General Squibs.

NZ Truth, Issue 179, 21 November 1908, Page 3

General Squibs.

There is scarcely any, grass oh tlie Waiwetu. pitch, and m its .present ' state it is not up to senior requirements. ' On Saturday most of the/ batsmen were beaten by what one could fairly describe as rotten balls which would shoot, come back, and cut all sorts of unexpected capers, Grimmett, of the V.M.C.A. team, made the ball fairly "talk,", and beat ■ both; batsmen, and wickets repeatedly. Roberts, the St. James' Football Club's half-back, was keeping wickets , for V.M.'s on Saturday, ana his stumping of Rodgers was up to Arnold William's best standard. , "Lboker-on'Vgets this off his chest :"— "Dear Scout,— Methinks if Midlane were to play the, game more carefully, when he is batting, that the rest of the , V.M.C.A. teajn would buck up and db something. The fielding, on both sides at tlie Hutt on Saturday was pretty good and all the catches sent up were eagerly • accepted. The poor scoring, cannot be plft : down to good bowling but to the wicket, and I do not think that many of the town teams will >. do anything startling there m the- scoring line. It is apparently not much use playing the game and waiting for runs, and the only chance to score much is to hit arid hit hard." I have had, occasion* m the past to refer to the vagaries of umpires stands i.:g m senior cup matches, but .D. McKenzie deserves a special pedestal for L.- achievement on Saturday last m the Midland-Petone , match. Brice was caught 1 out near the boundary and /was. leading' the- field when a number of Fetone barrackers yelled' td^him to appeal. He did so, and much to the surprise of the Midland team was given not out. The um-. pire saying, "he caught the ball inside the boundary and walked out with it." The Midland captain argued gently with him that if such . was the case the batsman was out, but Dan was inflexible, "not out," and awarded Brice 3 runs for the hit. Now,; if Dan was not such a blithering idiot he would know, first, that if a batsman is, caught inside the boundary he is out 1 , . even if the fields-, man afterwards walks vto Jericho, or • A/shburton, or any other No-license district. Further, if the batsman is not but he must be awarded the full value of a hit over the bevndary, which, m this case, was 4. . Upper Hutt v. Catholic Club was concluded on Saturday, . the former winning by.' 10 ■ wickets. Upper Hutt, .who had compiled 98 for 6 wickets, finished up with 139 (J. Davis 19., Lambert 16). Catholic Club's first innings realised 11,6 \ Sibley and Lambert bowled well for the winners, and Casey, and McGrath for Catholic Club. . Another veteran cricketer has handed m his checks. H. Newcombe, who played 1 for N.S.W. v. Victoria. in 1.861-2-3 was ferried across the Styx a fortnight ago. Warren Bardsley, the ; young Sydney player, is said to be the best lefthandef produced by N.S.W. since the retirement of Harry Moses . It }s ' strange

that. Australia has at different times possessed so many left-handers of the highest class— Uem Hill, Joe Darling, Bruce, Ransford, Moses, and Bardsley. A' lefthander is essential on English wickets, and such men as' Hill; Bardsley, and Ransford, who are all magnificent fieldssuen, would greatly strengthen any visiting Australian eleven. Strange, the man from the land of the Moa, who plays for Paddington m senior cricket, is described as a beautiful freegpei, and m a recent match flourished his 2.9 like a wisp of straw. Shots flew oft his bat like a bummer making for a long beer m thirsty weather. J. H. Bennett^ the Sydenham player, has found his way back to Christchurch from Kogland. Bennett had a fairly successtul season with the Crystal Palace team last season, with Arthur Sims, also of Christchurch, as a clubmate, and under the captaincy of the G.O.M. -of cricket, Dr. . W. G. Grace, Mr W. B. Bid will, a Vice-President of r the Wairarapa Cricket Association, has donated £2 to the funds of the Association. , S. J. .Redgrave, formerly of North Sydney, playing at Brisbane, for" Valley against TooWong, hit up 204, including 9 sixes - and 20 fours. Redgrave was never properly appreciated by the State selectors of N.S.W. Sid Gregory is one of the marvels of Australian cricket. Ho will soon have equalled George Giffcn's feat of 23 years first-class cricket. The midget is "said to be batting better than ever. Hirst, the Yorkshire cricketer, has / cut out a new record, being credited with the highest aggregate of runs ever made by a batsman m his county. At, the end of last ■ season/ he totalled 20^000, Tunhicliffe then claiming an aggregate oi 20,230, whilst Den ton's figffres were--18,815.* Now- Hirst!s. aggregate > since he began. vplaytigfVf or Yorkshire conies'- but at 21,798, whilst Dentoi^s present total is 20,740. Of. course, T'unnicliifie has dropped put of the' team. Olliyer, the Canterbury cricketer, whose bowling was so unmercifully • peppered by Hall and Trumper on the Basin a few seasons ago, is now located on the West Coast. He has intimated his willingness' to play for Canterbury, if,; chosen ; against Auckland, and can put In a s.o.Jiil_#eßkJs work at the nets. Messrs AY. B. Cnfennells (Patron) and 4.. C. lifejor (Vicc-s!|esident) have pre;,|Snted ijats to the Masterton Thursday Association for competition. Dr. Cbwie (Vide^'Presldent) has presented a gold medal to the Association for the highest individual score, and Mr A. Hen■(lefson (Vice-Presidenfc) has presented a pair of gold sleeve-links for best batting -average -among players under 21 years *of Cricket, played with pencils, not bats, is a decided innovation, although rumor says the game has been tried on mote than one occasion m Wellington. A country paper across the Tasman has this to say :— The local cricketers journeyed to Bellawongarah on Saturday and played a draw with,the^home team, who were at the wiclcets first and compiled something, like ISO ljuns^mariy of which the visitors claim : were the result of quick pencilling. H'm, cricket with a pencil and the ball of the thumb. • Sid Gregory knocked up a century for Waverly v. Burwood, and later on notched a three figure score for the N.S.W, eleven v. next best combination: The critics said, some years ago, : Sid's come to 'the end of his tether, But Siddie says ':.." Scat !" And gripping his bat, With willow still wallops the leather. Not generally known that Austin Diamond, who, by the way, Is not keeping up his reputation of last season as a batsman, is one of the very few cricketers m Australia who are vegetarians regarding their diet. A Sydney ''JSportsma^n" par :— ''Reg. Puff was again a/ spectator at the match played by his club. There is no doiiftt that ■ his services We;— <i Tiave been invaluable to, his side, especially as he had shown excellent form m practice. Could not the selectors overlook everything, and give Him another chance for old time s^sfce'. "Oh, the pity of it to see one yet m his prime absent from the field of play where once thousands and tens of ihousands shouted their congratulations as he notched a century 1 , for his country against the ihvadihg English team, or for Iris State against its Southern rival. Selectors, be merciful tinougii mighty and .forgive \" Humphreys, the new Canterbury coach, has quickly shown his worth. In the match Canterbury Eleven v. Colts Fifteen lie bagged eight of the former comblnatioirs wickets for 67. The Englishman gave an exhibition of clever battrhg With magnificent driving and splendid -.pack play and was eventually run out -father 'badly when he had made 53. When the eleven, had another crack Humphreys secured fiVe wickets for 31; Probably thej best performance on record for all-round cricket m the matter of figures is that of E. H. D. Sewell, who, between July 17 and November, 1898, playing m India, aggregated 3895 runs m 57 innings; made 13 centuries, and captured 224 wickets at a cost of *2216 runs. At last.according to the Sydney coguoscenti, the ] long-looked-for bowler with big possibilities ' has arrived m the person of oneS.. Emery. Different altogether m His delivery to the accepted type of Bosie bowler, there is no doubt he possesses the deceptive off break with 7 the leg- break action, sends it along at '.medium pace, with a nip from the "pitch, and lie appears to exercise his thinking box". •;■■■■■•