OUT DOOR SPORTS AND PASTIMES

Free Lance, Volume XIV, Issue 707, 17 January 1914, Page 21

OUT DOOR SPORTS AND PASTIMES

By Touchline.

Cricket.

An Unusual Decision. THE determination of the Wellington Cricket Association, to play championship matches last Saturday afternoon, with the representative team away in the South Isla.nd, is so unusual as to call for a passing; .word. Such a happening has not occurred before in the playing of the game in these parts, and one is forced to wonder what was the reason for it on this occasion'. I verily believe that the game itself is the thing that should count at all times, but, in a championship contest. how clubs are likely to be affected ought to weigh with the Management Committee of the Association. As things turned out The Real Sufferers were the Old Boys team., who had to take the- field against Petone with four short of. the eleven that played on the opening day of the match viz., Blacklock, Tucker, Grace, and Hay. The position of the game when stumps were, drawn the Saturday preceding the holidays showed Old Boys to have a fighting chance, but they hadn't a possible hope with four men away, and two of them stock bowlers. I do not wish to discount the handsome three-point win secured by Petone, but I certainly think the Management ~ommittee did not do the fair thing by the Old Boys' Club in asking them to finish their match with more, than a third of the eide away. Probably more will ,be heard of the matter —I will be surprised if there isn't. * * # # A Glorious Day. It would have been a pity all the same if no cricket had been played last Saturday afternoon, for the weather was practically perfect. What should have been done was to have started another series of matches, leaving those in progress, to be completed at a later stage. The wickets for the various games had been cut and rolled, but generally the Basin Reserve resembled a paddock in the country more than anything else last Saturday afternoon. The grass was long and the daisied "were in full bloom, the latter being something I don't remember having seen before on our principal cricketing arena. Of course, the fact that J. V. Saunders was with the team in the south accounted for the ground not being worked as it should have been, but surely when the Association decided to play matches they ought to have made it their business to see that the assistant groundsman was. given some help to put things into decent order. He did his best, I know, but the appearance of the ground was not pleasing to the enthusiast. * * * * The Width of the Wickets. This is a matter I would like to bring under the attention of the Ground Committee once again. The prepared part of the wickets last Saturday was only six feet wide, and if was quite possible for the ball to pitch in grass three or four inches long and yet be within reach of the batsman. I don't know whether the Ground Committee exercises any jurisdiction over' the preparation of the wickets, but it is certainly their duty to do so. It does not seem to me to be the correct thing for the wickets to be narrower than the return crease—Bft Sin—and the Management Committee of the Association should see that the wickets are prepared the full width, both for championship and representative matches. * # ♦ * Coming Representative Games. It is pleasing to note that the Auckland representatives will travel south after all. playing both Wellington and Canterbury. The match locally is to take place at the Basin Reserve at the end or next week. Later on—if all goes well, please note this! —we are to have a game with the team of Australian cricketers being got together by Mr.

Arthur Sims, the well-known ex-Canter-bury and New Zealand representative captain. We have been looking forward to this tour for some time, and the hope is mine that the present trouble may be smoothed over. But the New Zealand Cricket Council should make it their business in future to deal direct with the Board of Control of Australian cricket in these matters. In the case of these two governing bodies one should not ignore the other until forced to take action in arranging tours in each other's territory. The Board of Control would not do it, so why• should the Cricket Council ? # ♦ * * The Plunket Shield. It is well known in the cricketing; community that the rules governing the holding of the Plunket Shield were altered a little over twelve months ago, but, for all practical purposes, the actual rules for holding the" Shield itself have only been altered •to provide for all matches played by the Association holding it being Shield matches. Should Canterbury succeed in defeating all their challengers this season, when they travel next year the Shield will be competed for in the matches in which they play. It is a much better provision than prevailed before, when all matches for the Shield • played on the grounds of the holder. The position at the moment is that should Auckland -succeed in ' defeating Canterbury in the match to take place in a fortnight's time, the Shield will be carted back to the Queen City. I may be wrong, but it is my opinion that the possibility of not being able to play a match for the Shield weighed with the Aucklanders when they declared that they could not spare the time to travel south at Christmas time. Thanks. I have to thank Mr. E. M. Beechey, hon. secretary of the Wellington Cricket ■ Association, for a copy of the rules of the New Zealand Cricket Council, together with the roll of honour of New Zealand cricketers and much other interesting information. The booklet in which this information is published is a very useful production, and reflects credit on Mr. F. C. Raphael, the secretary of the Council, who compiled it. Many of my fellow scribes have had to thank. Mr. Raphael for their copies, and I accept his apologies for not having sent me one. * * * » There is one point to which I would like to draw his attention, however, and that is that in many cases he has got the initials of players wrong, Wellington ones more particularly. As the years go by, this list of representative players wiil be' very valuable, so it is jusib as well to have it accurate. The correct initials and spelling of the players' names , I am referring to are as follows: E. F. Upham, A. Clark, F. L. -Ashbolt, K. H. Tucker, H. C. Hickson, J. J. Mahony. C. G. Wilson, S. A. Orchard, E. 6. Hales, E. L. Macassey, W. P. Redgrave, H. .W. Monaghan, and A. B. Williams.

The East B—Central Match. last Saturday afternoon, was remarkable mainly for the execrable exhibition of fielding given generally by the East B players. Catches were religiously dropped all over the place, the groundwork was slovenly,' , * and altogether there were signs in plenty that the enforced absence from the Basin Reserve—or Is it that holiday tour in Nelson and district?— has done these Eastenders no good. The result of the outplay referred to was that the last two Central wickets—there were only two to fall when play started -added 110 runs to the score (55 each). The run-getters were McCardell 47*, Patterson 29, Mitchell 23. and extras 27 (16 of these , being got the previous playing day). When the East went in to bat they shaped very little better than they did in the field. Grimmett was helping, to dismiss the Otago representatives at Carisbrook. Bowles was on holiday leave, mid Dooley was an absentee, so that there were, only eight batsmen in all to go in. In about an hour they were dismissed for 54 • runs., the double-figure scorers being: Hutchings 17*, O'Shea 15, and , Ryan 14. This trio showed fair batting form. Hutchings in particular giving us some of his old Midland style of gettincr runs. By the way. I have to extend my congratulations to "Jack," as they tell me he has been and got married during the holiday season.

Feilding Generally Poor. The East B fellows are not the only ones who deserve castigating for their poor ' fielding. There was a time when the roughness of the fielding area at the .Basin Reserve was given as the excuse for the lack of keenness of our players in the field, but . that does not apply now. "When a catch is dropped many people complain—and rightly so—but tvhen a man in the outfield • allows the "ball to bounce into his hands without making an attempt, to get to the ball while it is in the air, the grumbling is fairly 'loud and deep. It is far better to see a fieldsman make an effort to catch the ball, even if he misses it, rather than he should stand like .a post stuck in the ground waiting for the ball -to come to him. Last week I had a few comments about boys' Wellington. On Saturday I casually looked at one of these matches on the far side of the Basin Reserve, and a catch in that game impressed itself on my . memory so much that I am inclined to enthuse about it. The lad in question was fielding at long-on, and he had .to run fully fifteen yards to the ball. He raced in at top speed, and brought off a catch reminiscent of the one that "Tabby" Wynyard made in a Midland-Wellington match many years ago. The majority of our senior fieldsmen these days would not have attempted what looked like the impossible in this instance, but it is true of cricket, as of other things in this life, that one does not know what he can do till he tries. • There is # a moral in this somewhere, and our senior cricketers can find it if they look for it. * * * * Victoria College Winners The first innings between the East A and Victoria College teams saw the former with a deficiency of 89 runs. Mabin (17), Young (37), and Wighton (20) batted solidly enough to save the followon that was threatened at the close of the first day's play. Birch (32*), Howe (37), and Atmore (23*) kept the East bowlers and batsmen in the field until five o'clock, when the innings was declared closed at 111 for one The ; Collegians, however, didn't anticipate that they would be able to get the East team out in the hour and a half left for play, and Midlane and his fellow bats- . men rightly judged the 200 runs wanted as beyond their capabilities in the time at their disposal, and therefore the 'game went on quietly. At "stumps" 121 runs were scored for three wickets (Midlane 65*, Nash 32, Young 14). * « * * Results of Matches. . The following are the statistics of the matches completed last Saturday: — Central, 262; East B, 126 and 54. A three-point win for Central: Victoria College, 199 and 111 for one "wicket (innings declared closed): East> A, 109 and 121 for three wickets. A two-point win for Victoria College. Petone, 353 for six wickets, innings declared closed (Donoghue 134, Smyrke 103, Brice 55, Barber 21*, Smith 12); : 01d Boys, 136 and 73 for five wickets

(Beechey 42). A three-point rwin for 'Petone. . North, 189 and 10 for one wicket; Hutt, 102 and 96, four men absent (Alder sley 52, Stiles 12, Glennie 10). A three-point win for North. * * . *| * Successful Bowlers. Central: Klnvig, three wickets for 20 runs; Ryan, three for 24. East B: 'O'Shea, one for 34: A. Ryan, three for 69. Victoria College: Fenton, eight for 41 and two for 43; Mclntosh, one ■for 33. East A: Henderson, one for 24. Hutt: Stiles, two for 89' and one for 6; Rodgers, two for 33; Grlennie, one for 42; Aldersley, four for 24. North: Cas.ey, four for 36; Southall, two for 46. Petone: Smyrke. four for 29; Finlayson, one for 11. Old Boys: Beechey, two for 83. * * * # The Representative Tour. ' The Wellington representatives return from their southern tour with honours easy—a win against Otago, a loss to Canterbury, and a draw with Southland. The outstanding thing in connection with the tour is' the fine displays of batting given by Frank Joplin, the young Victoria Ccllege player, for undoubtedly he has been the principal scorer on the tour. It is remarkable how sometimes a man grasps his opportunities. Joplin got into the team because of defections of some of the selected players, but he has fully justified his inclusion, and cannot possibly be left out of the other matches this season. Otherwise, there were no startling things on the tour, without exception is made of "Hami" Grace's bowling in the final innings against Otago. This would

■ seem txj back up the comment I made last week that he would have been a useful man in the match against Canterbury. _ To me the satisfying part about this tour is that a long-overdue match with Otago has been played, and my hope is that Otago and Wellington will met annually to settle their differences' on the cricket field. The more representative matches there are the better it is for the players themselves and for the enthusiasts. * * * * Position of the Teams. ■ The following table shows the position ■of the teams in the contest for the senior championship: •g? «„; β-ri g * si *■- !-| s -■§ Sα* tr& h3 H Petone ... 5 3 1 1 11 Central * ... 5 2 2 0 10 North ... o 2 1 2 8 Old Boys ... 5 .1 2 2 7 East.B ... 5 1 13 5 Victoria College 5 0 2 3 4 East A * ... 5 1 0 3 3 Hutt .... 5 0 0 5 0 *East A and Central played a drawn game, which carries no points to either team. * * # » Century Scores for the Season. The following is the list of centuries scored to ;date in senior championship matches this season : — 144— W. A. Baker, East A. 135_W. A. Baker, East A. 134—Donoghue, Petone. 116— F. Joplin, Victoria College; 114—D. Hay, Old Boys. 109— W. R. S. Hickson, Central. 104 — J. Barber, Petone. 103*—A. E. Birch. Victoria College. 103— E. Smyrke, Petone., . • * # * A Slashing Performance was put up by D. Donoghue and E. Smyrke, of the Petone team, against Old Boys last Saturday afternoon. They started batting at 2.20, and at just under an hour —they put together 160 runs, the record stand for the fifth picket. This is, particularly fast scoring, ©ven for the Petone wicket, which was practically perfect last week-end, and despite the fact that some of the regular Old Boys bowlers were helping Wellington to defeat Otago the same afternoon. Donoghue (134) gave one very hard chance to a substitute fielding at point when he had 31 runs to his credit. Otherwise his innings was faultless, this .burly colt giving a splendid display of driving and lifting. Smyrke (103) gave a finished exhibition. He did not pive

a chance during; his long innings,., and, when fairly in his stride, scored -with strokes all round the wicket. As Smyrke is more than an average slow bowler, this latest performance of his should 'entitle him to some consideration when the team is picked to play against Auckland next week. * * # * . Century Stands for the Fifth Wicket. The following is the list of century stands for the fifth wicket in senior championship matches in Wellington, from which it will be seen that Donoghue andSmyrke, of the Petone team, topped all the previous century stands for this wicket last Saturday afternoon: 160 —D. Donoghue and E. Smyrke. 156— E. 0: Blamires and A.' Hawthorne. 147— S. J. Tucker and A. B.Williams. S. Brice and W. R. L. Gibbes. 118— K. H. Tucker and' H. C. Hickson. 114—C: A. Richardson and P. O'Sullivan. 110—A. B. Williams and A. Barron. 103— K. H. Tucker and F. C. Stephenson. 103 — J. Hutchings and W. Quee. ■■*. * * # Passing Note. The East players— J. Hutchings making the speech—presented J. Nash with a handy brief bag on Saturday afternoon to mark their appreciation of the way in which he had carried out the arrangements for their recurring annual trips to Nelson. All I can say is that Jack Nash thoroughly deserved the present he got from his comrades. .

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