CRICKET.

NZ Truth, Issue 131, 21 December 1907, Page 3

CRICKET.

1 Championship Matches. /(By Scoutj.i -Another drawing of the Senior Championship competitions resulted m- Midland . meeting Phoenix, Old ißoys being opposed to Gasworks, and--iNewtown trying conclusions with Petone. v Want -of rain told on the Basil} Reserve pitches,, which were almost asliard as flint- .m places. The deliveries of fast trundlers needed careful negotiation pn the part of batsmen. The •break-up of the drought before - the coming rep. matches eventuate is fer.vently hoped for. Petone, m. its match with Newtown, appears^ at present to be m the best jof positions to add another 4 points : "to its winning list. Newtown- taking first strike, was soon disposed of for 108 runs, Tilyfrrd leading the way with a. neatly-' compiled 38. - „ This young player, who, by the, way, is the Fon eke half-back m the football/ areha, shows promise of developing Into one of our Uest left hand batssran. His. drives to the off were good and it was pleasing to^note he keeps the fcall down-- all the tune. •"* " ' C»J»oroft secured practically all the •imc&ute ..at _a small- cost. SeTeral of- the ■ Newtown batsmen ftcsanfc well-,; tjtnti./ certainly intended *imtiag Cobcroft's "googlies" out of .'fh* Park, ".but un4e*tunately generally aftkajiiaged to miss the hall and give Keeper Cate his. opportunity of quietly removing the bails, which he did Vifchjotti results. Brjc* fowled >ell, although he only «_&wijgMl to bag one wicket. •Pet»a#'s Hatting exhibition was not >rilliaut, but . nevertheless steady, 'gftd. with the great assaistance of Waw-*BWii's ■ fielding (?) and "Mr ExtoV ' 55, they piled up 219 _ for 8 Wici*t,s. laJteJTfOotl, with 5.1 to his credit, iJecCded the list, but two easy catches *f his bat vrere declined by New-t-awn. Barber was m the same box, the only difference being he was miss--ed on three occasions.. Coberoft batted nicely for 23, and appeared well set, when Ry;an got a ■__-m*- 'iV-! 1 .' — .j.'l — '—-—•-. • \ . " "*^

"corker" on to him, the ball iust breaking enough to beat the bat ancLj . take the leg pin. It was a snorter, and Coberoft was quite satisfied to retire. Ryan was m rare form with th» ball, breaking both ways nicely, and had he been supported at all by the fieldsmen, Petone would have been lucky to pass Newtown's total. As it was Ryan simply had to rely upon bowling his opponents out ; truly a nice state ofaffairs to exist m a senior eleven. Captain G-. Day should lose no time m getting his men together and arrange f6r some fiel-ding practices, as after their cruel exhibitions of last Saturday week against Wellington and then Saturday's execrable showing, it is is high time that something was done to try and remedy matters a bit ; also the bowlers? are entitled to some consideration, for. to have catches dropped like last Saturday certainly takes all heart out of them. "Mr Extra's*-' 55, who headed Petone's scorers, is rather a unique -performance m local cricket. Admitting Turner was suffering from a bruised hand, he certainly could have used his legs to better' advantage and' stopped several byes. The wicket was simply rotten, and few, if. any, of the batsmen - escaped without a crack oh the fingers or a •bang m the chest. Gasworkers got "first strike against Old Boys and put, 168 on the slate before the last wicket fell.- Dredge •top-scored with 50. Gourlay and McKay running close for second honors. Waugh was* at the crease for 58 minutes for his 19. He /played very steadily, and decline.! to take the fullest advantage of the loose balls sent down to him. McKay was m a punishing vein and his hits included one for six. Mjac's hitting was forceful, and his pulling was characteristically sure. Anything on the short side Mac dragged easily, and with plenty of nower. The Dredge-Gourlay ' partnership brought 67 on the score sheet. . The left-hander's exhibition was a good admixture of soundness and vigor. Ro started quietly, but when once his eye was m let go at the trundlers m powerful fashion, Mohaghan;s average m particular suffering at his hands".' Dredge is not an artistic batsman to watch but he "gets'om" all the same. Gourlay (23) was, shaping, crisply up to the floorine; of his timbers;by MoGill. Dick Bourke (19) played merrily for his runs, and Church just ran into double figures before his career was cut short. Neither Ashbolt nor Waters, both of whom can generally be depended upon for ' runs, troubled scorers or fieldsmen, their downfall coming with their first stroke. The Old Boys were keen and sure m the field, but their bWling was below par. McGill and Mason met with the best \ success. Tucker had 35 knocked off him without getting a? wicket. Beeehey (14) opened sensationally with 7, "following it up with -a fourer. This "Jessopean" exhibition did not last long, as Topp accepted a catch off Gourlay and Beeehey went payiii onwards. Birch compiled 14, at which stage Topp upset his timber-stack. C. P. Blacklock had a shorter career, fcreiai® caught by Waugh off Gourlay when within one of double 'figures. Ken. Tucker (46) played lively and entertaining cricket, and was unbeaten when stumps were drawn ior the day. He hit a couple of sixers and the spectators relished his fine, forceful, and crisp manipulation of the willow. All his strokes were as correct as one could expect to seem this quarter of the Southern Hemisphere. As Old Boys are now within .75 of the Gasworkers' total, and seven wickets have yet to be accounted for their prospects of a two-point victory, at least, are very rosy. The Midland team should easily setjle Phoenix when play, is resumed after thc New sYear. C. Hickson and Quee started slow-< ly for Midland. Quee tried to force the play, but did not atipear to feel too much at home, Hickey dean bowling him with the score &t 18, Quee's contribution being the unlucky 13. Hickson, who took 35 minutes to gather m 4 singles, seems to haveslowed up again. He did hot put the power into his strokes that he ii-asS m his previous innings this year. In Hickson's case . the decision which sent him to the right-a-bout wag an egregrious blunder. Williams was a .bit patohy and was beaten' several times by Hickey. He got together 18, including a nice\ fiver, when he received a ball from Hickey which '"got up" a. bit, struck his leather-covered glove and was taken by Crewes behind the wicket. There was a confident appeal for the catch. Umpire Richardson gave the "out" signal and Crewes had thrown the ball up, but Arnold stayed on, glared at the umpire, asked if it was out, and did not leave until he again, got the signal. If this was "blufS" it is a very bad example for a player of Williams' standing and ability to show to the young players, and the bowler, umpire and wicket-keeper were just as confident that he did touch the ball as the player is that he did not. "•Taifrby" Wynyard did not get going, being 'disposed of by Moore from a wretched stroke. Alex Bruce gave a splendid display. His driving being beautifully timed and well executed. He did not appear to like getting out after the first over or two. He gave McLennan a hard chance m the long field when he was nearly 50, but Mac. declined it, cannoning into the sight screen on No. 2 m his endeavor to reach it. Murphy again reached "doubles," two nice fours to leg were included m his 16. Upham. Patrick, Manson, Mitchell and Stephenson compiled 11 between them. The former hit a lovely sixer to leg off Wilson and was dismissed by a catch m the slips by Gibbes the 1 next ball. Upham was not satisfied that he was out. It is not good fclf-the game, and : remarks heard after the innings such I as "Was Upham. out ? Was Williams : out ?" etc., would give one the impression that half the team >had ibeen "oozled" out. Hickey waa m good form with the ball, 5 • for 43 is a good average I against a batting combination such as Midland. Art. Wilson made his appearance m senior cricket, taking Law's place, who was indisposed. Wilson howls a

nice. ball and will be heard of later, .if given the opportunity. . Gibkes had a day off and did hoy g*t a wicket. It appeared ag if Phoenix would easily reach the Midland total of 131. but the bowling, with tho aid of the. bumpy wicket, was responsible for the small total got together by Phoenix- Seventy-six for ,8 wickets is not good enough, and Midland should win. Gibbes was the only shining light of the Phoenix batsmen, and he was not too comfortable when facing Upham, who was getting a lot of pace on. Mitchell took two clever catches m the slips off Hickson. One, which disposed of Crewes, being taken high up with one hand, »wkl the one which settled Little was . taken with one hand very low down, the fieldsman over-balancing m his effort to hold the ball. He .was heartily applauded. The catch which Gili.bs disposed of Murphy was a very neat one also.