CRICKET NOTES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22389, 8 April 1936, Page 20

CRICKET NOTES

PAST SEASON REVIEWED NORTH SHORE CHAMPIONS OPPORTUNITY FOR BOWLERS The final of the senior championship, which was won by the North Shore team last Saturday, Avill go down in the history of Auckland cricket as one of the most exciting played. With one over to go and two Eden wickets to fall Jsorth Shore's prospects api>eared very slight, but the uncertainty of cricket was again well exemplified. Had Eden made a draw" of the match the teams would have been bracketed for championship honours. No enthusiast will begrudge North Shore its well-deserved success. A young nnd evenly-balanced eleven, the team has in its ranks many players who should take a prominent part in Auckland cricket for tho next few seasons.

/ At one stage it seemed that Eden would annex the honours, but the team sadly missed the services of Townsend, tho player-coach, in the latter stages. Grafton came up well in the second round, but suffered defeat in the last match at the hands of the much-improved Y.M.C.A. team. In-and-out form was shown by most of tho other elevens which, however, generally proved capable of extending the leaders.

There is a wealth of young batting talent in Auckland at present and a pleasing feature is the improvement teen in fielding. What is lacking is young bowlers of the required standard. There is a great opportunity for» young trundlers to-day to mould themselves on tH© lines of N. C. Snedden, S. G. Smith aud I). R. Garrard—three bowlers who can still puzzle the best batsmen.

Auckland, although it did not win the Plunket Shield, had a successful representative season. It defeated Otago outright and Canterbury on the first innings. The deciding match for tht* 6hield at Wellington was marred through rain on the first two days, Auckland winning on the first innings, but it required an outright victory to win the shield. Auckland also performed creditably against M.C.C., the match ending in a draw. Representative honours were gained by the following players:—H. G. iVivian, P. E. Whitelaw, W. M. Wallace '(Parnell), J. E. Mills, A.'J. Postles, W. Hay ward, L. P. Townsend (Eden). A. M. Matheson. D. R. Garrard (University), D. B. Edmonds (North Shore"), 'J. Cowie (Grafton), H. T. Pearson, E. M. Andrews (King's Old Boys), G. L. Weir (North Auckland). Auckland was well represented in the New Zealand teams which played in the unofficial test matches against M.C.C. The following players were selected:— J. E. Mills, H. G. Vivian, P. E. Whitelaw, W. M. Wallace, J. Cowie. A. M. Matheson, G. L. Weir (North Auckland). .