THE TOUR OF THE TEAM. (By One of Them.)

Otago Witness, Volume 16, Issue 2351, 16 March 1899, Page 36

THE TOUR OF THE TEAM. (By One of Them.)

In our match against New South "Wale? the Match Committee, who had a most invidious •task to perform, decided to leave out L Mills and Sims. It was generally considered it was a mistake to leave out Mills, as he had proved himself the best field in the team and a sure run-getter. One thing was made evident, and that is that there should have been a second wicket-keeper with the team. Both in Victoria and New South Wales we had to play with a crippled man behind the sticks before either innings was half completed. Boxshall was not in his best form during the tour, and this greatly handicapped the New Zealandcrs.

Everyone no doubt will have concluded we were a very poor team, and that we were outclassed. " But the team was not nearly as' bad as preformance3 would indicate. They lmvo only themselves to blame in every instance when big scores have been run . up against them. For instance, in Windsor's 181 m Launceslon, he gave three easy ohaiu-53. Then, in the Victorian match H'Alister certainly "got 220 with only one chance, but we had five wickets down for 129, and we lost the best chance of winning a first-class match we ever had — catch after catch was dropped with suoh disgusting regularity that we thought we would never get them out. Then in the Sydney match Trumper got 259 and Farqubar 110 ; but the former was badly missed at 10 and twice more before he wa^ 50, and at 60 he was run out, but umpired in. Farquhar gave two chances, both to the bowler. All this sort of thing i§ most disheartening to a bowler and demoralising to a field. The umpiring in these matches I would rather not speak of, especially in the Sydney, match. There never was an appeal but our man was given out, while, on the other hand, they always gave their men more than the benefit of the doubt. Under all these misfortunes and disadvantages the Now Zealand boys played up cheerfully and never flagged in their endeavours to get the other bide out during their long innings.

The only man to show any form against New South Wales was Baker, more especially in the second innings, for although he only got 17 runs they were made wilh couiidence and with clean strokes. When he got out by playing a ball on to his wickels our last chance of a decent Fcore had gone, for none of the othera shaped with any confidence. Reese was a gift to M'Kibbin every time. Being a left-hander, M'Kibbin bowls a leg break to him. In the first innings ho was caught at slip off his first ball, but fortunately for Reese it happened to be a. no-ball. He did not benefit by his good' fortune, however, and was out a couple of overs later. In the second innings M'Kibbin caught and bowled him splendidly. Lusk got double figures in both innings, but never seemed comfortable. Cobcroft made a few, but did not punish the bowling enough. Frankish and T T pham put on 70 runs for the last wiekel in our first innings — as much as all the rest of the team put together, — and made them well, too. This only showed how miserably our men batted. It was one of those eollapbes that cannot be accounted for. Certainly the bowling was as good as anything in the world. Iredale and several others who have visited New Zealand were very disappointed with our display, as they had given the New South Wales people such glowing accounts of our cricket.

The out-field of the Sydney ground is much faster than in Melbourne, but the wicket is easier. The New South Wales team are great on their own wicket, as even England knows to her cost. Trumper is a wonderful little bat. He drives beautifully on the of£ and anything on the on-side in a certain 4. His chances of a visit to England are very rosy. By making his large Fcore against 113, Trumper wins :i most beautiful challenge shield which was presented by a large New South Wales firm for the highest aggregate of runs in intercolonial cricket during the season. Iredale, prior to our match, was leading for the shield by over 100 runs, and he, as skipper of the New South Wales team, very generously put Trumper in to bat early to give him a show of winning it, and went in late himself. Farquhar ip a young player, who has had very little opportunity. In fact this was his first interco l onial fixture, and he holds the unique position of having scored a century in lm first match. Ho is an aggressive batsman, with a splendid back cut. Young Gregory is very like his brother Sid, both in appearance and style, and has a variety of strokes which is very pretty to watch. Poidevin is the same as of old. He seems to have grown smaller, if anything, and although ho got 60 odd against us, is not in the same class as Iredale, Noble, and Trumper as a bat6man. One thing we noticed particularly, and that was the pace at which the men scored. Australians are noted for slow scorers like Bannerman and Donnan ; but the public wont have them at any price now, consequently the play is much more brilliant. A (peat deal has been >wd about the wav

we were entertained in Sydney, but the fact is entertaining vieiting teams between the different associations in Australia is not looked for. The game is played on a different footing to what it is in New Zealand. We play it as a friendly national sport. In Australia to many of them it is a living and a profession, and every man plays " for keep?." In Launceston and Melbourne we enjoyed ourselves immensely. Old Major Y^ardill couldn't do enough for us, and he won the hearts of all of us. He was the last man we gave three good hearty cheers for when we left Sydney. Although not entertained by the cricketers themselves in Sydney, we had plenty of friend?, and the time passed all too quickly with sight-seeing and watching Ihe test match. The New South Wales Association gave a dinner in our honour, coupled with the Australian Eleven, the day before leaving, which went oft' very successfully, and a very pretty menu card was printed in the " Geisha " style and headed "A complimentary dinner to the New Zealand cricketers and farewell to the Australian Eleven."' Mrs Gannon gave us a splendid picnic at tho National Park, where wo put in one of the most enjoyable days of the tour — fishing, boating, and cricket with a broomstick and a tennis ball. We wound up with an excellent lunch prepared by an aboriginal cook. There were several guests besides the team, notably the three principal ladies in the " Geisha " ; also an old Christchurch boy, Mr Stewart Garrick, who had a lot to do with making things go with a swing. The tour came to an end at last, and we left on Saturday night by the Talune — with three cheers for the Australian Eleven and Ban. Wardill, who was down to see us off — with many regrets, but leaving a good name behind us and many good friends. There has been the best of fellowship amongst all tho niembers. and Mr Raphael is to be greatly complimented on his management. His tact and happy manner have always kept the men in good spirits, and he has been congratulated on all sides on the behaviour of the team. Boxshall remains in Sydney, having obtained a situation there, and the two Mills, and Lusk leave by the Mokoia direct for Auckland on Wednesday, so the team is now very much split up. Major Wardill has promised to bring the Australian Eleven back through New Zealand, and is also arranging that a Victorian team shall tour New Zealand at an early date. On arrival at Wellington a very pleasant little function was held at the Welleslev Club, the occasion being the presentation *by the team and its supporters on tour of a small souvenir to the manager (Mr Raphael) and also to Mr Cobcroft (the captain).