Cricket.

Free Lance, Volume XVII, Issue 909, 21 December 1917, Page 19

Cricket.

are in for a, season of big-scores * * in Wellington this year, if the experiences up to the present are anything to go by. During all the years that the. game has been played -under the auspices of the Wellington Cricket Association there have only been eleven single-wicket partnerships in senior cricket of over 200 runs, and the three highest have been made this season. This is conclusive evidence of the statement made in my opening sentence. These stands, in their order of merit, are as follow : : — 252—0. G-. Wilson and B. J. Tuckwell (Ist wicket). 250—A. Dind and W. A. Baker (Ist wicket). 247— H. W. Monaghan and B. Marris (4th wicket). 237— E. •M. Beechey- and H. Lambert (2nd wicket). 220— W. R. Gibbes and W. A. Baker (Ist wicket). . . 213—A. B. Williams and F. W. Lash (2nd wicket). 211— W. T. Bray and J. S. Hiddleston (Ist wicket). 208—A. Hodge and F. W. Spottiswoode (10th wicket). 206 —A. B. Williams and K. H. Tucker (2nd wicket). 206— F. A. Midlane and W. A. Baker (2nd wicket). 206— E. W. Smyrke and D. O'Donoghue (stli wicket). * * * *

To continue my opening theme. In scoring 563. runs for six wickets (innings declared closed) against the Returned Soldiers on Saturday, the Old Boys'put-up a new record for Wellington cricket. In the 1896-97 season the Midland Club totalled 556 runs in one innings, and in the intervening years, though several scores of an abnormal number of runs have been made, not one has equalled that old-time tally until the Old Boys' batsmen made free with the Returned Soldiers' bowling the last two Saturdays.

When play ceased on the first day Old Boys had' scored 281 runs for the loss of three wickets, B. Marris (103) and H. W. Monaghan (59) being the not-out men after a partnership that had added 127 runs to the total. They found the bowling still easy when play was resumed on Saturday on a wicket that was good and true, and before Monaghan was bowled with 92 to his

credit another 120 runs had been add-. Ed, or a total of 247 runs for the fourth-wicket partnership of the pair. _ C. P. Blacklock had waited a considerable time to renew his batting acquaintance _ with the Basin Reserve, but he soon jumped into his stride and_ scored at a very fast rate.. Marris' innings came to a- close with the total at 497. to which the young fellow had contributed 212. It was an innings full of merit, and he thoroughly deserved the hearty round of applause he received on his .retirement. .It is true that the bowling was not of a very high order of merit, but Marris did not at any stage during his long innings— he was at the wickets while 469 runs were scored—become careless. He kept a straight bat all the time, and punished all.the loose bowling as it came along. When Marris was dismissed all that mattered was whether the Old Boys could establish a new record for Wellington senior cricket, and they kept the Returned Soldiers in the field until they attained that desire. The contributors to the huge total were:—B. Marris 212, H. W. Monaghan 92, C. P. Blacklock 74, E. M. Beechey 56, J. P. Blacklock 36*, H. Lambert 17, A. Ronaldson 15, K. H. Tucker 13*, and "Mr." Extras 48. _ A remarkable thing in making mention of these record scores, is the fact that Ken Tucker had a share in both of them. It is true that it was only a small one on Saturday, but .in the big Midland tally in 1896-97 Tucker helped with the good score of 180. . He keeps his youth wonderfully well this old--time Midlander.

The Returned Soldiers could only manage 68 runs in their , second innings (Longhurst 17, Boulton 15, Hicks 10*), and this, added to their 108 in the first innings, left them considerably in the lee-way at the end of the game.

In their match against Trentliam the East team also put up a record on Saturday, but one that does not reflect a deal of credit on them. "When they resumed play there was one wicket in hand in the first innings, but with five runs added to the over-week score the tenth batsman was run out. East followed on, and with one run on the board W. A. Baker answered a call by A. Dind that was immediately cancelled, but Baker could not get back to his crease before J. A. Bruce had spread-eagled his wickets —a small matter of tit-for-tat, Baker having treated Bruce similarly in the Trentham innings.

J. W. Condliffe helped Dind to add a few runs to the total and then he was caught in a trap laid for him by Crawford. A. Fenton was not long in hefore both he and Dind were at the one end and the hall at the other; then W. Bock did not get hack in time, Bruce's shy being again a good one. And, to complete the performance, Dind, who had gone right through the first innings, was run out. Of the six wickets that had fallen during the day up to this stage five of the bats-

men had been run out, which is something to make comment on —a record of its sort, without the shadow of a doubt.

The innings closed for 137 (A. Dind 46, J. Hutchings 27, Christopherson 24), which, added to the 106 of the first innings, left East three runs short of the total —246—put -up by Trentham in their innings.

As there ,was still plenty of time left for play,. Condliffe (the East, captain) suggested to the Trentham captain that the soldiers should bat again. The proposal was eagerly accepted, and a lively hour's cricket followed. J. N. Crawford and B. Wood opened, and both started off to make runs in a hurry. Wood left at 37, and N. C. Snedden partnered the Englishman. The latter only batted twentysix minutes, but during that time added 77 runs to the score. There were five sixes in his tally, one of the hits being the biggest seen on the Basin Reserve in the memory of the oldest habitue of our "cricketing arena. It was a clean drive from the northern end of No. 1 wicket, and sailed right ovei* the top of a two-storied building on the outside of the Basin Reserve. The ball was recovered sailing up the tram-line towards Newtown, after having knocked about a motor-cycle as it bounced off the roof of the house it landed on. Crawford entertained the public during his short stay at the wickets by his meteoric display. "When stumps were drawn the total was 157 for five wickets (Crawford 77, Snedden 39, Wood 13, Binriie 10, and Kemnitz 10* Y.

The North and Petone teams continued their game on the suburban Recreation Ground... "Victory went to the town team by a margin of 190 runs. Scores: —North, ,100 and 239 (A. Eaton 75, C. G. Wilson 27, M. J. Crombie 28, A. Paterson 24*, B. J. Tuckwell 16, J. Mackie 14, E. "Windley 13, J. S. Hiddleston 11); Petone, 81 and 68 (J. T. Stephens 15, W. A. Gate 10* C. Bold 10. W. S. Brice 10).

Successful bowlers on Saturday were: —Trentliam: N. C. Snedden, three wickets'.for 52 runs; J. N. Crawford, one for 60; J. A. Bruce, one for 4. East: J. Hutchings, one for 48; A. Fenton, four for 34. Old Boys: W. Garrod, five for .19; K. H. Tucker, five for 40. Returned Soldiers : Harrison, two for 45; McKellar, one for 53; Cooper, one for 95; Thomas; one for 71; Longhurst. one for 35. Petone: W. S. Brice, four for 76; A. Bennett, five for 98. North: J. S. Hiddleston, six for 40; J. Mackie, three for 25.

Here is a bit of a problem. The Wellington College has gone into vacation for a matter of eight weeks, and two of the masters, who ha.ve been assisting the third-class teams at the College, want to play cricket in the meantime. The query is: Do the byelaws of the Cricket Association permit of the two masters in question playing senior cricket till the College resumes its duties? The way I-read the rules prevents them from doing so, which is in the nature of a hardship.

There was no complaint to be found with the way the scoring-boards were kept at the Basin Reserve on Saturday. The three of them were all decent and in order right through the afternoon.

Championship matches have been suspended for the holiday season. They will be resumed on the sth January. The Trentham team find themselves in a bit of a difficulty. General leave is being given to the soldiers up to the 7th. January, and as they are likely to take full advantage _ of it there will be a very weak side in camp

on the Saturday matches are resumed. It should be possible to so arrange things as to give the soldiers a fight-, ing cha,nce of making a good game, of it with Old Boys 3 who will be their" opponents on that occasion.

I am told that there is at present in camp at Trentham an old Oxford University captain in the person of Allan Wood. He hasn't told anybody out there that he can play cricket, but I heard the above fact whispered to Nesibit Snedden, the Auckland and New Zealand cricketer, and he. is going to look up the old-timer. A man who could go so far as to captain an Oxford University team should be worth watching on the Basin Reserve.

A remarkable thing about the East innings on Saturday is the, fact that the whole side was dismissed' without the wickets being hit by any. of the bowlers. Snedden brought off a couple of good catches and Bruce held another. By the way, what a fine allround sport Alex. Bruce is. "He attained to the dignity of Wellington, Auckland, and New Zealand representative Rugby player, and would have been, at the Front long ago if a 1 knock on the knee he . received on the California.n tour by the New Zealand team in 1913 had not kept him back. At cricket Bruce has represented ..Wellington many- times for his batting, but he is a good change bowler, and has a wonderful pair of hands—almost sacks, ..from the safety point of viewin the field. He had been •practising bomb-throwing during last - week, which probably accounted 1 for the fact that two. batsmen were run out as the outcome of fine shots by hiinv-

Two representative matches have been arranged with Canterbury—one at Christchurch arid the other in Wellington. . A good team -under .the circumstances has been selected to represent Wellington at New Year time.

The daily papers and "the score-books state that J. N. Crawford, the Trentham batsman, was "run out" on Saturday. There was an epidemic of "run out" in the match in which Crawford was playing, but he did not suffer from it. "He was stumped, the ball rebounding off the wicket-keeper's pads on to the wickets while the batsman was out of his ground. The decision in a case like this is "stumped," and not "run out," and the bowler should be credited with the wicket. '

T. W. Reese, Canterbury's veteran, cricketer, called in to see me towards the end of last week. He was in charge of the Christ's College team on its way to play the Auckland Grammar School for the Heathcote Williams Shield. "Tom's" eldest boy is the captain of the Christ's College boys, and has already began, to make a name for himself in senior, cricket in Christcliurch. _ Tom Reese told me that brother" Dan—the most famous of all Canterbury • cricketers—has definitely retired from playing in representative cricket, but will occasionally turn out in club games. What a big chapter in the history of Canterbury Cricket could be devoted to the great lefthander. Perhaps somebody in the Cathedral City will undertake the task.

I have teen asked the question, therefore this statement: —It is quite possible for a bowler bowling round the wicket to get a batsman out leg-before-wicket with a correct decision by the umpire.