CRICKET.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21212, 18 December 1930, Page 4

CRICKET.

By Sup. i >

*' FIXTURES. The following representative fixtures have been arranged to date;—' December 25, 26, 27. and 29.—Wellington v. Otago, at Wellington; and Auckland v, Canterbury, at Christchurch, January 1,2, 3, , and s.—Otago v. Auckland, at Dunedin; and Wellington v. t Canterbury, at Christchurch. THE OTAGO. TEAM. The task of selecting teams is always A hard one, but for Otago selectors it is’’ particularly difficult, for their'calculations always likely to be upset by the fact that players cannot travel. According to the decision of the Otago Cricket Association, four players will have to furnish explanations to the Management*Committee and selectors before they can be chosen for the representative games that will be played in Dunedin. Shepherd, Dickinson, Galland, and Coupland all informed the selectors that they would not be able to make the trip to Wellington, and M/Mullan’a retirement has robbed the province of the services of another good man * The services of none will be missed so much as those of Dickinson, for his 11116 Vi hpwlmg on Saturday and his s*®®ll'ant form with the bat give every indication that he would greatly strengthen the Otago team. -Nevertheless, it m a distinct sign of progress in Otago cricket that so strong a side has been picked. to meet Wellington at Christmas, o the players except Badcock md bmith-have previously represented the province, and the team is strong both in batting and bowling if the players can produce their best form. Alloo was the obvious choice for the captaincy, and, though his batting recently, has lacked some of the brightness' of previous; years, he is still a very useful bowler, who is dangerous under certain conditions, and Who can stand up to a great deal of hard work. Blunt's form with the bat is not yet quite at its best, but he settles down quickly, and the improvement in his inUnger has, greatly- increased his 1 er * Ifc is not surprising to see R. Cherry once more in the on s e the record for * thicket partnership with Torrance.’ iwk may H reme m b ered that in the iyjo-2o season ne was second in the Otago averages, scoring a century and averaging 46. .It is probable that he, will be onl “■*¥?' °P enin f? Pair. Dunning, an im?*°V d batsman and one of the best howlers in the side, Cavanagh, who has proved himself a fine batsman in repreElmes. a useful Pallrounder, and Moloney, stylish batsman to BOW howler, were alTexpected to find places, as, of course, was Badcock, Borne may have expected that Lemin would have difficulty iu finding a place in view _ of the fact, that hid bowling il trPe to that of Dunntog. and he 18 not a batsman. Neverc tores as good as ° f . in fee club competftAere is any pace in the wicket -T nb ' e the best of batsmen. A 7 s ® in-securing a place Grange man has not •tru* form this season. He has plenty « ln , blß «icket, and the seleccb°se him on .the strength ■ Rrm-tl P a , st . : P?rfonuances. The choice of E «£»? h - 0 be twelfth man, r.t b .s irss .As Galland was not available the ohwaa wicket * k aeping position MuaWe 411 -’ as a batsman £ amrod tl , kee P ln K his end’ up if reSSSfr* J* his hands stand up to the work he should give a good account of himwife the n. nn f=vf m ??i. play up to expectations Thl t?i h , l d «ry short “ tail” ♦l Jii e J p,unke t -Shield teams of each proas follow- 6 —° W teen Eelected -' They are E. Mms, i ,G. L; Weir, H TO < isn eSpie Tr A; Beatles, A. Anthony! A" p° y ’ A ,?- 7 man > D - Cleverley. H James, E. G. M’Leod, J Newman a’ N. Gajlichan, J. R L.aSaot ?twd’£th °” k! H - Brr^fw Ury ri~ J - T v Burrows, J. B. JnrS.e’ ?' T D °^ een ’ -M., Hamilton, J. J. L. Kerr. S. G. Lester W v* M er e ’ A - w - RobeS; i: ford/ lb elfta man ' C - G - Crawa eS“ e ( 'SS’ V G A. «. Moloney, and-J. Smith, . . POyrORMANCES AT CARISBRo6k. ♦iiJv matting of Blunt and Priest nml spoMibihty for the slow scoring. Uo 8 was .a -peculiar inninga,.in which he was at times uncertain, but at otheioff some df the perfect shots thatjiave stamped' him as a W n ‘ He ' Eave three chances-— two offDickinson—was caught off a no-hall frTS ?n C^'^ d A^^be2out'ibw. If- ba ? tbo,bowler, appealed. It could Tidt, therefore/be’described ne a J Thf k ’ i thou *?. b * h u acored '“hiß' runs erCmtu o P a ®t the thirties. Cox, the that, he, had PM-V fiibUities as a batsman, and in scorimT 14 Played sound cricket. 'Smith, who LcSred 15, also made-his runs weli. i Seven wicketwe down for 173 runs when stup^S fashion, DickinJ° n fire for 71, improved later «!n ■uftcluoon. but he -nVas dangerous at a ?l was very unlucky not io get Blunt earlier, and sent down one or tr!?rS s ! .t 1 - liat w ?r med % .New Zealand representative. . He, maintained a [rood pace, conne up, and at times went away a little to the off. He sent a.sunirising number of no-balls. . ? ad ». vncket that suited him and-' n b/tsmen- very quiet, and Logan, Bibilf£ :SllOWe - he has- pbs-; ALBION ON BAD WICKET. f 1 their-own choosing the Albion men were unlucky, in striking a very bad Wicket in their match against T?7^, edln ' J wicket which had originally been prepared had suffered so much from - the rain that a new one had- to be rolled fir!i 1 L, tbe -i.T rl J ln f-V Especially in the hour it kicked badly and generally playeq tricks,with the batsmen, who could not have been expected to stay long. anepherd and Von ath, the openimr men, watched -the ball closely, but both were beaten s by, the pace of the wicket. Duncan who hit bard , to, score 28, saw that a long stay was unlikely and did not spare. the loose ones, bringing off some nice shots through the" ; covers. Allen who made top score, with 44:: played an excellent innings =for . his side. He was beaten several times by Badcock, but under the conditions his runs were well made. Coupland found a wicket that suited him and captured six wickets for 54 runs. H 6 spips from the off, and on occasions comes in slightly from leg, and on a bad wicket is always likely to be successful. Badcock, who took three for 29, bowled very well, and with Ipek might have had more wickets. 1 He had all the batsmen in difficulties. , Albion’s score of 145 would have been smaller had four or five catches hot been dropped. White showed an improvement behind the stumps and secured three victims. ' GRANGE'S GOOD POSITION, Thel’ Christian Brothers batsmen generally : were unenterprising facing the Grange attack and could score only 112. They gave a drab display, and until nine wickets were down the spectators watched ■low batting. When F. Dawson and Collett became associated, however, 40 runs were ecored in a little over 20 minutes, the latter hitting two sixes and being undefeated with 21. Dawson’s contribution was 19. . The play'seemed' to show that the, bowling was not sufficiently dangerous to- merit treatment of

the previous batsmen. Elmes bowled well ancl ,at one stage bad eight successive maidens, ultimately securing three for 42. and Lemm who took three for. 41, was also treated with respect. Two of the* wickets fell to ChettleLrgh ataeostof ,10 runs, and. Galland, who bowled very accurately, was unlucky-in having two toHemnt hls bowlitl e- He tried to tempt the batsmen occasionally with - hit V out ieS ' bUt tkey ? vere n °t inclined to ,w he - t ? ra ? ge ba tsmen^Treated the bowlm? without respect, and runs came very 2ni ckl J- , Boyd and - ChettlTburgh! who sSg 29° th T? ay ? d Boyd on th» off nl p |?> u ed ® ome nice shots runs all rm*ia , C . he ttleburgh collected his featetf wfth and was undedurinff wl^t 5 ' 1. knight had a, short stay battmg. bhe SQOred 14 bT, stylish SENIOR SCORING. Setio1 Ud OVaL the ® co ! dD 2-by teams in the senior utades of the four ‘centres is interesting (writes “Not ’’ in th! .STS -iffkjSfSSta ?h“4 5860 for 9^7 27 ® i W ! ckats V in Christchurch 5860 for 257 wickets, in Dunedin 3497 for udckete ket Tlf 0 nd m Auck!and 4472 for 253 tvickete. The average scoring per wicket r istc h urch 22.80, Wellington 22 The wf e v n 20 ' 21> a P d Auckland, 17.67. j . following were, the aggregate'scores and wickets, lost by Dunedin henio/tfamsf a tuff 1 ™- Runs. Wkta. Lost. A™ .. .. 62i 30 Cansbrook .. .. -563 34 Christian Bros. .. 495 30 Dunedin—.. .. ~'7ll 34 : ® ran K« 539 29 Old Boys .. .. . 668 16 Totals ' ;, -3497 173 In all four competitions . 20,112 runs were scored, for the loss of 959 wickets, giving, ap average of 20.97'runs per wicket. , OTAGO BOYS' ASSOCIATION. • The Otago Senior and Junior teams played the Canterbury representativeson December, 13 and 15, and the result in both games was a draw. The Otago 'teams, were tnanaged by Messrs H. Vor-, rath .and H. Miller, and travelled to Christchurch on Friday last. On Satur“ayuiOrhing. the boys were entertained at the Wigram Aerodrome, and witnessed an- exhibition- of flying by a member, of the ,staff. , The matches commenced - at 2 0 clock in • the afternoon and were timed to finish at 6 o’clock, but in both games on Saturday the weather interfered and stumps had to. be drawn at 4,30. In ■ accordance with -the rules of these matches ho result could be decided on the first innings unless there were three or more hours adjournment for rain .on the first’day of the match. Thia rule'applies to the Ilix and Biltcliff, Cups, which are for, annual competition only between Otago and Canterbury.- Sunday 'was' a free, day -for everyone,: Ab . no result • could be got from .the first-innings it was decided that half an hour should be put on to the starting and finishing times, which JPjjoe the time of play oh Monday from 9.30 to 7,. with an hour and a-half luncheon adjournment at 12.30.’ _ Afternoon tea was supplied-by the Old Boys. Cricket Club on both days at their pavilion at Hagley’ Park. When - the games were-finished on Monday the Zealand shield., and Biltcliff Cup (retained by ’Canterbury) and Rix Cup (Juniors, retained by Otago), were presented by Mr C, Rix, the donor of the junior cup. A few points ih regard to the Otago teams which were very noticeable; the fielding was poor and catches were missed, and there was little, or no dash in the fieldsmen themselves. Again, the bowling lacked sting, and all trundlers tried far too muoh ; ‘ leg i theory.” This was a bad tailing with the Juniors, and it. should be > a lesson, to" these, boys in their future cricket. There is no excuse' for bad fielding, and every coach should see to this, because it does not matter how many runs a man makes;- if;’he- fields badly he is not worth his salt to any team. . " the Seniors Dalziel, the Otago cap-, ts- 1 !!. stood put among his 1 fellows; and in* the first innings played beautiful cricket. There can be no doubt whatever that for- a Boy of his age he certainly is a very promising ’batsman. He has the right temperament for serious cricket and, something that • not'many boys do, uses hiU head well-and so makes an ideaT captain. Mills is another very pretty little batsman,l,and • his shots throiigh'.’.the slips' are an object lesson. Yinnecombe is also a good batsman and a very steady bowler. He bowled 26 overs on Monday, and deserves great credit for the manner m which, he kept',the runs down, Robertson shows promise, but when jump-* ing out to, the Canterbury' slow bowler, did not get over the ball. Bolting and Howarth served the side well, the former showing good form as wicketkeeper. Ryan, bowled well for a time, but should l® arn ; uot to , bowl ,ao many leg balls. Armstrong' bowled really well, but' had bad luck all the time. The Juniors were very unlucky in their first innings, Canterbury having them on the run and getting them out very cheaply. Grant was the only one who looked like making runs,_ and' bn his second inning’s performance, it looked as if he would have . them—if only some one had been able to stay with him. He scored 16 not out in the first inning's, and 49 not out -in the second' innings. : He is not a stylist, but is very solid. He bowled W6ll in both innings, and Edwards and the only seemed to know anything about fielding, Skinner batted very nicely and his performance with the bat m the second innings was very valuable, He batted for over a . hour, and Grant and he absolutely rattled the Canterbury , skipper, who did not have a bowler to shift them. The batting of every member of the Juniors in the second innings wag' excellent; - and deserves great praise. - Lambert howls a medium ball and turns both ways, but he also should concentrate on off theory-and-length. Roberts. Kind.ley,:.Campbell, and Hardwick all bowled f £ 1 i y i wed » but Buchanan failed.., He should not. be down-hearted, as he shows considerable properly handled, _ It is-a pity .these matcHes. were played to, a.draw, although it was the fault of the weather; but it would-be a wise move on the part; of ;the associations con- £ ar ?-® d to.seefhat the time of play should be lengthened. : Trophies; for performances in these matches have been given by Messrs G. Nelson, W. Strang, R. L. Fairmaid, and D., Cameron, and the following boys'have won them;—Seniors, Dalziel, batting; Vinnecombe,- bowling. Juniors, Grant, batting; bowling, • v On nearly every occasion since these matches were inaugurated Canterbury has either won or held; the upper hand. It is fitch time- the cricketers of Dunedin, who .nave had their day, and sit and watch the bigger games of a' Saturday. ma 1 . an attempt to - help- our- boy cricketers. One .night a week would be suthcient, and it is certain that Otago cricket would leap ahead. Criticism regarding our coining Senior Otago players may be prevalent, but there is a remedy, and that is for the old cricketers to , K e t jupong boys and teach them vnat they can about our great summer pastime. NOTES. While he was acting as coach to the Otago Cricket Association L, C. Eastman, of Essex, had some trouble with a shoulder. Later, when he was, coaching in South Africa, the ; trouble became worse and he was unable to play for Essex this year. X-ray photographs of the shoulder were taken, and an intensive course of massage was carried ' out, but, as no material improvement was being noted, it was feared that an operation would be needed. Recently, however, the shoulder sudaenly started to. improve, and a specialist has now passed Eastman as fit. Frank Woolley, England’s great lefthand cnckcterer, who severely injured a hand at the end of the last cricket season in England, expects to be quite recovered by the beginning of next season. A .remarkable feature of the wicketkeeping of W. A. Oldfield,- the well-known Australian international cricketer, is that ns rarely appeals without getting an affirmative reply from the umpire. The reason- is that when he does appeal he thinks the batsman is out. We know one or two keepers with voices stentorian who do noi _ act up to this little mt of wicket-keeping.philosophy (says a -Sytorpaptcj* , 'Jr

-Canterbury will produce a powerful mahJbL 6lde when the Blunket Shield to wnrr V C T m + l Dae ’ and there is no need church' writlr). boivUng, a ho™^ ■the province is likely to be a trifle weak* There -! S no doubt that Read hhtogliam; are the best bowlers of cont U /\r at ? r^ ent ’ excluding! wiched tk ey are sandstrong batting side and like Cromi° f th , c ? or , e Promising trundlers a P d Lester, with Page as a will thei ! e IS , nO doubt tha t Canterbury L i,P e , a ol 'Sb proposition. It is to tion mfv,' t lat ? ead Set consideration on his merits, not on his age. tnWi, fact ' of tbe . New. Zealand cricket S i- programni ® m England next season rtth to B a r test match, - besides matches with the M.C.C. and an English eleven, should stimulate all to make the team absolutely representative of the Do!"S 8 strength (says an Australian w+b 'i ?°9 d leg-break bowler, a slow left-hander wRh h good spin, a la Rhodes, are essential, ~.3 H Ponsford and T. J. Andrews u ere each nut leg-before twice in the Ryder match. Seven of the 25 wickets that fell were out leg-before. Victorian umpires are: more disposed to give legbetore.m favour of the bowler than those of any 'other centre, to judge by the number of batsmen out in this way in the big games there. A good schoolboy performance has been brought under my notice (says “Onlooker, in the Southland Times). While playing in the final of the primary schools’ senior champinoship during the week, a JSlarist boy, Frank Fraaer, secured all 10 wickets of the St. George team for nine runs, including two hat tricks. This feat is probably without parallel anywhere in any class of cricket. Fraser is a left-hand bowler and displays much promise. Marist, by the way, won the schools’ championship. for. 1930. E. Eenclren the English cricketer, now making his first trip to South Africa, frequently makes fun of his short stature, PI., (-ays it has advantages. Playing for Middlesex against- Notts on Lord’s Ground, Larwood was making the ball fly on a crumbling pitch. Hendren played forward .and the. ball touched his cap, cleared the wicketkeeper, and hit the pavilion rails on the halt volley; Since then Hendren has never doubted that Larwood is fast. The distinct find of the Town v. Country match (says a Wellington writer) was unquestionably the discovery that in Alec Newman the n-year-oM Nelson rightbander. New Zealand possesses a genuine .spin bowler ,of class. Nelson people for some seasons have know that this youngwflT k aS j a r *s* i? d, l n ? P la y«V and they • he dehghted that ne so convincingly proved his worth at Wellington headquarters. It was a brilliant sustained display of bowling he gave in the Town team's first innings. In all, the Nelson rightbaader s ?nt down 164 deliveries, bowled ao ldens ’m n ,4 ca Pfbred seven wickets aT« 4 w run 3, ? all and of fin® physique, Alec Newman has an easy advance to the lowa B6 hit? d t« ? at H ral fielivery- which alS™, ■ to howl well , within himself. ft e „ ,a ilf e * bowhng machine, and could go on like the brook without losing perfect command of the ball. Best of all; he is mat rara avis among modern trundlers K + l nUln l. finß ? r . ? pi ? bowler, who can u from both sides, and who uses subtle changes of pace to. tempt batsmen to tneir undoing. 1 Oldfield came out in the most glorious colours possible against the West wickets t fn D tha w Bothering in of six wickets in . the first innings was as fine ent 85 i baa . ever been seen in i Th |-i srow^ s Bln ßled him out for +?rto^ 1 sl audlta when the team was rcMoreover, his captain manoeuvred fiWi Ia ? dln K position as-the team f dedbac k to the pavilion. As far as is known more than six wickets in an by a keeper in first-class cricket i ak ! n onl y, once—when E. J: Smith caught four and stumped three for a ßS!nst Derbyshire four a K°- N pt only did Oldfield make l and stump batsmen as a champl°.f’ b . ut bm part in; the run-outa was perfection in finish and speed- .' i.-A. n ? w P ar tp erfi hip record" was established. by W. Bill and A. F. Kippax when New for the third wicket of S Bouth Wales against Queensland ih 0D Friday, this being the greatest u C ? red f ?, r an y partnership in matches between. these two States. The best f was 272 by Kippax and D. G. Ur adman for the same wicket at Sydney last season, when Bradman made his worlds record score of 452 not out. U R tr -t a V ec ? r , d for the third wicket fL 3 w a by a W C B S d ? ley and J - M. Taylor ®outh Wales against South Austll}Vhat happens when. the full facts of the illegal length mf the pitch at Hurstw!l ls ni OD9I -W by the New South Wales C.A. will interest cricketers (states an Australian writer). When Dr Barbour found'his star bowlers - could not find a length after.ho had closed,he was ,?° 7 er ? tbe y- . The pitch was then found to be abput two yards too long. ■ ickets are laid out by the' local" ground authorities, while umpires, who may in a way be responsible for the length, do not interfere. The point, however,: is whether play on the first day should count. Before determining this, all the circumstances will have to be known officially. \Ve may of the association casting the onus in- future on the captains or the umpires to see that the pitch and thestmnps are quite _ according to Cocker. Australian cricketer a tour to NewZealanii has a real.lure (states “Not Out. ’ m the Referee). The New Zealanders have, a way of their-own of.making their guests' in sport feel at .'home among, genial sportsmen and- surroundings. The fifth Test against the West Indies team is,to be played in Sydney from February 27 to March 4, and if, as one understands, the visit to New Zealand after ..tnat is.notvtoo late r some, of the stars may be; available. It would be a fine thing for New Zealand cricket’ if Don .Bradman were' able to take part in such f j lp ’- which he might' possibly be able i.t e dates mentioned are acceptle >■? New Zealand. ■ One supposes, that the New Zealan’derfe would-like to get ; another glimpse ’. of their own Clarrie Gnmmett. • He. thinks the newspapers give greater prominence to feats with the bat than with'the ball: But" if he. goes over this time, Clarrie will probably discover that in his own 'Dominion .they do know something about the Grimmctt feats of the ball. . It is announced by the English Board of Control that the receipts from the five test matches,, between. England and Australia last season . amounted to £77,268, made up as follows:—Nottingham £12,352, Lords £23,518. Leeds £B6OO, Manchester £13,821, and the Oval £18,977. : The board has decided to’pay a bonus of £lO a match to each of the English professional players who took part in them. It was announced recently that Australia’s share of the receipte from the tests was £39,825, the amount having been increased to slightly more than the stipulated half of the total receipts by the rate of exchange, . Lovers of a fine cricketer who uses the bat as though he got real joy out “VJtwerc delighted to hear that S. J. M Cabe had at last t-eached his first century in first- class cricket (states the Referee). His 101 against Queensland in two hours 35 minutes and embracing 24 fours must have been a treat to tlje spectators. In the West Indies match his cricket was very attractive, too. The square shot off Constantine that won the match was a “hummer.” Now that he has broken into three-figures M’Cabe will probably make it a habit to be exploited nojv and then. He is one of the type of pre-war times, the most distinctive of which, was R. A. Duff: one of. the greatest players this country has, ever seen. In the West Indies match M'Cnbc reminded one of the Duff we saw on the return tfrom England of the 1905 team, when he and i l, r ™P er . in association, j, ave 10 most thrilling exhibitions of. batting the writer has ever seen. . is suggested by an Australian writer that Allsopp’s run of small scores is due to the fact that he is-not watching the ball with sufficient concentration..