CRICKET.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13268, 27 April 1905, Page 5

CRICKET.

Bi Lose Sur.

J. Hussoy, the cx-Carisbrook cricketer, '. who is now settled in Auckland, whore ho c has been showing good' form - with the. bat s and ball, is in town for a short holiday, f Ho speaks enthusiastically of the district scheme of cricket which prevails in Auck--1 land,.and thinks it would be an excellent p thing for Otago. g Sir Joseph Ward, Colonial Secretary and Minister of Kailways of Now Zealand, in v tlio coureo of a speech during luncheon at cl at inter-State Shipping Companies cricket r match in Sydney, expressed a. desire to seo e the companies send a team to Now Zeas land. He promised to give such a team '. free passes over the New Zealand railways, u and that\thcy would have a pleasant time o altogether. I, 'Die wicket on which the Australians ;• played tho Fiji team was Gin'" under water n the day prior to the match. Consequently, I- it is not at all surprising to find that the ■- Australians came out with rattling bowling 0 averages. Howell had ho best figures. !. The complete, analyses wore: Howell, ;, overs, 5 maidens, 6 runs, 3 wickets; Noble, - 8 ovens, 29 runs, 3 wickets; Cotter, 9 overs, I, 2 maidens, 28 runs, '3 wickets; Duff, 3 overs, - 12 runs, 2 wickets; Armstrong, 6 overs, 3 i- maidens, 5 runs, 3 wickets; M'Leod, i t overs, 5 runs, 1 wicket. Pope (5 for 51) •, did ltest work with the ball for Fiji. He ; is said to have highly impressed the Atis- !, trahans, who think that with a little coach- :. ing he would bo a great bowler. I. 'An item in an English paper:—lt will bo e noticed that Shackloek. the ex-Notts ). cricketer, is doing good work for New Zca- ■, land against the Australians. He went :. away about 18 months since, in very bad ; health, and it is a surprise ns well as a i. pleasure to his friends to find that he has ■, so complcteely recovered. Ho has been t playing exceedingly well for the club lie has (, joined. ; In returning thanks for the kind treat- , ment received in Fiji. the. manager of the . Australian learn, Mr Frank Layer, said the i team had not at first Vvished to play in b Fiji, but tho members were now glad they L had done so. He had heard that in Fiji ■, they had had to pass a law to prevent . cricket; that 200 or 300 men took part in ~ a match, one village playing against another for a month at a time. But bo now learnt 1 this applied to Tonga. Mr M. A. Noble j laughingly said that it was all very well i. for Mr Laver to make excuses for not s wishing to play in Fiji. The fact was that they had heard there were some fast . bowlers in Fiji, and they were afraid they i might get hurt! Tho Governor, in the . course of a speech, gave some interesting . anecdotes of Hie part lie had taken in > cricket amongst native races in the tropics, . concluding with a laughable incident of an r occasion when' he was umpire on a hot . Christmas -Day. The ball had broken in [ two, and one half was caught by a fieldsman and the other half was not caught. . The question arose whether the batsman : was out or not, and he could not answer it. . World-wide sympathy will be felt with t wie grand old man" of cricket, Dr W. G. Grace, at tho sudden death of his eldest eon, Xf, G., jun., who was so well known and esteemed in cricket and' athletic circles . generally. The deceased, who was 30 years of age, was educated at Clifton and at Pem- . broke College, Cambridge, playing for the Light Blues against Oxford in 1595 and 1896. After leaving Cambridge he was for a few ; years a master of Bundle School, and since ' then was a member of tho scholastic staff at the Koyal Naval College, Osborne, Isle of Wight, Though an excellent bowler and batsman, young "W. G." was so shortsighted as to be compelled lo wear glasses whilo playing, which, though it did not affect his nerves, certainly affected those of the spectators. He was very fond of Rugby football as well as of cricket, and played for the East Midlands Fifteen. Mr W. L. Murdoch was among the company at the funeral. J. Dorline was interviewed br tho Morning Herald in Perth on his way'to England. He said the Australian Eleven was strong in batting, exceptionally strong in fieldincr, and'not so weak in howling as some rieoplo thought. He thinks a' good deal nf M'T.eod's bowling on English wickets, but Cotter ho regards as somewhat of an unknown quantity. who ought to be a success if he gets a dry Reason. Referring to ,tho fast bowler, be remarked: ."At times he .sends down a ball that would be a good-pitched ball if bowled from the other end." It is not often one hears of a lady making a century, but this fent was recently performed at Brighton (Victoria) bv' Miss .Chee?cmau, who made 103 (not- out) for the Boomerangs aeainst tho Mayflowers. In recognition of the achievement she was presented by admirers with a bat, an illuminated record of the performance, and an inscribed gold boomerang brooch. ■ According to C. B. Fry's Maeazino it is regarded as practically certain that either A. C. Maclaren or F. S. Jackson will captain England in the 'test Dutches tin's year. . Maclaren is at present in India with Ranjitsinhji. and it is possible that he will net return by tho beginning of the criek«t season. Jackson has never vet captained England in a test ma+ch, though in tho ordinary course, of affairs, and according to the customary procedure, hn would have succeeded to the captaincy of England when Dr Grace retired, But it happened that in that particular season Maclaren's special knowledge of Australian cricket was urgently needed. Ho was selected as captain not because he was senior to Jack-on. or because ho was regarded as in general a more suitable leader, but because.Jackson had not toured Australia, and did not Madmen's ;ntimatn and recent acmwintonee with the Australians' play. .Taction is in every way a most admirable captain; firm, clearheaded, cool, a competent iudgc of th« game, and extremely popular' with all cricketers who know him. Hi? captainev would bo accented by a'.l leading players, including Mnclamn, as n«rfect!v 'legitimate and natural. In hie matches it'woiild soon be found that in his knowledge of field tactics, his astuteness, and keen nVhfing qualities he docs not suffer by convnnrison oven with the great Lancashire captain. In any case their two l)p«ds together ought to mean complet.o efficiency.