CRICKET

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21774, 13 October 1932, Page 4

CRICKET

'Slip.

OPENING OF THE SEASON

The cricket seasoA \vTiich was recently ©pened has begun with a' display of enthusiasm on the. part of the players which promises an . unusually interesting , series of matches. The practices, whicii began under the' best of conditions, attracted unusually large attendances.: in almost every case, and one gathers that there has substantial increase in the number • of; players. .Nothing has done njovs to stimulate interest than the promise; of-an early start in senior competition. ’ Dunedin patches'- usually begin at least three weeks after Christchurch games havp-Commenced, but if the weather is. favourable ott •Saturday next Dunedin will be able“to b.egiU/'batch play only one week after the opening of the Christchurch competition. THE SENIOR TEAMS No club is likely t 0 have greater difficulty iii choosing its senior . team than Cdrisbi'ook, which will .be by .fhe :loss of Bfunt. The other members ofTast season’s (earn, -hoyyever, tyilf all be available. D.;. J.and H. Cameron, Allan, Sfiilth, Dunning, Moloney, Procter," Heycus, and Napier will again be playing, nun others ;,who -will be in' the running tor places 'in ■ ■the side arc Cox, Thomson, M'Leod; and K. Gburley. Ninmm, whose fast bowling showed such an improvement before be was transferred to the north, has returned to Dunedin, and must be a strong candidate for inclusion. Lnnisden and Kerr are two juniors who may be considered, while the performances of two left-arm bowlers —11.I 1 . Scott and Russell —are being carefully watched. Scott, who was, a, member of the l.aievi Club InSt season, lid’s " been coached ' by Badcock for some time, and is considered to be a bowler of great promise. Aitken, ■who has played a number of games m ine senior team, is now in Queenstown. Ihc club’s difficulty.- is lively to be that, in Smith, .Dunning, Nimnio, and Procter, it will have too -many bowlers of similar Cavanagli, R. Cherry,; Uml DitchficUl should again form the. -backbone of the Dunedin side. The club expects ii great deal of Ditchfield, who batted, so consistently at the end of last season, and Cavanagh may be expected to retain the form which he regained in the later matches.; ClaritlgeV bowling showed a considerable improvement last year, and if he can maintain his form he will be worth a great deal to the side. Strang., R. Torrance,.jun., and Langley-will again be available, but. Eckhold and Symonds, two' ybrnig''player's who '.found, places in the side; last season, wilL';pot : be playitogSo -fUP - ini wicket-keeping,Ms '-concern ed,. Regami^vlikely to, fill the, position during the early -part of the season, tmt lorratice may later-take'his ,place. New members who will be in the running for-places are, G M’Gavin, formerly of Albion, B. Noble,; ani'ex-South Gtago and Carisbrook player, and Rackley, a medium-fast bowler and good field, who was playing last season; lor the Albion team in Gam am. Hopeand Douglas, a medium fast bowler, arc club member who will receive consideration. R.‘Torrance, sen., denies the report that he intends to resume playing. 5; Grange is fortunate in. being able to reassemble last senior team which, woii the championship. Galland, Knight,, and’ Chadwick, the older members of theside, will again be playing and will be able to give the team solidarity, while. Bovd, Elmes, Lemin, Tomkinson, Breen, M‘Kay, 0. Dey, and. Chettleburgh, several of whom showed.improvement last season, may all be expected to perform well. Riach, who Has played, an occasional, game in the senior team, may play for a season in Teague cricket, but. the club .will be able to fall, back on the services of Weir, a left-arm - bowler, and Allan, irao was full-back in the Otago Rugby team. The Kaikorai team will be strengthened by the inclusion of Badcock and- Holden, whd played- last season for High School Old' Boys. The . inclusion of Badcock; should make a very great difference to;, the *,side, a.nd it will be surprising uf it ■ does not win matches. Besides strengthening ithe batting and bowling, he will be; able to improve the placing., of the held, which was one of the team’s greatest faults last season. - -Holden, who has not’ yet "done himself justice, may be expected to riiake plenty 6f finis under the coach sguidunce, and he may also be called upon to bowl. Members of the- cluLwvho will, again be available are Hopd, Hollander,. the ’ wicket-keeper, 'M'Knight, Renmck, Sm.ales, .Shanks, Vial, Balk, Constable,, T. M'Carten, and M'Gregor, and another new.meniber who will be v considered is. Lenrioh, formerly a member of the Knox Church team. There should. be no lack of members worthy of coaching by BadThe -Christian Brothers’ Club has made no notable gains, but <it will regain the services of V. Cusack, the fast; bowler, who was absent last season through illness. Brookes, Lynch, Toomey, Blair, and MTlroy, all proved men, will form a solid group of players, and others who will be available will be Cahill, Rodgerson, Dawkins, a bowler, and Dawson. Oliver and Ryan, are two young batsmen who will be considered, and D. Sullivan ’(bowler) will be in the running. _ V. M'Carten has joined the University Club. The High School Old Boys’ Club may have some difficulty in finding a wicketkeeper. Botting, who filled the posit ion so capably ■ at' the end of last season, is not available, but the side will be greatly if he can be persuaded to turn out. Edwards,, who assisted the club last season by taking the position without previous experience,, may be called upon again. Gale, Alloo. Dickinson, Groves, Leader, Cherry, and J. A. Smith are again available, but the club, besides losing Holden, will also he without Ruff, who has changed over to University, C. Saxton, from the High School, is a useful new member, and A. Campbell, of Albion, has also joined the club. Logan may not play until alter Christmas, buf C. Smith and Latimer wi.l he in'the running for;-places, while Watt, of the junior side, would make a usetul all-round member. The University Club should be able.to field a strong team. Among last season s players who will be available are Priest, M'Haffie. Sinclair. Hawkesworth. Cameron, Jolly, Ibbotson, Burt, Uttley I,the ex-Southlander). Gilkison, Hanan, and Henderson. M'Haffie may not be available after Christmas. The new members include Ruff, M'Carten, and Swmton. The last named player was a member ot the Carisbrook senior. team in 1923, and has played since in Oainaru anti Timaru. He is a good batsman and a first-class fieldsman. , . ~ , „ The Albion Club will be able to call upon all of last year’s seniors except Allan who, owing to an injury, may have to play in a lower grade, but by the return of W. Vorrath a gam of great importance to the club has been made. Vorrath, besides being a fine batsman when in form, is invaluable as a slip fieldsman. Shepherd, who was as outstanding in the Albion side last season as Badcock was for Christian Brothers, will again be available, and there is every Teason to expect that he will be able to repeat his fine performances this season. Other members who will be available are Barron. Duncan, Vinmcombe, L. Smith. Dalziel, Heenan, and L. Henderson. Since it contains so many young players of promise the side may be expected to allow a steady improvement. NOTES The Otago Umpires’ Association intends this season to pay the ont-of-pocket expenses of some of its members, but with euch limited resources it may find some difficulty in meeting, this extra call. It was during a discussion on the financial difficulties of the association that it was mentioned at the annual meeting that tor several years the association had hail no assistance from the Otago Cricket Association, and it is felt that the association will not fail, if the need arises, to support a body -which is so essential to the successful' conduct of its matches, y It has recently been reported, that RO. TalVot, the Canterbury and New Zealand representative, is to be transferred to Dunedin, but from a reliable quarter it is ascertained that it is by no means certain that He will , play in this centre. His name has been mentioned in connection with a-position fn Dunedin, but so far no appointment has been mad”. < With, a view to improving the fielding of its members the Carisbrook Club lias added a slip-fielding machine to its equipment. The machine was made in Dunedin. x Mr R. M'Lean, the new president ot the Orange Cricket Club, originally came

from Caversham and played in the old Caversham team. He later took up residence in Owaka and formed the Owaka Cricket Club. He was also instrumental in forming the. South Otago Cricket Association. He was a member of the South Otago team which played the Carisbrook team many years ■ ago, .and, upon returning to Dunedin, took up residence in the north end. He was elected a vice-presi-dent of the Grange Club in 1921. He takes a keen interest iii the game and is one 6f its most generous supporters. It is to be hoped (says " Not Out in the Sydney Referee) that the Board of Control will be able to organise, or consent to, an Australian team playing in New Zealand at no distant date with Bradman, M'Cabe, and other young ones whom they have not seen included in the party. Such a tour should be possible before the Australians are next called on to visit England. . , The Australian Board of Cricket Control has decided that each of its players in the test matches against the -M C.C. team shall be insured for £SOO against death, £G a week against temporary or permanent incapacity, and for £ I 10s a week against partial incapacity. Ihe umpires are to be insured against legal liability. • ’ .. Alan Fairfax, former Australian-Eleven player, who has been playing for the Accrington Club in the Lancashire Cricket League, thinks that W. Voce, the Notts left-hand bowler in the M-C.C. team. , will be a menace to the-Australians, with his leg-theory. “ They ; do not like-it from a fast bowler,”, he says. “ The left-hander may be a real terror in Melbourne. M. S. Nichols, the Essex jightdinnd fast bowler and left-hand was a member of Harold Gilligaii ,s M-C-V team in New Zealand, was th&seeond man to score over a thousand rinVs-, and tah ■ ’ 100, wickets in’first-class cricket in-Eitg-land this year, the first hayrtig-been V. W. C. Jupp. The fourth man., to grtrthc double was James Langridge, of-Sussex, who. a few years ago, spent a season in Auckland. ... ,■■■•-.-■• The New South Wales Cricket Association recently dealt with a ;a-eaprt the Executive Committee emb#ii«» rulings by the Marylebone, Cf’jjoket Club of importance to players- of all grades. In reply to a pointauiised by the association at the instance of the Umpires’ Association, the report stated that Marylebono has ruled that when" the'wicket has beep hit by the ball and the bails jump oft the stumps but settle back again into their original position, the bails have been “ disturbed ” in accordance with note 2 on law 21, and the striker is out. The other ruling),; of Marylebone, in reply to the association’s qiXery, wa§, that the use of resin by bowlers tary (Mr H. Heydon) pointed ovity-that the ruling relating to the use of resin had been added to the laws of cricket tor the current year'dealing with bowlers. The race between W. E.'Merntt and o. F Barnes for‘ the honour,*of being the first bowler to take 100 wickets in the Lancashire Cricket League’s .championship competition this year’ was narrowly won by Merritt. When August 20 came Barnes wanted four wickets, and the New Zealander needed seven. The tennis for whicn - they play, Rawtenstall and Rishton, metthat day. Rawtenstall batted , first, .and declared at. 189 for eight wickets; Memtf took four wickets. Barnes captured, Rishton’s first wicket, but then another bowler, did a lot of damage, and when the Rishton innings ended Barnes was still one. short of tha~ 100-wickets; he. had taken three for 14> ; OiiThe following Saturday the’ team that Rishton ni£tr batted, first, and Merritt took four for 7p. Rawtenstall batted first in, its rhktch, and so -Barnes did not get a chance to make- up nia 100 wickets until late in..the afternoon. Then he, took six for 30, and headed both the aggregate and the averages; ~ A. Jackson, the New South Wales a-nd Australian representative, who was prevented by illness fx-om playing last season, b£B secured an- appointment as a coach from the Queensland Cricket Association. He will, therefore, remain in Brisbane, where he has been spending a Bowes has shown gradual improvement in his bowling each'season, -but the season just closed has been by far his, best, his record being 190 wickets at 15 runs 'each (says a writer in the Sporting Globe). In 1928 (the year he hegah with tIie.H.C.C.) his record was IT'wickets at U runs eac-b; in 1929 he took 65 at 19 each; m 1930 101 at 19, and in 1931 136 at 15. Bowling fast, but . not really at . express speed, Bowes delivers . the, . ball .with a high action, the knack or making it rise in a'very nasty way from the-wicket. He’:,was. naturally,-able to bowl the in-swinger, b u t found that he could not bowl the out-sWingev without the ball passihg soTac outside.'thd stumps that the batsmen were able to allow it to pass harmlessly by. Determined to master it, however, he .consulted an old professional, and. he and H. Verity, the slow lefthander, are said to have spent an entire winter practising in a; shed at Leeds, with the result that he mastered it. .