Out Door Sports and Pastimes

Free Lance, Volume XVI, Issue 872, 23 March 1917, Page 19

Out Door Sports and Pastimes

By Touchlino

Cricket.

Things Not Sportiag. PJIHERE were one or two features about the.playing of the matches last Saturday, afternoon that did not please me, and I would like to make my references to them before dealing with the play itself. ' The feeling between the North and the Petone fellows right through their game was not what it should , have been between cricketers, the refusal of the ; Cricket Association to allow E. Smyrke to play for the subiirban team being 'at th§ bottom of the trouble. The final scenes of the play did not show the. Petone players as true sports, although they did not actually break a rule of the ■ game. _ The North team .and; the spectators did not enjoy the tardy Way in which the Petone fellows went in to bat, but, although some of them got perilously near the border-line, the two minutes allowed between the falling' of a wicket and' the. next' batsman going in .was not exceeded. As I said, the Petone 'players played the. game in strict accordance with the. rules; and ' maybe they were within their rights in doing so, but I would have preferred to see. the other spirit- prevailing. , A_s is well known'to habitues of the , Basin; Reserve, K.' H. Tucker has been out.'of the game since the buffetingabout he got in the Old Boys-Boys' Institute match. He was away on holiday last week, and the ; .01d Boys. fielded eleven 1 players "'without him. The exCollegians wanted him to bat. but East objected,/and the ,01d .Boys', captain . agreed to stand Ken Tucker down rather than cause trouble: ; But thero - 'was nothing in the laws of the game on which _ the East- captain' could base 'his •objection, as nowhere in A them is it

stated that a captain is bound to say what his team is before a game commences. It is implied, however, in the provision that permission, should be obtained from the opposing team to, field a substitute. - It was well known in cricketing circles that it Was the intention of the Old Boys Club to play Ken Tucker in this game, and therefore as. he was a regular member of the. team befoi'e his accident the objection raised by the East captain was not in accordance with playing the game in a sporting spirit. ■ f

Just one more growl. There are many better umpires, if one can judge bv their remarks, round the fence than those actually ■ officiating in the white coats. According- to' some of- these would-be umpires, if ho are never, eager to do a little bit of relieving work at a tedious job, C. W. Robinson,. the North bowler, was bowling l 'no-balls"; all the- time last Saturday aftiernoon. I do like to see a lot of interest taken in the playing of the game, but tactics like the one I am referring to are- notf fair either to the bowler in question .or to the umpires. The latter fulfil a thankless duty consistently -every. Saturday afternoon, and courtesy! demands that they should receive fair treatment from' the spectators. .

The North=Petone Game

Gdlf :

The spectators were keenly interested in this game, and time alone prevented the North team from gaining the full three-point win. When play ceased the previous week Petone had a lead of 17 runs with two,wickets in hand. The latter; however, caused but little trouble, both being y out with but five runs added to the score. Nortli did not stand on the order of their going in their second innings, and in fairly quick time they scored 139 runs for the loss of six wickets, A. R Barker (52), C. G. Wilson (26), and W. Bf. S. Hickson (24) being the principal run-getters.

Petone started their second innings witli an hour and twenty-five minutes to bat, and 118 runs to score the. threepoint win. They evidently, preferred the other course, and did not try for the runs, being apparently content with the - two-point win standing -to tlieir credit on the first innings. They succeeded in: keeping up . their wickets, W. S. Brice (21) and E. Nicholls (21*) being the principal stumbling-blocks in the. way of North's win; The latter played the rock' game perfectly, showing wonderful judgment for such a youth

in -the-way he left many tantalising balls alone. - .

E. Windley, the Porirua man in' the £*iorth team, caused a bit of a sensation when he went on to bowl—rather late according to one spectator,'■ who ejaculated when the ball was handed liim, "Not before time !" v A run was scored off his first ball, and then two wickets fell in successive deliveries. The next ovei saw anothei* .wicket ■ go downto Windley's credit, and -seven Petone men were out for 65 runs. But- - the"' time was gone by, and the next man m, (R. Cowie) helped E. Nicholls to play out time, and the win went down to Petone's credit. The successful bowlers in this game were:—Petone: Wv S.' Brice, one wicket for 54 runs; A. .Bennett, four for 58. North: G. W. Robinson, three for 28; A. R. Barker. one for 6; E. Windley, three for 7. - . East v. Old Boys. . E. M. Beechey and A. Itohaldson made a fine start for the Old Boys team m their effort to reach the total of 445 made_ by the East on the' opening day of this game. Both started in an aggressive manner, the, left-hander having a bit of luck, but with 69 runs; on ..tlie board the : younger; player ' was caught'at square-leg off a ball he did not hit hard enough. B. Marris, H. Lambert, and A. < B. William s ; all made fair contributions . to the total, /but after the fall of the fourth wicket for 130 runs a slump set in, and the innihgs closed for .157 —-E. M. Beechey 42, B. Marris 28, A. Ronalds oil 25, "FT Lambert 21, and A. B. Williams 15. In the follow-on the ex-Collegians did much better, and at closing-time had' 146 runs to their credit for five wickets; A.; Ronaldson 51, H. Lambert 38, A. B Williams 14, J. P. .Blacklock 12, and B. Marris 11*. The East bowlers' figures were: W. R. Gibbes four for 39 iand two . for 36; J. Hutchmgs, four for 58 and one for 30; J. Nash, one for 27: E. S. Hylton, one for 13; F. Walters, one for 16. .... ■-*'.■■ 'Sft ' University had a nice, quiet time with- the _Featherston Artillery team, getting rid for 106 rims • (Grigg; 36, Bosher 21, Shephard 18, Talbot 17). Arthur Fenton took seven wickets for 45 runs (including the hat trick). A. - Duncan (two for. 23), and E. H. Ward (one for 22) being the other successful bowlers. The University team qn the previous Saturday had scored 388 runs for six wickets. ■' ® © © How the Teams Stand. ; The following table shows the position of the various teams in the championship contest, with one rqatch to play : i~ ... . i . '1,, ■ m _ Three Point Two Point jS-a Matches. Matches. . . / a 5 Won, Lost. Won. Lost. East - : ;.. 8 o 0 2 1 17 North ; ... 8 5 0 1 2 13 Old Boys ... 8- 4 1 2 1 11 Petone ... 8 4 2 1 1 6 Trentham-" 7 2 5 0 0 <—9 Hutt ... 8 2 6 /0 0 —12 Institute 0.8. 8 1" 6 1 0 ' —13 University 8 - 1 4 . 0 2 —13 The matches this week-end will be East • v. Petone,' North v. . Old Boys. - Boys' Institute v. University,- and Hutt v. Featherston Artillery, the lastmatch not counting for the' championship. The East have a strong lead, according to the table "published ' above, but there are still possibilities. -

Casual Comments. T ° ne 9 f tlie finest things on tho Basin 1 -Reserves on Saturday vras the way in tT 11 i Condilffe gathered in the ball when G. Baker, of. the Old Boys'team was .run out.: The ball was re- : turned fully a yard wide to the East■nncketkeeper. but lie grabbed it and swept the bails off in a way that gave t-he Olcl Boys' batsman no chance in the world. • -Another incident in this game that caused some comment was in this wise. - Gibbes was bowling to A B. Williams, and the latter hit the' ball back to the bowler.; The- latter, when . i 1 ® P a .de the catch,, threw the ball up in • the air in time-hpnoured custom, but tlie veteran remained in his crease. On the appeal being mside the umpire witli the batsman, and gave Tiim not being under the'impression that the ball had_made contact with the giound after- leaving the bat—a "bump" ball. • - . • "* * * A, Qnery Answered. t I have received the following: — \\ quid you kindly give 'me your -opinion, through the Fkee luLxcb on the following matter? In the Old BoysBase Records junior match an Old Boys' bowler was no-balled for .changing " hands without notifying the batsman that he was .about to change hands. • '• a Jf e , WRire, justified in calling a ; no-ball ?" . ; , The umpire was wrongv The bowler can change hands as often as ho pleases, can bowl from either 'side of the. wicket every other ball if he so-de-sires, and can change his delivery from overhand to underhand. All these things are allQwed by the rules of cricket. But every- time the bowler does-change his way of delivery the batsman can ask for a, fresh guard from the umpire, and if he has not received . such guard can decline to play the bdll * untd he does. _ I hope this will make the matter plain to, those interested. ■ \"-■ ,* ■( ' *■•..' ■ /o, Teams drawn from the ranks of Weliington vyoolbrokers and ■ visiting Wool Buyers _ met at Kelburn Park on Saturday, 9tli March, and fought out a- very~ interesting game. Buyers., batting first;' scored 119 (Boyd 40 and Myers 29). The Brokers replied with 130,' Gibbons topscoring with a well-played 31. The issue jvas in doubt right up to the last, and the result might easily have bee® reversed. Ifrank" Clark, the Buyers' captain, insists, that it was his generosity that cost his side the match. - He says he knows -which is the better side and threatens, to prove it the week after faster. Meanwhile the Brokers are calm and. confident. 1 :