Sports Pastimes

Free Lance, Volume X, Issue 500, 29 January 1910, Page 18

Sports Pastimes

By Touahline.

Cricket.

TgT LL-DAY matches in connection jyi with the playing of the senior championship are a distinct novelty an Wellington/but, if last Saturday's experience is any criterion to go by, they could happen often with profit tothe game .and pleasure to. the players.'- It is true that just as the stumps were being put into position in the early : morning a misty rain threatened,- but very soon a light southerly chased the mists away, and the sun for the remainder of the day shone brightly out of a clear sky. Many of the cricketers show the signs of the heat of the sun even at this late stage, for their faces have a very healthy tan in consequence. The ; play, taking it all round, was rather interest-. inJg. i • The match in which the greater interest was centred was that between North. ..and South, on the No. 1 ground. The former were- unfortunate in haying to take the field without Richardson and Blacklock, both of whom had suffered bereavement in their family relations. By ©aible from Sydney Richardson haxl received the sad news of the death of his mother, and on the same day Mrs. Blacklock, senrl, the mother of James, Bob, ana Arthur Blacklock—well-known (names on the cricket fields of Wellington in the past—and grand-mother of the present player, passed away. To both T extend my sinoerest sympathies, as weil as those of the: cricketing fraternity of Wellington). '* ■ » The North team batted first, and were disposed of for 155 runs, the only double-figure scorers being Manson- (52 not out) TTpham (43), and Hickson (16). Two of the side were run out, Phillips and Sheridan, but the appeal should not have been; made against the former, as the bail was lifted by thie .wicket-keeper—unintentionally, perhaps—before he had the ball in hand. Schmoll did! not notice he had done so. neither did the umpire, but the South, captain did. and I think it would "have shown a good sporting spirit if Co'beroft had not taken* advantage of the umpire's mistake. • This incident reminded me of a happening. in a match in which R. . C. Niven was wicket-keeping a few years ago. A ball oamie back quick off his pads on to the wicket—so quickly that many people thought the batsman had been bowled. The appeal oame all right, but before the umpire could answer it, Niyen shot up both his Tiands. with the remark: "No, no! it came off my pads!" and the umpire thus ©ot out of an' awkward dilemma, and the batting side thought much or Niven's sportsmanlike qualities. . He. maynot have shown a matdh-winning spirit, but there . is no doubt the pleasure of the game in question was •enhanced by his manly action.

That in passing. Thanks mainly to a good innings by Coiboroft of 68 (not out), the South headed the total set them by 61 runs. a.nid thus won the ■match on the first innings. Besides Coboroft, the double-figure scorers in the South innings were : —Vare 32, Suckling 26. Dind 21,. Smith 16. McKay 14, and Schmoll 10. The North had a second turn with the bat, and with five wickets down for 32 there seemed nitife'than a possi-' bility that they would give the opposition a three-point win. At this stage, however, Manson and Hdckson became associated, and, were still together when stumps were drawn, with the total at 133. Doubles: Manson 54 (not out), Hiokson 38 (not out), Sheridan 11. and Finlayson 10. The other matches resulted as follows : — East A, 246 for nine wickets, innings declared closed (Hutchings 57, Midlane 56, Gibbes 52, McGill 19, Little 16, Bowles 10). Petone, 87 (Birice 23, Isherwood 12 Bennett 10), and 70 (Joyce 14 not out). A three-point win for East. . Central, 229 for four wickets, innings declared closed (Birch 91, Hawthorne 48, Laws 44 not out, Roberts 17 not out, Beec'hey 13 Naughton 11). Victoria, College, 108 (Foster 31, Berenidsem 21, Monaghan 12 not out), and 154 (Foster 82. Berendsen 19, Monaghan 10, J. H. Griffiths 10). A twopoint win. for Central. East B v. Hutt (played at the Lorwer Hutt Recreation Ground).—East B -120 (Lomax' 52, R. Wilson 25, Nash 10 not out- Goldfinch 10), and 56 (Dickson 20. Claridge 11 not out). Hutt. 99 (Staples 28, Aldersiey 25, and Simpson 14), and 79 for two wickets (Aldersiey 35 not out. Wilson 15, Matthews 13, Climie 11 not out). A three-point win for Hutt. « » » Bowlers whose- deliveries accounted for their opponents include :—South: Patrick: one wicket for 43 run®, and three for 21; Coboroft, one for 30, and two for 34; Smith; four for 49; Dind, one for 19 ; McKay, one for 8. North : Upham, two for 57; Imckie, two< for 58 ; Finlayson, four for 62; Phillips, two for 13. Victoria College: one for 45; Miller," one for 26 ; Dernpsey, one' for 30. Central: Laws, two for 35 r Miller, three for 34, and four for 35: Mason, three for 17, and one for 35; Hawthorne one for 15; Kinvig, three for 13 ; Beechey, one. for 17. East A: Hickey. three for 36, and five for 24: Gibbes, five for 28, • and five for 39: Grimimett, two* for 7. Petone: Brice, six for 76; Bennett, one for 39 ; Isherwood, one for 44: Freeman. one for 23. East B: Lomax, two for 40: Collett. two for 18; Nash, three for 19, and two for 17: Miller, two. for 14. Hutt: Judd three for 36, and five for 13; Matthews one for 14: A. Pringle, four for 24 and four for 21; Pilcher, one for 13. ® e « Dr. Foster, the Victoria College player, deserves a pat on the back for the consistency of his batting in . the senior competition. His scores to. date in the championship matches have been: 13, 0, 51 (not out), 2 15, 42, 64, 24, 0. 50, 37, 31, and 82^—a total of 411 runs for twelve completed innings and am average of 34.42. TTh'g aggregate of runs is the highest for the season, although Fred Midiane. with a total of 376 for seven completed inningp, has a much higher average, viz.. 53.71. . Foster is a quiet sort of batsman, and does not giye the impression that he is keeping the scorers as busy as he does. All round the* wicket he makes his strokes by good shots, the forward cut being, perhaps, the sweetest. * » « Charles Manson remarked to me one evening last week, more in. sorrow than in anger, 'tis true, that so far he had not justified his inclusion in the North senior team. ' But hi© came right out of his shell against the South bowlers last Saturday, his tallies of 52 (not out) and 54 (mot out) being masterly exposition® of free and forceful batting. Both display® were valuable to. the side, coming just where they did. but in point of merit I value the first innings; display as the better of the two. But it is almost painting the lily to praise Manson's dual effort, as finer hitting has not been seen on the Basin Reserve for mamy a long day. Two drives in particular. however, deserve more than a passing word. Batting from the southern end of the No. 1 wicket, the ball went from his bat straight over the bowler's head, and landed almost on the path at the other end of the Reserve, the placei of contact with the bat and the dropping of the ball on the ground being fully 100 yards apart. And . they .both seemed to 'be mad© without any extra effort on' the batsman's part, so* perfect was the timing. Before leaving Manson, just a few figures: in .his connection. . Previous to Saturday he had scored 59 runs in seven, completed innings l — average

.8:42; _ Now his; tally reads :. 165 runs, seyen'innings, .average 23.57. A remarkable. difference, in one; day's play. "Don't mention batting .figures to rme: I've done veary little-.this, season !" was a. remark Tom Cofccroft' made to me last Friday, but lie, like Manson, saved hiis best effort this season for the occasion that demanded it. Against the North bowlers he started a. bit shakily, but when he settled down Cobcroft showed a very straight bat to the bowling that was well in. and scored' well off any that were "at ' all loose. In his day and generation the ex-New South Wales batsman had many fine strokes in his kit, but, although he has lost much of his oldtime power, as a defenesive batsman he still is of great value to his side, and the South men can congratulate themselves that Cobcroft is still aible to wield a bat, for uO< his-eff orts mainly is to be attributed South's victory over North last SaturdayTJp to the match under re-view Cobcroft had scored 116 " rums in mine innings—average 11.8, and his . figure now are:—lß4 runs, 9 innings, ayeraige 20.44. * ' » * I have- been giving so many figures, I may as well-give some more averages of the leading 'batsmen:—l. Hawthorne, 37.50; K. H. Tuckeir, 35.83; W. R. S. Hickson 32.75; A. Birch, 32.71: J. J. Mahony, 31.44; A. B. Williams, 28.40; J. Dind, 27.00; J. Hutchings, 26.16; T. Taylor. 24.50; D. Patrick. 24.25; E. F. Upham, 23.00; H, Burton, 20.91; W. Gabbes, 20.71; H. Senior 20.33; J. P. Blacklock, 20.28.

"I picked that man out when he. was in the Old Boys' third team, and it was by my endeavours, mainily that he was promoted straight to the senior team without having played junior; his style of 'batting impressed me that he was a colt of much promise." So said an ex-Gld Boys enthusiast to me on Saturday afternoon in discussing the fine score made by Arthur _ Birch for the Central team against Victoria College. It is but fair comment, to say that he had a certain measure of •luck in a catch, that went to hand off his bat just as Birch got into doublefigures. being allowed - to fall to the ground, but it is equally fair to> say that as an all-round display of solid and brilliant batting Birch's was the finest on the Basin- Reserve last Saturday. I have read somewhere that some cricketers are born with the aptitude for the game in them, others attain excellence by efficient coaching, and others reach to greatness by assiduous practice. I have written this, but in putting the statement on paper I cannot call to mind that I have read it anywhere exactly as I ha,ve written it, but, whether I have or not, I will let it go as it is. But its connection with Birch is my. theme,at present, and in saying he is a combination or the first two I venture to assert that I am 1110% f.ar from the mark. Many of the readers of these notes may know—others may not. and therefore I make the state-ment—-that Birch's father is the engineer of the Wellington' - Gasworks, and that the latter is one of the keenest cricketers of .the past geaxereatioin. They tell me that in his own backyard he taught Arthur as soon as he was. old enough how to handle a bat, aaid directly he had instilled that into his mind he taught him' how to make the strokes. ■' . That he has benefited by the tuition given him by his father -cricketer is evident from the fact that all Birch's

runs are made by correct strokes, all his shots being marked • by cleanness and a straight bat <a-ll the way through. As Birch is now, after three seasons of senior cricket, but a lad 1 of twenty years, many more good scores to*, gladden the heart, particularly of the lovers of true and correct cricket, may be expected from him. Jack Hutcli,in gs and William Gibbes both assisted Midda,ne to beep the. East A scorer's pencil busy, and neither scone came before it was wanted to sa*ve their reputation as ibatsmeai. As a _ matter of fact, both Hutchingja and Gibbes have only got going once Dreviously this season.

Fred Laws was very busy on Saturday against the Victoria College bowlers, gathering together his runs by swinging strokes mainly to the boundary on the Kent Terrace side. Laws has only once previously troubled "Billy" Hood's pencil to any extent this season, so, taking it by and large, Saturday last helped a lot of batsmen to .get back their reputation. "Xhere is a great sameness generally about the double-figure scorers of the Victoria College team—Foster, Berendsen. and Monaghan inyariably appearing under that heading. This time they. are. joined by Griffiths, one of the staid and .steady variety of batsmen. . Both Stan Hick son. a<nd Ernest Upham have been the subject of comment in- these notes before, and on this occasion I have -nothing further to add to previous remarks other than that they are as igood batsmen, as I believe them to be, and in TTphanr's case better than he .gives himself credit for. I believe if he took 'his batting seriously he would rival mia-ny of the present champions in the race for averages. Bowles has been .shifted once again by the executive of the East Club, and I am wonderincr how they will class him wiien they writ© up the performances of their varied teams this' season-. ■ In my hunt after averages I find it pretty hard to place him. Charley McGill, Dug Little, and Bowles all helped themselves to a few runs at the expense of Jfetone's bowlers. Sheridan and "Ra.nji" Finlayson both managed .to get into _ double figures in the North second innings on Saturday. The latter bowled very well for a spell also, but he visibly tired. A paragraph about an- umpire's decision- on Saturday. A big hit by one of the batsmen went amongst the trees in the garden patch on the Kent Terrace side of the Reserve. While the batsmen* were running the sixth run the fielding side called "Lost ball." The umpire, well up to- his work promptly called "One short!'' For a while the scorers were nonplussed as to what to put on the sheet for the hit, but "lost ball" is always worth six runs, even df the whole six were run short. Ernest Beechey. Don Naughton, and Teddy Roberts got into their stride against the Victoria Collegians, the first two just getting fairly going when they were compelled to retire. Roberts was unbeaten when the innings was closed. Seven of the Sonth men met with much success against the North bo wlers. those besides Cobcroft to register a double-figure score being: Dind, Vare, McKay. Smith, Schinoll, and Suckling. Smith, who- is the same "Percy" that was a Newtown player in past seasons, met with a lot of success with his bowling in the first innings until Manson started to knock the cover off the ball. The tour of the Australian team through New Zealand is coming _ off all right, and on the sensible basis of each match paying for itself out of the guarantee asked for by the New Zealand Cricket Council. A good, team •has been selected, and some enjoyable matches up and down the Dominion should be played. The party leave Sydney to-morrow (Saturday), and axe due to arrive in Wellington on Wednesday next. It is stated in an Auckland paper that "Chummy" .Hem-us, the wellTtitiowti cricketer, is shortly to- be married. Sid Callaway's advice to the Otago people is sound: —"If the team wants to make a decent fight against Auckland for the Plunket Shield they should have at least a week's practice there, so that they can get accustomed to the pace of the wickets and the light. But the players cannot spare the necessary time. Warwick Armstrong, who is a member of the. Australian team that is to tour New Zealand, weighs 17-J- stone, and looks immense on the cricket field. The Australian Eleyen all-rounder was. big enough, in all conscience, when- he was in these parts last time, but, if the information above given is correct, he must be still growing.

A trio of cricket . aphorisms: — "virtue is its own reward; but a sixer gives something to the batsman." "No mam misses catches ■always." "A ball in the hand's worth two in the breadbasket.'' Unless Firwilay, of the Victoria College team, does _ something handsome directly, the merit of -a certain coach's judgment will ibe sadly discounted. It seems to me that_ Fxndlay tries to> bowl too fast, and is inclined also' to walk over the bowling crease. I would like to' suggest to. him to try delivering from at least six feet behind the creajse—it will give r ' him a -better length and lose altogether the tendencv to "no-ball." A humorous incident happened in a recent Queensland—New South Wales •match. Scott, the new fast bowler, had sent along a bumpy one, that caught Redgrave on the neck. When he recovered from the blow the Queenslander quietly walked to. the other end of the wicket and patted the turf about two yards in front -of where the bowler delivered.

THE WELLINGTON POST OFFICE CRICKET TEAM.

which defeated Canterbury this week.