Senior Championship Competitions.

NZ Truth, Issue 184, 26 December 1908, Page 3

Senior Championship Competitions.

Saturday's Results. Matches at the Basin Reserve furnished interesting finishes, Gasworks winning •.rom New town by 26 runs, and Phoenix" having a margin of 25 . runs from Y.MiC.A.— both on the;first innings. Midland struck a wasp's nest m Waiwetu, the Hutt > men notching a four wickets victory, while Petone succumbed to Wellingtcn by 61 runs on the first strike. The scores m the several games were : — New town 210 and 57 for one, v. Gasworks 227 ; Phoenix 310 v. V.M.C.A. 885 ; Midland 188 and 81 for four (declared closed), v. Waiwetu 140 and 132 for six ; Wellington 196 and 109 for seven v. Petone 135. ' ♦ Newtown put up a good fight with the Gas Co,, being blown out by 26 runs on the first innings, after a very interesting finish, m which the spectators . as well as the players,took a keen interest. Dredge and Alf Topp, the hot out men of the previous .week, started quietly, m fact, tamely, and scoring was very blow, but,. despite several changes m the bowling, kept their ends up till 120 appeared on the score board, when Dredge was caught m attempting to pull a shortpitched ball fxom O'Farrell r but only getting hall on to it, Stubbs, at mid6a, brought off an easy catch. .l-led&e (13) the next batsman, gave the onlookers another spasm of slow, uninteresting play. Topp was geeirig along, and, aided by a; large slice of luck, teaohed 49 before he fell a victim to Alpe. At this stage of the game the crewid 'discovered the match showed signs of developing into a close finish, as the metermen still required 28-runs to catch the NftTTtown's score of 801 and hid two wfcfcats to &o. ■jhia task the Gasworkers accomplished, altiiQttikh when Miller, the last man Wjent'-td. the wickets, the cok^-wheelers Wanted only Iqur to win. "Payne settled the argument by pulling a good lanattk ball from Alpe to leg foe four and won. -the match. >ayne, -who notched 27 ,not out, deserves a' special word. Going m at a. critical time be put a curb on his impatience to pull everytking to leg, and played ■Very steady, at the same time banging merrily- away at/all loose balls. The fielding of the Newtowns was good;, certainly the best exhibition I have Been from them this season. .George | $cbinoll, behind the wickets, was not up J to his usual standard. He. badly missed stumpine Topp on two occasions. Alpe (4) and O'Farrell (2) divided the bowling honors. Laws had a day °^ and did not manage to bag a wicket. With about an hour and; a-half to go, Newtown commenced its second . essay, and knocked up 57 for one wicket, Alpe (36 not out) doing most of the scoring. ' Umpires McKenzie and Farmiham and Skipper Asnbolt of the Gas Co., decided to draw stumps at 6 p.m., as there was no chance of the match being finished, t understand both Alpe and Claridge, the not out men, raised no decided objections, still Capt. Laws, of the Newtown team, should have been consul-fed. At any rate there is'a. rule to that effect., Why was the captain ignored on this occasion ?. The "?.M.C.A. apparently believe m returning good for evil. They gave the Phoenix all they desired m the way of, fielding practice. With two wickets lost for, 13 from the previous week, the Christians essayed the big task of wiping oC 300 runs necessasy to settle their ofipenents' hash. , ' TtfeKßT' ani- Wilson got going early and fcatted solidly, with the result that 79 TO up before Mac. was caught off Dixon. This (36) is McKay's best to date and he shewed plenty of confidence while he batted. ~" > While Roberts and Wilson were parttiered the game was deadly slow^ but the runs came .all the same., and Teddy retired with 24 opposite his -name. . Wilson followed shortly after, bowled by Hickty, whom he had lifted over the lej fence tkxoe times, just previously. He was accorded a great ovation for his contributiea of-61. He batted will right through and teok no risks, and right from the jump he laid the foundation of a victory, for hie side by dealing with all the loose stuff that came along. Wilson has one bad stroke, however, that will land him m trouble against faster bowling (the back chop), and the Sooner he rcmtiies this the better. Wilson's worst fault is his rotten judgment m running b«twten the wickets, and both he and Robarts want a deal of coaching m this respfot:' Watch Midlane and take a leaf from bis book, Wilson. • Midlane, till be got' over a dozen on the slate, was patchy, but after this he livened up and a good exhibition. His bit which placed the ball among the apectatoxs was a beauty, while his oft. strokes left nothing to quibble at. While ho and Atkiasan were together *some 20 minutes), good wicket running was the order, and' the pair looked like pulling the game, out. of the fire, but Atkinspn w.os badly beaten by Gttrbes with a leg break. This partnership put on 61 rtsns. Grimmett, the cuifly bowler, got going next, and, with Midlane, managed 57 for fhe, wicket, Grimmett being caught m the/

slips by Dixon for a well-played 17, all singles. When the last man cainc m, 25 more inns were wanted for victory. Midlane, recognising that he would have to gex the runs himself, tried to bang Gibbes off the earth and was clean bowled. Mjrtlanc's innings justified the selectors' action m putting him m the rep. team, and, after Saturday's display he ought to make a decent showing against Canterbury. His 86 was real good cricket, and reminds one of his old-time favorite scores of 80 s. Though not as aggressive as of yore, I think he will give other teams a good deal of leather hunt-, ing before the season closes. The youngsters are to le* congratulated on putting up such a good fight and with the latent batting talent m the team, next season, ought to see them m the top flight. At the outset, the "Bead-birds" fielding was good, but later Dixon and Co. were very tired, and the batsmen had them thinking badly on several occasions. Little, at point, was the best ; he was out on his own, and but for him Midlane's off clips would have been more productive than tjiey were. Gibbes missed two chances off Hickey"s tripe, and methinks his "bay window" troubles him not a little. '■'.' Harty was untiring at long field and acquitted himself well; but as he is m the team for bowling, why on earth didn't Waters try him. Waters three overs were good for Midlane. who banged him for 23 quick and sudden. Hickey's "two licks and a wipe" bowling Secured four for 92, but the figures might have been improved but for Newbolt's inability to take three good stumping chances. For all this, however, , there was no need for; J. C. Hickey to roan at the "keeper" the way he did..- He is not the only "tripe slinger" who has chances missed off him, and other wicket-keepers would have promptly have told him to go to Hades or Kaiwarra. . , ; /Your hair is too thin on. top; : now,' Hickey, without worrying over trifles- like this. Keep your hair oh, old man, your team will appreciate you the more " for it. .-..-■ Gibbes is Phoenix best bowler, and Waters makes a big mistake m not bowling with the wind from the start. Newbold, an emergency behind the sticks m place of Hprnsby, whose fingers were damaged the previous week by wild bowler Herlihy, did not shape too, badly. He certainly missed a couple of stumping chances, but managed to keep the byes down to 14, not bad showing m a score of 285. ■■;,.•• Dixon, C. Hiokey and Harty each brought off a good catch. The unexpected defeat; of the Midlanderg aftef leading by 49 on the first innings is another instance of the uncertainty of cricket, and should also prove a warning to the strongest sides not to undef-rate even their weakest.' opponents m the competition. ■While admittng the sportsmanlike action of the Midland captain m declaring with, four for 81; I cannot applaud his generalshiip. At that stage the Waiwesu team had nothing- to loose and everything to gain by going for the runs, while the Midlanders had no earthly chance/, with their two best bowlers, Ryan and : Upham, away, of getting the opposing side out m one hour 35, minutes. Judd gave a good display m Waiwetu's first innings, his square cutting being quite artistic. Rodgers showed really good form m the second innings. He has some nice "on" strokes, but appears rather weak on the off, particularly m cutting. He seemed well set when he lashed out wildly at a good length ball, which sent him 'back to the pavilion. Rogers was responsible for the only sixer during the -match, to square-leg, off Bruce. • Pilcher was quite the surprise packet i of the team. In the first innings he shaped like a back blocker, but m the second going m, when 36 runs were reouired m 15 minutes, he actually got 26 m 12 minutes, winning the game for his side.' : . -„.-.. Bruce bowled unchanged 1 against the wind m Waiwetu's second innings. Although, getting 'm a good ball occasionally, the wind causing Mm to swerve across the wicket, he was very inaccurate both as regards length and direction. Hickson bowled well m the, first innings, but m tjbe second neither he, Mitchell or Stephenson troubled the batsjnen. , Midland only had 55 minutes' batting before closing its second innings. Hickson, Wynward, and Williams all shaping well, but Bruce was never comfortable, and has apparently lost all form. Rodders again bowled well, securing three for 29. It would, be interesting to see how this bowler shaped on tfoe Basin Reserve. One ball was howled by Hickson after the runs had been knocked off, and it proved fatal to Pilcher; who was evidently carried away by the wild* excitement of the spectators. .... Wellington succeeded m outing the suburbanites ,by 61 runs on the first innings, although when Brice and Qobcroft were together things seemed anything but rosy for the. older team. Brice once more displayed good form m compiling 47, yet we have seen the tall cricketer a lot more vigorous. Wit-b. the exception of a difficult chance to Quinn m the slips his innings was free from blemish. Quinn made amends for his mistake by getting him leg before just as Stan, was m a hitting mood. Cobcroft made 20 m good style, but after Brice went he mishit Quinn into Stan Hickson's hands and. retired. : Dyson's display was a lively one, only one single being m his score of 19. Tommy Taylor was laying the wood on m great style, and was unlucky •m being caught off a lovely on drive against the wind, the ball appearing to go high up over the boundary and coming back into. Naughton's safe hands. The stroke and catch were bath good ones Mick Joyce, when • ; going well, also tried to reach the boundary witli a forward leg bit, but found Naughton again . j m the way. '.'.., Jack Quinn, who was tried about fifth change, came out with the best figures, viz., four for 18, while.. Tom-: Hales bowled really well up, against a stiff breeze, his average being five for 47 runs. Wellington's fielding was first class, Naughton m particular distinguishing himself by taking four catches, two of them real beauties. -■■/■' With only about an hour and a-half to bat, both teams took matters easy. The bowlers tossed them up for the batsmen to hit, which Naughton dii do,- although having a charmed life. . Oobcroft gave all his bowlers two or three overs. Tommy Taylor coming out with splendid results — four for 7. Naughton was again top scorer with 39, while Jack Quinn was not : out with a nicely-made 28. Pleased to see young Murphy break his spell of bad luck. Naughton and Quinn played • a prominent part m this game, as the former was top scorer m both innings with 58 and 39, besides making four catches ; while Quinn obtained four wickets for 18 runs, and made 30 and 28, both not out. ■'• The $ame was played-; with the best of good feeling and afternoon tea was provided by Mrs Brice. Messrs Brooks and Bocks' decisions left .nothing for any of the players to cavil at. .;;, ■ - . • "- ■•■.,.