CRICKET

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22112, 16 November 1933, Page 4

CRICKET

By Slip. STANDARD IMPROVING Although the amount of play in the Senior Competition has been limited there has been sufficient to indicate some improvement in the standard of Dunedin cricket. - The choice of players which the selectors maue for representative practice disclosed the existence of a great deal of first-class talent, but that list did not contain all the players who can be described as first rate club cricketers. Ditchfleid, for instance, has given another convincing display of his batting powers. Not for a very long-time have batsmen so early in the season shown ■ the consistent form that has been displayed by such players as Moloney, Cavanagli, Badcock, Constable, and H. Cameron, and other batsmen have already given indications that they are in their best form. In • addition there are some who will eertainiy score well, but so far have not had the opportunity. It seems that the steady progress in batting which Otago players have shown during the past two seasons is to be continued. The most encouraging feature is that, while in most parts of the cricket world the complaint is made that_ batsmen are becoming stodgy, the policy of nearly all the young batsmen in Otago is to make the bat hit the ball, and any one of a dozen, batsmen about the colt stage is capable of revealing a range of shots that would do credit to any player. This is probably due in part to the influence of the Shepherd-Galland school, which in recent seasons has had material capable of absorbing its lessons, and an additional factor may have been that the two recett coaches (Eastman and Badcock) and Crawford at an earlier stage were all men who believed in making attack their defence. Scarcely a match passes without some display of really delightful ci icket, and the pity is that these exhibitions ate not seen by a greater number of people. If no decided improvement in bowling has . been revealed it is certain that the standard has not fallen. \ The tendency has been towards the development of a greater number of slow bowlers, and these men have indirectly contributed towards the improvement in the displays of Otago teams. Batsmen, < through facing them frequently, have learned, how to play the breaking ball, a fact which was demonstrated .by the 'greater confidence with which Merritt was faced Ifist season. L. Smith and Groves at present seem the most promising of the slow bowlers, and their development is being -watched with the greatest interest. The best of the young bowlers is certainly Jolly, and there is no doubt that in his case there has been an improvement this season.

PLAYERS IN THE LIMELIGHT Spectators at Logan Park who hoped to see Moloney score the third century of the season on Saturday, were robbed by a single run of that privilege. Continuing his policy of not attempting the risky shot, Moloney had steadily approached the hundred mark, but still required a few runs when the ninth wicket fell, and the crowd was unusually silent while Bottihg manfully held his end up in the hope of giving his partner the opportunity of making a three-figure score. At 99, however, Moloney tried to score oil ( a straight one from Silver and, to the‘ astonishment of everyone, was bowled by a ball that was one of the easiest which the bowler had sent up to hirm Though Dunedin, it was thought, would be weak in batting this season, it has knocked up three fine scores of well over 200. The success of the side against .University w:as mainly due to the batting of Badcock and Cavanagh, who, for the second time this season, made over 100 in' an opening partnership. The innings of Badcock, who scored 65 in less than an hour, was in his bright? est strain/ but although he brought off some fine shots, all were not executed with ■ the degree of perfection of which he is capable. He attacked fresh bowling in daring fashion, and it is therefore not surprising that some balls should have bpen lifted. Sinclair eventually picked this weakness, which might have been exploited earlier, and had the professional caught in the longfield. Cavanagh’s was a more finished and a sounder display. 7 - • Another fine partnership was that between Ditchfield and Eckhold. Ditchfield showed his usual shrewdness in picking the dangerous ball, but generally he was much brighter than usual and played an attractive knock. Eckhold followed the example of the earlier batsmen and chased the runs. As a result, he made the good score that his team mates hate so long expected from him. This success should result in a further strengthening of the Dunedin'battingi Every 1 little While Brookes, the Christian Brothers .skipper* comes to light with a performance .that proves the value of a slow bowler to a side. He was .not always accurate on Saturday when he took 7 for‘so ; against Old Boys, and on one occasion sent up a ball to Groves that floated a foot above the batsmen’s head. Smiles turned to laughter when Groves revealed a freak shot and actually scored off the ball. Nevertheless Brookes

was frequently dangerous, and through / his fine performance in taking three wickets with four balls, at one stage had an average of six for. 11. His figures suffered when Groves, revealing his best form, launched a successful, attack on the Christian Brothers bowlers. A feature of Saturday's play was, the success of two of the fast bowlers in spite of the wet conditions. None of the Dunedin batsmen played Jolly with absolute confidence, and he secured the good figures of ,six for 77. , In the case of ■ Lemin, however, his wickets were taken before the heavy rain interfered with the play, and with the wet ball he was not able to get past the batsmen’s defence. - Several outstanding catches have brightened the play during the season. On Saturday Lemin distinguished himeslf by his perfect judgment of a running catch, and Silver, at square log, brilliantly accepted a hard catch from Nimmo, though the ball only skimmed over the turf. Chettleburgh also took a fine catch in the slips. ■ l - The existence of a fighting spirit in the Kaikorai side was proved after Grange had disposed of Holden, Cherry, Talbot, M-Knight, and Rennick for only 15 runs. The complete rout of the side was prevented by Constable and M'Gregor. Both hit hard, and, though the latter is not regarded as a reliable batsman, he was undefeated with half a century to his credit. Cox replied to 1 the just criticism that he had not shown form which warranted his inclusion among the players for representative practice by knocking- up a fine score of 52 for Carisbrook. The'lefthander revealed a fine range of shots, . and his ability to score quickly was shown by the fact that 38 of his runs came from boundary shots. NOTES Dr E. P. Barbour makes the following forecast of the Australian team to tour England:—Woodfull (captain), Kipnax (vice-captain), Bradman, M'Cabc, Oldfield, Wall, Ponsford, O’Reilly, Darling. Fingleton, Grimmett, Ironmonger, Nagel. Fleetwood-Smith, and Walker. Mr R. D. Spraggon, who was one of the Otago representatives in the late nineties, passed' through Dunedin this week on his return north after a visit to Invercargill. He did not play much cricket after he left Dunedin, partly be- ■ cause his duties as a commercial traveller prevented him from obtaining regular practice. 'lt is reported that H. Q. Vivian, the young Auckland and New Zealand representative cricketer, is handicapped this season by leg trouble, which may prevent • him from playing very much during the the argument raised by the Nelson Association, which did not want its players taken away for Plunket Shield matches when Hawke Cup games were in dispute, both Frteman and Newman have advised the, Wellington Association that they are prepared to play in the Plunket Shield contests if selected. _ . , Leslie Ames, the Kent and England Wicket-keeper, reached 3000 runs for the season. In seven years for £ent he has scored 15,000 runs—4o centuries—and hm average is 41 runs an innings. . The mimbfr of wickets he has taken is 600. In test matches he k as scored - 10 i 2 4 c U J!, B Kfour centuries), has an average of 40.60. and has dismissed 40 opponents.

“I hope that when conditions settle down we will be able to employ some of our best players as professionals, in this country,” remarked Mr A. T. Donnelly, chairman of the New Zealhnd Cricket Council’s Management Committee, at the council’s annual meeting, after an allusion to New Zealand players who had become professionals in England. The only difficulty. he added, was that special talent was necessary for cocahing other players, and not every player who represented his country had the talent to become a successful coach.

In commenting on the West Indies cricket team’s tour of England this year, an English critic who saw most of its matches says: “The howling was not good. The only really exciting bowler the West Indians had was E. A. Martindale. But this weakness in the out-cricket wa s more than atoned for from the spectator’s point of view by the brilliance of the fielding. At first it was erratic. As the season progressed it became more : certain without losing its sparkle. Nothing about the side as a whole was finer than,the way in which seven or eight men could dive at the ball while running at full speed, and, even on the edge of the boundary. pick it up one-handed.” With the exception of a few, cricketers have no justification for feeling proud of their achievements in the first series of matches just completed (states a Wellington writer). General form has strikingly revealed'that class players are at, a premium, and that half the number in senior cricket are flattered by their grading. It is no good patting ourselves on the backs and saying what fine players wo are, for as far as the standard of play and public interest are concerned, a crisis has arrived in Wellington. The way we are plodding along at present and hoping like Micawber that something will turn up is all very well for those optimistic enough to believe that something will , turn up, but looking at the position in a sober light it is obvious that steps must be taken to prevent the game getting into a permanent rut. Until W. H. Ponsford and K. E. Rigg put on 240 runs for the first_ wicket in Victoria’s second innings, against South Australia, in Sheffield Shield cricket the other day, the record for the first wicket for Victoria against South Australia was 236, made by Ponsford and W. M. Woodfull in 1927. Woodfull and Ponsford still hold the record for the first wicket for their State against New South Wales, as they put on 375 in such a match in 1920. The record for the first wicket for Victoria in any first-class match is 456, made by Ponsford and E. R. Mayne against Queensland in 1923. South Australia s record for the first wicket against Victoria is 184. made by J. Darling and J. J. Lyons in 1897. L. O’Connor, one of the best cricketers Queensland ever bad. and Queensland captain in a number of Sheffield and international matches, recently introduced an innovation in an attempt to brighten cricket. In a match at Guanaba, whither be recently took a team, O’Connor arranged that two rune should be allotted to the fielding side for every maiden over bowled, the rims to be debited to the batsman allowing the maiden over. The innovation increased the interest of the spectators, who kept count of the balls in each over, and as it progressed without a -score, the remark would be heard: “He’ll have to hit this one. One result was that there were only three maiden overs during the match.