First Day.

NZ Truth, Issue 91, 16 March 1907, Page 2

First Day.

There was capital weather for the commencement of the second tesit match, Marylebone C.C. v. New Zealand, at the Basin Reserve on Friday week. The wicket appeared to be a good one, but the game' had not been long.' m progress before it was seen to play "dicky," not to say dangerous, more particularly at the southern end. The colonial batsmen had no nice picnic standing up to the fast deliveries of Douglas, who slammed them down on a spot which made the ball rise with velocity and whiz past the heads of the batsmen who ducked and dived repeatedly to get out o"f the leather's way. The attendance was satisfactory for an off-day, and. the gate takings aggregated £101. Arnold Williams, who skippered the New Zealanders, with his iucky coin, beat De Trafford far the choice of first 'knock, whereat there was jubilation m the home camp. Sale, of Auckland, - and the old horse, Jimmy Lawrence, of Canterbury, opened their team's innings, Torrens and May being deputed to lead the attack, the former trundling from the "Cale" end. Jimmy made the first boundary of the match —a spanking leg hit' at M-ay-'s expense. , . The fast bowler started expensively, eleven runs coming from his second over, per medium of a sweet cut to the ropes by Lawrence and a forceful smack on the leg side, by Sale, both strokes registering boundaries, The Aucklander supplemented these scoring strokes with a carpet drive which proved 3. , Double figures were quickly placed to Lawrence's credit when he despatched May to deep; leg and chopped the same .bowler nicely through the cordon of slipsmen for 2 and 3 res'pecttively. "VVhen 27 was on the slate, the partnership should have been broken up through essaying a short run. But for Curwen returning the ball to the wrong end, Lawirence must have returned pavilionwards. The hoisting of 30 brought .Douglas at the bowling crease m place of May, and the change soon spelt disaster. Off the Englishman's third ball Lawrence tipped a "curly" one and the ball. flew into the hands of Branston m the slips. 30—1—13. The outgoing batsman had shaped /With' some freedom, his on-driving and leg-hitting being nicely executed. Mahoney joined Sale and after notching a single glanced Torrens nicely to leg boundary. Thereafter the run-getting steadied considerably. With 39 on the slate Sale gave Branston a chance m the slips off Douglas, his score then being 16. v The Wellington man, who was doing the bulk of what slow scoring happened, reached double figures by tapping Torrens to off, Sale, who stood at 16 for 22 minutes , , was shaping , somewhat streakilv to Douglas, and once escaped playing the fast bowler on to his wicket. 46 .was on the score^sheet as the' result of .55 minutes' and-- -Mahoney .;twelcomedAita ; (.ady.enti by smacking", Douglas tto-'roTfes.^at nearly square-leg. It was the Wellincitonian's last scoring stroke, as he fell a victim to Branston, 'who nabted one m the slips from Douglas', bowling. 50—2—17. Mahoney execur ted a few neat strokes. , , A ." further disaster befel ? "^he New Zealanders when Haddon and his. fel-low-townsman came to a ralsu/nd'erstanding over what should have been a safe run, the sequence being Sale's downfall by Fox throwing him ; out.

Sale slipped m the effort to reach his crease safely, but m any case the usual case of hesitancy would have ' proved hi^' undoing. Sale proved his worth as a batsman, his scoring strokes being very' attractive. He was somewhat at sea to Douglas, often failing to time the express bowler correctly. His defence was solid, and his sweet late-cutting and neat leg-glances were pleasing to the 'spectators. :

50— 3-r-19 was the reading when Hemus, who . had scored so consistently against • the Englishmen m previous matches came on the scene. He started by getting Torrens prettily past the slipsmen *and to. thp ropes: Soon after, however, Tie lost Haddon, who gave Branston his third catch of the day, off Douglas. 63—4 —5 and the crowd scented an Insignificant contribution from the .colonial combination:

Tuqker replaced the Aucklander and the hopes of the spectators were now centred on this pair. Branston was substituted foir Torrens, who .had had 28 rims knocked off him m 13 overs. Tucker began with a beautiful stroke —square-cutting the new bowler' to boundary. Ken was m for a rocky time when facing Douglas'and the upshot was the . Wellingtonian getting a bumpy one with terrific force on the back of his brain-box. Ken saw "stars" and on coming to was too dazed to ' resume batting. He retired and his skipper stepped into the breach. The score was then 71.

Hemus was batting very confidently arid played Douglas . like a book. He cut Branstoft sweeilv, the ball travelling with speed to the boundairy. The. Aucklander followed it up by forcing the , same bowler on open side and 'placed," another boundary score to his' credit. Nat to be but« ( done, Williams, with a characteristic log-glance off Branston, found the boitndary. , , Hemus responded with two scoring strokes past rnid-oG' m the same bowler's next over, and SO came up. One run more was on, the New Zealanders slate when Douglas who had' bagged 3. wickets fofer only 12 runs, handed the ball back to May.

After the luncheon adjournment, Douglas again took up >the bowling at the northern end and off the last ball of his -first over Hemus gave Fox a chance of "snavelling" him, but the opportunity waa declined. Byes and singles caused the century (to appear. Williams ran into double figures by punching Torrens. to legboundary, there being plenty of power behind the stroke. In the following over firom Douglas, both batsmen got to work, Hemus notching 3 with an artistic square-leg stroke and , Williams registering , 2 and 3, the latter being a "pearler" past fine-leg.

A useful association was severed by Douglas removing Williams' offstump. The ball pame m a bit and kent low. Arnold played a nice innings and was ,veiry sure and deadly to anything pitched on the leg side. 119—5—19. ,

Tucker reappeared but only a single had. been iscpred' when he : lost Hemus who placed Douglas on. /;, The v Auckiander had given a, i fine exhibition of sound • and .attractive batting. He Was the only batsman on the> if .N^w Zealand side to negotiate u the /sky-, scrapers of Douglas. His defence was so ■ solid that" he , never : once looked like getting put : arid .his -many and , varied scoring strokes, -.won prajse frpin the critics. Altogether it ;;Wa.s a delightfully free "and crisp exhibition. On ; a late-cut he was very effective, The Aucklander ? was,. , the ; recipient of. hearty plaudits on cpmVUri^p^ilio^w^rdjs." l^rffr—^Sv ,_ ; ■' " . .' Fisher was next; The DuneHjn representative speculated wildly : at Douglas, but he got a beauty. 65 the express bowler, ,to .square-leg, the ball going to . [fche . ; . fence, ;It was as - sweet a stroke as;, pne coiild Wish to see. .Fisher again pasted; Douglas by driving ; .him ,to' the,. pfl.:andj to ropes. He i hit. !pne ; hard ba.pk.vtp Branstpn,. "n'ho, had.- .relieved rehs;/but it was top/hoit tp : hpld. 150; came, up .by r cujttms Brdnstph to fence. 12 .-;.. „[ : . . ; ; Fisher's merry display came; .to^an end 'by Branston getting him,:Lb;W. and . ISI-^-.? 1 — 10 was tlie ' : .telegraph reading when Aliclc Dpwnes took his fellow-townsin.an's place. Much; . * interest; was attached' to. DowneV advent, a,s he had never previously to this been seen m .the local cricket arena.' It does, no , 4oul)t ; ; strange that ' £• veteran cricketer " : . of Dqwnes' standing should have ifeen^.d stranger^ to a '■Wellington,' groundl His dismissal . was. somewhat sensa'-j tionaL ""-.:.■ '■■<'■' • '„ ' ■' ';,., ' •/' :'.-,.• ' i

T ; he,,Dunedin man i. -drove .Branston to mlft-off' and, seeing, a clear run before him, called L Tucker \ for the run. Johnson, however, unexpectedly shot his fists ,'mit; and' -stopped ".the ■progress of the ball. Alick ''quickly diyineel the position of affairs and preferred to sacrifice his own Avicket rather .than give Tucker, t'whose, ey§ : was m,"; a run-out. His. , sportsmanlike act, was riot lost on the. crowd, which- gave him a ovat.ion.on coming off the field, 'j Alick is a geiiuine : spo,rt and his action, m this , instance, ,was only what •'might have . been expected of him. He is not likely to forget the testimony of a Wellineton crowd to his sacrifice. . .. ;

Bennett filled tfie .gap, the reading being '151—8—0. The Canterbury man/ who can play good .-..pricket, it he has the mind to,, made, up, his m itid. .; tq, ■ hay 9/; a, • / feo, • '•■ jat . tfe ; , bpw;ling."Xfi;er making a single he lifted Douglas to the fence, but ,m,, atr tenaptuig tp repeat the feat had his leg pin knocked out of plum-b. 157— 9—5

Upham Clast man) replaced. Bennetit. Tucker got one high over ,. the heads of the slipsnien, . iiouglas being the* bowler, his mate m the meantime haying scored a brace. '._At.2.55 Douglas brought operations to a close by clean bowling. Tucker, who had batted cautiously and soundly lor his runs. The telegraph figures were : 105—10—23.

i Douglas came out of the . bowling ordeal with the splendid average of 7 for 49. He probably had some of the New Zealanders m"" a~ ;^blue funk" on the bumpy wicket. Most of •the colonial batsmen made the mistake of playing back to the fast bowler, and this ultimately proved their undoing.

Torrens (0 for 40) was unlucky and expensive, and May (0 for 24) bowled erratically. Branston's one wicket cost 38 runs. Douglas was also erratic m his pitch and pace, which, • however, was powerful enough to get , on to a weak spot without fear of the "pulling process" being engineered by his opponents.

The fielding of the visitors was not so clean or smart as ■ marked their former efforts, and their returning lacked smartness and accuracy. Harrison, however, was a sure * run-saver and his gathering m of the ball while chasing it at top and quick returning evoked great applause. He, however, was remiss at times.

It was just oh 4 o'clock when England started on its rfirst strike ' with Johnson and Fox, the heroes of the first wicket-partnership m the test match .at. Christchurch, on the occasion of their side getting first knock}. Upham and Downes }0d the attack and the opening ■ proceedings were quiefc, both bowlers being well '_ on the spot. Johnson hit Uphamto lee ' for, 3 and Fox subsequently nut 10 on the board by driving Downes to off-boundary. A gireat shout went up from the crowd when Upham with .his second of the fourth' over "yorkedUvihe Spnierset, inasn, and right s£»(l w«re the New Zealanders to see t|& bagk oi so dangerous^ a batsman. ¥\~; r~--~~~^" Burns was Vnextantl- Upliam snav- , ed his bails wHsirtfie last oner 'the i over. , The new-comer hit Upham past mid-oil for a brace, and Fos, with a sweet late-cut at Downes':' expense, brought 20 on. the board. * Th'o crowd went wildly ith delight When Fpx tried to glance Upham to ley from a fast ball which kept low, but failed m his mission and the leather crashed into ' ' his / timber. 1 21—2—13. , With two good 1 wickets down for such a paltry number' of New Zealanders had good . reason to flatter themselves, . Harrison". . partnered Burns, who gave a not ever-difficult ' chance m the slips to I-Ta'ddon, off Upham. The let-off meant 20 runs and have mitrht proved much more costly to ,the" New Zca'landersi Grateful for the life, Burns drove ■Upham' nicely to Hie off, and two oilier scoring strokes oS the fast bowler secured him double figures. Harrison and his partner did some ' | smart run-stealing and the score advanced to 41, when Downes, Who had' previously got a nasty smack. on the finger m attempting to stop a hot return from Bunp, pave: way to Ben- ' nett. ~ ; ■ - n ;. ■• ■\ . . ; ■Burns brought the .half century Up by driving Uphahi to the ropes, , but the- bowler had his revenge next bfrjfl, an appeal for l.b w.' bef»S answered m the . affirmative by IJhe. English uija- ! pire. Burns' made some- "attractive' .strokes,, but played less confidently ' than Qf y oroV; .; jSOVs---^.: ; . : , ' D'6u£las joiried' Hai'ri^on an^ mis- ; fielding, by ISaddbn^ gkvji the, newcomer ' a boundary -.scarf" off Uph&rii, The play was , quiet r and;. 7o; was i7 a . long ; . time/ app.^artng.'Doiigras sending it up with' ; k, lofty bit to the rq*pes j6^E the ■'fa^.'lriindlele.'V:,!A:t'-'f4 •• JPishe^'replaced fieniiett, airfa i jJp l hfliiri ' p r 6ke up ' another partiiership {. 'Xjowries , off his bowling,. making, a^ smarj cat<:li i» the slaps v wMch^disfJ6^' iW"iFrar•riSQn. • w "Hafrifi^ Wrd'-b^feft ' very, smart oa his feet, bu|t the bowl-; lag was too good for .Mm to 'take ■ niueh; liberty wiih, ' v „ Pafee: came, on thi^ sceile but 'lie 30on^ -lost the services ■ of Dbugli|s,' who 1 made a l ., lofty 'hit off Fisher - r itt the 'directipn, of long-on. .■ ; MabontJyi , who-: was stationed near; the 'bound'* '"arvf iTan ™' and -effected' a nicely ju^ed" v catch; 79— 5— 18 v 'During • his -/tenure of the 'batting create, Douglas shaped pretty; freely, his oV strdkes being crisply 4XecuiJed;. -

■•.'.' Branston was the new-comer. The batsriien • contented.-, themselves wvth keei>ing. their wicket^ Intact, iff -■.the .process;: of which Page hdd one br two -lucky escapes . front' failingj-a victim itp either Upham or : Fish^:, When'stumps were drawn the figures on the slate wer-e five for 80.- -■:■'

; TJpham bowled grandly "and li!a>er--formance (4 for 50) "was even- better 'than his figures" indicate. '-TEic-'-kepfr'a perfect length ' and -yaried his pace ■.with.-- great 'judgment.' • Fisher also trundled, splendidly- and the batsmen ■ coul(i,.(io nathing-Avjthrhim.in the rungetting line. He, wound <up with one picket; for one run, which Bpo]{,e volumes f,or his. ability vtio keep th« En'g- / iiahmeh'jquiet. > Dowries and Bennett bowled : steadily^ b ; ut .iihe- easy nature ;of the 1 wicket enabled .the hall to h.e watched without trouble. „ : . - ;

•^ The fielding was excellent m -most instances^/ . Sale being cspeci ally prominent for his superb ground fielding. Arnold Williams, as custodian" of Mvs wickets, did excellent service. The catching of Downes and Mahibney deserved; a meed ol praise. ■.■ . :. ' .

Tfifc New ; Zealanders' were haniticapped m not .having two or tihree good , slipsmen. Upham; ' of course.- is , without a. peer m this position m .he. colony;!; DowneSj however; whose customary place is at point. »roved himself ?a "good 'un? m his new rate. During 1 the . Rrilgl] shmen 's nminccs two appeals were made by the ."..-.hatting.sid6 for cessatiipn of play owiA^ tb v tlie : : : allegedly: bW'l'iKht; The : Hrst appeal at 4.30 o'clock 1 was abso^rtelv inexcusable and the tact {ck of Ihe visitors ' served to'''snow them u» m an iinsnortsmanlifre ; li^ht. : De TiViffordV- ditt some 1 ' av iih- the batsman and umpires and .th& 4 " fimtl decision was to- "ko on 'pla^imr." When Branston's turn canine to. hat he walked ■' to ;tho pitch at "to,rtipigfi" soeed'-'and was -obviously, ;wt%stinfg time. With only ten ' •minutes to, -go the ■'' second appeal for stoppa^; of

play was made by the batsmen and again De Trafiwd" appeared on the scene, but the "old gent's" intercession was futile and again the play Went on. Altogether ten . minutes were lost by this needless oroceeding on the part of the visitors who ,were evidently between "a shiver: and a sweat" when, their best batsmen were being toppled over by the colonial bowlers. Thai the batting was not of a particularly forceful or lively character' may be judged by the lact of only 244 runs /being, scored m 5 hrs 22 imh. The English umpire is said to have declared that the New- Zealand aide registered a fine performance by scoring 164, runs on the "dicky" Wicket..