CRICKET.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 12696, 26 October 1904, Page 7

CRICKET.

The Auckland Cricket Association championship competitions, commenced on Saturday last, will bo continued on Saturday afternoon next, when the first matches of the draw will be completed. The return of J. Darling to Adelaide end bis selection by the South Australian Association on the committee to pick tho Australian team have upset the calculations of not a few as to tho personnel of the team to be sent to England this season. Should he strike form he will be probably selected, to I the disappointment of some new men, who ' saw in' his absence a possible chance foi. themselves. Darling, in his best form, ■ means a batsman of as great determination , as is possessed by any otnex cricketei .known to me, & determination that would do well in ' a much higher sphere -.li.aii is occupied by j cricket. There is, however, always tho doubt about a man returning to form after a lengthy absence front the game. L. 0. S. Poidevitt, who returned to Sydney a few days ago by the R.M.s. Ortona, goes back to En£sarid in March, ISOS, to complete his medical studies. "The Demon Bowler,' F. R. Spofforth, has evidently fully recovered from his breakdown, which threatened to keep him off the cricket field for ever. Playing, early in September, for Elasnpstead aga nst Charlton Park, he captured seven for 19, and ended the innings by doing the hat trick. Something like old limes. Duff, Truiaiper, Noble, Kelly, Hopkins, Carter, Hill and Howell, all of whom vtro members of the last Australian tean which toured England, are showing good form, and the season is yet quite young. From present appearances there will not bo many new men in thu next Australian team. Of course there will be three for certain.

| The Swanson Cricket Club held its annual meeting on Saturday last. There was a very good attendance of members and supJ porters. Mr. .T. O'Neil was re-elected ■presii dent, and other officers were elected as under:—Vice-presidents, Messrs. Knox, Hatfield, H. Robertson, Masefield, Christian, Burton, Foster and Alison, M.11.R.; captain, Mr. E. Robertson; secretary, Mr. A. Robertson assistant secretary and treasurer, Mr. R. Erlandson. The bat presented by Mr. H. J. Robertson was won by F. Ashe. The donor promised a similar trophy foi the coming season. After the business concluded a very enjoyable' smoke concert was held, and the opinion was very generally expressed that the club would agair have a successful season.—[Own Correspondent.] The annual meeting of th»3 Aoroa Cricket Ciub was held in JilcobsenV room recently, sixteen members attending. The balancesheet showed receipts, hi 7s 6d, and expenditure, £6 lis 3d, leaving a cash balance of 16s. Tho following officer)) were elected:—Patron, Mr. F. Littie; president, Mr. S. Walker; vice-presidents,.Mrs. S. Walker, Messrs. Jno. Stewart, E. Tate, W. J. Words, H. J. Ellis, R. Mitchell. F. W. Matthews, C.Rasmussen, and Nicbolls; secretary, Mr. G. Wyness; Management Committee, M ssrs. W. Smith, W. Tay.or. p. Mitchell, R. Mitchell, E. Fisher, W. Christiansen, H. Baton, R. Bcart, and A. Phelan; delegates to association, Messrs. W. Smith, Wyness, and Christiansen. Mr. W. J. Chamber" was elected an honorary membe. of the club, in recognition of his past services as secretary. The- cricket season is a 'ittle late in starting this year. No club has yet held a practice, The United (Aratapu and Kopuru) team have won the championship for two seasons, but our popu ation is a somewhat shifting one, and it is hard to say how things will turn out until the teams have been seen in the field.— Correspondent] , , - ' u THE 1905 AUSTRALIAN.ELEVEN. At the- present moment the prospects of recovering the ashes next winter not look at all bright (says "Shorts.ip" in the Sydney Mail), for, while our hatting is .scarcely as solid as it used to be, there does not appear to Uo a bowler coming along with the i-.rag arm and the similarly proportioned head at Trumblc, who has made up his mind to rot re from the game. Should it so happen that ie adheres to his resolution he will have made his retirement at a time when there appeared to be muny years of the highest s:auaara of cricket still left in him. It will be remembered his last bowling act wait to secure unto himself a record in (for the second time his career) performing the hat-trick in a test match —i.e., taking three wickets in successive balls—winding up wicn seven wickets for 28 runs. Truly the curtain dropped on his last act in the midst of a blaze of tr.umph. Many things may happen during the com.ng season to upset calculations formed at tne present time. If Cotter in inter-State engagements bears out: the good opinion formed of him last year be wih be-sure to fill the place of "express" bowler to the team. It will, perhaps, be found that the certainties arc Trumper, Noble, Hill, Duff, Armstrong, Hopkins, Kelly, and a second wicket-keeper— perhaps Carter. This will leave six places yet to bo filled. Three or four of the remainder should be bowlers. Cotter has already i been mentioned. .Saunders, in view of bis success in 1902, and despite his failure last season, may go. There is at the present time unfortunately no one promising to depose him—unfortunately, because he has little claim to be regarded as a fieldsman, and less as a batsman. If Trumblo could be prevailed upon to go as manager it would help to solve a difficult problem, as he would be on the spot, and could keep in form, in the event of his services being required for test matches. It may, perhaps, be found advisable to take Howell. There are many candidates to complete the batting strength, and much depends upon this season's form.

HINTS TO YOUNG BOWLERS. In an interesting chat about hints to young bowlers, S. Santafl, the Warwickshire bowler, says:—"J. don't think that a young bowler ought to be discouraged because when lie is unsuccessful lie is told that a first-class bowler is born, not made. I believe that success in bowling depends as much 83 anything on perseverance and determination. Besides, how can a youngster know "that he isn't a born bowler until he has tried his very utmost to succeed? No doubt, there are a great number of youngsters vho think that they are born to be great bowlers because on the wickets which they meet -with they can make the ball do almost anything they like; they often have a rude shock to their feelings when they come io bowl on a perfect wicket. But even then they need not jump to the conclusion that they are failures, tor with experience they may overcome the difficulties caused by easy wickets. 1 don't think it is of much use to be able to bowl at a tremendous piice or to make the ball break unless it is combined with good length, for without length a'l l other qualifications are delusions and snares. One of the most important things that a young bowler should attend to is to see that all hjs held have got into their places before he begins his run. You will often sec a man starting to bowl when half the field are walking to their places with their hands in their sockets. Another thing 14 to practise a good" style and action, for I have hard v ever spaii a really tine bowler whose style and action were not good." WHAT BREAKS UP FAST BOWLERS " Good fast bowlers are not found everywhere," recently remarked a well-known English cricketer to a Sporting Life reporter, " and when a county gets hold of one the captain should take care not to overwork him at the start." The speaker was a player who has figured prominently in first-olass cricket for nearly 20 "ears, and his views on the subject are therefore worthy of careful consideration. " You very often see a fast bowler put on lit the beginning of an innings, and he is kept pegging away over after over until, perhaps, when the luncheon interval arrives, he is cither too done up to eat or his system is so overheated that he dare not. " I speak from experience, and can say that no fast bowler should be kept on for more than ten or a dozen overs at one time. If, after bowling this number, he were given a few overs rest, he would come up fresh again. Some captains never seem . to think that his exertions are greater than those of the oth'?i bowlers, ami that he is a human being and not a piece of machinery. They aro apparently of the opinion that he can go on foi ever. At any rate they act as though they thought so. " Every ball a fast bowler sends down takes a lot out of him, and if he is worked bard he naturally cannot, last many seasons. Whore are the fast bowlers who had such great names a few years ago? They are cither crocked' or out of first-class cricket altogether. These men were big-hearted players. They were anxious to do their best for their side, and consequently were willing workers; but no, human system can stand such a strain long, and naturally 'hey have had to succumb. Take Tom Richardson and Lock-wood, for instance. They are two of the greatest bowlers England has over had, and if they had not been worked so much they might still have been at the top of the tree, and getting batsmen out as well as they ever did. 'But no! They were kept on for hours when they should have been rested. The result has been that they lost their form, nnd tlieii bowline: losf its particular sting. ft is the way with all fast bowlers, though. They arc shown little consideration on the field—l "'.can in the way of boing rested

occasionally— as long as they arc willing to go on, and are getting wickets, the captains keep them at it. The skippers evidently forget that they don't want the player for only one season. \ ', , , "1 believe every county team should have a fast bowler in it, for he is a man who can get batsmen out when the others cannot. This is particularly the case when the wicket is a bit fiery, or when if crumbles. J. hen ho can make the ball get up, and providing he has got good men in the slips, he is always likely to secure wickets, "We have got fast bowlers now, but tew of them stay long in loading cricket. I hey can't stand the strain, and as the supply is not too great, one would naturally think that their leaders would do their nest to 'nurse' them. While they are strong arid young they do not mind the exertion, and |it does not appear to affect them. Still, it 1 does, and I could mention a good number lof cricketers who have been killed—so tar 'as the game is concerned—by being almost j needlessly hard worked on the field. "A captain very often asks a bowler if he is tired. As a rule the bowler says no. I He is always very anxious to have another go for the wicket. That is where the mistake occurs. Tlio captain should exercise his .own judgment, and not allow the bowler to go on, over after over, until, when the day's play is finished, he is* too worn out either to eat, or sleep. This has happened more frequently than most people suppose, and /here are few fast bowlers who have not experienced it. , „ , " He is always liable to sprain the muscles of his arm or leg; he is, as a rule, exerting himself to a greater extent than others when he is bowling; and so, in my opinion, his captain should make it his business to use him judiciously. ;- "There is this to be said, too. There, ib as much science in fast bowling as in slow It is not all brute strength. One day a man will- find that i' is little use trying to hit the stumps, as the ball rises too much, He then bowls fot the slips, and. if he can. while bowling on the wicket, makes the ball go away a bit. One day ho finds the w efcet he can hit, so he naturally does his beat to ""He requires to know the game thoroughly, be quick ir weighing up Hie batsmen, and a good judge of a pitch. lowever, few will last long if captains persist in working them like horses."