CRICKET.

NZ Truth, Issue 136, 25 January 1908, Page 3

CRICKET.

(By Scout)j Championship Matches. Weather conditions, were superb ior ' the resumption of the senior .championship competitions on Saturday last, and some good scoring eventuated at »the Basin, where Arnold ; Williams and Stan Hickson placed ! the coveted century to their credit. A sensational finish between Phoenix jind Gasworks saw the latter secure "a 'four-point win' on .the call of time, while Midland and Wellington had "to be -.content with a two-point victory. I ; 'T-he scores m the respective games were :— Newtown 209, Midland &0.8 ; Wellington 129 and 270, Petone 113 and Cl for 3 wickets ; Phoenix 185 and 129, GasWprks 267 and 49 for 4. wickets. ••■■' Petone sufiered. defeat at the hands of Wellington by the small margin of 16 runs on the first' innings. House and .Cobcrcft, the iiot out men of the previous week, only added seven more When the • :.' formers-was bowled by Luckie, Cobby going through the innings f0r... 50 not/out. '■'-. Mahoiieyi who ' Wafc suffering^ from an injured kneej again scored well m the second innings, and compiled 62 beforp beingilMten' all the way by Barber. • Jack evidently has a great any

ount of luck this, season, and Saturday was no exception as he should have been easily caught behind the wickets off Cobcroifc m the second over, and later was again missed off Smyrk. Nevertheless, his innings was a good one and stamps him a most consistent arid effective batsman. Stan Hickson, after, being " let off three or four times; laid the wood on right royally and had 119 opposite his name when Coberoft eventually got him. Apart from the mistakes.; his hitting was powerful and clean and his scoring was at a fast rate. None of the others gave much trouble if we except Barney Weybourne's 35, made m something like his* old style. Owing to Mahoney being on the injured list,, his skipper had to run for him between the wickets, and consequently Charlie felt pretty tired by the time his turn came round for a knock, which may have accounted for his failure to get going.. Petone bad an off day m the field and some bad blunders were made by usually reliable fieldsmen. Perhaps things will be different when the semi-final comes along. Smyrk, with 5 wickets for 38, had by far tho better figures for Petone, but he managed to get amongst the tail-enders, whilst Cobcroft's luck was awful, as numerous chances were dropped off him. With only a short time to bat, Brice gave some of the weaker batsmen a chance^ but Green badly ran out Cates, and Smyrk was out caught between twpiriinds, so some of '•Ni more solid ones had to go m am. at the end of the day's play 3 wickets were down for 61 runs, Isherwood compiling 35 not out m fifteen minutes. „ • Williams and Hickson, the not out me a of last week, resumed hatting against .Newtown, but Hickson only survived one ball, the second from Smith upsetting his timber-yard. Williams and Wynyard then set up a good partnership, carrying the score to close on- 200 before Tabby was bowled m attempting to cut a ball niched on the middle stump. His exhibition was tame m the extreme, 29 m two hours- play, and that including two chances, the first one before he scored. Williams kept on hitting out merrily, pulling and driving m his best style, until bowled by Ryan for 112. He' had a fair share of luck, several chances being refused by the fieldsmen ; m fact, it is safe to say practically all thc batsmen had two innings and some as many as three. In these circumstances, it is not surprising to see the large total of 408 being hit up against Newtown. .Billy Quee came to light with the bat and showed us some of his old form m compiling his seventy at a rapid rate. /' The remainder of the batsmen, except Manson, who managed to get the only "duck" on his side, all reached double figures, and "Mr Extras" also totalled the respectable tally of 42 v iNewtown certainly can lay strong claims to being the most consistent team m the championship m one department, at anyrate, ln fielding. /Saturday after Saturday it is the same tale, one or two catches held, and anything up to a dozen dropped. The ground fielding is also abominable, and altogether Newtown is the worst fielding team seen m Wellington for many a day. Had the Southerners held a few of the chances the game would have been a close one. For instance, before 10 runs had been added on Saturday Williams . and Wynyard were both missed, and, with Hickson bowled without any addition, the scoro sheet would have read 90 for 4 wickets, leaving the remaining batsmen 119 rlms to secure victory on the first innings. Some details regarding the close finish between Gasworkers and Phoenix came to hand too late for insertipn m this issue, "the Gasworkers deserve credit for their 4-point victory against the Phoenicians, who were 'bowled out right on the call of time.