CRICKET.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 10908, 12 November 1898, Page 2 (Supplement)

CRICKET.

. I , 1 The matches in the third draw of the first , i round of the cup fixtures under the Aucki | land Cricket Association will be commenced : thi- afternoon, after which cricket will be , si:-pended until the first Saturday in December. the Domain ground having been enEii'iwl by athletic bodies for the holding of ■ hpurts carnivals on the 19t!i and 26th. The lif.iiur matches set down for decision are I Cordon v. Auckland, United v. Auckland j XV.. and Paniell v. North Shore, the last | named contest to be played on tht Devonport ! gri.und. The wickets promise to be in good older.

'llie closing day's play in the second round, j which took place on Saturday last, attracted a considerable amount of interest, and with the exception of the poor aland made by Gordon against United, very poor cricket wan shown. With two wickets down for two runs, and requiring 97 to win, the Auckland XV., playing a ■■ man short, succeeded in putting together ISI runs, thus winning by the substioc.;;:! majority of 53 niim on the first inning-, North Shore's initial efforts having (.lily resulted in 93 runs. Archibald, who made top score of 37 for the winning side, hit hart! for his runs, though his cricket on the whole was hardly what Oil,) aotild cull of a high-class order. During the course of his stay at the wickets he skied at least two that might have been taken by Ball at long-on liad lie not badly i l ll - ' i'-'/'ed them. Nevertheless, Archibald | j>roiris<-n to pruMi a useful and welcome ad- , dition to the fifteen. E. C. lieale (15) played the soundest cricket I liavu seen by him for some time past, and Dixon (17. not out) shaped very well for his mi*. He should put on more than one useful score for the Pvni as the season advances, as he is in very good form this year. ( ii'eville (15} leu out at everything that came along, the innings being rather of a " Creaky" order, while Darby (19) had more than a fair share of luck when the way in which he was " mowing around" is taken into account. The ex-junior Harrison, although only adding siv to the score, deserves credit for the maimer in which lie kept his end up, while lie al'-o had rather hard luck in being run cut, lieaie not responding to his call. Loudon opened his shoulders /or his quota of 11. bill Thompson. who scored a like number, put a couple of rather dangerous ones into tin; slips. For North Shore, Warren five for 50 and J. Smith five for 34. both bowled well. The former mads every use of his head, mixing* hii pace a good deal, tome of his slow ones jotting up very quickly, and coming in a bit.; wlide Smith, who is a left-hander, kept a good length and got in a bit of work to leg.

(i. Mills, who wont oil again just before Auckland reached the required runs, could hardly have felt pleaded with himself when Archibald put his second (to leg) away for four, which brought up the winning number on the hoard. Ihc holding was oil tho whole very fair, though Bali, al long-on (as mentioned above), a couple ol eatrlieK badly, waiting instead of mooting the ball, thus leaving tho run 100 late. \Vy:iy:.r(l was the best of the fieldsmen, his retnniii'i> being an object lesson to his club m.iiiv. North .Shore are badly in want of a good wicket keeper. It was anticipated that the Gordon eleven would find the t;uk of topping the 194 runs scored by United a stiff one, and while many doubled their ability to do so, few indeed were prepared for the feeble stand they made, their mtr.i only reaching 92 runs, which left labt year's champions victor by the Murwhelming majority of 102 runs on the first innings'. Dr. Pabsl, who headed the Gordon figures with 26, played a long and careful innings : for hi* ruiia, not giving a chance. Kallender and Seecmnbc with 19 each to I their credit only displayed fair form, their inning?' being flukey, attributable no doubt in a incisure to the change from the slow practice-wicket to a fast maWhwieket. i lie change of wickcts was particularly emphasised by Alexander's play, he hitting too lute at almost every bull. Ijubalt Hire: for 8 and Walton three for 20 were in very good form with the ball, and bowled enijsi.-umtiy well. Tiiu I uiU'il catching was really good, but the ground fielding was nt times somewhat loc.se. Lalnitt and Walton distinguished themselves by bringing oil a couple of remarkably line catches in the slips. The Auckland v. Parnell match was not completed with the close of play on Saturday, and was to have been finished on Thursday evening, too late, however, for notice in these columns. With 8 wickets down for 146 run.--. Auckland resumed, and to the, surprise of their opponents carried the total to 195 before the last wicket foil, Parnell responding with 103 for the loss of 6 wickets. While a very fair scoro, I hardly think the completion of the match would bring them to the figures „cl by Auckland, as tho best wickets had fallen during the compilation of the 108, the ingoing men after this being mainly bowlers.

Clayton (53, not out) hit hard and clean for his runs, displaying more care than he usually Gxeruipe? —evidently feels the weight of his responsibility as captain of the Auckland eleven. Hill (27) was not too well at homo, and should havo Irani slumped on one or two nocasions. At the same tone, his stay at tho wickets was invaluable to Clayton. There was nothing special about the Parn.oll trundling to eall for mention; it was mostly straight stuff of Iho evtry-day order. I. -Mills, who went in first for Parnell and lcmained at the wickets the whole afternoon for 46 (not out), played correct cricket, though he gave our soft ohanco to Holland, between point and mid-off, shortly after getting into double figures, but tile Auckland fieldsman was evidently not prepared for it, and did not see it coming. Apart from this he made no mistakes. Oh'ison (30) gave an easy chance to Clayton at mid-olf, after getting into double figures, and also narrowly missed being stumped, otherwise the innings was marked by" his usually careful and correct play. I.usk 113) was "swiping" around in reckless fashion, until he succumbed to St. Paul, clean bowled, on what is known in cricket parlance as a "cross country swoop." F. Laws came out of the bowling with the best average, taking throe for 17. Ho bowled particularly wall at first, coming up off the pitch very fast. St. Paul, tho slow-break bowler, with three for 17, should have shown better figures, as ho had decidedly hard luok. Ino .less than three chances being missed oft his bowling, A. M. Benle bowled steadily, though without success, only 17 runs being scored off the 14 overs sent down by him. Messrs. Lankliam and Hoyles and Wilson have been appointed a subcommittee to frame a constitution for tho Auokland Umpires and Scorers' Association, which nromises to become a most useful and valuable institution. Six gentlemen liavo already passed the examination for membership, and the association commences operations by appointing umpires for to-day's oup matches. "Long On," writing from Papakura, asks: "Can a batsman be out leg before wicket if the ball is pitched to leg, and it breaks in and would have hit the wicket, supposing tho bowman's legs are not. in a direct line from Olio wicket to the other." If I understand the question rightly, I should say "certainly not, ' a 6 the rule bearing on this point says that the ball must bo pitched between wicket and wicket, and the umpire must be satisfied ill his own mind that the ball would have taken the wicket. 3. E. Gregory's batting record with the 1596 Australian Eleven is the best ever achieved in England by an Australian. K. S. Eanjitfcinhji got a pair of spectacles in a match at Bombay, botween Kathiawar and Poona Gymkana. Clem Hill is (lie only Australian who ha? r.iado 1000 runs in a season of first-class cricket 111 Australia. Last year his colossal total was 1196, which is the greatest number any batsman has made in first-olass cricket in ono summer on Australian wickets. Clom compiled five centuries, three against Stoddart s team and ono each against Victoria and New South Wales. A 0. A. Jones, " formerly of Now Zealand," has favoured the Australasian with a tip for a good representative New Zealand tea.n. Iho selection is:—C. A. Richardson, L. T. Cobcroft, Clarke, Boxshall, Williams, Holdship, Baker, Lusk, A, Ridley, Mills (of Auckland), Tucker, , with Dowries, Fisher, Frankisli, and Reese as leading bowlers.

It is now recognised that G. H. S. Trott, the famous cricketer, will, for a time, perhaps for aver, he unable to take up orieket again (says the Sydnoy Referee). In Melbourne the selection of his succcesor as captain of the Victorian eleven haj already been discussed, and another topic is the selection of the man to take his place at the head of the Australian eleven. The former is a matter of concern chiefly to Victorians, hut (be latter concerns Australia. In passing, it might be said that it is likely that South Australia will, in the person of J. Darling, supply the man for tho position. Trott first went to England with tho 1883 team, under the captaincy of P. S. McDonnell, and the management of 0. W. Bealo. Since then ho Las been a member of every Australian eleven, I viz., those of 1890, 1893, and 1896, captaining (the last one with signal success, lie r.us

achieved considerable success with the bat more particularly when runs were desperat ely needed. His wonderful stand with S. E Gregory in the first test match of 13%. at Lord's, will never be forgotten. T u first-,'lass cricket Trott has made ten centuries, the I highest being 186 against Cambridge p! and P., at Leyton. eight years ago. His best in Australia is 172 for the 1888 Australian eleven against New South Wales on the Sydney Cricket Ground. It is a peculiar fact that ; three of his ten centuries were got at Lo-d's j a ground which has been singularly fatal" t > j Australian batsmen. Only one" of the ten iras played before a Melbourne gathering that being the 152 against South Australia in J at) . uary, 1895. Centuries were made in England in 1898 as follow by members of Stoddard's late team •— Hayward, 315, 126, and 101; Hirst ISO' Mason, 152 and 133; Stoddart, 157 and 138' Storer, 109, 101, and 100; Maclaren played little cricket, and Ranjitsinhji and Druce did not play at all. The Sydno* bowler, M. A. Noble (says the Sydney Referee), captured nine wickets tor 27 runs in a senior club match on October 8 his victims including L. W. Pye, B. W Farquliar, W. Howell, and .J. C. Wilson, the four leading players of the side. Noble, who can hired three wickets in four balls, made the ball cut all sorts of capers in the air. Eve-t----batsman on the side was puzzled by tile tli -lit of the ball, which curved and dropped perplexingly. A strong wind blew, but it is merely fair to state that Noble has thus early shown greater ability in the practice of Min - ing the ball than ever before. He promts to perform greater feats than ever durine this reason. b

A friend of mine (says "Javelin") is i!, possessor of an excellent dictionary, founded 011 the labours of Johnson, Walker. Webster and Worcester, containing about iooo pace-' and as many engravings. His ten-year-old son, who was turning over the leaves the other evening, startled his father by exclaim rig Well, the chap that wrote this book didn't know much, anyhow!" Astonished at the forcible expression of opinion, the falner asked for an explanation, and received it as follows from (ho juvenile expert" >\ I. y listen to this: Cricket—a game 111 which 01' c player defends a wickol with a bat a-ainst another who tries to throw it down with a T. lgl ! t , a " kid knew that throwing wasn t allowed.

A French idea of cricket; "England is in mourning because Dr. Grace, the king of cricket, has laid down his hat ami renounce I the glories of the ball. A national Buteuriplion lias been organised to give him ,-i work ii art. lo play this game of cricket, which is a modification of an oh! French game called 'cl-osse,' or ' eriquel,' you take two sticks of about oft in height, and place tlieni in he ground about ten centimetres apart. The play consists in throwing a ball 111 such 1 manner ao lo make the wicket fall. This ball, which has nearly the hardness of iron, is covered with a skin, and also with lightlybound leather thongs. The players have skin gloves similar to those of the fencing seiiools. line of them on each side is armed with a 'bat,' which is a hilling implement with a lung handle."—Le l'etit l'arisien.