CRICKET JOTTINGS

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12075, 28 February 1925, Page 10

CRICKET JOTTINGS

INSTITUTE TEAM ON TOP

NOTES FROM FAR ANB NEAR

Institute are practically assured of the Wellington club championship, and they certainly deserve it. They have been the keenest team in the senior competition since they first entered it, and have fought well for their laurels. What a fine let of young players might have been still hiding . their lights in the .ranks of the juniors had not a conservative committee been instructed 1 to grant their promotion. Perhaps if ’Varsity, another team of colts in the junior grade, were given a chance they might do just as well.

PROMISING YEUNG •PLAYERS. Undoubtedly the great find so far in the Institute team has been Dempster. He is • performing better than any other bat in AVellington at preeont and ther© is no other player in thia city who can excel him in the field. Banks is another who has done well, and he will still do better. He has not been the . luckiest player in the competition by any means, hut the day is coming when fortune will bestow her 'bounties on him also. Malcolm has risen above the average club bonder this year, andi with ai corresponding improvement next season should find a place in the representative eleven. 1

Burt and Prince have both proved themselves to be well above the average, and they too are knocking at the door so far as provoneial honours arc concerned. Both are attractive batsmen, with strokes all round the wicket, and Prince, in particular, has a magnificent, drive. Foley has been a little erratic with the ball, ’but his great value at pret Ik- in his wonderful slip fieldling - He has a long leach ami the ;uickiKss of a cat.

Griffiths is a howler who can always command respect from ’batsmen, and .vhat is more he is mi enthusiast. There is no one - in-Wellington more imbued with the true spirit of a great game. Condliffe, who has taken James's place behind the stumps, shows distinrit promise, and' is a rival to his predecessor for higher honours. He w illse a useful bat. A young ‘batsman who has deserved his promotion- is Bilby, who is also a fine field. This department of the game so noticeably neglected hy some of the ether teams is a strong point with Institute, and’”jt has been nd smrftll factor in obtaining for them their present proud position. Besides the players mentioned above the club lias a number of others tyho are seriously challenging for places in the senior team, and altogether the club is. a strong one. Old Boys, as in last season, arc just beginning to show their true form at the end of the season. Their defeat of Y.M.C.A. came as a surprise to many but it is nothing to he wondered at when one considers the team “on paper.” Collins, Barclay, Ronaldson, James. Joplin, Duncan and Co. ate a formidable combination, but they show very erratic form. OUR VISITORS. The Victorian team are at present playing Canterbury. On Tuesday and Wednesday they meet North Canter-, bury and on Friday, Saturday and Monday next the Wellington team trill oe their opponents. slay Jupiter Pluvius be conspicuous by his absence, and may tho local men perform. wonders with bat and ball. " Otsigo did remarkably well, and Wellington were the only team to defeat the Plunket Shield holders. Discussing the Canterbury team that is playing Victoria, the Christchurch "Star” says:—D. Sandman was not available. The team is the same ‘ as that which met Otago, except that Cox and . Gregory are in in place of E. A. Gasson and Sandman. Local support-, ere of the game will be pleased that Cox has at last been given a chancers This young player has been batting most consistently this season, and he fully deserves his place in the team. It is rather surprising that Gregory should be in the team, apparently in place of Sandman. It was generally expected that if Sandman was not available his place would be filled by J. McEwin. The visitors will commence their match in Auckland on March 13th. The selection committee of the Auckland Cricket Association has chosen the following players to practise with a view to selection In tho Auckland team against the visitors : —S. G. Smith, N. G. S'nedden, F. S. Tayjor, and F. Craig (Ponsonb.v), C. Allcott, E. Hors-, pool, and R. W. Rowntre© (Grafton), A. Anthony and McCov (Parnell). H. Gillespie. I. Conner. A. Postles, and W. Blair (Eden), W. Garrard, R. Garrard, and L. Player (University). C. Dacre and R. E. Frater (North Shore). THE NEW ZEALAND- ELEVEN. ’

The New Zealand side is going to be a problem for tho selectors. The following must be well in the running: Bf de R; Worker, A. Shepherd, G. N. Dickinson, A. W. Alloo, A. Galland (Otago), R. C. Blunt, D. J. Mcßeath, W. Cunningham, W. R. Patrick, M.Boon (Canterbury), J. S. Hiddleston, D. C. Collins, H. M. McGirr, F. T. Badcock, S. C. Dempster (Wellington), S. G. Smith, C. Allcott, R. W. Rowntree, and C. Dacre (Auckland); also, according to Mayne, the Victorian captain, J. Lynch (Southland). AMERICAN ON CRICKET.

Sydney “Referee” asking some questions that betray a much more intimate knowledge of cricket than one might expect in an American, thougfi these are very pertinent and to the point. Hie letter: Deaf “Not Out,” —I am an American, and have been attending the big cricket matches. The rulings have got me sure puzzled, and I am writing to you as authority on the game to answer the following questions in the "Referee” : Why is Ofie bowler not debited with no-balls, wides, byes, and legbyes? Why is he debited with . overthrows ? Why is he not credited with run-outs? Why is tho ball" dead "and the batsman not allowed to run when the wicketkeeper returns the hall' to the bowler? Why is the wicketkeeper allowed to chase the ball in the field and run a batsman out ? How can batsmen who run their first run short score any rims at all ? If the wicket is not allowed to be rolled while a side is batting, why is it that a batsman (particularly Hobbs in the first test) is allowed the equivalent of rolling it with his bat? In our national game of baseball everyone gets credit for what he does, and is debited with errors. It would ,be a good idea in cricket to keep an lanalysis of fielding. Hendren and Taylor in the outfield, Chapman and Gilligan are splendid. The Australian fielding was poor, especially Bardsley, A. Richardson, Hendry, Kelleway, and in a lesser light Ponsford, but when Andrews and Kippax appeared the

fielding was much better. Some wonderful ball players could be made out of Chapman, Gffiigan, Hendren, Gregory. Kippax, Andrews, and V. Richardson. E. T. Austin, of Melbourne Universitv Club, who captained the Victorian colts against the South Australian colts this season, is one of the younger members of the Victorian team. He is at present suffering from a poisoned leg, but hopes to he all right in a day or so.

11. M. Austen hails from Ballarat, and is tho only county representative in the team. He is regarded as the “bab.v” of the side, as he only scales a little matter ot 17st 61b. He has iust finished a two years’ course at Cambridge University, where he got his cricket “blue.” and played, with the ’Varsity eleven for two seasons under the captaincy of Tom Lowry, the New Zealander, " Judging by the breadth of his shoulders, if he gets properly on to a drive on the Oarisbrook ground on Saturday the hall will land in Dunedin harbour.

K. Millar is a young.member of the East Melbourne-Hawthorn Club, and is a good all-round player. The Dominion will take an especial interest in the performances in the fifth Test of C. V. Oriminett. for although the slow bowler bears the label of South Australia, ho is claimed by New Zealand. It was in New Zealand that he learned his cricket, and before he left for Australia he represented Wellington, making his last appearance against Canterbury in 1914. After leaving the Dominion, he settled in Melbourne, and in pennant cricket he played for Prahrah. In the 1923-24 season he took 54 wickets at an avernge of 12,1 runs, his hatting average then being 26.2. In tnat season he played for the State side." and in a match with South Australia he took nine wickets for 95, this including a performance of one wicket for 12 in the first innings. He also played for a Victorian team against a Ballarat fifteen, his bag in two innings being 10 wickets for 77. He then removed to South Australia, and he has been the iifainstay of the team of that State in Sheffield Shield matches, this season. He scored heavily as a bowler when the side met the Englishmen. His success against tho English team was repeated when in Brisbane he played for an Australian eleven led by H. L. Hendry. That the Enterprise Cricket Club, Gulgong, New South Wales, is aptly named is evident from its methods of fining members. Any player who misses a catch or is out for a “duck” pays 6d into the funds. There is a penny penalty for misfielding a hall. All fines help to make the club’s revenue healthy. If such a system were pursued in Wellington, many players would be reduced to a state of destii tution.

The'Victorian cricketers are receiving more than the 10s a. day allowed by the New Zealand Cricket Council. Before they left Melbourne, the Victorian Association decided that the allowance was insufficient, and decided to add 5s a day on its own account, and to grant up to 5s more to men who proved that they had through loss of time. JThe manager (Mr- hi. E. Bean) was granted £l5O ,by the V.G\A. for: the expenses of the tour, of himself and - wife. After all, the V.C.A. should have money to tum as - a result of the visit of the Englishmen. . ! Arthur Richardson, tne bespectacled South Australian cricketer, who, after many years’ trying, has attained inteinational honours this season, usually takes cricket very seriously. When lie first-came from Clare, the South Australian fruitgrowing centre, and gained a position in games against tho eastern States, he always made it a rule to go to‘ bed about 7 p.m. when the match was on, so that he would be fit next day. Some of the players' used to call him “Bed sores.” It is said, however, that Arthur has one bad habit. He has a tremendous appetite, and after lunch, when he has to take the field, it is often difficult for him to get down to stop'a fast one. A free batsman of the Johnny Taylor type is how some of his team mates describe C. B. Willis, a member of tho Victorian cricket side. Willis headed the batting averages with the A.I.F. team, but when he came back to the fast Australian wickets, lie was unable to employ with regular success his audacious methods, and so proved a comparative failure in Sheffield Shield matches until against New South Wales recently, he hit up a century. “If Willis' is in for an hour, he will make a century,” said: one player, and others agreed that all Willis needed was a.fair start. When in hatting rein his .displays would be enjoyed by the public. He drives vory hard, likes the on side, exploiting pull shots. He does not score much behind the wickets.

REPRESENTATIVE CRICKET TEAMS

(To tho Editor, “N.Z. Times.”) Sir, —I have noticed in various papers several efforts in the selection of teams to represent New Zealand and Wellington against the Victorians. In a good many cases no doubt some of the would-be selectors know less about Cricket than about the moon. Still it provides a bit of fun for those -who read the papers. Joking apart, however, there is one thing that surprises me when reading the notes by the staff critics on the papers, Wellington especially: That is, the constant omission of any country cricketers when considering names for the teams. One player in particular comes to my mind, and that ik T. C. Lowry, who resides these days in the Wellington area. Granted that he is not playing regularly, he m certainly good 1 enough for any team in New Zealand, and a week at the nets would" soon help him to loosen his muscles: Anyone with a knowledge of cricket affairs will know that Lowry played for the Gentlemen at Lords, that he captained Cambridge, was tho best hat on the side, is a fieldsman of the best quality, and is also n wicket-keeper of highclass. In addition to all this he is reckoned by competent judges as one of the best Cambridge captains of recent years. If the services of such a player are available then some effort should, be made to make use of them There is more than a thought that cricket rep teams are the close preserve of the four centres, and that areas outside can go and whistle. I trust that our selectors will make use of the above suggestion. Thanking you in anticipation. “QUIDNUNC.”