Outdoor Sports

New Zealand Times, Volume L, Issue 11411, 6 January 1923, Page 8

Outdoor Sports

Notes and Comments. J

THE FIRST TEST "

NEW ZEALAND’S DEBACLE WHAT WAS THE CAUSE OP IT? The first test match has come and gone, ,and the memory is one that leaves some things standing out with cameo-like clearness. „ In my notes last Saturday I wrote that a great deal depended on how our bowlers comported themselves under the ordeal. Truth to tell, they did not do as well as one wished. I have-written before that it was a pity that the team for the first match had to be picked so soon, as on this season's form one or v tvo of our. batsmen were not in that sparkling form necessary for success. With our players there is not a succession of smaller matches wherein they may work up their form in hatting or ; bowling if at' the start they are slightly off colour. But they must be confident and successful at once because so much depends on how they grasp their opportunities. In our necessarily limited sphere of operations, the Saturday afternoon cricket is all that is available as the means whereby players may reach that sometimes most elnrive thing - called good form. Thus it behoves, more than ever, our players to make use of every opportunity for practice in both bowling and batting. It has been said that the only solution to our troubles is the appointment qf coaches in our principal centres.* A certain’ amount of Coaching is, of course, necessary, and something should be done, but of greiter moment is the enthusiasm of players. . The greatest lack at present in <xpr cricket is not altogether that of coaches, but of bowlers who can stand up to the hardi grind of hour after hour of incessant toil in getting rid of opponents, on hard, true wickets. THE QUESTION OF MENTALITY. Another thing, mentality plays not a little part in the- equipment of the bowler, and somehow I cannot help thinking that our bowlers are'a little diffident in their outlook on the game. There are certain fundamentals in the art of bowling which some of our bowlers do not eeem to comprehend: with quite as,much clearness as they might. . _ The first, is - that-of length, and being able to maintain it in the face of odds. 5 The second is that unless a bowler has got an absolutely mechanical control of length he may as well leave all artifices alone. Except the bowler ha 6 learned not to worry as to where his ball is going to pitch when trying to spin the bail and to vhry the flight then trouble, and sore trouble at that, is going to ensue when,pitted-against batsmen or the best olass. Thia is only attained by practice of the most earnest and searching kind. After all the howler’s art is not merely confined to ability contained in fingers' or mind; but he has certain muscles at the back and over the loins which contribute more than is thought of to success; isiTt islno use if a bowler has the best fingers and the most cunning brain in the world, if his muscles are not rippling in perfect unison, then a few overs sees the end of him: The hall, which for a few moments showed qualities of perhaps a devilish kind, and played impish freaks, speedily becomes a veritable lump of lead, and the act of bowling becomes a task almost unbearable. I trust my readers will pardon my wordiness, but the sore spot is there, and if by.any words I can draw sufficient attention thereto for a remedy to be .vJFjdied. and that speedily, then I 6hall ne TJbply repaid. THE FITCH, The pitch on which the match was . plqyed , was- a good one (thanks to groundsjfian Brewers not quite so good as the one Wed -for the Auckland-Wel-linpton match, but nevertheless it played quite truly, inasmuch- as the boMerg did not make any ball kick, at all nor did any keep, dangerously low. . On the second day, after five hundred funs had been Scored, the surface roughed'somewhat, and the ball took on a little finger spin. In : the present series of matches the •custont’ 1 obtaining heretofore' of noliipjf , the pitch'qt the end of each day’s ,play - is. not allowed,, therefore the winning of the toss makes a considerable dits ference. This applies forcibly to the late match, and scores of anything round about three hundred on the second day ’ would have been extremely creditable. THE ENGLISHMEN i : 1 A GREAT BATSMAN. \ ’ """ - « ; The first innings of the M.C.C. team ; of course ’waa chiefly noticeable for the i magnificent innings of 200 not out by 1 A. C. MacLaren. Allowing for the uncertainty of length at times in our ' bowing, it splendid effort by the' ' veteran, and he set, himself to make himself master of the attack. Up till 1 lunch time our bowlers had done very 1 well, but the partnership of the captain 1 and 'towry put the “kibosh” on the f bowling completely. The strokes through f the cover; wen made in MacLaren’s old < form, and some of the shots on the onside were splendid. The whole innings was an exemplar to our young cricketers and they ought to derive untold benefit from such an exhibition of safe and certain cricket. Hiis scoring was done at a good rate all through,. and - was entirely free from a risky shot. He might have been mp '-’Ut before he had scored, and there 1 wa ® s-u extremely difficult chance .from i a hook whioh nearly cleared the leg j boundary. Lowiw, with 64, was chiefly instrumental in breaking up the bowl- j ing, and his innings was a very well- ] played one. His chief scoring shots 1 were on the off-side, but he also made ' some powerful strokes to the on. One i six to long-on was a beauty. Mcl«an’s 84 came as an unpleasant i surprise to the New Zealanders, who t were not exacting such a display from him. He hit hard and made some (jolly good strokes, as well as a good many bad ones. However, be is developing, und if I am not mistaken will rank higher as a batsman ; Calthorpe played a splendid innings, 1 and he showed good form. He timed the strokes on the off very well, one through cover especially bringing him' a i hatful of runs. He also showed very sound defence, and played back more than any of the others. Brand took a long time over his runs, but did not get very much of the bowling ■ while he was m. He played safely and eoundly.

Titchmarsh (22) was going steadily when given out l.b.w. k Wilkinson (17) did not get much chance of, showing his great ability as a rungetter.

Chnbman only getting one was a huge disappointment to all the spectators. However, the catch that diomissed him was an excellent one. THE BOWLERS.

The New Zealand bowlers did not show any striking capacity on a good true wicket. • Tbr a time at the start of the

innings Brice bowled very well, and had the batsmen playing him very carefully, but after that, although his length was fairly good he lost his sting, and did not appear to give a great deal of trouble. It is a great pity Stan is not ten or twelve years younger, as he is the type of bowler sadly wanted in New Zealand to-day. Allcott bowled well at times, and was never freely hit about. He kept dhe ball tv yard too short most of the time. When he can rectify this fault of his he will do much better in big cricket. Garrard did well at times, and kept the batsmen quiet, but was not difficult to watch. He has certainly lost his former- quick nip off the pitch. None of the 'other bowling ever looked like getting men out. Snedden now and again' sent up a good ball, and so did Shepherd, but -Staith, although he kept the batsmen playing him, did not look difficult enough to cause the batsmen any uneasiness. Gnr bowlers did not rise to ’ the- occasion, and are not in sufficiently good form to get a first-class side out for a reasonable total. The fielding was safe, but far from dashing. I should say that with younger fieldsmen and slightly more astute placing of the field anything from 100 to 150 runs might have been saved. As was to be expected the young members of the side fielded well all through a hard day, but one oi‘ two of the older members of the side were far from brilliant. OUR BATSMEN.

The New Zealand batsmen did not dq | as well as we hoped. The failure of the , earlier * members of the side was a sad blow, but the latter men batted stubi bornly, even if they had a little luck. Garrard, with 47, headed the list, und proved himself to be much better than ’ generally supposed. He played very well on the leg side, but also made one or two rather good shots on the off. I think he displayed Hither better style than anyone else on the side. Shepherd’s 33 was a gorfd innings, and 1 he watched the hall very carefully. Anything; loose, which oame but seldom, was put away firmly and well. He further . confirmed the promise shown by him when playing against the Australians two years ago. Allcott made 38 not out, but wa : s lucky to get so far, as he did not look very happy when facing Freeman. However, be put the wood on when opportunity offered, and hit six fours. McLeod, in making 22, displayed bright form, and played the ball hard. There is no doubt he is coming on, and in McLeod and Garrard Auckland possesses two very capable colts. Blunt got 15. Collins 13,. and Brice 16, but; hone,,of, these displayed wonderful form. . THE SECOND INNINGS. . The second innings displayed greater promise! at the beginning, but petered out badly until the tenth wicket added a few. Hiddlestbn and Blunt put on a few, but neither seemed at home. Blunt "got 25 and got out in rather a foolish manner, giving an easy chance to \first slip. Hiddleston’s 38 contained soma very good strokes, and the ball which dismissed him went up to first Aits off the ground after hitting the N»jff. tHe square-leg umpire had been appesoou. to he would have given it not out; iam sure...as anyone looking, from, square-leg could -see what the ball did after passing the bat. Garrard again batted better than anyone else on the side in,vetting 19 not out. and by his play in this match established himself as quite one of the hest bats in the Dominion. Brice batted freely for 22, but seemed hard put to it to keep Freeman out. He hit a six off Gibson. ■' , VISITORS DEADLY BOWLING. The M.C.C. bowling on the day was too much for our batsmen, and Gibson j and -Freeman thoroughly oyer-played; ouj radn.. The wicket-had /the. top-roughened, considerably as the result of Ehgland’s long score, and the bowlers were able to spin the ball very quickly. Oji the last day Freeman had the bats men quite at his mercy. Hig, length was excellent, and the ball not. only spun quickly, ! but rose to quite a good height at times. Gibson keeps a most excellent length; and swings the ball each way. He cerv tainly showed that it was a most difficult matter to force him away. The fielding of the viators was firstclasg, and runs were never ehsy to obtain: The men got to the ball and lost t no! time in sending it „in to the . wicketkeeper. McLean, as wicket-keeper, did not appeal to me as anything out of the ordinary. I might he wrong, but I do not think h,e is a quick stumper. The great disappointment/on New Zealand’s side was the double failure of Smith and Snedden, and the comparative non success of Collins. These three were considered to he the ‘backbone of the hatting, and, therefore, runs were not only hoped for but looked for. However, it is pleasing to sco that more youhg ones are being selected, so perhaps a better fight may be looked for later on. » The wicket was good on the first -lav, but after that the ball spun too sharply for a batsman’s comfort. The groundsman was not .ahte to put the amount of work into it owing to the PI unket Shield match, therefore it wag a shade too dry without being thoroughly worked up. In spite of this the wicket did not become fiery, and Brewer did splendidly in face ot a great handicap. *

SECOND TEST MATCH

NEW ZEALAND’S STRONGER COMBINATION. In selecting the teaia for the second test the selectors have dropped three of the players in the first test and have and Deere. —- The fielding will certainly benefit and about fifty or sixty runs saved can be looked for at once. The difference between Hiddleston ai.d Dacre at cover when'playing a team like the M.C.C. oan haidly be estimated. ; - The bowling will also benefit, as MeGirr tnd Bernau can both add more than a little sting to the attack. . The batting has been strengthened and the experience will help the younger players greatly ip the future. Dempster will have to be considered yet, and there is no doubt that the young players must be preferred—all things equal—in the matches against the visitors. Older players are almost at the point of oblivion, therefore they are not Jikily to derive the benefit necessary to improve our cricket. The youngsters have their careers before them, and as they show ability to cope with the attack of the visitors so will they gain confidence for the future, and the benefit to bd derived therefrom will be incalculable. The bowling will also be strengthened as a result of the games. If the discovery could be made of some good youngsters in the bowling line a perfect godsend would be bestowed on our cricket, and wo shall be better able to cope with the Australians in 1923-24. Moßeatli might have be&n considered, but the type of man required is one who con keep the batsmen on tenderbooks and is not looking for help from the wicket - O Connell, of Hawke’s Bay, is the one

who would do the best if l\e would take it into his head to practise earnestly', ns he lacks length’ and that can only be sequired by haxd work. He oan do more with the ball on a good, wicket than any other man in New Zealand. However, if the nicket is good and New Zealand is luck/ enough to win the toss, I am optimistic enough to look forward to a thoroughly interesting game.