CRICKET

NZ Truth, Issue 881, 14 October 1922, Page 7

CRICKET

Doings»:.in Wellington. N Notes by L. T. Cobcroft. , Seeing that tlie Wellington Cricket Association are to make application to the City Council to. be allowed to charge for admission to the Basin Reserve each Saturday till the arrival of the English Cricketers it would perhaps be as well for the convenience of- the public and players alike for the Association to pay some smart lad 5s to attend to the scoring board on the ground. How do the Ground Committee propose to allocate the bowling screens at the Basin? I am given to understand there are only two which will be used' m one game! What about the second match? It may be a good idea to have' two more up-to-date screens made, as they will come m handy during the ibig fixtures with the players from over the water. It seems a great pity that so many young players who were aspiring to play Senior Cricket were debarred from going up as a olub this year. I am quite m accord with the Management Committee's views as ■to having too many Senior teams, but could not A. and B. sections be worked? The first four teams chosen by .the Committee &would be classed the A.'s, and the remainder B.'s. At the end of the season the two winners m the B. class would take the place of the two. lower teams m the A. There is one point on .which I cannot see eye to eye with the Committee, and it is this:— Some of the members of the Committee say: "If any of the Kilbirnie Junior players wish to play Senior, we don't want to prevent them, but let them' join other clubs." That is all very well, but I wonder if the advocates will make room for some of them m their elevens. lam afraid they would be told there is not a vacancy, the result 'being that the young cricketers who have earned senior status by I their ability have their ambition killed. So it behoves the Association Management, m which I have the fullest confidence, to ,Jook into the grading system whicli will enable every young player to try and qualify for a place m the A. competitions. ' " ' It is, of course, hard to say, but we may have • some Juniors who are unable to gain places m anj r of the Senior teams this season, and would, if given the opportunity, be some of our most brilliant exponents of the game. They are kept back through no fault of their own. I have very much ihore faith m a rising Junior than a declining Senior. E. V. Edwards (Petone), 95 wickets for 3.2 runs per wicket; F. Andrews (Marist), batting, 24.7 per innings, and 91 wickets for 5.4 runs per wicket; G. Hoare (Railways), who scored 10Q.Q runs, and O. K. Jeffs (Midland), and J. Russell (Karori), who each took 100 wickets m the season, all have performances that are excellent, and the Senior players m the vicinity of these young cricketers should leave nothing undone to help them up the ladder. * The Senior. Competitions start today. Wellington meet Old Boys, and Hutt meet Petone — tooth games on the Basin. Midland meet V.M.C.A., and Institute meet Thorndon, the former at Anderson Park, and the latter at Kelburn. . • After looking over the boundaries of. the Anderson Park and Kelburn grounds, I. am 1 satisfied that the runs made by players last year on those wickets can easily be reduced by half when a full size ground is used; also that when boundaries were scored by miss-hits m all probability the batsman 'WPUlcl have been caught out on a proper playing: area. Some of the practice games were stalled last Saturday, but rain caused a cessation of play m the majority of ■ cases. Sixteen lads of the- Technical School are being coached m the dinner hours from twelve to one. l St. Patrick's College have also had three afternoon's tuition 'by. the same mentor. .•■'■ Jack Hu tchings will keep, an observant eye on O. K. Jeffs this year. The player m question iwiU be very much better if/he follows out the old Midland player's advicp. I wonder what team Condliffe will be donning the gloves for ,to-day. I know of two teams who say he will be on their side— a rather useful man to have on one's side. One or two of St. Patrick's College boys give a lot of promise of becoming good. You have to keep your eyes open now when going through the Basin Reserve on practice days. XlicMleston has had a knock over at the Kilbirnie net. It is pleasing to see some of our best batsmen eagerly looking for all the practice they can get.