CRICKET

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 6315, 16 September 1907, Page 9

CRICKET

SOUTH AFRICANS IN ENGLAND. BLYTHE'S DEADLY BOWLING. Thanks partly to luck, but chiefly to the ixentish bowler, i>lythe, ami to C. B. Fry, England manured to win the second *est match against South Africa at Leeds this week, after looking very much like a beaten side. It was not at au “a giorLus victory, J for tne Home piayeis nud tlie best of the wicket and their opponents had a good deal more of the uau luck tnat was in plentiful supply than tneir conquerors. But undoubtedly the principal factor in their downfall* was Blythe, whose performance in capturing 15 wickets for 30 runs — a little over 6i apiece—must be something like a record for a test match, lie bowled unchanged throughout each innings, and was never once •‘collared.'’ Apart from Fry no one batted really well, and tho English fielding was by no means so good as it might have been, half a dozen easy catches going "a begging/* Making every allowance for the wretched under which the game was played the English team, as u whole, cannot be said to have shown test match form. As for the South Africans they ought to have done much better than they did. Blythe, of course, bowled splendidly,, keeping admirable length, and changing his pace without obvious change of action very cleverly. But he sent down many balls, especially in the first innings, that ought to have been punished by batsmen good enougn to play in a test match, but which the South African batsmen either let aLue or dealt gingerly with. Such* good dgrt ©rs as the vistitors have proved thornselves to be ought to have done muen bettor than they.did, but it was obv cue that most of them Biylhe, who seeipod to catch most of them “in two minds** with almost every ball. Rain delayed the start of he uu-Uh on Monday till noon, when Fry and Hayward went in to face the bowling of Vogler and Schwarz. A decent etart was made, nine runs accruing li mi the first two overs. And then England’s disasters commenced. Fry Fad ane Irtm \ ogler which he played carefully. _ but the next ball, a swerving £uT pitch, .mat mm completely and wrecked his wicket. Tyldesley, who took the vacant crease, seemed very ill at ease with the bowling, and after being beaten several times ne gave a chance which, only the slippery state of the field prevented Fauiknep accepting. Meanwhile Hayward had been batting fairly confidently, but when tho score had been carried to 34 after forty minutes* cricket, rain set ’in again and prevented a resumption till after lunch. Then the sun came out, and on resuming Faulkner and Sincliar* were put on by Captain Sherwell. He had not long to wuiv tor j u-stiheation of his change of attack. Only seven runs had been added when, in Faulkner’s second over, 'iyldesJej stepped out to drive, missed the bull completely and was bowled. Foster came in, only to pull-the third ball he received into his stumps, and in the very next over Hayward, in trying'to drive Faulkner, gave Sherwell au easy opening for stumping him. The chance did not go '‘a-begging,” and four wickets were down for 42. Hirst and Braund then became associated, and with a characteristic “pull” the rorkshuemau sent up the 50.' But then came A TRULY DEPLORABLE COLLAPSE. Braund, who had been playing with his legs as much as with his bat, got in f jvut of a straight on© nud was l.b.w. at 53, Jessop, the smiter, smote at the second ball he received and placed it in Sherwell’s safe hands, Arnold played on, and at 63 Hirst and Lilley both retired, the former cleverly taken in a .shoit-leg trap, and’the. latter at slip. Hirst’s 17 was, under the circumstances, a really good innings. Knox, the Surrey fast bowier> and Blythe gave some little trouble, and put on 13 for the last wicket, but .at 3.3 J England, after battinglf) an hour and fifty-hve minutes, were out for the wretched total of 76.

Going in to bat the South Africans opened in an even moie unpivmismg fashion than England, Sherwell and Tancrod were the hist pair to face Blythe and Hirst. The Home team scon commenced to exhibit poor fielding for, with the score rt 4 and his own contribution at 3, Sherwell was missed by Arnold at short-leg—an expensive slip for Sherwell mad© the highest score for his side—viz., 26. However, the luck was not all on the South African's' side, for 'fancied at 6 overbalanced when playing forward and was stumped for a duck, and three runs later Hathorn was caught at the wicket. “Two for nine," seemed good business for England, but Nourse and Sherwell, in spite of a change from Hirst to Arnold, carried the score stead-, ily up to. 34. Then Foster missed Nourse at slip, off Blythe, and that bowler had h chance of taking Nourse two overs later from a sharp return. were, hapipily, not serious, for the very next ball Nourse skved to Arnold, and \vus out, his 18 being a very valuable if lucky contribution. Joined by White, Sherwell still batted admirably, but at 4 1 the game took A. LUCKY TURN in favour of England. Hirst at mid-off held a hard catch from/ White, after quit© a juggling exhibition, and .in the same over Sinclair, after scoring a lucky 2 was stumped by Liliey, the bail rebounding off the keeper's pads after he had made > a vain attempt to take it. An hour's cricket had thus resulted in five wickets being down lor 49.- Rain again caused a brief halt when the score was at 56, and the first over on resumption saw Sherwell I.b.w. to Blythe and Faulkner taken at slip, and seven South Africans were out for 59. Snooke tcame in and "went for the bowling, some lucky strokes and one or two good ones enabling him to take tbo score to 73 ere a short-pitched ball fiojn Knox led to his capture at the wicket. Then ' England total was passed in 85 minutes, Vogler and Shalders being then together. Neither seemed to fear Blythe; and rapidly carried . the total to 99, when< another blunder gave Vogler a fresh lease of life, Liliey missing a skyer which he ought to have left to Arnold. Altogether the ninth wicket produced 29 runs in twenty minutes, and then Vogler was caught by Hayward running from pjint towards third man.. A little later a good running catch by Fry disposed of Shalders for a capital 21, and the South Africans were all out after an hour and fifty minutes' batting for 110. England, 34 runs in arrears, had to go in for twenty-five minutes at the end of the day, and though Faulkner “stuck up" Frv several times, the Sussex player and Hayward put together 25 runs er© play ceased for the day. the former contributing 12 and the latter 13. v ■ GREAT BOWLING. Undoubtedly the' feature of the first day's play was the bowling of Faulkner for South Africa and Blythe for England. Faulkner's record of sis wickets for 17 has not often been .excelled in a match of such importance as this. It recalls some .of the feats of Spofforth and Palmer and—kiter —of Hugh Trurable. He is not reckoned—by English cricketers at any rate —as one of the "crack" bowlers -of the team, but that he is very dangerous on his day there is no denying. Only a week or two ago he was the main cause of Surrey's collapse at the Oval, and on that occasion the wicket was hard and fast, and altogether unlike that at ’ Leeds. Blythe’s eight for 59. if not so striking as ‘mere figures, must have been quite as fine a performance, and but for some rather severe punishment at the close it would have looked better still The famous Kentish left-hand ?r has been doing such wonders lately that his success gives no cause for surprise. When the wicket helps him he has no superior. A word of warm praise must also be given to Liliey. who dismissed four men behind the sticks. It is perhaps worthy of remark nt this juncture that not one of the South Africans was bowled, one was out Lb.w.,

J:\vo were stumped, two caught at the wicket, and the rest iu the held. Un the English side Tour men were bowled. FRY "COMES OFF.” Tuesday’s play was entiicly spoiled by rain. Wiiat cricket there was was doled out iu snatches of 12, 8, 35, and 15 minutes, or a grand total 'of TO minutes' play. In that time England lost Tour of Her best wickets Tor an addition of 85 to the overnight score. of 25. Undoubtedly the feature of the play was Frys batting. lie played a confident forcing game, batting hard whenever a luir cxmuce cam© lus way and placing j the ball cleveily between the fieldsmen. : Ere he left l.b.w. he had placed s*l to his credit, which, was, under the circumstances, a particularly valuable contribution. Soon after play commenced ho lost Hayward, who had only bivugnt , his overmgut score up to 15 when he ■ was cleverly stumped by Sherwell,: who seems fated to spoil Haywards, firstclass average. 'lhe Surrey crack has played against the South Africans five ■ rimes, and each time Sherwell has got him out, four times by stumping ana ! one© by a catch at tho wicket, 'iyldosj ley lent Fry valuable for though beaten several times by Voglor and far from happy with the attack, ho managed to run up 30 ere he fell 1 into the same short leg trap that would have proved his undoing on Monday but i for tho fact that the umpire called "no | ball." Foster and liraund then gecame i associated, but Braund only received two I balls. The first b‘>at him, and from th© > second ho provided a soft catch at slip. Four for 107 was* the state of the poll when Georg© Hirst cam© in, and three ; runs later a torrential downpour set in which nut a stopper, on the game for the day. England was then 76 runs on with six wickets in hand.; - So . heavily did it rain on Tuesday evening that most people thought that the hours of play (if : any) on Wednesday would be considerably | curtailed, but th© pitch was quite At ■ when time to resume arrived on the morrow. . j CRICKET IN SNATCHES. Rain, however, again marred the play I and the hour which England spent at ' the wicket was divided into three spells og 2i. 16, and 22 minutes. Only five had been added to the overnight total when Foster and Hirst were parted, i the first delivery of White’s second over seeing ’ Hirst bowled for a couple of singles. Jessop had again but a brief cai reer, receiving eight balls. From three in succession he obtained a couple, a i, and a 3, and after a single he launched out at one from Faulkner, skyed it, and was taken at long on, making six ' down for 106. Arnold came next, and terribly uncomfortable ho was during ■ the few minutes prior to rain interven- | lng with 125) on the board. In a dozen minutes the colonials were again in the field, and after minor items by the English captain, Arnold broke his duck with a 4 to leg off White. Then down came—another shower, and this time the delay amounted to half an hour. The last spoil of cricket was disastrous to , England, as after Arnold had brought up 150 lie wa s caught at slip off Faulkner for a dozen, JLiiley was out leg before to tho second bail he received, and the English skipper was the next to leave, after a stay of seventy minutes. His 22, if not a great innings, was a most valuable one. The last pair added 8, and then Schwarz, relieving White, Blythe played a ball down the pitch and remained stationary. Knoc, however, ran and Sherwell returned the ball to the bowler before the Surreyite could, get back. The total was- 164, leaving the j §outh Africans 129 to make to win. White, who took four wickets for 47, : had the best analysis of the five bowlers \ tried, Faulkner securing three for 58. BLYTHE AND—DEADLY.

The South Africans' second venture opcntd in most disastrous fashion, for with one run on the board a smart bit of fielding by Jessop enabled Lilley to put an end to Tancred's career, thus presenting the batsman with- “a pair." A further disaster quickly overtook the visitors, for with on© run to his credit Captain Sherwell skyed one to Foster at silly point. “Two for 3" looked ,ominous, but worse was to follow. Hathorn put up a ball to slip, Braund missing an easv catch, else it would have been a case‘of 3 for 4. Still the mistake was not very expensive, for when only 10 runs were on the board Nourse got his leg in front of a straight one from Blythe and retired. With three good wickets gone, for ten runs WTiite arrived, but after receiving a lift in the slips he saw Hathorn, who had scored 7, play a ball from Arnold into his wicket. Four for 16 was enough to break the hearts of the batsmen to come, and when, with a couple of runs added, Whit© was taken at slip and half the side were out, it looked as if the game were “all over bar shouting." But Sinclair came .to the rescue. The fate of his predecessors did not worry the stalwart Transvaaler, who set to work to shoNv the spectators that he had scant respect for Blythe, He smacked that bowler for a dozen in one over, but the Kentish terror had his revenge in his m?xt for, after being hit for a 3 he got the South African Bonnor caught in the slips. Six for 38 was some improvement on the previous state of affairs, and Srr>oke and Faulkner, though often in a tangle with the bowling, managed to bring the score up to 56. Then Faulkner, who had butted patiently for over an hour for 11 runs, tried to force the game and paid the penalty, skying me Blythe-to Foster at point. Ten inns later Shaid r«* was out leg before to Hirst. Vogler quickly obtained nine, including a square leg hit to the boundary off Hirst, and then a couple* of catches off consecutive balls from Blythe finished the match. First Tyldesley brought about Vogler's dismissal by a brilliant catch at longoff, he falling, but holding the ball off the ground; and then having crossed for the hit. Snooke was easily secured at mid-off, and a quarter to five the last wicket had gone with 75 on the board, and England were left victorious by 53 runs. Blythe's bowling was again exceptional—viz., seven 'for 40, giving him in the match a grand total of fifteen for 99, or less than 7 apiece. Yet he never once hit the wicket, and, indeed, tho only time the wicket was hit during the South Africans' two innings was when Hathorn played on to Arnold.