Senior Championship Competitions.

NZ Truth, Issue 181, 5 December 1908, Page 3

Senior Championship Competitions.

Saturday's Results.

Hk public estimation, the 014 Boyt- v* Midland match was easily the most interesting of the fourth round series begun on- Saturday. -The weather was excellent and the wickets favorable to runjetting, while the . outfield was very pacy. ■ -. , ..-■:• When hostilities ceased for the day the several games yiere m this , position :— Old Boy 334 v. Midland 5 for 1.; -Pnoeaix 140 v, Wellington 59 for 1; Petone 332 for 8 v. Waiwetu; YJVLC.A, 95 and 17; for 2 v. Nawtown 78. The Petone v.- Waiwetu game was played on the latter's ground. Hearing such bad accounts of tjhe wicket from senior players who had already played on 4he . Hutt ground, some of the Petone men were more than agreeably surprised at the way the. Wicket, ' played, m facfo it ' was a lovely hatting wicket, and the feear Town players were loud m their praises of sucn» Petone's score was consistency itself, is glancing down the list Isherwood's 11 yas bottom,.- and Ned Smyrk ' at the top *itk «7. . ... ' It is pleasing , to note the success of to, enthusiastic a cricketer as Smyrk, and' nay it be the forerunner to ,a good many more scores before , the season is over. He assisted his captain to put 120 up tor the partnership, and after, being let 1 >ff early- in the innings went at the H>wling m ; good style. : Gobcroft played a sound game for 63 j«fore hitting dyer one of Rogers. He saw 150 runs added while at the wickets and never gave a possible chance. ,- Tommy Taylor/ who did not go <m till six o'clock, hammered the tired bowling akout m all directions and had 45 (not ont) opposite his name at the drawing of -stumps. There is no -doubt which game Tommy should follow. Hit hard> and often, old man ! ■ Tke consistent Brice, after making 33 m Eomewnat .; slower time than usual, . was -given out Lb.w. ; to A. Pringle. The batsman was well satisfied with the dbfticloh. ; Ait. Gate, who has. received ' proaction m the order of going m, fully justified .his captain's; opinion, - by 'making to nicely before Graham Pringle got a ttrly one past him. * Gseail>atcb (27J, Dyson and Jx>yce 15 \ach, -kepi the 'field busy during their itey at the crease. Dyson is** a young Yorkshtre .League flayer of great promise^ and should con'iderably help Petone m their later mat-, hes. ' • * ■■ - ■ .' ■ • Dick Pringle and Rogers were the. best bowlers for Waiwetu, the former bowling a ftbbd length and Keeping dead on the wicket,- while Rogers mixed his bowling with' nn occasional off break, although the wicket appeared to b© too good to fjcf much work on. . Waiwetu's fielding was patchy, Judd, Wilson , ; and Staples being the best. "' Captain Judd should inform Patt'on that lie should not go to sleep when on tbe field, also after a ball passes him he should try and ' get an amble up, if he : cannot manage a run. Petone intend \o declare ttie innings closed right away on Saturday, and seeiuß tint 6. '45 p.m. is the time for drawing, the local team will have to do their best to \ stop; Briee, Connolly, and Cobcrof t getting through them twice. Senior . cricketere should have no fear ao\v as-, regards tiie Waiwetu wicket, and as v. the fielding ground and surroundings are /first class ), a most enjoyable afternoon can be spent. While Old Boys and Petone teams were, iling up .the centuries against Midlands' _jd Waiwetu respectively. Newtown and VMft.C-A. were struggling hard to reach three figures., At the end of the day both.&ides had compiled an innings and s^t nesither tqam coxild claim * the distinction of aggregating 100 runs. The match calls for little description, the batting on both sides being very weak. _ . . „ ..' ... . ; ... ■ Midland was just settling down to give Newtown some leather hunting when Alpe got. .a : beauty past him, the ball . just touching the leg stump with sufficient - Wrce to remove tlje bail. Tilyard shaped nicely m compiling his tG.same with Timp'erley (16), while' Grjmmett quickly knocked up his 15 by banging at everytliing that came his way; Newtown 's fielding^ was fair, but Hiore's still heaps of ' room for- improvenent. * ' Al(.e (12), E. Claridge (12), and Day ; 10) managed to reach double figures for Newtown, tout their' batting was not vofth going" but to Peton;e to see. Alpe ras badly mi?sed by Owens after scorng'2.- v Laws, after getting logether 9, had »ad luck m being bowled off his pads to \ ball ; pitched well out on the leg. Grimmett toowled well for the Young fen, keeping an.. excellent length and nixing his pace well. He- had the Newiownites on toast, and finished up with feven at a cost of under 5 runs a piece. Alpe was. the most destructive bowler tor. Newtown, capturing 5 for 35. Laws, 5 for 26, also<bowled well, but his aver*ge suffered owing to at least two diances being declined' by the fieldsmen. The finish of this match should be interjsting, and, with v ordinary luck, Newfiowh ought to secure a win. Wellington lost the toss against Phoenix, which opened with Little and young Burton. The first wicket fell at 22, 3ur'ton being bowled with one of Luckie's best.- He had a slice of luck n playing, a ball from the same bowler lard on to the off .stiump, whioh failed o disturb the sticks. ' Little went; a few runs. later to a loose »all from Miller. . The batsman failed to get hold f>i it and Jack (juinn did the rest.' '■ •. . - ..;.'■ '.. ■ . :; With four down for 39, it looked as though' Phoenix wouldn't notch 80 at the^ outside. With reasonable fielding they' should not have secured > that number, but the. 'Wellingtonians' work waH^abOut. as de^d as the batting of Dicksbh, who was at the wickets a coujle of hours for 32. , , Dickson ' was . painfully slow. He start*d.T[y^ .takijig centre m a tired sort of waCrwhich mus^.h'aye made, its impressiod/onHhe Wellington men, as they were ver^ 1 .'slothful until, the ex-Old Boy was bow|ed My ; Stan HicKson. Metenna'n was very quiet at times, but top-scored with' - 4,0- N He gave a couple of 'chances. : " ':'. , L'uckie brought off a fine catch, which was: loudly applauded from the stand. The 1 ' victim was C. Hickey, who made a blind lunge at a shortish ball from Hickson. Martin; was greatly pleased with the catch, and so might the best of fieldsmen be. • Wellington's bowling . was only fair— Luckie, Hickson add Hales toeing the best of the bunch. Miller was a trifle short and bowled too much on the leg side. rJash did the same and assisted Mr Sundries to place a conspicuous tally on tie slate. = . Wellington started with Naughton and Mahony, Don went" at 15, bowled By Charley Hickey off his pads. Hickey appealed, but was saved from losing his

temper by a negative decision for l.b.w. 'on. seeing the ball skittle the sticks. Hickson and Mahony Avere unbeaten with 22 and 21 respectively at the call of time. Neither took undue risksV Stan got. on to Hickey several times, but the short boundary saved the bowler's average. ' Wellington should win if the weather prophet is kind to them. The wicket was not too perfect, kicks, and shooters being much m evidence. ' The Old Boys-Midland match last Saturday attracted a large crowd of banraclcers to' the Basin Reserve. The contests between these clubs haye produced interjesting' qricket during the past- three seas.ons, and it cannot be said tnat'the crowd were disappointed on this occasion. Old Boyjswon tne, toss, and, aided by a wicKet, kept the Midlanders m the iffield nearly the whole day, the score at the close being, Old Boys -324, Midland 5 for. one wicket. •-. : 0)d Boy,s I;eam nowadays invariably provide; a battjng treat for the spectators. At one time it was, not so. .Slow, .spiritless letting, and/an unwholesome ■fear of even the weake"st bowling _ seems to be the ortter pi the day.. Now all that is changed. Practically all: the team' have a free, . forceful style and attack the bowlers from the call of play. ..With, youth. - on their side and a' nev«r-endMg stream of ; recruits turned out from the College, they seem to 'have a mo jtgag© ( over the 'championship for many years to come. Monag;hah was m a great measure responsible for 'his side's good .score. Though missed m his ' first over and twice later •during, his innings, all difficult chances, nfe nevertheless deserved every run he got. it was a fine display of dashing •and- effective hitting. WMle his most attractive strokes are undoubtedly Ws .ott* drives, a feature of ' iris play was hi 3 wonderful placing, on the ; on side. Monaghah as . Tyataman has always been greatly underrated by followers at the game. One wonders why, considering his rcpns'is,tent scoring' m Cup' arid'representative cridkef.. . J ; P. Blacklock was at ■ his best , m compiling 82. His powerful on driving . and leg-iittang; delighted the spectators^ The Midland" bowling suited Jimmy down to the ground, wjtiich, with mdiffereni; pttacing of the field, enabled him to score at, a tremendous pace. "Stephenson seemed to trouble him. at- first; but soon succumbed to a dose of vigorous hitting. Blacklock's scoring strokes included a seven, a beautifulfly-timed leg-hit off Sheridan, 3 fives and 6 fours. Moriaghan's 119 was his first m Senior Cup cricket and took, him about 2j hours to compile. ,His .partnership ,w|th Blacklock added 120' runs to the scare. Lomax batted carefully f0r, 32, but like the others suffered m comparison to Monaghattiand Blacklock. •Mason, however, batted brightly for, 18. He has a nice, free -tetyle and < plays very straight.. If given' a chance higher up m the batting list he "tyouiu probably develop -into a really : good,bat. The Old Boys team, however, is so strong m batting that it would seem a matter of indifference tq its . captain what order the team goes. m. • Jacobs, for instance, usually goes " m eighth put or last, but last Saturday he was deputed to open the baitting with J Monaghan. The chestnut-haired one shaped well, too, assisting Monaghan to put on 38 runs for the first wicket. What inconsistencies occur at cricket ! On the racing track they would certainly excite comment. Last, season Beechey played a chanceless innings for 158 against Midland j this match his contribution was nil. • Beechey, however, has • just become a happy father., Well r a" mam. can'-t do everything. • Ken. Tucker contributed a dozen before placing Charlie Mitchell into Hickson' s hands at slip. Keji. had not shaped too confidently up till then, "but that has been characteristic of all his big innings this season. ; ■ Berth C. P. -Blacklock and Birch were going, well when, run out. Young Birch is certainly a promising player, but till he puts more ginger into his play hell never be anything more. The Midland bowlers had a heart-break;-ing task bowling on such an easy wicket. They seemed on the whole, though, to lack enterprise. . Uphani secured three wickets, but his deliveries were slower than usual and without the sting that used to be his strongest feature. ■■ , .• Claude Hickson perhaps had some fire m ; *his deliveries, but he is not capable of his end up against a strong breeze for any length of • time. Ryan^ had no luck. Managhan should have been caught m his first over ; after that though he never looked like getting, anyone out. - Mitchell chucked : 'em up for the batsmen to hit, amd they did hit; but not with the result anticipated by Charlie. Mitchell, by the bye, has no • idea of placing his field. At one stage he actually had three' slips and a third man while; bowling slow half volleys." Throughout he Heft Blacklock a beautiful opening for his cover drive. But bad placing of the field was not confined to Mitchell. Ryan, a mediunyto fast left-hand bowler, swinging m to a batsman, could also, do with a slip lesS. Ryan' also bowls a slow off-break, but as. he has absolutely no length and direction with it, I should strongly advise him to leave that particular ball locked up at home on Saturday ' afternoons: The ground fielding of the Midland team was fair throughout, but as to catching, well, it was not their day out. Though the /catches dropped were difficult ones, it is the taking of difficult catches that spurs a fielding side on and has a depressing influence on the batsmen, particularly on the man who is caught.