NG BATSMEN'S "NERVES"

NZ Truth, Issue 1046, 12 December 1925, Page 11

NG BATSMEN'S "NERVES"

(Early for Judgment*--Wait Till They Settle Down

Queensland's defeat of New Zealand by an innings (declared for seven wickets) and 82 runs iuggests that the younger New Zealand batsmen were nervous m their first strike, and had not retovered m their second. . t

(By li. T. Cobcroft.)

r And m the second innings the state of the wicket may have iontributed to New Zealand's poor showing. If the, wicket had lot begun to crumble, would the Queensland fast bowler Noyes iave been able to bring them back from the ofl: ?

One must admit a little disappointment at our boys' showing against Queensland, especially as Queensland's star bowler,, Hornibrook, was engaged m helping the Best of Australia, to defeat Australia. I do not think it was the pace of he wicket that was accountable for tw Zealand's moderate score m the st innings, as the team had good iractice opportunity at Sydney and Brisbane ; besides, Dacre, Lpwry, and Patrick did not appear to be troubled >y the pace of the wicket. Dacre Showed Up. It was just nervousness (which allroungsters more' or less suffer from n their first big venture) that acsounted for them, going .so cheaply, 'hey will get over this as the tour >rogresses. Dacre' gave the Bananalanders a taste of his brilliance as a batsman, an,d Tom Lowry (who is keeping wiokets m place of James) contributed a useful score* while .Patrick and Allcott managed to fmake a few. • Queensland, thanks to a century by s'Connor and big scores by Higgins md Rowe, had made a total of over 100 lor seven ' wickets When the inlings was declared closed. Our >owlers did not. cause., the batsmen my worry, or anxiety, although Allcott >owled steadily. Why on earth Hope, the only fast bowler on the 'side, was left out, is a mystery to." met ! The mere- fact of his slamming, them own at one end would make our other Dwlers more difficult to play, The one redeeming 1 feature, of the une was the good ground fielding by le.New Zealand players. ; : It is too. early to pass judgment on le team, and I still have hopes that iite a number of the- boys will make sod, and that the knowledge they ill gain by this tour will have a meficial effect pn our cricket m the jxt season or' two. ustralian Trial There is po doubt th#t Collins, the ustralian ;; Eleven captain, is best ith more than the usual share of luck hen battitfg, -as he seldom makes a g score without giving a chance early the innih'gs. He is called "Lucky" Collins by the Australian public. It is nice to have a bit with you when at the wickets. .■. • : ■- .'. Kelleway, one of the most ' difficult itsmen to. get out in -Australia, adopta quite different taoiies m tbe-recenfc •ial match^Australi'aXv. The &est' at ydney, He, -hammered 'the bowlers all ver the field, and :w&s one short of the entury when he had to make roomifor le next 'batsman on the list. Will ny cricketer ever forget his stay of x hours at the wickets on the Adeide Oval against the Englishmen a :w years back? ' Should Australia's slow bowler , m England be Mai ley or Grim" mett? Both must be taken. O'Connor, who captains the Queensnd team, is a great wicketkeeper, arid is just bad luck for him that he has rt been residing m one of' the princ'K d cricketing States, as he could not lye missed the place of second wic;tkeeper for the Australian' tour [ome, He is a very fine ibatsman also. In the Australia v. Rest match, iardsley and Macartney refuted the 'has-been" charge by giving finished isplays of batting. Appearances point to Love being aken home as the secorid wickets teeper of the Australian team. He ertainly is the best batsman of the tumpers m the running for the posiion. , ;'

Jack Hutchings can still bowl well enough to get wickets, as his five for 14 against Thoi'ndon goes to show. If the same bowler, conquering his fear of being hit, would keep his slows up to the 'batsmen, he would get plenty of wickets m our senior grade, as there is no doubt about his being able, to turn the ball, and he uses his head too ! Watch Hollings HoUings, of 'Varsity, is going to become one' of Wellington's best all round cricketers. Me excels m bowling, yet he is a good 'batsman and field, I noticed that a couple of Institute batsmen on Saturday lost their wickets through playing with a cross bat to straight bowling, Needless to say, neither was one of that team's prolific rungetters. •' ' The Institute team should endeavor to dig up a fast bowler at the practice nets. It 'would considerably improve some of their batsmen, who at present are a little at sea to a bowler who rocks them m. The members of the above team are to be commended for the sporting manner m which they took their defeat on Saturday. Anyone can be a good winner, but it is the good loser that denotes a sport. C. G. Wilson (Father) is still able to make runs, and is due any time now for a decent score. Wagstaff c ' is a batsman • capable of making runs against any class of bowling, but. _is i a little ..impetuous. . Pos> sessed with more patience this player would be still more successful. "Waggy" has played many useful innings for the Wellington Club. , I see the Wellington Club still make i) t point of encouraging their junior, players, as included m the ranks of their Junior C. team on Saturday last I noticed the Deputy Mayor, ■ the City Solicitor, a prominent medico, and two old representative players, besides a few other players on the wrong side of forty. And don't forget that these '"colts", still know how to bat and capture wickets. :It seems ' quite out of, place to designate this, ...Wellington . team "junior." Surely/ "veterans" would probably fill the bill- better.' Thorndon could well do with two' of the above bowlers— rMartin Xnickie arid Jack O'Shea— while Stan Hicksori and Mai Crombje would get plenty of .runs. .' v ' . •

and there is not a great deal of difference between any of them. They are Brunton (St. Albans), Boon (Linwood), Hayes (West Christchurch), and MortIpok (Old Boys). The most remarkable part about them is that they can all bat well, which is a very fortunate thing for the province. Trying Out. ■ In the town v. country match the selectors are trying out the colt, Mortlock, who made such huge and consistent scores for Boys' High School a couple of seasons ago. The only really, old stager m the town team to play the country is Ernie Gasson, who will captain the side. He is not an old stager so far as representative cricket is concerned, as though he has been wearing the flannels for years, he first got into the provincial team last year, ' Guiney, Cox, McEwin, and Talbot have previously represented Canterbury, and are all doing well this season. They should severely test the country attack. The remainder of the town team is comprised of colts, several of whom are being tried out with a view to temperament, etc., for the higher honors. Findlay and Stunner, for instance, Te beinr? given an opportunity of peeing how many counf-v wickets they can opnture, while Lester, Jarr<»+.t and Norrte. threey»>ry prnmisinn younn .batsmen, should pII msh runs m the company they will b& called upon to ;. meet. s . Tlip. result of this tow" v. cnnntr"" match,' which is an excellont try-out for thfi. ,yourif r fir,.r>lnven?. will nrob^biv make thp task nf the pp.iectors a HHle pasier. COr perhaps a little harder?) School Boys' Bowling 1 . Playing m the L.in\vood seventh , grade team . .-.on Saturday .against Cathedi-al Grammar School, a schoolboy named Albert Rimmer. took ten wickets for four runs — including the hat triek — an the first innings and ten for 12 m the second; Rimmer thus captured all the wickets at a cost of 16 runs. This must be a new bowling record. The Grammar School boys made 31 and 30 respectively. Boys'. Hl&h School followed up their good showing against Christ's College by defeating St. Andre-vv's College by an innings and 129 runs. School made 287 for eight (declared) and St. Andrews 89--and- 69. ■ , Merritt. a medium pace right-hand bowler, obtained fine averages m both the St.. Andrew's innings. His first inning's figures .were seven for. .56 .-and his second even better — eight for 32.