General.

NZ Truth, Issue 78, 15 December 1906, Page 3

General.

{ Playing; for Riccarton against Bast ! Ohnscdiurch on {Saturday,-' A. AnI Lhony no ichcd 11? before he was i sent pavilion wards, l.b.w: Sid Callowa" made 60 and assisted the centur^ recorder to pile on the runs at a great bat. On*rlev put up a fine bowling performance lor FeiWing against the Albions on Saturday, his averages readinr 9 for 19 and 6 for 11. The Auckland "fcjtar" writer hits ofi my opinions m regard to the action of the New Zealand Cricket Council appointing; three of its own members as selection committee of : the New Zealand team, to a T. He ; says :— "A committee of three men , resident m one city is entirely unsuited to select an eleven to represent a* colons such as this. Granted ; that they will have the results of : the provincial matches to guide j them, the system is not a fair, one, I looked at from any point of view, ilt ma^- be cheap, but it is also 1 nasty. I don't say that last year's 1 system was a complete success, but . that was through no intrinsic fault. | The selectors- treMpd their northern coadjutor with scant r-our-ftesy—he first knew the team on read-

ing it m the daily press, and some of his recommendations were cheerfully ignored— but even the measure of consideration which Mr Ohlson did receive was better than none at all. It is not only the number of runs that a man gets, but also his method of getting them, that requires consideration m selecting a colonial team, but I fear that that consideration will not weigh any more than it should." The batting; of the Auckland team to meet the Englishmen this week is pronounced to be very sound, the bowling attack presents a fair amount of variety, more than the Northerners have had -for some years, while the fielding all round is decent, but good slipsmen are none too plentiful. A. Howden and A. Kerr are m the local reps for the first time. Kerr is spending his first season m Auckland, his former place of abode being Mudgee (N.S.W.) where he was credited with talcing 100 wiclcets and making over 1000 runs last season. He is said to be the best left-handed break howler seen m Auckland -for some years. Howden bowls a slow leg break and keeps a perfect length. On a wicket that helns him at all he should give heaps of trouble to the batsmen. There is no reason, says one writer, wlr* a total at least as presentable as tbat»of any; of the' Southern' pro-' vinces should not be put up by Auckr land. ■• ;, ■ . ■■'-.-■ The s wires tion that Relf,, the English, professional;' 'should play for Auckland against Wynyard's combination is being opposed m all quarters, Auckland $>\ exempted. Mr Tim Raphael, the courteous and able gentleman who has his hands on the secretarial reins of the New Zealand Cricket Council, returned to Christchurch on Saturday night, havine; seen the Englishmen fairly started on their journeyings through the colony. Tim is satisfied that everything is now m apple-pie order for the tour which extends to March next. During his few days sojourn m Wellington he was kept going at a steady pressure attending to the many details which crop up at every turn whenever a tour of this importance is m progress. For the sake of the came m this colony it is hoped that Tim will be induced to remain at the helm of the controlling body for many, many years to come. His successor, whoever lie may be, will have the hardest task m his natural to achieve anything like the record established by the genial Tim, whose affability and businesslike methods have won for him a legion of friends m every part of the colony. One thing is certain, Wynyard's team will be a much more popular combination ,with colonials than that skippered by Warner. The Warner push were, for the most part, the hip-rest set of bounders that ever Urod on the corns of New 'Zealanders. Warner himself gave mortal offence to cricketers m this colony by reason of his "caddish" manners, and this fact was unpleasantly brought home to him on more than one occasion before he quitted these shores. Warner put on tremendous airs until the cove at Greymoutlr took the starch out of him m a&.way that knocked his team "aillv" inside of thirty, minutes. Capt. Wynyard . is the very antithesis of Warner.. There is no irillr or flumine; "ahi>tJ ; t him, and he " coraeS to business at once. His men- are very decent young fellows, who expiress their delight at being given the opportunity, to see New Zea- r land and are, so they say, already charmed with the "unconventional" colonial. They are out here for a real good time, and judging from the conversation I had with several of them on the evening of their arrival, I should say that expectations will be fully realised. At the same time, they are keen on winning their matches and| will stretch every sportsmanlike effort to attain that end. Tim Raphael has set his heart on having a "recorder" placed m a conspicuous part of the Basin Reserve, so that the tames of the batsmen and bowlers, together with the scores may be plainly discernible to every person within the. enclosure. The "microscopic" telegraph boards which do duty at our local competi* tions are almost useless for their purpose whenever a big match is under way. and only, the spectators m the immediate vicinity are capable of ascertaining the progress, 6f events. , The cost would not exceed £20 or £25, and Tim swears that he would not have the slightest! difficulty m raising that sum from some of our wealthy patrons of the sport within an hour. Anyway, Tim accomplished what our too modest Cricket Association officials were m mortal terror of soliciting. At his request, Mrs Bell, wife of the President ol the Cricket Association, gladly undertook to supervise the afternoon tea arrangements m connection with the series .of matches to be played against the Englishmen m Wellington, and that lady will have the services of an efficient corps of her own sex to assist her m dispensing light and acceptable refreshments. The writer cordially disagrees with Mr Raphael when he says that at the test match played on the Bnsm Reserve .between, the last Australian team and a New Zealand combination some 3000 neople ; obtained admission on the "nod" which meant a trifle of £150 or thereabouts to the New Zealand Cricket Council. When discussing this matter with Mr Raphael on Saturday he said he was prepared to stick to Ms p;uns. He did not:, however, mean to infer that the number he had mentioned had obtained access to the crowd by jumping over the fences, but it was a fact that hundreds were on the fftovad who had never r- a rted a "stiver." All, the I 3ame Tim was wide of the mark when he made the statement about this i "free ph'ow," business. Pome extraordinary cricket was witnessed m a /notch at Rowhel m the Scone fN. S.W.I district a few weeVs afro. W. Cameron secured 7 wickets. frOT m on* o v ?r. p.nd accomplished the hat. trick. The same player rave n sensational disnJav of acrTpp.s've bfitt'n*. rmtt.inrr. up 227 m a. little over 90 minn+^s ."^.•srlr- m his innino-s one of th" onnosmrr bowlers 1 h'+ hi 1 ? Vtnmns "ithput however, rl»sIn.^^in" hails. He bit thirteen a's jand fifteen 4's. . I Cr. L. Jf^pnn. -t.»p. famous Fn^li^n | slon-nrpT. is the. -fnther. of a rniipn-ryjcr I <=r>n. •"trnn raine m +•'■>? seen** on P?**n■j trmrfpr fi. Mr ' s ■ T " <:e r> ri is rji Au*+r^- ! l.in. Mfss OsW>rn»v pit* r«r»v»Vf»r jn f ■„ ' nr(?H-VnOVjn NVrrr Politfl W n >ij ; fpmiiv Tl-.O ■.otfopr^rjop n t tl-io .ejnrrer v. Vorl-^hire r»if>+fV> r>t WVn^triT+^n f>vr>l o« .Tji.lv Oft 07 nrirf nc \ tiiiml'Pr/i'l . fii .817. Tn addition tici^ts were sold * . ■ ■ i