 28, Tucker 23 and 1, Fisbeii 10 and 19, Downes 0 and 1, Bennett 5 and! 3, Upham 2 (not out) and 4. Englishmen • Johnston 4 and 4, Fox 14 aaid 0. Burns 24 and 14, Harrison 17 and 5, Douglas 18 and 37, Page 27 and 27, Branston 28 and 20, Curwen 0 and 30 (not out), De Ti afford 18 and! 10. Toiiiens 4 and 9, May 0 (not out) and 19. Bowling figures- — English team: Douglas, seven for 49 and five for 75 ; Branston. one for 38 and three for 37 Torrens 0 for 40 and 0 for 47 : May, 0 for 24 and two for 57 ; Curwen, 0 for 8 New Zealanders Upham, six for 84 and one for 51 ; Fisher, four for 25 and five for 61 ; Downes, 0 for 27 and two for 27 Bennett, 0 for 17 and one for 36. 'A good man to have on the &adel" is an. expression or opinion I oveaheaid .ratei ring to Sale, the Aucklandier. He is a fine opening batsman, pireseiutiing a solid wall ior tine bowler to penetrate when tauly settled down. I iiked! him bebt, however, in the first innings, for in the second he did not appear to be too comfortable, being maimed ratih&r to lashness. As a neldsman, however, Sale is as good as we have seen on the Basin Reserve for many a dlay. He coveis a tremendous lot of ground, has a fine safe pair of hands, and picks up the. ball cleanly every time. It stopped the Englishmen whenever they noticed Sale gettin gover the giound' to intercept the ball in its flogihit. lam pleased to think that the arguments of the Auckland scribes who insisted on Sale's inclusion in the New Zealand team prevailed with the selectors, for he was woith his place, if for nothing else than the number of runs 1 he saved by his expeirtness in the neax country. Chummy" Hemus it, another Auoklander who hasn't been spoilt hy too much praise. Thus unassuming lad always has made a good 1 lmpresi&aon in Wellington, and with the bat he is well worth watching. His actions seemed to denote a slightly neivous tempenarnent, especially the one in which he lifts his bat oft the ground just as the bowler is in the act of delivering. But he cam bat, of that make no eruai. He has all the strokes of a finished! batsman, and if he could only have some experience m bigger cricket than we get m New Zealand I would not be surprised 1 to see Hemus taking his place with the best of them. Haddon is the third Aucklander wilio was given a place in the combination. The ex-Sydneyite has been doing well in club encket in the Northern city tnis season, scoring veiy consistently Alfred, however, did not shape too well in the first innings, playing Douglas's rising balls as if he wanted to get out quickly. He did, too, for a butcher bat stroke at one ball found a fieldsman holding it before it touched the ground. But, in the second innings he showed his true form. Starting with seven runs to leg off his first two balls, Had u don never looked back, banning a hard chance to point high up, until he had

put a rattling score opposite his name. The dlnve, the pull, and! the out were the main strokes that came from Ins bat, but they were not the only ones, for wherevei there were runs to be igot Alf . got them. Arnold Williams gave one of his oldtime displays in the second innings against the Englishmen. The fact that he madle the only century against them, in the first Wellington match, made the visitors treat him with a deal of respect. And 1 what a fine innings his latest was. Knowing his partiality for anything on the leg-side, the visiting bow lei s kept their deliveries mainly on or outside his off-stump, but he made many iuiis all the same. His diiiving, square-cutting, andl Late-cut-ting were all dkine with strokes that denoted the master-hand, iand improved the impression the visitors had of his capabilities, while it enhanced! his reputation with the Wellington cricketing public. As icaptaan of the team he seemed to me to be the right man in the right place. It is easy for one, writing artei the event, to suggest where improvements could possibly have been effected, tout a captain has to act on the spun of the moment, and things that seemed right to hum then might not appear so if he had to decide them again. I oouild suggest directions in which I might consider an improvement could have been effected, but why sihould lat this stage? Suffice it to say, the Midlander can credit himself with the fact that he is the first captain that has led a New Zealand team to victory against English cricketers, and that alone is sufficient to silence criticism. Ernest Upham appeared at one time during the game to bare that thousand wickets in his bag, and that was when he secured six out of the ten he wanted in the Englishmen's first innings. In the two Wellington games against the Englishmen Upham bagged 1 seven wickets and it was exactly the same number that stopped him this time. He was tried both with, and against the wind, and', as Douglas remarked on one occasion, he got a fine one out of the box now and then. After nineteen years' cricket Upham seems to have plenty of power in his 1 elbow yet. Jack Mahony and 1 Kenneth Tucker, the other two Wellington men, justified! their inclusion by double-figur© scores in the first inniners and by their general! expertness in the field. Both kept the runs down in ejood styOe, and Tucker was only second to Sale both in ground work and catching, but he was a very good second. James Lawrence, the Chnstehuirch veteran, proved his consistency by getting a two-figure score in each innings, and his luns were all well madle. As he ailso got a double both times in the first test match, it would 1 be safe to say that there is plenty of orioket left in the old horse yet. Joe Bennett, the regulation bowLer and express hitter from Ohnstohnrch, was not given much of an opportunity m either of the visitors' innings to prove his worth with the ball, and with the bat he did! not get fairly going. He is young yet, and' I dloubt not but that in future New Zealand games we will hear more from the burly boy from the Cathedral City. Arthur Fisher has bowled before in Wellington, but I doubt if he has ever done such good work as in the match just concluded. The wind 1 seemed to suit his swerve, and, to help him, the Englishmen were feeling for him all the time, expecting the ball to dlo more than it did. With bus. fieldsmen well out in the ootmtry, the batsmen were not inclined to have a whang at Fisher's deliveries, for it took a good hit to place the ball beyond the ropes. Together with the swerve which commanded such a lot of respect, the Dunedin bowler sent dlown some sweet legbreaks at times, the ball often beating the wicket and wicket-keeper as well as the batsman. Besides his good work with the ball, the ex-golf champion made some nice strokes in getting a double-figure score each time he batted!. Fisher can look back with pleasure to the first win bv a Ne-w Zealand team, for he had! a big hand in it. Alex. Downes is one of the veterans in Otago cricket, yet, strange to say, this is the first occasion on wihich he has taken part in a match in WeTl'iimgton. I confess to being a bit curious to see him perform with the ball, as I had heard! so much about him, but the wicket was not to his libinig, and he dlid nothing to equal his reputation. With the bat he had hard luck. In the fins* innings he threw his wicket away, and in the second innings he played l the ball on to the wicket-keapier's pads, from whence it rebounded on to hi® wickets while he was out of the ground. The scorers registered him as "stumped 1 " whereas he was "run out." The most' noticeable feature of the match from the New Zealand stand(Covtinued ov page 20.)

v i uutluuid jiuiu jjayu IV.J point Wda that the foua men wlio pUyed in this match and not 111 the hirst weie the "fatan-" perf aimers. It is only necessary to mentaon their names to convey my meaning Heniu&, Uphani, Williams and Fisher. The bowling oi Upham and Fisher, and the battamg of Hemus and Williams, hadi a lot to do with the rejoicing we are now indulging in over the win. Douglas wae the best periornier foi the Englishmen, and' there is no doubt that he is the beet ail-round man in the team. His bowling in the hrst innings especially was really gjood, as, although he was whipping them in with a lot of pace, "Towser" was turning them slightly both ways, and the batsmen were in trouble to him most of the time. Until he began to show'signs of weariness in the second innings, I>ouglas bowled with a pace some people ay ci was faster than the Australian. Eleven man Ottei showed when he was in Wellington. I have my doubts on this head!, howerei , but it will serve to show how fast Douglas was bowling when he is compared with Cotter. The Englishman, however, has a very laboured nun, and tires quickly. He seemed to mel to be worked to death by his oaptain on Saturday afternoon. With the bat the express bowler made many fine orthodox and several unorthodox strokes, tout he was out foi runs all the time. As he said himself • "It won't be for the want of trying if we do lose " And he did his share towards avertin/g the defeat. In both his turns at the wicket Page took a lot of disturbing. He played himself in with very cautious stiokes, occasionally opening out with some beautiful off -drives. He bad the distinction of ma-king the only six in the match, a fuJl toss on the leg being smacked right on to the pavilion seats. In the far country Charles covered a lot of ground, held a fine catch, and saved many runs. Bra-nston is held by some to be the best batsman in the team, but I am not Inclined' to agree with this statement. Every time he has- played in Wellington his display has been on the quiet side, and, although he made two doubles in this match, "Branny" never seemed like taking charge of the bowling. He lias a safe pair of hands in the slips, and keeps the batsmen, pretty quiet most of the time while hie is bowling himself. To Burns goes my vote as the most finished batsman amonlg the visitors. "Johnny" has a fine eye, and even when defending puts a lot of power into his strokes. All round the wicket he can make runs but his drive is a particularly sweet one. I would l not be surprised) if we heard' more of Burns in English crioket in the future than we hare in the past. A batsman for whom I have a lot of respect after Monday's play is Ourwen. Going in when things were very bad! for his side, Wilfred' defied aLI tbe botwlers to shift him, and) by many nice swinging strokes he put a score and a-half of runs to his credit. Judging by the few balls he bowled, too, Curwen eouild have been tried more than he was durimg the match by his captain. Harrison is one of the finest outfields we have seen in Wellington. Quick to judge the direction in which the ball is travelling, "Phil" hops off the mark, and often when he appears to be wasting his time in. chasing the ball he generally gets there, and only two runs were scored off what looked like a oartain four. With the bat he was disappointing after his previous displays in Wellington, the remark that he had made too many runs earlier in the tour being a propos of his failing at the finish. The disappointment (with the "the" in capitals, please) on the English side, however, was Johnston. Coming so soon after Ms two big innings of 99 and 76 (not out), in the first test match, it was galling for the visitors to see "Johnny" dismissed for the miserable total of four mns each- innings. I have often heard it remarked' that another coat of varnish would; have been fatal 1 to the batsman, but in Johnston's ease thie coat of varnish was there, all right. In the first innings, when TJpham bowled him with a "yorker." how the ball missed the bat is one of those problems it h hard' to solve, for the marks where the ball pitched and thi© bat struck th© ground! were almost in the identical same pla.ce. In the seoond l innings Johnston had nardl luck, the ball snicking his pads on its journey. It is just possible that it would have missed the wickets altogether if he had stepped asidle and let it pursue its course unheeded. He is of much assisfcanoe to Douglas and May in the slips, and has a fine conception of the game. The visitors would have been well served' with Johnston a* captain.

Da iia-nord stems to nave lost inuou ot ins power since the diayt* when. U- -B£'is gave him. a place among tine notatue Gitcketerte ot iuagUacl. He luts hard), but not nearly liard enough tor a ground the size ot the Basin. JJe&ea ye, ana it the bowleis keep pitching them up to him it is only a question of tonne when he js retired caught. Traft" is a genial fellow on the held, but his capabilities a& a leadei are not of biuch outstanding merit that he should have been chosen to lift the mantle iaid! down by Major Wynyard. Fox, the wicket-keeper oi the team, ii oaie ot JNatuue's gentlemen — 1 eton t mean by this that tlie otliers air© not — but 'Honny ' it> such an exoeptionaJJy fine ohapi that I maKe no apologies loi reieiimg to him in this way. Ihe long hops fioin Douglas and May lie always took standing well back, and xareily appealed agaunst a batsman , when he dad the 1 veidict genaraJly went his tv ay. Jtven his opponents wexe soary when he was mn out in the second 1 innings, aithougii his dismissal made the winning ot the. match all the nioie easy. He is a stubborn bat and hard to daslodge when he gets going. '1 Oil ens bo h ded light thiougii tlie inatcn without any luck <d\, ctUl. He kepo a pea feet length dli the time, with a medium-paced badl that ywunig away from the batsmein, which the batwmen mostdy played insidei of. And wihen they did sniok it into the t,lipt>, A thy" had the mortification of seeing the catches dioppied. The oatch put up- by W iliaams that was let fail by Douglas i& a case in point. As a batsman, Torrents did but httle an Wellington, and, as tihei result of a twist m the first game hej c, he has not been able to dto himself full justice at any period! of the tour. May is a bowler with an action decidedly has own, and why Phil cultivated lus present lun and jump^ I am at a loss to understand. Tthe jump at the end of his run must shake him considerably, and from a close watch I kept on ham my conclusion is that the eaad jump tends to slacken the pace of has bowling rather than increase it. Audi, as he is now suffering fiom a strained back, as the result of the tour, he should alter has style by delivering thie ball at the end of has run and leaving out the jump. As a batsman, May is a, dasher, and becomes very busy as soon as he> faces the bowlei. The "stand mad© by Gucrwen and ham for the last wicket was one of the most refreshing incidents of an inteinesting game. What I oooisideaed as the finest bit of individualism in the whole match stands to the credit of Alea. Downes, Otago's representative bowler. With the bat Downes is a dasher, and has only to stay m for a few minutes to put plenty of run 6 opposite hie name on the score-sheet. In 'his first strike he let fly at the first ball he received, and it was travelling wath a lot of pace between the bowler and 1 mid-on. Johnston, however, fielded the ball, and, quick to notice his error, Downes tried to send Tucker back, but tihe latter had come too far through. Recognising that it was his mistake, the Otagoite again called Tucker to come on, and ran raght through, even though his wioket was down yards before be got there. The spectators quickly recognised the sportsmanlike action of Downes, and as he went back to the pavilion the applause he received was spontaneous and hearty, the visitors joining in. the hand-clapping. Some otiher batsmen would have turned back wtheai they noticed! the position and' left Tucker to his fate, but anyone who has known Alex. Downes for any length of tune knows that he did the only tiung he could, do, for he is on© of the best spoite we have in the colony. • • « Now that the tour is finished, I just wi&h to add my testimony to the fine sportsmen the visitors have proved themselves to be during their tour. From North to South of the colony nothing but praise has been showered on them for their gentlemanly behaviour, both on and 1 off the field, and it has been a pleasure to entertain them and play against them. That they may have an enjoyable trip baok to the Old Country is the sincere wish of every cricketer and cricket enthusiast in the colony. "Don't you fellows ever stop the game on account of bad light out here?" "It has got to be much worse than it is now before we do!" "Well, there's not much chance of an agreement between the umpriTes on the matter of light this afternoon, for play would have been suspended long ago if the match was played at Home." This conversation between one of the batsmen and the New Zealand umpire wouJd seem to strengthen fchp iirmr^-

siou that the Englishmen considered they were hardly done by m being compelled to continue play after they had appealed against the light on Friday afternoon. Viewing it from their standpoint — the prevailing conditions in England under similar circumstances — pea haps they were, but it wouM have been fatal to the interests of the- game of oneket in Wellington if stumps had been diawn at any time before the allotted time on account of the light on Friday. Why ? In the first place, the light was never really bad. I can recall numerous instances where play has been continued m Wellington whesa the light was nnuch worse than it was last Friday. As a matter of fact, I have seen play commenced of an evening uaidei woi^e conditions. There is another viewpoint, but it is mot one that weighed 1 with the umpires. If the players had left the field the first remark by the majority of the spectators would have been that an effort was being made to spin the game' out so as to increase the gate takings. And to keep the game of crickiet in the good graces of the public of Wellington it is therefore only right that the appeal of the visitors was not coincidled with by the captain of the NewZealand team and the umpires. • • « There is some person in Wellington to de6ctibe whom there is not a word strong enough in the English language. For a long time Groundlsman Twist and his assistant had been working hard to provide a good wicket for the England! — New Zealand match, and suooess seemed' to be crowning their efforts, for the grass was getting a fine body in it, and was rolling out splendidly. Imagine, therefore, their surprise when they came down one morning last week to find that some person had dluig a hole at one end 1 of the prepared piece of turf just where a good length baM wouild pitch. The sight was enough to break any man's heart, and for the time being Groundteman Twist looked at it in dasmay. There was no passable chance of preparing another wicket before the match was due to be played/, and tine best, therefore, bad to be mad© of a badl job. The hole was squared off and a piece of fresh turf insertedi in its pdace. Liberal allowances of water and' rolling served to bindl the new piece of turf in its place, but the spot was there, and when Douigl&s found it in the New Zealand team's first innings many nasty things were said about the "rotten" wioket. But it is only fair to Groundlsman Twist that the above tale should! be told, and' at the same tim© to express sorrow that there is any person in Wellington who couJd be guilty of such a dirty trick. • • • Another record 1 When Douglas bowled Tucker in. the first innings one of the bails landed 136 feet from the wickets off which it was struck. Oan anyone tell me any similar instance that oan rival this? "Tim" Raphael, the secretary of the New Zealand Cricket Council, seems to have pi eased the English cricketers dfurmg their tour thjrougih the colony. As a memento, and as a small token of thanks for his kindnesses to them, they presented him with a gold' match-box and cigar cutter, both beautiful specimens of the jeweller's art. I have no doubt the Ohristcburch sport Tfill treasure the keepsake. Some of the spectators on Fridlay thought a lot of time was wasted in deciding tlhe appeal about the light. But the new law of the game is the cause of the delay. It enacts that the two captains must discuss the matter, and if they fail to agree the umpires are then called upon to d'ecJdte ihe appeal. The old rule, where the batsmen appealed' directly to the umpires, is much better than the new one.

The Englishmen liave some strange sayings — stiange, tthat is, to a colonial. For instance, if a batsman maket> a clinking stroke you would li©ar someone say, "My woid, that was a grand shot]" Again, one was uncertain whether he couJd accept an invitation to a day's outing received from Mr. H- D. Bell, and his remark was . "I wouldn't like to crab him, you know, for he ia a fin© fellow, they tell me!" On one occasion a bowler appealed for "lbw." The deoisaon went against mm, and then he remarked' to the batsman "I knew you weren't out, odd man, and I knew the umpire wouldn't give you out; I was only ragging." Every time a fieldsman mossed' a ba)Hl or dropped' a catch he apologised to the bowJer, and whenever a fie<ldisman' did) a fine piece of work all his fellows mnild give a small bit of applause to him. The latter was a pretty action and could wei'l be copied' by locail players. Fieldsmen generally all try their hardiest, and it must be pleasing to know that your mates appreciate it when you stop a hard smack from getting past you to the boundary.