Cricket.

Free Lance, Volume XIX, Issue 1029, 17 March 1920, Page 28

Cricket.

TTHHE possibilities of the Petone Club -P- Club supplying the champion team of the Wellington Cricket Association for the 1919-20 season are very bright at the time of writing.. And, judging by the applause that happened many times during the progress of the play at the Basin Reserve last Saturday afternoon, a win by the suburbanites will be, .in the nature of, a popular one. ■ The match thsft drew the attention of the goodly crowd of spectators that had assembled was between the two leading teams for the championship—East, and Petone. ■ When play started ; the former team wer©_ leading by two points, ' but the indications, after the first day'a'play, are that Petone will\be the leaders when the game is concluded. ■. Probably it is necessary to say. that in matches played under the Wellington Cricket •Association.the. team losing a match • loses points as well as the _one winning gaining points. -Tnus.vif Petone wins their- tally will be IQ' 2 or 3, and if East loses their points will be 12 minus 2or 3. So that, despite what one of. our daily papers said on Monday morning, there will be no necessity for a final game b.etween the two teams,, whichever was. this one ■"goes: " ' ' v Betone had first 'Strike, but theatart was not an auspicious one, two wickets falling early. The succeeding, batsman,. however, mostly did more than well-. and 239 runs was the result or Petone s batting effort—A.- Finlaj?son 70, 11. ANicholls 39, E. 47. W. S. Brice 29, A. Donoghue 28, W. Coles 16. With bowlers: like Brice, Finlayson and Smyrke opposed I to- them thei E oss " Vijiitips of East; reaching the total sera ttiem seemed to me to .W had a''bSl a? f v 3^ A Baker 5, H. Watson 8, J. Hutchings 3. ' ; The present appearances are_ that it East can save th£ follow on they wrU * do as mucli as can be expected f them I may he flattering the Petone bowling by writing like this, but tua is how I feel. . . * 45- * .. *~ * ■ Old Boys and North the No, 3 wicket. The latter hadfirst strike, and totalled .156 (W. J.- WagstafEe 48, C G. Wilson 43, W. H. Wilson 14. E. Rvaii 10). ' A. Birch was re-instated m his old-time place as opening batsman ' by H. Lambert (the Old Boys captam). This pair started the contract of overtaking the North score, andjere rig there when stumps were drawn total then being 74 (H. Lambert 38* A. Birch 34*). ; Thorndoh opposed Hutt on the latter' s ground, and ' appear likely to help * themselves to another wm suburban team s expense, The ng of the game as far as it has. gone are. Thorndon 166 (G. Martin 46*, C. Moore 35, W. War he 20, F. Berry 14,_HMcKellar 10, H. Carruthers 11).. Hutt 37 for six wickets (W. G. Hugbes 15 ). • , ■ -V •» ■ * * , The brightest display of batting at ■ the Basin Reserve on Saturday was that given by A. Mayson,'?f;Pet<£e. There was a time when Ranji was hailed as one of the coming cricketers of Wellington. He, ever, did not reach the altitude set for him bv many people, but this season his form both with the bat and the* ball has been of a very high order. Finlayson's off-driving is his. strong suit, albeit h© hits hard anything coming down on the leg side. * * * -* The manner of hia dismissal caused ' one of those perennial arguments. Finlayson lifted the ball away ant to the deep field, where McGirr brought off a beautiful catch: He had to run hack to take the ball, and before he finally steadied himself McGirr had crossed the boundary line. There was no appeal or anything like that by the batsman, hut in the way I read the laws of cricket a-batsman is :£ , not out " under those circumstances. This is the way the rule reads: — "If a ball hit or pass over or through the boundary or is carried over it by the fieldsman the umpire should call a boundary hit. - . It is for the umpire to decide if a hit has reached the boundary."

. I may be told that directly a ball is caught it is dead, but I might point c«it that a batsman is not given out every time he is caught by a fields-, man. Be that as it. may, I would like an authority on the English language to say what the aboite rule really does mean. As far as I am concerned I can'only read it one way.

The championship in Auckland is in an interesting stage. North. Shore had a comfortable, lead, -.but'' Ponsonby defeated them, and, although the former are still ahead, it is ;hy the smallest possible margin—one point. Those with good scores opposite their names in the latest series pf„ matches are- —C. Dacre 103, H. B; Lusk 54, Gillespie 72*, L. Dacre' 36*, W. Garrard 33, Burton 33*. The Riccarton team are the champions for the season in Christchurch. The season was closed down in the Cathedral City last Saturday. Amongst those who scored well in the last series of games were: C. E. Gurney 117, W. i Hayes 100*, J. Young 121, E. R. Caygill 82, D. C. Nixon 58*, R. D. "Worker 52, M. O'Mfilley 42, D. Reese 40, E. E. Luttrell 41 *