Cricket.

Free Lance, Volume XVI, Issue 867, 16 February 1917, Page 23

Cricket.

Watt v. Boys' Institute. A match in t the nature of a'qualifying one for the wooden spoon was ■played,'between these teams at the Lower Hutt Recreation Ground on Saturday. The Boys' Institute Old Boys got a lead of 30 runs on the first innings, and the concluding stage of the game next Saturday 1 should be interesting. Scores: Hutt, 107 (D. Neazor 41, J. Patton 29); Boys' Institute, 137 (E. Guise 55% W. Garrod 31, Wilton 20, J. Twomey 12).. Bowling figures : -—Institute: ■. W. Garrod, seven for 39; L. F. Keys, one for 38. Hutt: P. Smith, two for 21; ,1. Patton, three for 32; W. A. Aldersley, two for 28: J. Baumber. one for 27. o t» 4} . o £. M. Beechey, the Old Boys' lefthander, is in a scoring humour this season, his last, two innings in particular being productive of a' lot of runs. His tallies in their order have been:—-42, 0, 30, 11, 13, 41, 63, 143, 150, a total of 493.runs for nine innings—an average of 58.33. There are one or two record performances in this connection that are worth mentioning. The following figures, by F. A. Midlane (1913-14) include the highest number of runs scored and the best average attained in any one sea-son:-—No. of innings 12, times not out 4, total runs 707, highest score 101*, average 88^37. G. A. Richardson credited himself with three century-seores in one season (1901-02), and A. B. Williams got two centuries in one match (114-105, 1897-98). The figures in this paragraph are mentioned just now simply because there is more than a possibility of E. M?. Beechey equalling some of them. a o a o A. R. Barker, the other century-scorer in Saturday's games, is a believer in the principle that if a batsman can keep his wickets up the runs will come. At times his display of batting was wearying, but at other's he put plenty of wood behind his shots. He had the East bowling tied in a knot most of the time, and could have punished it more severely than he did. , Barker camo to Wellington from Gisborne and Napier some years ago, but this is the first time he has scored a century of runs in senior cricket. For tho North juniors the year before last he got a three-figure score, and on his promotion the following Saturday he totalled 60 against East. In Gisborne, Barker scored a lot of runs, 77 (caught off, his knee) and 44* in consecutive innings being his best performance. In Napier he did not meet with much success with the bat, too often "picking out the wrong ball to hit and paying the penalty. As a result of this experience he has developed into an overcautious player, but the fact fchat a century-score has come his way would seem to indicate that his methods axe both prohlable to himself and to the bJorth team. n ...»,■ ■ ■ •. . ■ -a Casual Comments. An incident worth mentioning happened at Kelburn Park on Saturday. A visitor to Wellington went up there, by tram, and asked some lads he met if it was the Basin Reserve, and what were the matches that were being

played. The lads he questioned were members of the Old Boys junior team.. andj as they were short-handed, .they invited him to take part in tlie game. Something: seemed to tell them that he was a cricketer; They were playing the' North Juniors, but they did not take any risks with the newcomer. He was sent in to bat for the Old Boys at the fall of the ninth wicket, and assisted' in doubling the score before the lad at the .other end was dismissed, : the stranger's contribution being 29 (not out). Recognising .that they were up against something out of the ordinary j the North eaptein: prof erred the request to Old Boys that they should not- send their unexpected discovery in to start, the second" innings. ; ' 'All right,'' was the response, "but he will go in first wicket down." The stranger was in: a hurry, or was generous, whichever way you. like, and his second contribution was. a niodest 15. I It only remains for me to say that the stranger : was Liddicutt, a Victorian player, who represented Geelong against an _ English team that' toured Australia a few years ago, the one captained by Pelham Warner; I think it was. He was,passing'through Wellington, by steamer, and had intended to watch the games at the Basin Reserve. .A cricket all right, he deserved the enjoyment he got out of the North Juniors on Saturday. «• ~ .*' ./ * .-■ ' *• .- I was surprised to see E. Smyrke playing_for the Pe-fone team on Saturday. He started the year with them, then went into camp and played for Trentham, and now that , tlie soldier team lias withdrawn he returns to Petone. It does not seem the correct thing, according to my way of viewing

things, but in any case permission should have been obtained from the Cricket Association by the Petone Club before playing "Teddy." This seems to me to be the correct course to" pursue, in any case. As it is now, there is boimd to be some sort of Unpleasantness. We don't often see the "barrackers" at the Basin Reserve. But they were there on Saturday, some of them going so far as to call out in an unseemly manner' to the man waiting for a catch. He dropped it, of course,, and they were delighted, but it was not playing the game, all the samn. Arthur Donaldson, known best in Wellington as a member of the St'. James Rugby team, and latterly as a League player, took part in a cricket match at Capetown on liis way home with his Reinforcement draft. Sergt. Coburn, Sergt. Donaldson, and Corpl. Taylor—ah Auckland representative— played for Capetown against Claremont. Capetown totalled 239, the contributions of the military trio being: Coburn 50, Donaldson 27", and. Taylor i 19. The match was drawn