CRICKET.

NZ Truth, Issue 81, 5 January 1907, Page 3

CRICKET.

(By Scout)*

Without exaggeration, it' may be Baid that, the recent Welimgtpn-Maiy-lebone contest was bright', only m patches.;, The. spiciest tit-bit of the cake . was the stand. made by Page and Simpson-Hayward '-gii.'-thei third day. The . former's display was'entertaming and delightful to (l watch, particularly his off-strokes^. "which iWere | superbly executed and had plenty- of power behind them. Burns alsoi save a; counle of bright exhibitions which took the fancy of local experts. „ The disasters which befell the Englishmen on the second day! were! probably without; ' parallel m. the history or . Australian or New Zealand cricket; indeed I never recalled hearing of a . similar occurrence on . any riclcet field. It. was bad luck to lose. ! fie. star bowler, -but when, the skipper and one of the stock bowlers were silbsequehtly placed hors.de combat, ilio En&li"shm«h's cup of bitterness Was filled to overflowing;' ... ""] '.-'; It is rarely indeed that a. ; team composed exclusively of amateurs cah undergo a lengthy campaign without •arie or other of its stock bowlers cracking up. The amateur bowler cannot peg away day after day rwith' Ihe ; maohine--like precision of his bro-ther-professional. Here we had . twobowlers breaking down jright „a.i the, . outseti" of 'the tour,, and in 1 the' case, of DoUcTas ' it is reasonable .to suppose /'t&jtt he -will- fee! ' the effects of that rick to ;the ■ bitter ' end. Capt. , Wynyard's 'misfprturie came 1 about', by., sheer accident. . - May. was dog-tired at the finish of Wednesday's play , and he made, no secret of . the fact. He .'sent .down some, fast ' stuff .for a few overs :in Wellington's second essay, but nature then herself, and the express, bowler found himself compelled; Ap slacken doyfa, considerably. Owingi tp his \ peculiar tiring action, he has ah uncertain leg that has a knack... of not lasting, m spite of its owner's;.. great • heart. .-.'. '■■'. " • . ,'..■' .'•'... '...' '. The JSngl.ishmen ' fielded brilliantly up, to, the closing stages .of; the. match, ; . when their -work got a -bit .ragged. ' .'Tone of the /Waiters, however, gave a ; 'utart. to Cobcroft, whose ground, fieldiag was perfection. Jack Mahoney too, was agile sure. , .. ■ Arnold . Williams was very anxious to notch p. century against .the Fog- ; land representatives.. His was a fine.innings, "blemished 'by only ; two chances and a few uppish strokes, : Burns had the . lives of a cat m the ..early ■'■part- of his second strike. -...., He . slammed at everything hittable and, : was m great •-forceful form:- . : , ... ■ Williams' talcing on the leg-side . from Upham 's . fast ones . was year y v clean And accurate and evoked pra-ise .•from the visitors. Fox did good work' ; 'With the gloves for the Englishmen. ; : Though not a Poolley, Blackham, Jar- . vis or Kelly, the classic-featured one v.ffoes through- his work dn Tjusiness-like ...if not pretentious style. .. i ■..;; There is some talk of Fisher* the Th;n€din cricketer, taking: up hisresidence m Wellington for three or. four 'months ; after the New Year. •■ hojli- ? days. He is said to "be m,. better :-■ bowling form than ever this season. -. <. .• The pupils of Sam Jones, the exF Australian' batsman of ; renown, are ' said to be showing splendid form m; •VA-Uclcland this season. These boys, ■•under the expert coaching of S.P.J. _^: batJ. now ■"■■ like -^tradesmen, meeting with 'a 'straight bat, and ' playing to f keep the ball dowri all the r \ tfay. They have >had the principlesof ■ -thfe game thoroughly grounded m, and will develop along sound lines. ■, into •'- ireallv good batsmen. .' . . : : The management of the Wellihgton•LMaifylebone match was phalks, ; below ■ what iti should have been, and, the *' policy of the Council m taking 'up duties which could with advantage 'have been ' left to the local Association to undertake, was an unwise one, ,to say -the least of it; With a .little -foresight, the game could easily have • -teen brought to a satisfactory termination for one side or the other. ;: That afternoon tea (racket should be -Knocked oh' the head. There may be "-'some excuse- for this "spell oh" m *the warmer climfes of Australia. In • New Zealand it. is productive only of > r? xUi aggravating waste of time, and /"gets on the nerves of spectators ter~ribl^ ..■-:.,. '.!; What was Caretaker Twiss doing I r 'when that small army of kiddies were n slidinf about tie pitch during the "drizzle" lull on the last afternoon ■^of the WelHngton-Marylebqne match. 'It is an extraordinary circumstance : ,t£at' Twiss is never m his place when ''\\t is most wanted, and this being '•so the Association might ponder over ;! tfrs advisability of getting hold of 7 somebody who is ' prepared to give *the proper attention to the duties 'jwhich he (Twiss) is now paid to after. The unfortunate habit by Twiss of making himr ' v self scarce whene\ 7 er there is work for 'him to do, wants nipping m the bud, sjahd promptly. ( ' ■ ■ '•': In a recent Wednesday match at ;■ Sydney Victor Trumper hit nine sixes fifteen fours m a score of 118 ; ; 114 out of 118 by means of bound--iary strokes must be a, world's recOTd. v <: Playing for East ISelbourne against "St. Kilda on DecemTier 15, M'Alister 265 not but m a score of 390 v for four wickets. ' t ''' Boishall did not bat m the Cansecond innings, having split • m's thumb badly early m the Otago 'second innings, but, after haying it "bound up by a medical man, tie perm keeping wickets. However this might have been, m af"sistmg to keep his side together, it %as an exceedingly plucky thing for him to do, and he really was never justified m making such a sacrifice. ** v The reputation of Fisheir and Downes had evidently entered into the teamposition of the young blood m the Canterbury team, for with the excepJiqn. of Anthony, the, colts were never ■comfortable to the Otago oair, and gave p poor exhibition of batting. The only men on the Canterbury side who showed anything like form were tjms, Ollivier, and Anthony. .The Earl of Winchester was a great ciicket enthusiast m the,-17905; and his name usually appeared a s ori^ of tl^- bettors from £500 to £1000 on the result of matches played at Lord s Mween picked teams." >', Apropos of Bonner's great ball- . throwine; feats, two cricketers m the fesij: century, Bailey ai>d Brown .by fiame, were each re]>u-ed to be caoable of throwing 5J ov.^ce b?JI 130 New South Wales has defeated. South Australia 12 matchep m Snccessiorf, it beina; a record "break' 1 - for

intercolonial or, inter-State cricket. Seven of those 12 matches were won with an innings to spare. Hemus, the Auckland: batsman, has made over 300 runs m six matches. Hussey,. whose highest scores this season are 99 and 184 not. out, has. in club cricket made over 400 runs. Clem Hill made his first appearance against New South , Wales for South Australia m December, 1894, and with the exception' of the Sydney match last season, he has never since stood out of the team, having played m 24 out of 25 matches, and scored' 2254 runs, at an average of ' 52 per innings. R. A. Duff made his first appearance m Sheffield Shield cricket m December, 1898, and has now made 2047 runs against Victoria and South Australia. A. J. Hopkins has made 1060 runs m the Sheffield Shield competitions, the average per innings being a trifle .less than 30 runs; ..' . .:. •., A; Rough, the Petersham O.C. cricketer, is leaving on a holiday trip to New Zealand. Says "Sydney Sportsman" : The team of hammerchewer cricketers from the Old Dart have, ' up to date, done nothing sensational" on the pitch m Maoriland. A man just over reckons they are on a real good wicket with the girls of the Tight Little Islands though ; and some, of the deah boys are likely to It ( <ian«lrt" at any moment l>