THREE NOTABLES

NZ Truth, Issue 1045, 5 December 1925, Page 11

THREE NOTABLES

Wellington Whispers(By U. T. Cobcrof t.) Wellington cricket-lovers will have ted that the Hutt captain, although is early m the season, is right at s top of his' form. ( , . v I do not think we possess a batter all rounder itt Neyy Zealand to-day. ;;■ ■;:'£■", ■ •'/,'.:..' ' "■'. ' He certainly is bowling "better now an he did a couple of seasons ago, ien ; his bowling commanded' the eatest respect from any batsman. McGirr is a player who believes nd rightly so) m " getting himself U>- condition, physically, before the ason begins, consequently he is le to swing them down at ai pace at takes a deal of watching, ■ more pecially" if there should be the slight- ; flaw m the wickets.:-; [Mis batting this year is quite on a [r with anything he has ever given I m previous seasons, m ..fact, even Itter, as while not losing his agfcs'siveness, his defence is more solid. I He restrains himself more than lormerly from having a go at a ■all which is just not to his liking. ■»nee he settles down the ball travels la great pace from the bat, riot ■nly by force but simply perfect ■ing. He is one of the t keenest and lit popular players we have to-day. ye Patrick. what a great club man Dave PatH has been to the Midland Club. It Heldom he does not come to light Hi an outstanding performance Her with bat or ball, and his cricketH ability does not end there, as he Hecognised a very able slip field. HJMany fine innings' have been Hayed by him for the club which His produced so many fine cricketHs m the past, one of whom was Brnest Upham, who m his day Has without a peer as a. fast Hwler m New Zealand. Hitrick is batting exceptionally well H season, and I doubt 5f he ever Bed a better innings than that Hury against Petone. Hiite a number of fine bowling KSevements can^ be placed to this Bers credit. Being fairly tall, and SHessing a nice easy delivery, he His medium pace with an occasional HBut most of his wickets are seBred with the. ball that turns " Horn the off a few inches and Hakes a lot of pace off the pitch. Hne of the happy-go-lucky sort is He, and a great trier. 9 Cate., Hrhnt a pity it is that Alf Cate's 9 lth does not permit him to allow B name to go forth to the selector B representative cricket. 9/ As a wicketkeeper he has no »Tiperior m New Zealand to-day, Bbd- it has been so -for years past. Ble is equally at home to all classes I bowling, whether it be fast or slow, |n the off side or on the leg, it is all |c to this popular Petone player. The liter has repeatedly seen him do |>rk behind the stumps which would f credit to Oldfleld, Strudwick, and [any other great stumpers. I Cricketers m Wellington know that when ihe Petone wicketkeeper appeals for a decision, it is either goodnight to , the. batsman, or he has received the benefit of a very olose call. Alf, although he cannot be classed a atsman, still knows how. to use a

Straight feat, ana h&s frequently pulled his side out of a hole by a lengtßy stay at the wickets. Last Saturday Thorndon leatherhunted for Midland-. Thorndon will be 'hard flushed to Save a foilr jflbihtgr against them. Sixer. Brice. ' 6ld Boys W'eYe dismissed cheaply by Petone; ' still, the village has. got the hardest part to do to reach Old Bays score. . Everything Will depend on whether "Sixer" Brice gets going: •Varsity has dispelled all ai-guments about their not being up to senior status, and their performance oh Saturday compared most favourably with an"y of the older established cltibs. , MacKenzie, whom I referred td last week, played a very fine innings for sV§r the cefttury, afid this kgainst Badcbck and Co. Leys also did excellently. .■-■• ■■■■■ . , Badcock's bowling does not appeal 4 to be so deadly this season. Or is it that the players are over stage fright ' and play the ball sent down, instead of the bowler's reputation? Wellington require to put more life into their fielding as it is far from be* ing senior form at present. . Should Hiddleston get started again to-day C.and with a... little support from Wilson, Badcbck, Burton and Bruges, 'Varsity's total might not be too much of a hurdle for the old club to accomplish. Still, the students have the runs on the slate, and must be considered to hold the joker. Bright Run-Getting. Alick Bruce and Dave Patrick, followed up their good scores against Petone with two very attractive displays against Thorndon. .Certainly, the Class of bowling on Saturday was hot comparable with that of Finlaysori and Brice. Yet their runs were got m a manner that the spectators dearly Jove, to watch. .:' - Donoghue also came to light (after a long run of outs) with a good score J— keep going Arthur! What two great fields this player and Edgar Phillips used to be a couple 6t seasons back, when, playing for Thorndon, they fielded at cover and mid-off respectively./ ■ ■..-■ Wiri Baker again stayed long enough at the wickets to give his club mates a good "start; Thorndon will have to dig up a decent bowler before they can expect to get a side out for under 300 runs. At one stage of the Hvitt and Institute'game, it loblced as'if Hutt were m for a big score, as, 160 runs were on the board for' the loss Of only four Wickets, but after the tea adjournment quite a different complexion was placed oh the game,, as the remaining batsmen only added 34 runs. Turf Skimmers. A. E. McLeod, 'the ex-New Zealand and Auckland representative, played most attractively for half a, century,He kept the ball skimming alqng_ the turf and brought into play many fine shots all round the wicket. .■ ■ v He was eventually beaten by a good ball from Malcolm that swung m from •the off. Herb McGirr made his runs quickly and is m great form with bat and ball this year. Billy Hug*hes (best with a fair amount of luck) laid the wodtt on to the tune -of ten fourefs m his score. McGirr bowled splendidly and hardly sent down a loose ball. Both the other bowlers kept the batsmen thinking, while the fielding of the Hutt side left nothing to complain of. Tattersails, wicket was vei*y good. Best Slip Catch. Prince was beautifully caught- by Keenan m the slips off McGirr on Saturday, one of. the best slip catches seen on the ground for years. Kilbirnie's attack must be above the average, as m their three senior games so far they have got rid' of their opponents, for a moderate total. This was the case on Saturday, when the V.M.C.A. (usually a strong batting side) were sent to the right about for the poor score of 161, and on the best scoring ground m and around Wellington, Kelburn. Algar and Morris were most successful with the. ball for Kilbirnie, who at the call' of time were 28 runs behind V.M.C.A. with three wickets to fall. Morris resumed batting again to-day. If he ca.rv stay a quarter of an hour at the wickets the runs should be got. If the Wellington Cricket Association wish to add to the attendances at the Basin Reserve on Saturday afternoons, it should arrange for afternoon tea to be obtainable at a reasonable rate m the new pavilion.