Out Door Sports and Pastimes

Free Lance, Volume VIII, Issue 383, 2 November 1907, Page 20

Out Door Sports and Pastimes

( Continued fiompage 20. j

The passing away of Mr. J. W. Salmon at Pahneiston Noith last Fuday removed another of the pioneers ot cricket in Wellington. The deceased gentleman held a lecord, m that tor a period of twenty-two years he was a representative cricketer for Wellington, playing his first game in that capacity in 1867, and his last in 1889. His total number of matohes Avas 24. To many of the present-day playeis the late W. J. Salmon is only a memory, but there are many who take their cricket now-a-days from the seats in front of the pavilion at the Basin Reserve, or play bowls on the bowling greens, who enthuse about the way he used to make runs both tor the Midland Club and the Wellington representative team In conjunction with Mr. J. P. Firth, the principal of the Wellington College, the late Mr. Salmon put up the record firsb-wicket partnership tor a Wellington lepresentative team. lne Nelson team were the opposition on that occasion, Mr. Firth making 04, and the subject of this notice 50, the oentury being exceeded while they were together. Another good performance of his was also against JNelson. On that occasion he went in first, and made 49 out of a total ot 1/U before he was dismissed. An esteemed contemporary in the days when the late Mr. Salmon was in the heyday of his cricketing caieer cays that "he was of a hearty, cheery nature, always in good heart and full of pluck, and he was an excellent judge of the game. He was a good opponent, and a fine sportsman — keen on winning, yet giving the other side all the credit if they won." No cricketer needs a better epitaph than that in the memory of the playeis of his df- for it says all that can be said in praise of a good and true sport. Just a little tale here, which I think will be appreciated by old habitues of the Basin Reserve. The late Bill Salmon had a dog which used to accompany him to the matches every Saturday. No afternoon's cricket was complete in those days unless that dog had a fight, or, perhaps, half-a-dozen, with any stray canine that might be about whom he considered was in the nature of a trespasser. I extend my sincerest sympathies to Herbert Salmon, the only one of the sorrowing relatives I know personally. As the honorary secretary of the Old Boys' Club he has done good service both to cricket and m the interest of the ex-Collegians, and many of them have felt keenly sympathetic to their club-mate in the loss he has sustained. * • * Victor Waters gave a rattling exhibition of forceful batting for the Phoenix team in the second innings against Petone The number of times he banged tho ball over the pavilion fence and amongst the spectators _on the seats was particularly refreshing and exhilarating, and the applause he received was but the outward evidence of the enjoyment of those who were watching him It is related that one of his hits nearly put a check on Victor's cricketing career. It was a particularly sweet one, and landed right alongside the bandi rotunda. But for the presence of mind of the gentleman with whom she was conversing, the ball would have struck Victor's better half, and there is no saying what the consequences would have been. Therefore, the remark that a check would have been put upon his cricketing career admits of little argument. By the way, when the ball is hit amongst the spectators, why doesn't someone make an effort to catch the ball before it lands? There aie cricketers in plenty amongst the spectators, and it would save a lot of suspense and avoid possible accidents if the ball was taken on the full, even if it was not fairly caught. Will spectators with cricketing instincts and experience take the hint ? • • • "If one team scores 24 points, another 20, another 15, and a fourth 12, and the teams that score these points are the four leading ones at the end of the allotted list of fixtures, is it possible for the team that scoies the twelve points to win the championship?" This was a question that was put to me last Saturday, and my reply was in the affirmative. The present arrangement, no matter how many points are between the four leading teams in the championship at the end of the matches, is that they must play semi-final and 1 final games, and the winner of the final wins the championship, so that it is quite possible for the lowest team of the four to win both the semi-final and the final game, and with it the championship. Such a happening should not be possible, and I hear that it is on the cards that a special meeting of delegates will be called to review the position.

Bertie Waugh made a tidy score for the Gas Company team against Newtown, but in the making of it three of his own side were run out. One, in particular, I noticed; — when Canning was dismissed — m which the youthful cricketer called the other when there was not the remotest chance of a run. It is a good thing for the side if you make a lot of rums off the bat, but it is distinctly better if those rims are made without sacrificing several of your own side m getting them. While wiitmg in this strain, there were several wickets thrown away on Saturday. Beechey tempted Providence in a drive to mid-off, Naughton did exactly the same thing, and Mahony tried to imagine that Tucker had forgotten how to field the ball at co\er-pomt The trio completed then batting for the time being with their experiments. Sid. Jacobs has an old head, but why he called McGill for a third run when he was retired to the pavilion I daie not attempt to explain. Monaghaji's dismissal was one of the happenings of cricket. Tucker made a beautiful drive straight down the wicket, and Hales, who was bowling, made an effort to stop the ball. He only managed to touch it, however, but that touch was disaster to Monaghan, as it sped on, its course and banged into the wickets. The swerve bowler had got a long way out of his crease in backing up, and the umpire's decision went against him. I have been asked the question, and perhaps it is just as well to say that if Hales had not touched the ball the fact of its striking Monaghan's wicket would not have caused his retirement. Under the laws of the game the ball was fielded, and Monaghan was "run out." * • • Richardson's display of batting in the Wellington team's second innings against Old Boys was the best he has given for a long while. Raght from his first ball he was after runs, aoid, although he gave a couple of chances m the slips, he made many fine strokes, especially in front of himself. Senior, the veteran of the Petone team, was not playing against Phoenix, inability to leave work on the first day being the reason. He tells me that he has been playmg cricket for over thirty years, and, although his best day has gone by, he is still as keen as ever for the feel of the ball and the swing of the bat. Why do some of our cricketers wear biaces? The question is prompted by noticing some players wearing these articles of attire. Will somebody tell them that they will feel more comfortable without them, as their movements are much freer if their shoulders are not strapped down, and it is also more dressy to dispense with them? Sruyrk, the Petone cucketer, who was the junior football i epresenitaitive full-back last season, has many pretensions as a batsman. He learnt his cricket in Napier, where the wickets are much faster than in Wellington, and he has, therefore, to waitch the ball more than the player who has been brought up on the Basin Reserve, so to speak. Nevetheless, he made his runs to all parts of the field in good style against Phoenix. "Did you hear that Patrick went back to Christchurch last Wednesday, and will not be plavmg for Petone today?" That question has been asked me now three Saturdays m succession, and. each time there has been no foundation for it. Chatting to him last Saturday, Patrick told me that he presumed he would have to satisfy some of the Wellington enthusiasts — those who are not Petone players — by going back to Christehuron one of these Wednesday afternoons. Ronny Fisher gave a fine exhibition ot bowling in the Old Boys' second innings He kept a fine length, and made the ball talk on the good w lcket . so much so that, with the batsmen right after runs, they could only score 19 off the 41 balls delivered by him His bowling both broke fiom the off and swerved m from leg, and these difficult deliveries were sandwiched with an occasional yorker. Altogether, he proved a regular trump card for Captain Richardson A coi respondent writes — "I am a regulai reader of your notes, and think they are the most chatty in Wellington I always spend my Saturday afternoons at the Basin. There is one thing that has always puzzled me " But, although he details that puzzler, I am not going to publish it, even though he says nice things about me in his opening sentence. I am willing to agree with him that the player in question has a distinctly bad habit when bowling, but his friends should tell him of it, and not a writer like myself, or even a correspondent. More than that I am not prepared to say.