CRICKET.

NZ Truth, Issue 174, 17 October 1908, Page 3

CRICKET.

(By "Scout.")

Senior championship matches start this afternoon. .*r ■ ;.■•<". . The \veatHcr. last Saturday was happy> and so; was cricket. If there was any doubtful starter for the season about the glorious weather' soon decided, and the hesitating one hesitated no longer ana could be seen; chasing the ball with the best of them:; The Basm- Reserve, was truly' an interesting sight ; ; man :or boy took up every available space and the incessant ••Thank Kew" and goodT-natured. chaff made everytbiiig merry. Not to be outdone, too, the bas^be«ns and oldest- supporters went from »8* to'^het criticising volubly. Writer took a casual walk round and first found Wellington, ' heard Martin Luckie saw Richardson, -Mahoney, Hickson,TNaughton, .etc;, and noted many promising' colts. Perhaps— certainly a very bit perhaps— Richardson and Co. might look after these said colts. Murphy, of the Midlands, was out with Wellington. Now,; it* has been generally supposed that Murphy was one who had received the'best of'treatment—encouraged and bumped over the heads of others t» th» seniors when they were top -dogs, and kept, there m -spite of failures, But ''twas aver thus—the quiet, say-nothing b«g g.«ts all ' the : kicks, but is the ouil--6.0* m tibe end. .. Midland had a good muster and things seemed to be. going very well. In view ol persistent rumors re color changing, the appearance of Bruce was pleasing. , Upham asserts he will not play regu-. iarly, but his club needs him,, and if he fails them his name won't be "Uppy." There has been gloom m the Phoenix camp of laj» and much growling about furniture orders, £10 notes, etc, but everyone had a smile on Saturday. "Curly" McLenna-n-g . dialv was a picture as he watched the enthusiasm • and counted up the players. . r What this > team needs is a little more club spirit and a classy wicket-keeper. Bowlers of the Hickey, Dickson type are useless. With a poor, keeper. Crewies had better practice, and practice hard. V.M.C.A., one of the latest aspirants to senior honors, was also m great cv - dence, but the displays of most ol the players were not convincing. . Midlane, the 1 little dasher of teome years back, will make his ' re-appearance m New Zealand cricket with V.M.C.A., and on Saturday had a preliminary smack. The bumpy wioket troubled him a lot. The promising left-hander, Tilyard, from tho Newtown C.C., was also having a go, and still /has his off-drive. ' Soiie of the boys at the Young Men's netf sh«wed much better cricket than their elders. ■ "" . ' Gasworks was also m the fashion and players and supporters wore the prevailing smite. Captain, and, Manager Asbbolt was m good, bustling form and openly threatens tp win the '? championship . Victoria . College -, has -a practice wicket on ■ tb» Basin this season and had a good opening .day '.^ under -direction of •: Captain ; NiveiL It is to be hoped that the mere ■ possession of the nets will not satisfy , the members. ; V : i St. Marks', a new third-class team, has ' pitched it* camp alongside the V.C. crowd j and the "Bsarded Pard" was m great form with them. ' : :■...'' Newtovra has shifted camp to the Athletic Park -and no doubt had a good afternoon's sport. . . * The College Ground is not yet available, and m consequence the Old Boys, are not yet' practising, and like last year will beat- a disadvantage m the opening ■ matches. 1 ; The seniors took a team to Petone and were beaten by Cobcrof t and Co.— scores," 115 to 56. MosJ) cricketers experience an ','off" season. It was so with four or five of Wellington's big guns last veair. It is to be hoped they will show a complete recovery this season. ■ A. K. Campbell, a Southampton Grammar School- boy, has the reputation of being one of the best boy batsi|n,;, i ,jJ^ngland, and his figures for the.ipaSiv§eas--;: cv asx rezaarkabjp. For his scliS6fiho)lia>; batted 17 times (tbree.tjmesji^^^t^ and has scored 1334 runs wi% an average of 95.2. ■-;-:■•:■',.. -££.;_:.,?,/ :^A-[ 1 The Captain of the Norwich "Grammar School, Geoffrey Stevens, appears to be another cricketer of wonderful powers for a boy. He has made over 2000 runs this year, and has hit eleven hundreds. / Owen Cowley, once a prolific run-getter m senior cricket, and for the Redfern Club m grade cricket, and more recently m Queensland, re-appears m Sydney cricket as a centur-y-maker m the Western (Suburbs Association competition. Owen was round these parts some years ago with a New South Wales team. Whilst playing for M.C.C. ana Ground v. Lewe's Priory, on the Dripping Pan Ground, at Lewes, on August 12, Woodcock, the Leicester fast-bowler, sent a bail U9ft Cm from .'the stumps. The bail flew over a 14ft bank, and a wall on the boundary. ' • ' During a match m England between King's Heath" and Moor Green, the umpire "T. Clifton, died suddenly. On the same afternoon P Eaton, whilst batting (or Honey-bourne v. Fladbury was struck on the temple with the ball, and died instantly.- About the same week George Best Bester got very excited while bowling m a match, .and shortly : after the game was finished was found dead on the roadside, caused from over exertion of the hsart. A ■••.■•• In writing to a friend m Auckland Relf (who is now on his way to the Northern oity) remarks that the summer m EngJand hart been a beautiful one for the national game, and personally he had had, op to tlie time of writing, August 8, a Hplenditl season, having secured the double event-1000 runs and 100 wickets, a feat which he was the third to perform this season." Rolf- has now "got the habit" to this particular regard, and he trots •ut the double with clockwork regularity. "I cot a plaeo m the classic match at Lords," he says, "and niet with success at tho bowling crcas&i-such success that

.1 was presented with the ball, silvermounted, by the M.C.C. 1 hear that Otago have been after a coach here, but don't know whether they have been successful. Soon every province will be supplied, and then up will go the standard of. New Zea. land cricket, and the rep. team will be here battling with the honors.'? Relf goes on to say that he had not Jhaa an idle day since his arrival, having been playing at "Ranji's" residence, until the county season commenced, and then having six days a week of championship cricket. "Ranji" was sorry to hear that he intended going out to New Zealand again, and says that he is to go to India immediately he tires of journeying to this outpost of the Empire. ' ,

Cotter put up a srreat bowling performance for Glebe v. PaddingUm a fortnight ago, securing 6 wickets for 12 runs. The Glebeites annihilated Noble, Trumper and .Co. v by an innings awl 45 runs. • -■^Vtonty Noble failed to take a Glebe wicket, 25 being knocked off his bowling. This is not international form. Diogenes m search of an honest man, had a simple task to that of the selectors m search of a bowler to follow . m the footsteps of those mighty giants of the past, Spofforth, Turner, and others; of that ilk.