OUT DOOR SPORTS AND PASTIMES

Free Lance, Volume XVI, Issue 863, 19 January 1917, Page 21

OUT DOOR SPORTS AND PASTIMES

By Touchline,

Cricket.

A Good Day. rgTEE cricket at the Basin Reserve last Saturday afternoon was interesting all -the way through, with more than - a - tinge of ♦ excitement in the closing stages,' especially in , the North-University match. When -play ceased the previous week,' University had four wickets in hand and 54 runs to make- to equal, the total set them by North. Arthur Birch and J. C. Burns were the batsmen, and they had no •difficulty in, coping with their task. As a.matter of fact, .they went.on.until the score-book showed. 207 runs—two runs short of-a century for their partnership' together—and in the meantime - Arthur Birch Scored a Century. In penning my note last week I had a hope that the ex-Wellington College lad would achieve this distinction,' and he did so with many fine cricket shots. 1 This is his second century in championship matches, the xirevious one having been made against the Hutt (103*) in the 1913-14 season. He has got into the nineties three times, 97 against the East in. 1914-15 being the best. Therefore the 110 on this occasion is his ' best tally to date, and I extend to him my congratulations. . « ■»' * «• With'the Birch-Burns, partnership dissolved the end of the University, innings was in" sight. Three runs later Burns himself left—eight for 210 —after playing an innings that was . full _of merit and- good scoring shots.,. With •the total at 232 the end came—A. Birch 110, J. G. Burns 40, E. Ward 27. Spence 14.

A Lively Time. . Recognising that his only hope, of reversing the decision of the first innings was to send his forcing batsmen , in. first, the North captain started off with W. Wagstaffe and M. J. Crombie, J. S. Hiddioston taking up the running with • the ■. first wicket down. These NorsemenI—Hid-dleston1 —Hid-dleston especially so—got very ( busy ■ and • smacked the ■University bowlers to all points of -the . compass, i The closure was applied with the score at 182 for five wickets— Hiddleston 86* Crombie 38, -B. J. Tuckwell 19", and Wagstaffe 12. Hiddleston was scoring so' freely that it would not have been many minutes before he reached the century, but, as the. sequel proved,' the North men would not have been able to score the victory if they had gone on even five minutes longer. 0 » -St- o An Unaccountable: Collapse. The University fellows had only to keep their wickets, up for; a • little over, an hour and a-quarter to win the • game, but one of. those unaccountable things happen'ed. One. after another the batsmen went in' and out -without scoring, 1 the first three -wickets falling with the score at 1, and that run was a bye. Seven runs were on the scoresheet , when the fourth and fifth wickets. fell, and then a slight improyement happened. The score-book read six for 13, seven for 21, . and eight for 37. The / match had now resolved into a' race against time, with P. Dwyer and A. Duncan holding the fort for University. The pair were ba-tting hicely, but Duncan evinced a, desire to have ahit—his usual. game. Witli the clock . between twenty and fifteen minutes to 7 Duncan ..was caught off the last ball of,one of overs. Dwyer.helped himself to three runs off the next over, and kept the bowling. The last over of the day was then entered on, and off the second ball Dwyer found the boundary, bringing Spence. ■opposite Windley.' He survived, two balls safely, and then a yorker spreadeagled the stumps,, and North converted a loss into a three-point win in the last ball but one of the day. It was cutting tilings fine with a ven-- ... geance, but they fought hard, and deserved the win. Most of "those round the ring-side -at the .finish would have like to see the University team prevail, s but outside of Dwyer (22*) and Duncan , (13) i>ot one of the batsmen showed batting form worthy of the occasion. I am sorry to have to say it, but it's true all the same.

Old Boys^Trentham. : - Tiiis also was an interesting game up to a certain stage. On ,the first day Old Boys had scored 185. the soldiers . replying witl) 111 for. seven wickets. Hamilton anjl 11. Torrance were, the batsmen, and with the score at 150, C. Taylor got one past the former. Then L. Da ere, a; North Shore ,and Auckland representative, joined . up with the ' Dunedin man:, . He had not played the first day,- but the Old Boys' captain, on being approached, made no demur at a man being dropped out of the team to, let Dacre in. It was a sportsmanlike action on his part, but it was not cricket as it should be played. These soldier lads, however, are playing the game in the higher sense, and if courtesies can be extended to them maybo it is only fitting that they should be. However, to get on with the story. Dacre shaped like a batsman, but was too eager to knock the cover off the ball. The ; was that 1 he was caught in the slips before getting pro--periy 'going, although, in the meantime the score had gone up to i.within If) of the Old Boys' total. The last man partnered Torrance, who was bat-. ting; in good form. At 18i, however— four runs short—a brilliant catch at deep mid-off by Ronaldson off a drive from: Torrance's bat that had a lot of Wood behind it, finished the innings, the double-figure scorers on Saturday being R. Torrance (28) -and Hamilton (22). ' : , . ~■.*. * » O ' In a Scoring Humour, For some unexplained the Trentham captain discarded' the wicket-,.. keeping gloves, and started the bowl-\ ing from one end himself, .with Hamilton at the other, Torrance being sent into the country to field. Then he chopped and changed his bowlers in quick time —two overs being the limit in most cases. The result was thiat the Old Boys' Batsmen got" in a. merry mood, and when the second wicket;fell 117: runs were on .the board, scored in just a fraction over the hour. With the score at 204 for five wickets, the innings was declared closed, the double-' figure scorers being: 'E.. M. Beechey 03, H. Lambert 39, J. P. Blacklock 29*> B. Man-is 21 ; A. Ronaldson 15, G. Baker 12.* ' •» » it e ■ ' Another Failure. The Trentham fellows had an hour and twenty-five minutes . to bat, and some people were discussing their chances of knocking-off the runs wanted to win—2o9 —in the <• time. T.hey started with H. Tattershall • and 3J. Torrance—both swinging batsmen—but at 20 the Dunedin man was cTfsmissed, and the end was : not. long in coming. As a matter of fact the side, batting one short," were all out for shall 25, Barrow 15*, T. R. Southall 11,' Xi. Dacre 11. And Old' Boys wound up with a three-point win. i. «•' - ' i Successfnl Bowlers. The above were . the only matches played last Saturday, the others having been finished the previous week. ' The bowlers, who helped themselves to wickets last Saturday were : —Trentr ham: Edgar McCardell, one wicket for 21 Tuns; Hamilton, one for 30; T. R. Southall, two for '29; R. Torrance, • one for 30. - Old Boys: C. Taylor, five for 37; B. Marris, three for 22; H. Lambert, one for 16. North: J.' S. Hiddleston, five for 31; Mackie, three for 17.;. E. Windley, 10. 1 University: A. .iSenton,. .two for 44; A. George, one for 32; E. Ward, one for 20. * » * » How the Teams Stand.

Personal Notes. In my last week's budget I stated tliat young Nicholls, who scored _ 99* for Petone against the Boys' Institute, was old friend Sid Nicholls' sepond son. Therein I erred, for he is the third son of the old Poneke and Wellington representative Rugby player and cricketer. Sid's eldest son (Sid the younger) has been, on fuiipugh in India, and this week returns to _ Alexandria for another term o£ service in Egypt. Harold (the second boy) is in the fighting line in France, _ and would have played in the recent military football matches in England if 'he had been able to obtain the necessary leave. Rugby enthusiasts will remember him as the clever Petone lialf-back, _ who could pot-a goal from the field- if "the occasion arose.

To Settle an Argument. Coming off the" Basin Reserve on afternoon, I was asked if Harry Trott, the old-time Australian Eleven captain, had captained a South Melbourne cricket team in Wellington. An argument had arisen on the point, .and the facts herewith are the : — In the 1912-13 season a South Melbourne cricket team played matches in New Zealand, under the auspices of the Wellington Wednesday Cricket Association, and the match, against Wellington was played on the Basin Reserve on December 27 and 28th, 1912, South Melbourne winning by 32 runs. The teams were as follow: — Wellington.—J. P. Blacklock (captain) F. A. Midlane, E. M. Phillips, E. M. Beechey, E. 0. Blamires, D. Naughton, A. Fenton, C. V. Grimmett, T. R. Southall, C. W. Robinson, and G. -Schmoll. South Melbourne. —H. Trott (captain), J. F Giller, W. H. McCormack, W. Scott, R. Deas, J. Kyle, A. Kenny, H. Kelly, S. Sykes, T. Pui-vis, and A. Pehtland. An extract from my comments on the game reads: "Harry Trott himself is past his first youth, being 46 years ■of age, but he is still as good a captain •as of yore. He managed his bowling well, and placed his field in a way that ■denoted the master hand. With the bat he made many fine strokes, and at point he stopped everything that came within reach." r Ernest Beechey, the Old Boys' player, is one of the best all-rounders in Wellington just now. He can bowl a decent ball, although he does not cut irtucb ice in that direction, but he is a top-notch batsman, and can field any•where. In the slips he is j about our best,' and in the long-field he covers a lot of ground. He brought off acouple of brilliant catches on Saturday. Ronaldson, also, has a fine pair of hands, and, altogether, last week-end the Old Boys' fielding was up to a good' standard.' The batsmen were in a merry mood at the Basin Reserve on Saturday, no less than 9 sixeTs being hit during the afternoon. There are some of our players who want' to know, hence the following. An instruction to umpires, issued by the Marylebone Cricket Club, reads: — "'Umpires should not call 'Time' before the over " is finished, unless a wicket fall within two minutes of 'Time.' " (See Law 45.) A cricket match took place on the No. 3 Parade Ground, Sling Camp, Salisbury Plain, at the end of September, between ' teams representing the 3rd New Zealand Rifle Brigade and 3rd Reserve' Battalion (Canterbury-

Otago). The game resulted in an easy win for the Rifle Brigade by an innings and 50 runs. The outstanding features of the game were the fine bowling performance of Q.M.S. -Sloan, who captured eleven of the CanterfauryOtago wickets at a cost of 18 runs, and the fine chanceless innings of ChaplainCaptain Blamires. Barinerman was the most consistent bowler and batsman of the Canterbury-Otago Regiment.

\ 03 . Three Point Two Point * '5-*S Matches. Matches." • gig HpJ "Won. Last. o(2 East ' ... 4 .4' 0.0 ; 0" 12 North ... 4 3 0 01 7 Old Boys 4 2 1 1 0 5 , Trentham 4 2 2 0 0 0 ' Pctono . 4 2 ■ 2 0 0 0 Hutt 4 1 3 0 0 Boys' • Institute 4 0 3 1 0 —7 University 4 -2 0 0 2 ■—10