General Squibs.

NZ Truth, Issue 177, 7 November 1908, Page 3

General Squibs.

Gasworkers have a good word to say for the Petone wicket and ground. In Secretary Smyrk and Treasurer Uate Petone has two great workers for tiie club, especially where visitors arc cop.cerned.. By the bye, AIL Cate secured a record last season which is hard to beat m championship matches, stumping 10 and catching 6, besides bemg insttUtnental-: m dismissing numbers" run out, Cobcroft, Petone's skipper, lectured to the Institute ?joys ' at the Arthur-street Hall on Thursday last on " Cricket. " At the conclusion "Cobby" was given three hearty cheers. G-rimmett, the leg-break bowler, and Phillips, both of the V.M.C.A. tea.m, were playing "Boys' League Cricket" last season. Claude' Hickson is said to be impressed with Grimmett and thinks he should do well.

The. ladies of Petone dispensed afternoon tea "for- both senior and junior games on Saturday, and it ' was greatly appreciated by the town players m particular, ■ seeing they wouLrl be flikely to be late m arriving m to\vn, hut the rain set m thickly and the 5.32 train saw all on board for home.

Trustees of Sydney Cricket Ground have accepted a tender for the extension o! the grandstand and the removal of the present stand to <tbe No. 2 ground. Altogether the work will cost something like £14,000,,

For six consecutive years Wilfred Rhodes, the Yorkshire bowler, has taken IjOO wickets and scored 1000 runs m a season's cricket. " , Cricketers are not infrequently the recipients of curious gifts. Not so long ago one 6f them was presented with a box by a, lady, as ,he was on his way back after making .. a big score m a local .match m England. 'He was asked not to' open it till -lie got home. I,ts contents ! were of a varied character— a pin cushion m lexact imitation of a cricket JyaLl ; a bat of diminutive size, which opened to display a couple of razors ; a smoking cap, worked m silk, with bats and balls,' and wickets running riot over the material, and a shaying IMy that uMpliled itself into a cricket cap of rainbo^r colors. Now then, Weffingtbn girls, svtrptise your best boy by giving h;im a simttei pr^scus : when next he performs a notable bowling or batting • feat on the Basin Reserve^ A celebrated cricketer once observed : "I was paid £20 for- the test match as a professional, but I . coultl hayo afaftdca to be an Australian amafeur at a littmirea, In a nWfjdh played m - the season iust finished m Ettglaid, some remarkable scoring took place between HajrwellAsylium and Bareftsld flace Q.C. Altai: i?hc latter had made 180, ,tbc' Asylum ma<le 421 for 2 wickets m only 1.40 minutes,' E. S. Littleiphn scoring 130, Dr. licbW; .212 not out. They put on 392 for tLo final wicket, the former hitting 1 six, 17 fours, and the - latter 2 sixes 2.8 lours, Dr. Ifcbbs a fortnight before made 165. H. lit. Faithful!, who first represented New South Wales . against Victoria m 1871, died the other week, aged 61. He was one of the mainstays , of 1 the Sydney University C.C. & the seventies and eighties. The old brigade of 30 yeats ago and more is being gradually thinned out. Fallen by>. the sickle of the Great Reaper are Nat. Thompson, George Gilbert, Ned Gregory, Joe Cpates, and now H. M. Faithfuil, all or whom took part m the Sydney match of 157?. Dave Gregory is still robust, Ned Sheridan is at Brisbane (still keeping a hair-dressing esr tablishment). I<\ R, SpoKonth is m England, and E. Evans m the country. Even the cricket fields m IfQgland are not inimune from the invasions of the suffragettes. At Old Trafford they distributed handbills, enclosed m illustrated envelopes. The first portion of the circular reads :— "Thati.s not cricket, <Jmpire ! to take women's earnings by taxation, and no \> to acknowledge them as citizens.. The men's teams have votes ; then piay the same arid tell Umpire Af.quith that the women's teams must have votes also.!' One of the most unique y incidents on record hapnened m 1902 mi a match be^ lv/een Ayr* and Cartha Athletic"* !.O. One of the Ayivjmen played a ball Which b'ouhced from the block hole on to the wicket without dislodging the bails. The nonstriker called lii.s companion for a run, which was obtained while the ball was actually touching the stumps. The wick-et-keeper was standing back. W. Whitty, a left-hand bowler who last season played for New South Wales v. Queensland, has been engaged by the Wast ■Torrens Club (South Australia). Noble, Hill and" Trumpcr think highly ol his bowlins- capabilities. Since 1599, Tom Hayward, the .Surrey crack, has reached the following totals over 2000 :— ln 18'J'J, 2G47 runs ; 1900, 2G93 ; 1901, 2533; rjO3, 2177; 1904, 3170 ; 1905, 2592 ; 190G, 3518, a record ; 1907, 2353 ; 1908,^2002 Cunfinished). It is almost useless trying to become a member of the . IVlarylelyone' U^icket Club, England. When the new pavilion v. T as' built, an extra hundred members vrere adntitted upon payment of £100 each. The number who applied was so peat that it was a cli.lficult matter to vhoose the hundicci. Undei oidinary circumstances it takes at least 30' years after an intending member has put Ins name down before he has any chance oi election. The income of the club is cvci £30,000 a year. What a diffarejjee a slow bowler makes to a wicket-keeper. This is easily secn'by comparing Jim Kelly's 'performances m ISO 6 and 1899, m England. In the first t9.c?liiohed season' ihc Australians had, Tro^tt and McKibbin, and, m consequence, TCclly stumped 22 batsmen ; m l£B'J, when there were no slow bowlers, he only stumped two. fief ore starting play a few weeks ago, "Tibs" Cotter, who had been "called" on the previous Saturday, requested flic umpire to have the return crease run over With a vtape, and a shortage was discovered. Sonic say it was 4in and others • Bin. Cofter evidently had some slight satisfaction when this", was made knp&u. "Tibby" is a bit of a wag m his own riuist way. y RBcsntly In these columns it was mentioned that Len. .Braunri. the English cricketer, appeared as a vocalist at the Palace Vaudeville Theatre. Notoriety is the best draw for the static nowadays ; besides, Len. has gained some reputation* from the Wallace divorce case. To succeed on the stage nowadays, one must be of the Divorce Variety.

Recent happenings convoy the idea that Australians ate apt pupils m picking up wrinkles. Soon they will have a harvest of '-Bosie" bov.lers. Than there will be uo flipf§ waging about VI"? dearth Ql

bowlers

W. A. Richardson, brother of C. R.,of Wellingtou, and W. E. Pite compiledUOU. and 118 not out respectively m the senior grade match Sydney v. Middle, Bar-! bor. The pair carried the score from 5 to 200 beiore a separation was effected. Richardson first played for the Ma State m 1887 against Victoria, and, like Sid. Gregory, has setained his form m a marked" manner. . -