Sports and Pastimes

Free Lance, Volume XVII, Issue 908, 14 December 1917, Page 19

Sports and Pastimes

By Touchline.

Cricket. "T7"EBILY we have been experiencing * some splendid week-ends in Wellington lately, and no body of sports in the community have enjoyed the fine weather more than the cricketers have. The Basin Reserve has been a good place to spend these Saturday afternoons, the displays of cricket being of a distinctly "high order of merit. * _ * « * The game on No. 1 wicket last Saturday was.between the East and Trentham teams,' the soldier captain (H. B. Lusk) winning the toss and electing to bat. He took in with him A. Kenney (Opoho Club and Otago repx-esenta-tive player), but the Canterbury man was dismissed when he had only one run to his credit, Hutchings getting a full toss on the leg-stump past the bat. N. C. Snedden (Pohsonby Club, Auckland and New.New Zealand representative) joined the Otago man, and gave a delightful display of the best of cricket. It is rarely that one sees such fine shots l as Snedden made, the drive, the leg-hit, and the cut all leaving the bat with perfectly-timed strokes. The Aucklander ■ paid the wicket a compliment in saying that it was the best one he had played on in Wellington, in representative or any other sort of cricket. Kenney kept his end up for a long while, but "defence not defiance" is his motto —in short, he is a stonewaller of the old school, with few strokes in his collection worth mentioning. "J. N. Crawford joined up with Sneddon after Kenney's dismissal, and the pair kept the fieldsmen very busy. The Englishman was quiet at the start of his innings, but directly he warmed up he hit the bowling very hard, the drive past cover and the straight drive being the outstanding features in his innings, the fieldsmen rarely having a possibility of intercepting the ball on its way to the boundary. J. A. Bruce came in, just got starts ed, and then rah himself out. The ball went sharply to Baker at coverpoint, and Bruce made the call, anticipating that the ball would be thrown to the wicketkeeper's end. Baker, however, fielded the ball smartly, and took a cock-shy at the wickets the batsman was making for. It was a good "Aunt Sally" shot and Bruce was yards away when the timber-stack fell over. Bruce Wood (the young Wanganui player, who made a good showing in the opening match of the season), joined up with the man, and I looked for some bright cricket. But just here J. Hutchings. sent down an over with a lot . of sensations in it. The first ball Crawford drove back hard to the bowler, but it was too hot, and could not be held. It looked like a "bump ball" to me, however. Another drive, with a.lot of wood behind it went hard in the air . to Fenton at mid-off, but the ball did not find a resting-place. Wood, however, hearda call of some sort.and made off down the wickets, only to be sent back, but too late. And then Crawford threw

his wicket away_, hitting all round a good length ball on his leg-stump. The remaining members of the Trentham team were: D." Binnie, the familiar middle-distance amateur runner, who made his debut in senior cricket; Kennitz, a Southland representative; Leslie Hill, to whom I will devote a special paragraph; Schofield, from the Parnell Club, Auckland; and F. Paterson, an ex-Auckland player, who played one season with the Central Club, and since then has been in the Waikato district. From what I have written it will be seen that the Trentham team was New Zealand in character. The Trentham innings produced 246 runs—Sneddon 68, Crawford 68, Schofield 25, Kenney • 20, and ' Binnie 15. The successful bowlers were:-— J. Hutchings, four for 70; A. Fenton, one for 28; A. Dind, one for 30; J. Nash, two for 55. b 9 9 W. A. Baker and A. Dind started the East innings and both shaped very confidently to the bowling of J. N. Crawford and N. C. Snedden. The lefthander was uncomfortable to most of the Aucklander's deliveries' going down on his off-wicket,' but luck was with him, no less than three possible chances of catching him being_ dropped during his innings. Otherwise Dind gave a slashing display, and at the end of the day was unbeaten with 43* to his credit. Baker shaped like a tradesman, but with 38 runs _ on the score-sheet Crawford got a daisy-cutter past him, although the last ball of the previous over "Wiri" had hit hard to the on-boundary. For the first time this season Qrawford was wearing cricket boots, and with a wicket to his liking*, the following East batsmen were up against it. As a matter of fact, five of them were dismissed without scoring, some of the balls flying into the timber-stacks like shots from a gun. The one that got Hutchings was a particularly sweet delivery, the ball swinging from outside the off-stump and flicking off the legbail. He is a cricketer to the fingertips this Englishman, and it is a delight to watch him in action. The end of the story is that at the, drawing of stumps East had 101 runs to their credit (A. Dind 43*, W. A. Baker 23, A. Fenton 11), so that it is highly probable that they will have to follow their innings. J.'N. Crawford (six for 48) and N. C. Snedden (three for 48) bowled unchanged through the innings. * * * * The last time I commented on matches played on the Basin Reserve I suggested that it would be good policy to play the second senior match on the No. 3 wicket, but I did not think it fair to the junior players to shift them to the No. 2 wicket, with its disadvantages, as such applied equally to them as to the seniors. The. young fellows, however, relished the change, and the result is that last Saturday's match between the Returned Soldiers and the Old Boys teams was played on the No. 3 wicket. ex-Wellington College boys had a great gathering of the clans for this match, and when they knew the players that were available they regretted that they had not been drawn against Trentham, acknowledged -the strongest team in the competition. Harold Monaghan, who now wears the cloth as a minister of the Church of England, is changing his sphere of usefulness from Richmond (Canterbury) to Eahiatua (one of the principal towns in the Forty-Mile Bush). He has a six-weeks'. holiday, and a suggestion from him that he put in part of the time playing for his old club was heartily agreed to. When Harold Monaghan first came ' into senior cricket in Wellington—from • "the College—he was a bowler distinctly out on

Ms own. He had a natural swerve andcaused many sensations; so much so that a place in the Wellington representative team was early' given him. That astute judge of a cricketer .and well-known authority—M. A. Noble— expressed himself as impressed with ■ Monaghan's possibilities. That, however, is history. It is three years ago since Harold last played cricket —and it was. as a Canterbury representative that he last took strike. Since then he , fell out of a trap while pursuing his ministerial duties, and his bowling arm .was broken as the result of the accident. C. P. Blackloek, representative wicketkeeper and batsman, has lately returned from the South Island to the North, his duties these days taking him over the district that lies between Wellington and Napier. A. Ronaldsoh (last year's Old Boys' captain) is in camp with the Artillery at Featherston; and he is spending his long leave.in helping, the Old Boys,.jfco make a. bold showing. These three players have put the stiffening into the team that it wanted. *\ * . * *. ■ • The Returned Soldiers Had first strike, the innings realising 108. During its progress A. Thomas, better known to most of the readers of these notes as a Rugby full-back, although it is fair to say that he has done much cricket playing in the past, had a fair go at the Old Boys' bowling, rattling up three sixes and four fours in a tally of 45*. It was a bright feature in an otherwise drab display, and helped the last wicket to add 43 runs to the total. The innings totalled 108, the other double-figures besides Thomas being McKellar 21, Harrison 13, and Cooper 12. * * * •*■ The opposition bowling possessed no terrors for the Old Boys' batsmen, and . at the end of the day the total was 281 runs for the loss of three wickets. B. Marris achieved the cricketer's ambition in scoring a century—the first in his career —and he wasted no time in getting his runs. This youngster has a fine straight drive in his basket, holding- the bat with both hands well up the handle when making it. The ball leaves the bat -with' a lot of pace behind it, and swishes along the carpet. This is his main scoring shot, although he makes runs with many others, some of his best being the forward drive and the smash down leg. I congratulate him on his three-figure score. While at College, Marris was not considered in the first . flight of batsmen —bowling was his strong suit —and his biggest tallies have been made in senior cricket. H. W. Monaghan was also unbeaten at the end of the day, with over half a century opposite his name. He is a lefthander with a whole box of shots at his disposal, and has made runs against the best of bowling. The contributors to the Old Boys' total were: B. Marris 103*, H. W. Monaghan 59*, E. M. Beeehey 56, H. Lambert 17, and A. Ronaldson 15. The stand for the fourth wicket. between Marris and Monaghan has already produced 127 runs. * - # * * The successful bowlers in this game were : —Returned Soldiers : McKellar, one for 53; A. Thomas, one for 40; Longhurst, one for 27. Old Boys: K. H. Tucker, five for 60; W. Garrod, three for 11; H. W. Monaghan, one for 33; H. Lambert, one for 0. Just to keep up the old-time tradition, the Old Boys' captain started his bowling with Monaghan at one - end and Tucker at the other.

_At" the Petone Recreation Ground, JNorth and Petone met for the first time "this season, but nothing sensational happened. Scores:—North, 100 (C. G. Wilson 37, J. S. Hiddleston 18, E. Windley 13, E. Ward 12) and 85 for three wickets (Wilson 27, A. Eaton B ; J- Tuokwell 16); Petone, 81 (C Bold 25, Parrant 22). The successful bowlers were:—Petone: W S Brzce three for 54; A. Bennett, five W? x •„ :N^ ll: J - Maekie, three for 4r-' V," S - Hiddleston, two for 45; E. Windley, five for 5. * * * # A par about Leslie Hill, one of the Irentham team. He left for the Front with the Main Body, and, like his brother—Lieut. W. J. Hill—ha s been sent back from England to act as a commissioned officer with a later Reinforcement. Leslie Hill is better known as a Rugby footballer than as a cricketer, having represented Taranaki as full-back in many of that province s most important representative games. Leslie Hill has had more than his share of the fighting. He was at the landing m Galiipoli, and, after being there a while, he spent some months in a hospital m Egypt. Fit" and well JP^V 1 ® Sot amongst the bother oh tiie Western Front, eventually winning promotion to. sergeant-major of Ms company. Brother Bill was then sergeant of the same company, and this pair-of old Taranaki boys and brothers saw much hard work in the muddy fields and hard toil on the Western Front That they favourably impressed the military authorities in high places is proved by the.fact that tney are each wearing a lieutenant's uniform now, with the black bad<*e with the red diamond in the centre on the back of their collar-band. Lieut. W. J, Hill is a well-known journalist, and methinks the stories he .will have to tell about this great war when it is all over and done with will make the best of reading. And Leslie undoubtedly will help him with the colouring when the time comes round to write the story.- * * * * "The Cricket Association have charged us sixpence to come in to-day yet they made no arrangements to keep the telegraph going in one of the senior "games," said an indignant enthusiast .to me at the end of last Saturday s games. His grievance seemed to me to be a just one. It is hard : work at times to find boys willing to keep these numbers going, and in the past it has been found necessary to pay a slight remuneration each Saturday for the service. A similar course might be adopted at this stage, and it would not be a bad move to get a painter to- touch up the figures with a bit of white paint. Most of them are showing signs of being the worse for wear. The match proposed between -the Trentham team and the Auckland representatives at Christmas time has fallen through. The Aucklanders asked for the match at the holiday searson, but the soldiers wanted it a week earlier. Most of them will be on what really will be their final leave during the holidays ,and it is only natural that they will want to spend Christmas with their people.