Cricket.

Free Lance, Volume XVII, Issue 924, 28 March 1918, Page 20

Cricket.

WHEN those deputed by the Marylebone Cricket Club sat down to draw up the laws of the playing of the game of cricket, they had in their minds the paramount idea that they were legislating for gentlemen and sportsmen. The various amendments that have been made since those early days have had the same end in view. Right through the rules there is hardly one law that can be construed as having any relation to the conduct of the players on the field or off it. It was intended that cricket should be a manly sport, and that those who played it . would 'be; sportsmen. ■x- - * * * This thought came to me in thinking •over the action of the East team in the concluding stages of their match against North last--Saturday afternoon. at the Basin Reserve. When the latter team finished their second innings it was twenty minutes to six o'clock, and, although there was nothing to be gained other than an exhibition of petty childishness on their part—not to 'give it too severe a term—the East captain and his side insisted on the North fellows taking the field for the ten minutes left for play. I cannot understand J. W. Condliffe taking up such a stand, for I have always held in high esteem. The question was put i to him, and he replied that his side were going to bat again, so that he must accept. the., responsibility for the attitude taken up by them. If the usual opening batsmen had taken strike for East one would not have complained too much, but no — Condliffe himself, Baker, or Dind, to give the names of the __ leading batsmen, would not risk their batting averages to inconvenience the North fields-men-—the others who did not care whether their figures were affected or not had to do that. In my opinion, whichever way one looks at* the matter, he is forced to the conclusion that whatever criticism is made on this happening must show the East team and its captain to be lacking in the true spirit which should dominate the playing of the game of cricket. It was one of the most unpleasant incidents I have witnessed during a long connection with cricket in Wellington. I hope it is the last one of a similar nature. * * * * When play finished, on the first day in the East-North match the odds were in favour of the former team prevail-

ing. North had scored 219 and East had 78 runs on the board for* the loss of no wickets. But the early stages of the play went North's way, both W. A. Baker and A. Dind being bowled and P. Walters run out without practically any runs being scored. H. Hatchings got a couple, and then for a while the pendulum swung East's way, J. Hutchings and J. W. Condliffe holding the fort and adding many rung with good cricket shots. B. J. Tuckwell, with his leg-break's, had Hutch ings thinking, and eventually one found a hole in his bat. The encL was not long coming after Hutchings's dismissal, the final total being 172 (J. W. Condliffe 46, A. Dind 38, W. A. Baker 30, J. Hutchings 24, Knowles Smith 11). * * * ' * There was a hubbub from the spectators when Condliffe was bowled by Mcintosh. The ball clipped the outside of the off-stump high up, but the bails did not fall immediately, seeming to be in doubt whether to drop off or not. In the meantime the ball had rebounded off the North wicketkeeper's pads, and many of the spectators thought that the ball in coming back had hit the wickets, thus knocking the bails off. But they were wrong, as Condliffe's off-stump was knocked, back fully three inches through the ball making contact with it before reaching the wicketkeeper. I know not whether the decision to make the North team take the field for the final-ten minutes at the end of the day's play was the outcome of the umpire's decision in this instance, but if it was it was a sorry sort of a reprisal. The decision was a correct one, but I know the men in the white coats do make mistakes, and he is a poor cricketer who does not accept an umpire's decision as part of the game. Condliffe himself had nothing to complain about, for he was prepared to go out "1.b.w." before he had scored ten runs, but the umpire on that occasion was of the opinion that the ball might have gone over the top of the wicket if he had not obstructed it and gave the batsman the benefit of the doubt. Cricketers should not have short memories, and ought to be philosophical, accepting the unfavourable decision in the same spirit as they take the favourables ones. * * * * C. G. Wilson and B. J. Tuckwell opened the North second innings in fine breezy style, but the succeeding batsmen did not keep things going quite as freely and eventually they were all out for 137 (C. G-. Wilson 36, A. R. Barker 21, B. J. Tuckwell 20. H. E. Burton 12). East had a little batting before play finally closed, the tally being 19 for one wicket. (Extras 10.) * * * * It is a remarkable thing that the best showings this season by the Returned Soldiers' , team have been against Trentham. The soldiers in the making are the strongest team in the competition, and those who have done their share of fighting are the weakest. Therefore the point I am making here is worth noting. In their first innings the returned men made 87 and dismissed Trentham for 175, Bruce and Woods, the not-out men from the previous week, not being able to continue their innings from differing causes. Kemnitz and. Keys l added 26 runs to the total for the last

wicket, Kemnitz getting 20. At their second attempt the Returned Soldiers did even better than in their opening innings, the score-book showing 126 runs when the last wicket fell (McKellar 33, Berry 18, Coleman 10, "Mr.-"' Extras 31). A. Sandel and Kemnitz 'opened Trentham's innings, and the 38 runs wanted to win were got with the loss of the latter' s wicket (Sandel 20*). *** . * ■ •Out at Petone the local team had an easy win over Old Boys by nine wickets. The scores in this game were: — Old Boys 61 and 69 (Binnie 17, J; P. Blacklock 12, H. Lambert 11), Petone 53 and 78 for one wicket (W. S. Brice 20, W.. A. Gate 16*, E. NichoUs 20*). * *■ * -KBowlers who had figures worth while in last Saturday's play were:—Trentham: J. N. Crawford, five wickets for 37 runs; E. E. Crawshaw, four for 46. Returned Soldiers: A. Thomas, seven for 65; Boddington, one for 5. East: A. Penton, six for 52; J. Hutchings, three for 23. North: B. J. Tuckwell. two for 42; J. S. Hiddleston, one for 5, one for 32; !L. Macintosh, five for 38. Petone: W. S. Brice, eight for 37. Old Boys: B. A. Marris. one for 34. '* * * * The following table shows the position of the various teams, with one match to play : — „, . Three Point Two Point 3-a Matches. Matches. »» gS Won. Lost. Won. Lost. o'JJ Trentham ..9 7 0 2 0 25 North ..9 3 0 2 4 5 Old Boys .. 9 l£ 2 4 1 4J Petone .. 9 4* 4 0 0 if East ...9 2 3 1 3-7 Betd. Soldiers 9 0 a 0 1—26 * ' * ■ * ■*. There should be something doino- m Wellington this week-end. The representatives of Auckland and Wellington are due to play a return match on the Basin Reserve on Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday, and two fine teams have been selected. There should be a good attendance of the sporting public °/^ he sim P le ' reason that the whole ot the net proceeds of the game are to be handed to the Auckland Cricket Association to help them in their financial troubles with Eden Park, their principal ground. 4. A b te x lll is comin g across from Nelson at faster, playing matches on Friday against East, on Saturday against Petone, and on Monday against the Hutt. Ihis visit is in return for the many Utiristmas teams taken over to Nelson and J - Nsbsh > of the Jiast Club. They will be in the nature or Holiday games. The team to play Hawke's Bay at iNapier is not as representative as originally selected, but it is a good side of semor players and should give our triends m Napier ( an interesting game 1 have heard its composition, but at time of writing I cannot bring the names back to remembrance. 5 * * * * .'lt looks as if W. S. Brice is going to give J N Crawford a great run"for the highest number of wickets in championship matches this season. The Petone and Trentham men are now running level with 82 wickets each to their credit. "