CRICKET.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 11200, 21 October 1899, Page 6

CRICKET.

The championship matches in the four grades of the Auckland Cricket Association competitions were commenced on Saturday last, but the soft state of the ground, com- - bined with the want of practice, militated ¥f against the scoring, and there is very little * : of note to chronicle. The second day's piny will be proceeded with this afternoon. In the first grade matches, United winning the toss sent Ponsonby to the wickets, but the debut of the players from the westernssuburb proved by no means an auspicious one, the side—l 3 iu all—being dismissed for the small total of 60 runs, to which United r&*%■' sponded with 62 for the loss of but twowickets, so that the prospects of Ponsonby"B can hardly be said to near a roseato hue. iS The principal scorers for Ponsonby were Lundon, Robertson, and W. Mills (latter hit out merrily, but gave a chance) with 10 each $ though no batsman shaped better than F;- , Sanders (5), who played steadily during his ilstay at the wickets. •:£( A great deal of interest was centred in tie a': batting of F. Clayton, the returned Audit lander, but with the slow wicket is was difficult to form anything like a correct estimate & of his play. Until he went out to drive ® Mills and paid the penalty, he was battiflg ' very steadily, and showed a strong defence, ';' D. Hay let- out merrily for his useful contribution of 22, getting his runs in quick ri time, the display being marred by a couple of difficult chances, and Stemson was another who soon got to work, batting freely for his 26 (not out). He gave a chance in the lon£ field. <0:' The United catching was not up to theV standard, three or four chances not being accepted, but the ground fielding was very Mi \ fair. Parnell going first to the wickets against S Auckland, compiled 109, towards which 3s Ohlson (47) and Mills (13) contributed no less than 57, the tail proving very limp.'i Auckland replied with 48 for six wickets, fl Hicks and T. Neill (the two not outs) being responsible for 35 of this number. Ohlson (44) suited his cricket to the wickets, playing patiently and taking no?s undue liberties. f Hicks (24 not out) hit out ill good style, uand- T. Neill (11) was shaping very nicely £ S when play terminated for the day. f \ The Auckland ground fielding should show % 'an improvement on last season, judging by their showing on Saturday. ,V-.|. Playing against North Shore on the Devonport ground, Gordon won the toss, and elected to bat, an unwise decision surely, ag'-fi j the ground w.is improving as the day wore Sj> \ on, and was in very fair condition when the M home team went in. The town team only totalled 56 (batting one man short), to which f? Shore responded with 94 for six wickets, leaving their opponents an uphill fight. For Gordon-, MeSae (16) and R. B. Luik g (15) were the only double figure scorers. The informer, who is a recent arrival from Welling: ton, proved himself a "hitter," but showing room foi improvement in his defence. He Y; gave an easy chance to Wynyard, early in ;® his innings, who atoned for his failure aV little later by bringing off a brilliant catch that dismissed Lusk. Mcßae's bowling was none too good. North Shore's mainstay, Geo. Mills, waif! caught at point first ball, but Beck avenged tho dismissal of his clubmate, opening up iiiiiH lively fashion, and playing spirited cricket for the valuable contribution of 33. Wha g well into double figures his wicket fell tij 4 Dr. Neill, but "no ball" was the Umpire's V | decision. • - •§ | Smith, an ex-junior, showed very fair If | cricket in the compilation of 19, not out, v f| and promises to bo a useful man. Wynyard $■ f (10) also shaped very well. lyf J The Auckland Cycling Club having been I granted the use of the Domain ground for: V Saturday next, the cricket championships will ; bo suspended until November 4, when the;V' first grade competitions will be concluded, v || and the second series of matches in the three remaining grades commenced. E. Wright, the ex-Parnell wicket-keeper, if i has thrown in his lot with the Midland Club, sj; Christchurch, and latest files from the Sou- S thern centre refer in flattering terms to the wicket-keeping of the Aucklander, who is looked upon as likely to fill a long felt want 4. in the Midland Club. :*•: A somewhat unique event occurred in first *$; junior cricket on Saturday last, in the match C; : Y.M.C.A. v. United 11., the latter losing *; four wickets for one run, and the innings S ultimately closing foi nine runs, seven ; singles and two extras. The wickets fell as follows:—One for 0, two for 1, three for f 1, four for 1, five for 4, six for 5, seven for i; 5, eight for 6, nine for 8, and ten for 9, the •; average of the Y.M.C.A. bowler, reading as C follows:—Stephenson, five wickets for 3 k runs; Kinnear, two wickets foi 4 runs (three- ; men wore run out). I should think this almost constitutes a record for the Domain. The Auckland Umpires' Association are f|j still on the lookout for likely members, and. .-S the secretary. Mr. A. Le H. Hoyles, will be V glad if intending umpires will communicate & with him either on the Domain on Saturday, ,'j or by letter addressed to the Sports Club. Membership does not entail compulsory at- 3; tendance at the association's meetings, as ,'g some who would otherwise join seem to*' ;, think. Darling on the barrackers at Lords: "The more they howled the more I stonewalled." And that is just what might be expected ol .jf J. Darling. Mr. G. A. U. Tapper, the lion, secretary | of the New Zealand Cricket Council, has re- 5| ceived a letter from Mr. E. D. Heather, the secretary of the Victorian Cricket Associa- !b----tion, in reference to tho invitation of a Victorian team to visit this colony. Mr. ?| Heather says the matter was considered at ,- tho annual meeting of his association, held •>' on September 19, when, after discussion, it was referred to the Pennant Committee to ascertain the names of players, etc., whe g would be likely to go, and to report to the f next- meeting of the association. . It is proposed to organise a team of native - j" West African cricketers for England timing the season of 1900. The intention is In fold 15 players from Sierra Leone, the Gold ,' -.' Coast, and Lagos. They hope to .jlay in S England from May 10 until the end rl tho cricket season. > E. G. Noble, the younger brothvr if the:; well-known member of the Austnlia-i TLinen, of that namo, if said to be developing that iV curl in the air for which M. "as Income V| notorious. Quite a number of Sydney l>'>v/ieiß ■ are practising with a view to dev-shp-ug tie ;£ curl. _ _ The attention of umpires is drawn to an .;| amendment of cricket law which was not in - force last season. It is embodied in a new law, 33b, thus: —" If the ball, whether, ■/ struck with the bat or not, lodges in a bats- .;V man's clothing, the ball shall become dead. /' I find that this law is not yet generally, known, so that it is advisable to republish - | and impress it upon cricketers and umpires. Of course it is only rarely such a thing as g it provides for occurs. Darling, writing out to Adelaide, says that Bradley, the Kent bowler, is tho only really good trundler the Australians have met in . England. Rhodes, the Yorkshire champion, ;i can bowl when wickets kelp him, but on AM; ifbtralian billiard tables he will have his heart fg broken. England is stronger than ever in batting. Men sure to he out with the next team are Ranjitsinhji, Fry, Hayward, Liiley (wicket-keeper) and Rhodes. The great puzzle • will be to find bowlers even equal to Stod- ;J| dart's ill-starred combination. 0 The • question of altering the laws of 0 cricket, so as to give the bowlei a greater .0 advantage than he .at present has over the ■ ; batsman, is now being actively discussed in i|; England, owing to the increasing number of drawn games each year. Many suggestions are made, but the one I ("Felix" in the ;£i Australasian) favour and feel certain will..|i| be the best, is to alter the leg-before law, and make it that a batsman shall be out legbefore if lie stop tho ball with any part of his person, irrespective of where the hall pitches, provided, in the opinion of thß.;ss; Wi\ umpire, the ball would have' hit the wicket. This would encourage bowlers to learn tpf#; break, and make the defending of A® £#• wicket a much more difficult task' than it is at present. It is reported that the Australian Eleven ,->ihave made £900 per man, but the statement must be 'taken cum grano salis. The record.;, te in this respect- amongst other teams is held 54% by that of 1878,' tho first that went to Epg- jgr# land. Inoluding the tour in the A\istralian

colonies, New Zealand, flnd Americfti „ pioneer Australian Eleven netted something over £700 per man. Since then the English counties have restricted the Australfans' share of the proceeds by the erection of stands the proceeds from which go wholly into their own coffers. The Australian sha e of the gate is 50 per cent, of the takings in the public reserve, and that is equivalent to the one shilling enclosure in Sydney.-Sun day Times. ' ™ Recently the English paper Tit-Bits initiated a competition for the best article on it subject: Is this year', Australian Eleven the best ever sent to England?" The result which is in favour of the present team fr very interesting reading, but I scarcely think the writer does full justice to the splendid bowling performances of Turner and TW., in 1888 and 1890. And in estimating £' rI suits achieved by the great 1882 team one must never forget that many of their matches would have been gifts to any Australian eleven, the teams, speaking genially, being nothing like so strong as those the Austra bans are called upon to meet in the present day. The writer is also incorrect in sneakjng of three matches against r.presentat.ve English Elevens." Only one match wm played against All England, and was won by the Australians by seven runs. Tho matched against the Gentlemen v. Players can scarcely be classed with the test matches, which of course, include the best talent available in the country, amateur and professional, JOTTINGS FROM HOME. Writing under date of September 8, our London correspondent says:—The En«lish county cricket season and the Australian "tour both ended simultaneously on Wednesday. The Australians gave a sound beating to a very strong South of England eleven-virtu-al >- an All-England team-at Hastings. There is no doubt at all that the Australian Eleven of 1899 will leave behind them a memory only unequalled by that of the famous Murdoch team of 1882, and not, I think second even to that great combination. The fact that in all their tour they were beaten only thrice, whereas in 1882 the team suffered four defeats, says a good deal. But it is not a little curious as illustrating the chances of cricket that whereas this team won the rubber against All England, and were defeated only by three individual counties—Essex, Surroy, and Kent—the previous team (1896) beat every English county without sustaining defeat from any one of them yet lost the rubber with All-England. ' Ao doubt this hot and dry summer has been all in favour of Darling's team. Yet, on the other hand, they have had to contend against exceptional misfortunes, apart from Darling's almost invariable loss of the " toss." To lose their best bat, Hill, during the greater part of the season, and to have two other of their crack batsmen, Iredale and Worrall, partially disabled, the one by illness and the other by acoident, was a combination of ill-luck .which might well have disheartened them, and might easily have lost them the majority of their matches. But they never wore discouraged, and even at the last test match, when they had to face the mammoth score of 576, they played superb cricket to the last, and left off with a reasonable chance of victory had time permitted. It is true that their cautious batting proved tedious at times, but not more so than the play of Shrewsbury, Scotton, Tunnicliffe, and other men has often done. Their bowling has been, on the whole, more effective than that opposed to them, although, oddly enough, their bowling averages are inferior. Jones has no equal just now among English fast bowlers; Trumble and Noble have no superiors, if, indeed, they have any peers among the men of medium pace, while Howell and McLeod in their day" have done marvels. It is useless pretending that Kelly is a patch on Blackham as a wicketkeeper, or equal to Lilley or Storey although he is highly respectable. But tho Australian fielding has been the factor that lias made the Australian success, and tho placing of the field as much as the actual stopping, catching, and throwing-in. All were superb. Surrey has deservedly won tho county cricket championship. But this was not decided until the closing match of the season, which ended at tho Oval the day before yesterday. Had Warwickshire beaten Surrey, the latter, by the operation of the " point and percentage" system, would have fallen to third place, below Yorkshire and Middlesex. But either a win or a draw made Surrey safe, and a draw it was. I went to see the last two hours' play on Tuesday afternoon, and it was most interesting. Of course Warwick is not "first chop" as to bowlers, but Santall, Quaife, and Dickens I all wero good in their various styles, and the fielding was excellent. Anything tamer or duller than tho batting of Abel and Brockwell, who took half-an-hour to make seven runs, I have seldom witnessed. But tho brilliant hitting of Hayward—tho professional batsman of the day—who made 137, was a treat to watch. Several amusing dodges wo tried 'by Warwickshire. Quaife put every man but one to field on the leg side, and then bowled nothing but leg balls. But the wary Hayward and Lockwood would not touch them. Then Santall put overy singlo fieldsman on the off-side and bowled off-balls exclusively,' with no better success. However, the great storm closed the match, and the season, Surrey coming out top, Middlesex second, Yorkshire third, Lancashire fourth, and Sussex fifth. No other county of tlie fifteen in the first-class made any "points" at all. Derbyshire holds the " wooden spoon." AUSTRALIA'S CRICKET SUCCESS. Readers must have had a surfeit of reasons vouchsafed for cricket reform. I mean since our Australian defeat—for, disguise it as we may, we havo played second fiddlo to the Cornstalks this tour—most cricketers have suddenly discovered that things are not what they seem in English cricket. The fact is: " To master an event Study men! The minutes are well spent Only then," And is it not a fact our pupils, as it were, have proved our masters. Australian cricket has "growed out of all knowledge," as Mrs. Gamp would say, whilst English ditto haswell— retrograded, but stood still, so to speak. An ounce of illustration is worth I , a pound of argument, and if you doubt my word just cast an eye upon the rival statistics. Don't mistake me again. I don't say English cricketers are less formidable than they were, but few will gainsay that our Australian cousins have invariably gone one better this tour. Take our county teams, for instance. They have been vanquished, nay, pulverised, in the main. Against the Cornstalks, their chance of winning has always been remote. Even in full strength, they have invariably held no " Probable possible shadow of_ chance, No possible chance whatever." \ In a word, the Australian eleven are far too good for any county team in England with refreshing exceptions. This is a sad • fact, very annoying to our amour propre, j \ but a fact, nevertheless. It would be simplo ■ : affectation to deny it. There is no doubt j whatever in my mind that Australian cricket j ; is a deal more " classy" than English ditto 1 just now, and why? It is no use easy-chair j doctrinaires saying, the reverse, our inattention to bowling in particular has brought this ?. about. What do we find? i Since Tom Richardson's defection, or fall-1 ing off—put it as yoit may— we any j I bowler in England equal to E. Jones m the "express" direction? Have we anybody I equal to Hugh Trumble; anyway, a bowler eo consistent or tricky? One might go on ad lib,, but enough. It is the old story, v. Athletic history has only repeated itself. In aquatics the Cornstalks have conclusively \ proved that "the child is father to the j man;" and in cricket tho same object-lesson | is afforded. It is not reasonable that a, man i shculd keep a lot of horses in training simply | to amuse the gallery, and (in my opinion) j the Australians iyork upon the same principle. | To try to minimise their prowess by decry-i-j ing stonewalling tactics is the merest P["j c ' j. Professor Murison once remarked that " the 'i best way to earn the respect of an English- . man is to lick him at something,' and I | agree. By common consent tho Australians | are far too strong for our average county | teams, and a match for the best eleven Eng- ; land can produce. To argue otherwise is | simply to break the butterfly on the wheel.— | Old Blue" in the Sporting Life. %