WORLD OF SPORT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19417, 27 August 1926, Page 15

WORLD OF SPORT.

AUSTRALIAN CRICKETERS. FIVE HAVE SCORED 1000 RUNS. WOODFULL MOST PROLIFIC. With seven matches yet to play, five of the Australian cricketers on tour in England have made over-1000 runs, but no one is yet within 300 runs of the coveted 2000 mark. When the Australians toured England in 1921, eight a players passed the 1000 mark, and two made over 2000 runs. These were the figures:—Macartney, 2335; Bardsley, 2218; Armstrong, 1405; Andrews, 1358; Collins, 1222; Gregory, 1171; Taylor, 1116; Ryder, 1032. Seven of those players are members of the present team and Macartney and Bardsley arc still in the running for 2000 runs, a wonderful achievement considering that Bardsley lias already reached the second thousand on three previous tours and Macartney on two. Of the other high scorers on the last English tour Andrews has again batted solidly, although lie failed in the tost matches; Ryder is within a few runs of 1000; Collins, had it not been for his indisposition, would probably have reached four figures by this stage; Gregory has played some good innings, and will probably pass 1000 runs; while Taylor, whose form has been very disappointing, is nevertheless still well in the running. Woodfull, who is making his debut on English wickets, has been the most prolific scorer to date. Fonsford, another newcomer to England, was not very successful with the bat in the early stages of the tour, but recent good performances have lifted him into four figures. Hendry has been under the greatest handicap of all the Australian batsmen, for after playing two attractive innings he. became soriously ill and only recently resumed playing. He is thus still labouring under the disadvantage of not yet having played himself back into form. The order of merit as far as rungetting is concerned is as follows, the record including the Somerset match concluded this week; —Woodfull, 1672; Macartney, 1422; Bardsley, 1362; Andrews, 1209; Ponsford, 1080; Ryder, 979; Gregory, 855; Taylor, 778; Collins, 719; Richardson, 630; Oldfield, 434; /Grimmett, 291; Ellis, 252; Hendry, 223; Everett, 125; Mai ley ,107. Old Rugby Rivals. Although shorn of the glory of many past conflicts when the ownership < f the Ranfurly Shield was at stake, tomorrow's meeting between Wellington and Auckland on tho Rugby field has more than passing interest. It is true that both teams, successors of glorious fifteens of past years, were thoroughly defeated by Hawke's Bay, Wellington by a margin of 50 points, and Auckland by a margin of 30 points. To-morrow, however, Wellington will play on its homo ground and Auckland's performances this season have not been encouraging enough to warrant a prediction of a victory for the Northerners. However, Auckland defeated Wairarapa, an effort in which Wellington failed. It was Wellington which first wrested the Ranfurly Shield, from Auckland in 1903, the margin of victory being 6 points to 3, but Auckland regained possession in 1905 by 10 points to 6, and held the trophy against ail-comers until 1913. In the intervening years Wellington made five unsuccessful bids to recapture the trophy. Auckland won by 11 to 5 in 1906, by 24 to 3 in 1908, a 3-all draw, was recorded in 1910, Auckland won by 12 to 0 in 1912 and by 6 to 5 in 1913. The 1912 match was a remarkable one, each union fielding what was probably the strongest team that had ever represented it. <T. V. Macky, wing threequartei', scored all Auckland's points with four tries. Wellington won the shield from Taranaki shortly after , the war started and with the coming of peace Auckland made an effort to regain the shield. In 1919 Wellington won by 24 to 3. In the following. year Auckland made two endeavours, being narrowly beaten at Auckland by 23 to 20, but suffering a decisive defeat by 20 to 5 at Wellington a month later. When Wellington regained the shield from Southland in 1921, Aucklartd was first on hand with another challenge against Wellington, but the holders prevailed by 27 points to 19. Museum of Famous Bats. It is not to be wondered at that Jack Hobbs refused to allow the bat he wielded so effectively against the Australian cricketers in the last test match to be "cremated" to produce "ashes," over tho possession of which futufe teams mightwage combat. Great, players naturally treasure the bats that figured in historic matches. ... But perhaps Hobbs might be persuaded to present his bat to Wisden's "Bat Museum." There it would have distinguished company. In that collection is the bat with which W. G. Grace scored the historic 126 at Lord's in the North v. South match in 1900. It was his favourite. ■ Straight-grained, it is still in fine condition. Other bats in the museum hear, the scars of mighty hitting against hurricane bowling. There ib Jessop's bat, with which he made his record lightning score of 168—a trifle splintered, but other-, wise sound. Victor Trumper's bat shows that he was a mighty hitter, and the wiFlow suffered. McLaren's bat—the one with which he made 424 runs—is also there, and could bo played with to-day. Then there is the famous "grave-digger's" bat, wielded by Brown when in Stoddart's team in Australia. He made 140 funs with it in a test match and so "dug up" the ashes of English cricket.- All the bats are autographed.