CRICKET.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13390, 19 January 1907, Page 7

CRICKET.

CIIA Ml' I() NNH 11' MATCH VIS. January 19 and February 2—lral'tnii v City; Poii'-onhy v. North fjliore; Kdcn v l'aincll. M.CC. TUI I!. January 13 and 10—v. Nelson ami Mar! boroii'-'ii. January 26. 23. 29—v. Auckland. February A, and 5 v. Canterbury. February £1. 9, and 11—v. Ota'.'".

CUP, MATCHES, j Thk tir-t round of die district champion I ships was concluded on Saturday, and the j result of the matches left things in a de- ! cidedly mure interesting position than was generally anticipated would be the case. By defeating North Shore Darnel! are now | bracketed with tie- marine suburb hi the] head of the list, while Kden. who suffered I defeat at the hands of Crafton on Saturday, I are third, with one point less, Doiisonby, ! by scoring » throe-point win against City, are i fourth, with five points, while (irafton arc j next with four points. City, who are undoubtedly the weakest team in the competi- j tion, are at the bottom of the list, not ' having won » match.

There is but little doubt that, the second round, commencing to-day, will be followed with the greatest, of interest. Lden are regarded as favourites lor the championship shield, bill personally I do not, fancv (heir chance any more ilian that of at least I'crnell and North Shore. .Much will depend upon the result of their match with Darnell, which commences to-day. It should create a- much interest, if not more than was centred in the meeting of Darnell and North Shore.

For I lie first lime a senior match is to l,« played on Victoria L'ark to-day, the Cricket Association having decided that North Shore shall come off their own mud and play Ponsonby. There i- no reason win the Bulli wicket at. Victoria Park should not hi' in fairly good playable condition, but. I think the players will be handicapped by a rather rough outfield. With equal Juck the representatives of the marine suburb should retain their position on the premiership list. On the Domain Grafton will meet City, and judging by previous performance:, the iirst-montioncd team should win. Tin- position of the senior clubs hi the end of the first round is as follows: — SI. W. 1.. I>t-. North short- ... ■;> .; 1 <> I'arncll > 4 1 9 Fdeii -, ;> a a Poiisonli.v ... ... 5 '.: 3 5 Grafton ti •> ;> <) City ..." 5 0 4 0 I), [lay's evident return to form with the ball must be most gratifying to the players and supporters of the Grafton Club. With " Dili;" in form with the ball 'and 1). Clayton again in hi- old position Grafton will most probably bring off some surprises in the second round, A fine inning- was played on Saturday by G. Cumniiugs for l'on-.mby. Me made 85 (not out) am! was chiefly responsible for Ponsonby securing a. three-point win. Had Cummin-.- exhibited the same form throughout, lie season as he did on Saturday he would most certainly have been picked in the first, half-dozen for tin- reps." A- it. is I should like to see him invited to the nets, for besides hi- batting he i.- a tii.-t class field.

Brock-Smith, who last season was one of our most punishing bats, ha- gone right oil' in his driving: in fact, he seems to have lost his off stroke.-, and more often than not step- over to an off ball, thus turning a scoring stroke into a defeu-ive one. A. Haddon and W. Phil-on were North Shore's highest scorers, with b'J and 45 respectively. Robinson and Cannon were ParneH's most successful bowler.-, with four wickets for 11 and three wicket- for 30, while Harry took two for 53 and Ollilf one for 65.

(', Mills was at the wicket- for over an hour for two runs on Saturday. He was stepping into the hall and watching it on to his bat, .stonewalling. 1). Hay, however, caught him doing this almost' before he bowled, and throwing down an extra fast one had George's leg in trout. I. Mills, who batted in his characteristic style for 40 not out, set a fine example to cricketers in running between wickets on Saturday. He backed up well, wa- always on the qui vive for a run, and never missed a chance. In this respect the bulk of our players are very backward, ami a ureal, deal of the pleasure of the game is lost. both to the spectators and the cricketers themselves. Nothing brightens .1 game up so much as well-judged running between the wickets.

I!. Slotnai), a younger brother of the (.rafton left-hand Irundler, on Saturday brought off a fine catch in the long field, which involved Rolf's downfall.

Dr. Neil justified his promotion to the seniors in City's last match, barb with bat and ball. He scored 33 runs on Saturday, and on (lio previous day captured three wickets for 4 runs.

R. Neil and Archer .-cored resnectivelv 20 and 29.

The king>land ground being unfit to play cricket on to-day. the senior fixture between F.den and l'.'iinell will be plaved on the Domain, as also will all other matches previously sol down to be played on the iirst-mentioned ground. The _ following is the correct draw for to-day's second, third, and fourth grade matches:—Second grade: Purnell v. (.'rafton (Domnin). North Shore v. Eden A (Shore), Kden 15 v. City (Domain). Ponsonby. a live. Third grade: Parnell v. diafroii (Domain), North Shore v. Kden A (Shore). Kden V, v. City (Domain). Poiisnnbv v. North Shore I, (Domain). Fourth grade; Parnell v. Kden (Domain).

TDK M.C.C. TRAM'S TOCR. On Saturday in xt end the following Monday and Tuesda\ Auckland will be again ill opposition to the members of the M.C.C learn ". amateur-. The In -i match, with it details ami result, i- Mill fresh ,',, the minds of cricketers and followers of crick,>f Auckland scored a creditable draw with ' "' J, ls|, f!'',' Hut there was no doubt thai III" r-.iiglisljim.il were not in fur,,,, all be. sides that ,hey ...ere no, playing Harrison. " , "' '!' the matches down South has prov 'd himself a '»'"' „,,.(•„! "'ail. However, the, •«vn lom CopUi,, ,vard. who,,. sound ';"'"7 "" d . '"l.aleli::.'- lls skipper will be missed taking everything into consideration, however, I think the Hnglishmen will nice, ii- ~,, !„..,,.,. ~,,.,„„ ( . (i)) M ■, no,, B ,MS /""' 'he ...her- win, have bee'. n.ore or less meapacitatoil are ~„!,. to take ""' held - As [■"■ »* «Im« local team are concerned we should he si longer, for the member of ,t will have profited by experience. _ I hey however, ]„„«, misled a few week, practice. h,„,, ,lli laM maU ,, '. i"V" ( '> ''»» '" '!'<' postponement of the championsh.p matches. But since the bad weather cleared this week they have bee!, practising under the supervision of Relf. , iV, 1i",.„ liav,. ~,.,, „,.,.,. for =oli ' l lulling, hov*, and holding practice. (4ene speaking. there will be little aheni.-ion necessary in the team, although perhaps a «>'iple ol its members might be reolacetl to advantage. The visitors are at present, at Nelson, where yesterday they commenced a twodavs match with Nelson and Marlborough Iho Auckland team will be picked" on Monday, P. White, win, injured his i,.n m the first, match against the l-'ngli.-hmcu, will be well enough to assist in the attack next Saturday. I would .suggest that the name- ami figurefor the scoring should be enlarged for lite match next Saturday. It is inipo.-Miih' 1,, see tliem from the grandstand side with out glasses. Since publishing the record of the team two more, wins have gone down to their credit, one of them being against a provincial eleven. Their record to date ,'- aeconiinalv as follows: — Played 6 matches, won 3, lost 1. drawn '>.. Against Auckland : A draw. Iv.igland. 172 and 241: Auckland. 195 and rive wickets for 131. Against Wanganiii: Won by an inning.-, and 134 runs. Kngland, 453"; Wangauni, 124 and 95. Against Wellinutou: A draw. Kngland. 204 and 259: Wellington, 211 and five wickets for 14S. Against, Canterbury: Lost. England. 200 and 156; Canterbury, 241 and three wickets for 120. Against Otago: Won bv 232 runs. Kngland, 224 and 278: (Itago. 176 and 94. Against West Coast: Won bv rive wickets. Knglaud. 252 and rive wickets'for 81: West Coast, 132 ami 200. It will be a great boon to New Zealand cricket if the Cricket. Council see.- it wav to accept, the invitation of the. M.C.C. to send a team to England. The matter should be taken in hand immediately.

S. '['. Callaway, who performed well against the Englishmen at Cliristcliurc.li, i* i In' old Sydney player, who hit- many excellent performances to his credit. He secured five wickets for 37 against Stoddard's leant in (lie test match at Adelaide in January. 1895, and scored 41 and 11. An AusIndian paper says lie took ix wicket-s of an A-lli;iii Kleven'for 18 runs at. the Sydney Cricket (Jround. He did very well in intercolonial matches.

Canterbury (X.Z.) played iptite up to their traditions again-! I lie Englishmen (says an exchange). A- far back a-> 1878 Canterbury fifteen inflicted upon tin- first Australian eleven a, six wickets defeat, the one reverse experienced by that team prior to their departure fur Kngland. The Australians were dismissed lor the small score of 46. the one double figure contribution being Alec. BanHerman'.- 14.

A Wellington scribe writes as follows: — It i- rarely indeed that, a team composed exclusively of amateurs can undergo a lengthy campaign without one or other of its stock howlers cracking up. The amateur howler cannot, peg away day after day with the machine-like precision of his brother piofessional. Here, in the Wellington match, we - a v. two crack bowlers of the English team placed hors de combat almost at the start of the tour, ami in Douglas' case it is reasonable to suppose thai, he will fee! the effects of that rick more or less right up to tile bitter end. Captain Wvnyard's disablement came aboin through sheer accident. -May, the express bowler of the visiting team, w : as dog tired at this eon clusion of tin- second day's play, and he made no secret of the fact, lie had sent down some very fast stuff for a few overs in Wellington's second essay, but Nature then asserted hers.-lf. and the express bowler found himself compelled to slacken down considerably. Owing to his peculiar tiring action he has an uncertain leg that lias a, knack of not lasting, in suite of ii- gritty owner's great heart. HERE and rin:iti;. W. W. Armstrong and ]■'. Laver, two Australian eleven players, were proposed as captain of tin- Victorian team, and the consequent, hallo- resulted in favour of the former.

The catch with which ]!. IS. bu-k disposed of Howdett at tile North Shore ground last Saturday was exceptionally fine. llowden (tit Robinson hard to point, and Lusk. who was fielding there, caught the hall in one hand just before it reached the mound. The Thames Cricket Association have asked ill- lo make known the fact that they ill Ik- pleased to receive visits from auv of the Auckland district club- during the 'season.