CRICKET.

NZ Truth, Issue 240, 12 February 1910, Page 3

CRICKET.

(By "Scaufc"!

"D.W." (Wellington)— Di McKenzie, c/o. "Free Lance" newspaper, Wellington, will give you all, the information .you want m regard to the local Umpires' Association. * "8.L." (Masferton)— Never heard of ,the man. •

Australia and Wellington at the Basin Reserve this afternoon.

"JacK the Giant Killer" is the nickname bestowed on Scott, the Sydney fast, bowler, m consequence ot the way m which he inflicts bodily punishment upon the opposing batsman. The Petersham catapult propeller certainly made •things extremely lively for the Queenslanders. • . Auckland Umpires' Association is said to be a real, live body these days, and has now a membership of 23. It is claimed to be the most flourishing body of its kind m the Dominion. . . • : .

After the Victoria-N.S.W. match, Gregory and Emery w«re each presented with a ball encircled m silver bands, inscribed. In "Tich's" case the gift was to remind him that he had played - firstclass cricket for 20 years, had captained the winning side, had scored 169 not out, I and had made the winning hit.

Condlifle, Central's ex-keeper, now a resident of Dunedin, was selected to practice, m. view of final selection m the Otago team v. Auckland, but he informed the selectors of his inability to make the trip, even if .chosen. . . . ,

With M. A. Noble retiring, there is no doubt as to the best all-round cricketer m Australia— W. W. Armstrong (says an exchange). The big Victorian is a great bat and a great bowler, and he may become a captain 'of the highest order. He is relatively mot so good m the field; as he does not snap up the. chances m the slips quite as often as one would expect such a cricketer to do. Apart from that he is a good field, and when you allow for. his being 17st. m weight, he is a very active man. /; . ...

Noble says that the .bowling of Warwick Armstrong m the second Test, match at Lord's last season was a revelation to him, .and he has played a good deal, of cricket! He had never seen better bowling m his life. . . . In the latest (Durban, December 18) Mr E. W. Ballantine, writing of the M.C.C. English campaign m South Africa, relates the following :— J. B. Hobbs has been the victim of a bit of rascality m Kimberley, and detectives are now on the trace of an impostor. Some enterprising individual went to a; Kimberley tailor and was ' measured for a tidy wardrobe, giving the name of ."Hobbs the -cricketer." The tailor one evening called round at the hotel and wanted to know if Hobbs wanted any more clothes, and that visit put" Hobbs up to what was being done. The next thing was that the cricketer" had been calling for champagne and signing cards at . one of the local hotels' as "Hobbs the cricketer.'* Suits and "fiz" did not suit his lordship, but he must go about seeking for generous "fivers." The tales got round Kimberley quickly, and Hobbs was spoken of m none too complimentary manner, and it was said that he did not play m the Kimberley match because he was "blind" —blind what was not stated. It is very hard lines that such disgraceful conduct should appeal to any individual, and any body who knows "Jack" Hobbs would readily conceive that he is the essence of modesty and quite a gentleman. . Warwick. Armstrong, who, is to lead the Australians m their contests on this side of the Tasman, occupied the same role for the Victorians v. S.S.W. recently, and is said to have done the job vezy creditably. . ' . :

Sid Gregory's throwing out at , BJayne and Simpson, m the late N.S-W- v. Rest of Australia match will, so one writer puts it, live m history as among the finest things ever, done on a cricket field.

At the Waverly dab's welcome house ta Gregory and H. Carter, toe latter saM that he would not play cla&> or big cricket this season, giving: as toss, reason that he would not be able to- spaze titos time. Next season, however, as Aastrafia.

would want its best team against tins Sooth Africans, be wool* be awaiiteblfei.

"Tich" Gregory was haftfcjng 4$ naurs for his 169 not out aganss*;. Victoria;- To; show what a marwel Gregocy sts£b ray ite; is only necessary to state' fba£ tSaau match was the twentieth ansiversaay 0, bis first appearance m first-da^; etickdb',': and before it the only practice be lattMjj since his retorn from England was in'KffJ game m the Turner benefit matcb. Hfc most have wonderful eyesight and !?taii4na; as he is now nearly 40 years of age»'ye*;' there is probably not a better baf.'afe present m Australia, whilst his fieldi&g is wonderfully smart. He has nay an> aggregate of over 2000 runs against the Ma State's next door neigbbors.

Writes "Scoring-Board" m the "Canter-) 'bury Times" :— "The Canterbury selector' (Mr D. Reese) has a problem to solve ia the selection of bis next team, ' lojg . tHe Australian-Canterbury mate*. The re-, suits of the big matches this .season make very sorry reading indeed, : and on. form m big cricket chances *; should he' imminent. W. Carlton, the coach., has scored 217 runs m four innings,/ awl'Lusk 162 m six, but no other playet' kits averaged 20 runs per innings, whiie~ Patrick, ■ D. Reese, Wood, Crawshaw,. liayes, Addison and Boxshall have miserably' failed with the bat. With the bill the same results are seen. Crawshaw/ and' Bennett only obtained four wickets/ each m three matches, the latter failing; to take a wicket at Auckland and , the former against Wellington. W. Cferlton was also expensive. D. Reese and $V Oarlton were the only two to bowl with success, the former obtaining nine wickets at a cost of 127 and the latter thirteen for 216." Writing of the Australian's Dominion visit, a Sydney sdStbe-feays that S. H. Emery will probably tinier down into a first-class fieldsman on /the tour. He possesses wouderful Vitalijty,' a good pair of hands, and throws ve}ty smartly. But at present he is prone to return the ball too hard when. there ,is no possiLility of a run-out. Thj£ \B6rt7of play only breaks up the hands bf the picket-keeper or the bowler. Be^j&iujJ»e • rushes his catches too much atffgrese^i. ! South AfrSs^jUfl 'invade Australia next season to play ffve..lfest matches, and a series of matches with the States. Judged by their forun against the Englishmen m the test (matches, South Africa will be a stiff proposition for the Commonwealth cricke/ters to beat. A. C. Facy, who (has come our way with the 'Stralians, }is reported to be one of the most accurate fast bowlers (he is

not an "express") of recent times. With a little moxe pace, according to the same authority, he would be a champion.

Sandy is talcing no chaaces m the Huaket Shield game with the present holders. That is forcibly demonstrated by the fact that the Otago team has its own umpire and scorer. If the northern official starts some of his sharp tricks, •Sandy's man will be on hand, for sure, to deal out the same mixture.

Duncdrn cricket circles have been much perturbed by the non-inclusion of Sid Callaway m the team to meet Auckland this week. Great indignation has been' aroused by his admirers m consequence thereof, and should the "Burgooites" godown, the selectors will have a lively time at their hands.

For his unique feat of a few weeks ago a Brisbane player named Barstow, who collared the whole ' opposing ten wickets, was presented with a handsome momento of the event, with the record inscribed thereon. This should spur on any Wellington ennilators whose modesty gets them down and worries them.

Something which was said on the pooling of cricket gates by F. C. Tone, the secretary of the Yorkshire County Cricket Club, would doubtless be interesting to my local readers at the present juncture. Making special reference to the proposal for pooling county gates, Mr Tone said the proposal had been mooted before, but not m the serious and, he thought, the regrettable manner m which it had now been done. There had been a private meeting of a number of counties concerned for the purpose of pooling their gaWb, and to this meeting Surrey, Kent, Yorkshire, and Lancashire bad not been invited. The County Championship needed to be made more ' sporting, and attractive, and he thought the solution of. the problem would be to make the number of counties unlimited m number as at present, but that there should be two divisions, and that promotion B to A should be by merit alone. Next yew: England is promised a visit from a cricket team representing the Toronto Zingari Club. It is stated that 1 among the teams likely to be met are, the Gentlemen of M.C.C., of Essex, Cheshire, Surrey, Sussex, and Liverpool, the Green Jackets, United Services, Royal. Artillery' at ■ Woolwich, Royal Engineers, the St. Lawrence Club, Canterbury, the Po-lkeston and Blackhcath clubs. The final matches will be against Phoenix and Leinster . clubs m Ireland, the tour being the' outcome of the visit of the Gentlemen of Ireland to the States.

The fund opened at,. Scarborough as a testimonial to David Hunter for his 21 years' invaluable services as a wicketkeeper for Yorkshire realised £146. Mr R. H; Spooner, writing of Hunter, said: "I any proud to think I have, known him for a portion of his long career m connection, with Yorkshire cricket. He has always been my ideal of a cricket professional."

A Dunedin writer is the authority for the statement that the fact of Wordsworth, the Sydney professional, going with the Otago iieam to Auckland m quest of that Plunk et Shield, means that h«* wiH only )>e played if the wicket suits him. Therefore, to all intents and purposes, he is the emergency man of the combination. '

Why doesn't the Selection T/ommittee of the Executive of the Cricket Asso.ciation openly state the reason why Claude Hickson is standing down from the Wellington team to meet the Aus-

tralfans this week ? "Scout" lias been' [told that Claude's absence is due to Ms Refusal to associate htaself with one or |fo of the selected players who ■ are al* Ijeged to have been guilty of. contempt«>le acts of horseplay m Auckland at r&hristmas.

' Dunedin people, are not overburdened .with modesty when it comes to' proiflaiming their own virtues, whether good, bad, or nidifierent. This, for instance, is a typical sample of their cock-a-dood-fling, taken, from the **©tago Witness" columns :— "lt is only four years ago since the Otago Association had a ••liability of something like £200. What: had happened since? Why, that anOtago team aas twics toured New Zealand, financed itself 'through several for~i reign teams, secured the services' of two - coaches, has guaranteed* £150 for ar match against the Australians, is about to despatch another Otago team to Auckland'for the "Plunket Shield, and has abalance m hand."

A Sydney journal of January 26 had something to say concerning the at one time proposed abandonment of the ■ Australian tour by the N.Z. Cricket Council. It will be recollected that when the Otago Association declined to guarantee the £150 asked for by the Council, unless the pooling system was adopted, the latter, body cabled the. Board of Control abandoning the projected vfeit. The, reason given, says the paper, was that the Wellington Association refused to "accede to the Council's request that the proceeds should be pooled. The Sydney paper says that the N.Z. Council, on the face of things, struck cricketers over there as having arrived at a peculiar decision m abandoning a tour, which had been so iar organised and which promised so ■ well ; and it went on : to 'add that "the programme submitted by the N.Z. Council to the 1 Board lof Control, did. Hot include a match at Wellington." "Therefore, the excuse, given by the N.Z. Council is particularly thij\ and might , even • be characterised ,as suWSmely ridiculous.. The more this matter is gone into, the more one is ' amazed at the lack of ordinary business capacity shown by tbf? Council and its secretary, Tim Raphael. If . this is the best that august body can do, then the sooner it chucks up the sponge the better at will be for the game m this Dominion. Arc there no men of the calibre of Arthur Ollivier and Willie Cotterill left m Christchurch ? Why, the executive of any of the district clubs here j could run rings round the southerners m | the matter of management ; and little [ .Joe Vance would manipulate the secre- | tarial work m swh a manner that the much-vaunted Tim Raphael would hate to admit that he had heaps to learn yet. Wonder whethefr Tim will have the cast-iron cheek to come up here and make a collection outside our ground again, or throw out a hint to the generous Wellington President, H. D. Pell, that the ladles of Wellington should 3up=

ply afternoon tea gratis to the cricketers, and, incidentally, to Tim himself. Wellington has very properly objected to her good gold being spent v»n strong bodies like Christchurch and Duncrtin, which, ought to have sufficient self-respect never to have asked for such a thing. It would be interesting to have a look at the correspondence that has passed between Raphael and the other cricketing bodies, and this writer wants to ' know if the boot were put on the other leg and the Otago and Christchurch gates were big, whilst the ' Wellington one was small, would the former desire to pool ? Not much. The N. 7,. Council should endeavor to administer matters for the benefit of all associations and not solely for the pecuniary gain of Christchurch anld Dunedin.

Why is it that the last test match is always allocated to Wellington ? Christchurch always gets the first, and New Zealand always loses it there. When the second game is played m Wellington a lot of interest is taken out of it. Moreover, several <of the men cannot get leave to play m more than , one game, consequently the Wellington public has not the same incentive to roll" up and witness the match. ' From the author, Mr D. McKenzie, I have to acknowledge receipt of a booklet containing a mass of . invaluable information for cricketers, including as it does "The Laws' of Cricket," with decisions and interpretations authorised by the Marylebone : Cricket Club, New Zealand Cricket Council by-laws, Wellington Cricket Association' by-laws, and rules governing the Plunket Shield contests. The little ' * book 'is /sold !at the ' modest sum of; Bdf and: it be m the possession 'of everyone Who; takes on the. summer pastixae.. I confidently' recommend .its acquisition .by, my readers..