Cricket.

Free Lance, Volume XVI, Issue 867, 16 February 1917, Page 21

Cricket.

Lively Batting. The Basin Reserve was a good place for the cricket enthusiast to be in last Saturday afternoon, and for many reasons. The weather, was almost perfect, a keen wind from the north hampering things a little bit in the early stages, but that quietened down before the

afternoon was far spent/ The wickets were in splendid order, and the batting was full of life all the, way-through, with a fireworks display'when the two ex-Central players—W. R. S. Hickson and C. W. Robinson—were piling 'the runs on for North against East.. There was a great muster of oldtimers amongst the .spectators, and. one notable champion of.. the past made a re-appearance, after being absent; from active service for five years. I refer to Arnold Midland Club, Wellington and New Zealand representative wicket-keeper and batsman.' He took strike with E. M. Beechey at the fall of the sixth Old Boys' wicket and his?first stroke was a sweet hit to.leg. On his retirement, after making 17 runs, he got a heariy,reception from the crowd, "Good old Arnold", being in termixed with the hand-clapping. When the Old Boys' turn came round to take the field Arnold Williams donned the gloves as of old, and stumped J. Rodgers in fine style. I hope that this is not a temporary return to play on Williams' part, for on his form on Saturday there is olenty of good cricket left in him yet. ~ North v. East. -This match was played on the No. 1 wicket, and attracted the most attention from the spectators. C. G. Wilson (North) won the toss from P. A. Midlane (East), and elected to bat, sending A. R. Barker and J. S. Hiddleston to start the ball rolling. The latter got busy right from the start, but with the score at 28 he was dismissed, the ball cannoning off his foot into the wickets. B. J. Tuckwell, the Otago-New Zealand representative, followed, and opened like.. a tradesman. Before getting his eye fairly in, however, he tried to hook a straight ball, and missed it, the score-sheet reading. 39 — as C G. Wilson joined up with the North Club secretary. Both played the patient game, but gathering all the possible runs at tb« same time, many sharplyrun singles being amongst their contribution. The runs mounted on the sheet, with the result that when Wilson was dismissed tho tally had advanced by 107. H. E. Burton was quiet, and W. R. S. Hickson helped Barker to reach his century-score before the latter was dismissed. A lot of people .were complaining about, the slowness of Barker's batting, but 215—5—104, the state of the score-book when he was dismissed,. carries the conviction that he got his runs just as quickly as the men at the. other end. ■5* * «■ *> The Champagne of Cricket. C. W. Robinson and W. R. S. Hickson, the two ex-Central men, were partnered for the sixth wicket, and they livened up the game with a vengeance. The. lengthv one was making his first appearance this season, and the way in which he smashed the East bowling about is something that will be remembered for many a day by those who witnessed his beautiful" lofty driving.- To tell it in figures: he had 26 scoring strokes in his innings of 71 —7 sixes, 2 fours, 1 three, 2 twos, and 14 singles —whilwind scoring, if you like. "Robbie," for some reason best known to himself, has not been playing this year, but his arm has lost nothing of its power or his eye anything of its keenness through standing down for the time being. His exhibition was exhilarating, and was as clean a display of forceful batting as I have seen on the Basin Reserve. Stan Hickson, although he was almost run out on one occasion—some people say he, was, albeit the umpire decided otherwise —was a very _good second to Robinson, but the difference between them was that the younger fellow got sixers for his hits and Hickson fouTB. Stan's driving was the feature of his innings. M. J. Crombie, W. Wagstaffe, and A. Paterson all helped the score along, and at twenty minutes past six nings closed, E. Windley being marked absent. Ho lives at Porirua, and with the good score run up by_ his mates he thought he was justified in going home by tho early train, rather than spend another five hours in town needlessly.

The full total of the Nortk team was 395, the double figure scorers-being— Barker 104, Robinson 71, Hickson 53, Wilson 50, Wagstaffe 37, Hiddlesfcon 17, Paterson 16*. "Mr." Extras 29. & . -J> -O- & Old Boys v. Petpjie. The outstanding feature of this game was Hie fine innings plaved by B. JfcL " Beechey. He started with A. Ronaldson, and was the last man on the side to be dismissed, his share of the total of 252 runs being 150. Right from the beginning to the end of his innings he shaped like a batsman at the top of his form, and many telling drives were in his contribution. He showed a distinct partiality for hitting the ball on to the . bank alongside the pavilion, and those gathered there had often to dodge the ball in its flight. The other double-figure scorers were: H. Lambert 18, A. B. Williams 17, and G. Baker 12: S. J. Wills and R. L. Mason, two veteran Old Boys, came back into the team, and a new lad in F. Morton—leg-break bowler in the Wellington College team of the Mast three seasons—took his -place in the " eleven. K. H. Tucker would not risk another knock on his knee, and stood down foT this game. When stumps were drawn, Petone had 86 runs to their credit for the loss " of four wickets—H. ISTicholls 21* A. Bennett 21, W. A. Gate 12* and J. -Uodgers 10. ■'■*.".• * *■ . a Both, of these games will be continued to-morrow (Saturday) afternoon, and the further play in them should be more than interesting. The East fellows will have to get' busy to reach the total set them,, but they have some able batsmen amongst them, and the total should not be beyond them if the conditions are favourable and they are m the humour. W. S. Brice has not yet batted for Petone.-and until he is dismissed the Old Boys will not be out of the wood. Therefore, the enthusiasts should have a good time this weekend. .. - ~» ' •»- « » Bowling Figures. .. With the batsmen in scoring mood, it stands to reason that the bowlers did not-come out? of the deal on Saturday with flattering figures. Here are some of them (those that got wickets): — Petone: W. S. Brice, two wickets for - 94 runs; A. Bennett, one for 53; E. f for 7 $L ; J ' one for on • s , ol^» B °y s: H - Lambert, two for - |f; ?-Marris, two for 28. East: W. R. Gibbes, threefor 110; J. Hutchings, two for 57; F. Walters, one for 46; A. Dmd, three for 73.