CRICKET.

Otago Witness, Issue 2497, 22 January 1902, Page 56

CRICKET.

NOTES BY LONG SLIP. The following table shows the po-itiou-*f the bix senior team, in Dunedin at the conclusion of the first round . —

Several pictures of «-i irvi.il mtcrrvt to local cricket appear on the lllu-tratecl pages ■of this week's Witnts-. Ihey includr. the popular crack bat, -Jim Baker, of th^ Grange, who compiled 105 against HavAi'Bay: Wilk».e, of the Dunedin, and the L>,l liant Otago rep.; Frank Williams, the ()t,','i representative wiekctkeeper: and Albert Trott, the Anglo-Australian On the North ground on Saturday tee question was asked, Why is it that rhe Albion fire winning so many matc'ie* tlr.e year? To which an old member replied, "Do you not know we have «t Wins-or in tl>q team this yeari" JTactj

To show how keen the excitement w; towards the finish of the Albion-Granj match, the Dunedin and Albion junic team-! stopped their match to watch tl other game. Cuimniugs played a most valuable ii mng<s for hi« side. Going in at a critic; time, he cairu-d his bat right through tfc innings for Z9. Hi B * defence v. as super] while his dmes were a treat to watch. H ga\e one difficult chance in the long fiek 'but with this exception his innings ws faultier. He played the veteran Downc with the utmost confidence. Next season should not be surprised to see him wearm the coveted light blue cap With three wicket* down for 69. th task oeemed hopeless, but after Bakei Downes, and Johnston were dismissed, th Albion played with renewed vigour, auc chiefly through thp instrumentality of Wir por. the last wiclLets added very few run to the score. Dawes, un-ally a vpry cool player, mus have had hi< nerves tested to the fu"l wliei he walked to the crease and 1 run-) wen. still wanted. The (Irang supporters still pinned their fait! to him. but Dawes made one o his Tamous wind cuts, and Wmsor mad< no mistake, shattering his stumps the firs ball with a beauty. The enthusiasm of thi Albion aupportejrs was unbounded, and man; were the congratulations showered on tin various members of the team. Winsor, n particular, was called out of the pavilioi by the spectator, who gave him three ring ing cheers. The fielding of the Albion team was i great factor in helping to win the match not a catch being dropped The catch bj Spenee which dis Baker was a verj hot one, and thU player al=o got under s slow one from Andei*-on m the nick ol time. Spence again proved his worth as lasi man, his stay at the wickets being mosi serviceable to his side. Being content with keeping up his wicket, he allowed Cummings to do the scoring, with the result that 26 runs were added for the last wicket. It was a graceful act on the part of Captain Baker and his men to cheer the Albion on their well-earned victory, a compliment which was greatFy appreciated by Captain Williams and the Albion representatives. It is rather strange that on each oeca6iou Williams has captained the Albion the team ha» been victorious. Surely he must be the Mascot te of the club Although Geddes did not give much assistance with the bat, his bowling was of much service. He le a player who never loses heart, and Williams was not slow to take the benefit of his experience. The publi again contributed liberally to the gro >i>d imi>!ovement fund, the sum of £3 odd oein-< collected for the two days' play. This amount i* sufficient to have a'l the long grass cut near the fenr-es, an improvement greatly appreciated hy players and spectators alike. If the council could see thoir way to have some of the trees pruned of the branches which are trailing on the ground ii would be a &reat boon to cricketer*- generally. Some of the laurel tree* are neither useful nor ornamental, and would never he missed if they were removed altogether. The Dunedin-Opoho match was concluded on Saturday, resulting in a win (the first of the season) for the latter by 53 runs on the first innings. The Dunedin should have made a point of starting up to time. As it was, they took the field over 20 minutes late, and thereby hindered their chance of success. R. Wilkie (60) gave the field a lively time, and showed some clean, hard hitting, his driving being very good. G. Reardon (32) showed good form, and made some very nice strokes. It is to be hoped he will be able to play right through the remainder of the season, ai he ie a good all-round man The Opoho's second venture started very badly — three wickets for 8 runs. L. Gooch. 24 not out, played really good cricket, and made some very nice strokes, and with the assistance of W Kilgour (14). P. Nichol (16), and J. Adam (1 not out) took thr -core to 58. when time was called, 25 bchi the Dunedin -core. M. ( dwick deserves a word of praise for lne bowling, keeping a splendid length and pace throughout the match, claiming 14- wickets at 6 runs each. The fielding of both teams left room for improvement, the throwing in being anything but good in many cases. It is to be hoped Opoho will rise to the occanion next Saturday, when they meet the invincible Carisbrook A. I was pleased tc «cc (ieorge Thomson going on Saturday at Carisbrook He ha* had hard luck previously thi- season, but hie score* of 20 and 31 against the A team show him to be what he undoubtedly i» — a good and »ouud baUman W. ilunro. with 9 (not out) and 29. stiuck trar form, and showed that he is one of the coming bat-men. He has some particularly fine strokes to the off. and I doubt not lie will make -ome good -core befoie thf> .>easoii close.-. The shower in the middle of Satmday afternoon did not incommode dicki'termuch, a-: very little ram fell, and what did had the efiVct of clearing the atmospheie It ib hoped that the weather of the la*t two Saturdays will be tho forerunner of many to follow Howden s\as again to the fore with 27 on Saturday, but had the mi-foitune m tlif ■>C( oiul inriuig- to get mn out It i.- not often that a whole team lia- a bowl This was -,o at Carisbrook on Saturday, all the A team having a turn witli the ball, and nearly al' rreeting with succe--Rather a unique performance \va« put up by G G. Austin — he caught five men belutuj the wickets. The bowling was " -nuky." but. even co, it was a fine average, and doubtless constitute* a record in this re^p^ct, in Dunedin cricket. The Albion win »a s a meritorious oup on Saturday The "lub dt-^rvp- to «nf(Pfd. j-> it \% really a deseiMiig ono. ami all its members aie keen I With a iiood ground and -uch a number of promising young players it is unaccountable \ trint the bunedin Club cannot put a better fiii-' eleven m the field. It is not for want of practice. a« no club in town practises more and displays, better form at practice, but when they start in a match th'j lot | »cems to set in early. 1 The maUh A and T. P.urt' • Woik-hop '• | Hillside R.i'l'\ay Work-hop >' a- played on Cari'brrok cm .w. w if urday afternoon, a plea-ant game r i-ultiiif» n> f. win for the KaiKv;\> Shops i>y <M£hl wicket- Burt's going *n ' j fir»t. Mipnhed Ct>, of winch Mmiro on > tributcd 28. Wy.ie 25. and M'Farlatic 17 ' .'The WurUli-jp- ro:lied with 103. of winch L-agcr in.uL- 25. Car-on 17, W. MTai Lino 15. WilkiiT- 15. ii,d Di'innn 12 Foi the Hillside (Jarside -c ur^cl fivo v. irket- fT IZ ritttt &ad WiiLii.; iao lux 17, %nd for liua'^

as Kenny got three v>icket« and Williams, an je Wylie two each. On going in a second tim ar to bat Bun's compiled 50, and Hillsid le wiped off the deficit for the loss of tvv j wicket- Let us hope that the match i« th ii- forerunner of manj r more. Other firm al { would do well to follow such a good e> >c ( amnte, as it ib by suHi matches thai an iv t>> I creasing interest in cricket might be ot te j tamed J' j Dear Long Slip, —The following rathe *' i unpleasant incident occurred during; the pre ;s | gresi; of the Roslyn v. Ravensbouinc mate I( on Saturday last. Ravcciobourup were bat » ting, and one of the batsmen played th ball to short leg, but, through some mi' c understanding in the call from lik partner r> was late in starting the run Tho ball wa ,c, c i quickly returned to the bowler, who ap ' j pealed for a " run out," but the umpir '" I gave his decision in favour of the batsman LS I The bowler retained possession of the ball . while the umpire reset the stumpo Mean I while the batsman at the other end walkec CI a few yarde down the pitch to get his hat I which had blown off The wicketkeeper I } who is aUo captain of the team, called foi r ' the ball and removed the bails The bats _ ' man made an effort to get back to his crea«< ♦ in time, but the umpire"- decision »va; g against him. The Ravensbourne captain ob ' jected to the decision, but the Roslyn cap & I tain insisted that the man was out, c-onse a ' quently he had to retire. —[ln my opinior a the ball-was dead, and the batsman was noi out. The action of tho Roslyn captain was I decidedly unsportsmanlike. —LoNGSLir.] i', Dunedin No 1 have an unbeaten recorr , ■ for the Junior, and Albion, Green Island, r and Roslyn are equal for the President's r Cup, having one defeat each. 1 j The following are the principal average; f of the Carisbrook at the end of the firsi I round — - t i > , l , I ' | | | | I j I I 1 1

| Three old-time crack ericketeis who have died during present season: Geoige Loh- , mann, Johnny Brigga, and Jackson. 1 Sydney Referee is of opinion that it would ( ancwer just as well, and piove far le&s costly, for the New Zealand Cricket Council to get an Australia t instead of an English amateui team to \isit New Zealand next scaeou. I M. A. Noble's seven wickets for 17 runs in the first innings of England in the second | test match, at Melbourne, is —on figures — j about the best performance on record in I one innings by any bowler in a tfet match j Prior to capturing four wickets for 40 I ruiio in the second innings of Victoria on the Melbourne ground last week, William Howell had bowled against Victoria in five consecutive innings without getting a wicj ket, 170 runb being hit from him in the five innings. The .soundest New South Wales batsman of to clay against first-class bowling did not, in "Not Out'e" opinion, play in either test match. Poidevin ranks with Noble when the latter is in his best form, and if he be a member of the first Australian Eleven, he may surpnsp a great many Australians who do not reside in Sydney. The averages of Duff and M'Ahster in first-class (New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and England matches only) cricket, are.— Inn. XO. HS. Runs Avg. R. A. Dufi 20 0 119 711 37 10 P. M'Ahster ->4 2 100" 636 2R 90 In the matches about which opinions differ ! as to whether thoy should count as fii«t- ! class Duff's performances are —v. Queon:la'.icl, 26: Tasmania. 27, 49, and 6: pud New Zealand. 0 M'Alii-tei's —v New Z.m land. 224. Some comment has been made in <ii<keting circles regaiding Trott's statement to a Hawke's Bay Herald interviewer that the grass on the Wellington pitch had been cut after the firtit day's play, thus giving Wellington au ui'farr advantage in their second innings, in the recent representative in.itch Whpn the rumour was first made ei.rreut Trott and Marshall (captain of the h'.iv.kc'a Bay team) complained to Mr A. A-bboh, the father of cricket in Wellington, nml a ker>n enthusiast of th<> game, on the -iibjefr "I think yon are luonu," said Mi J ->hbolt. "but if it is jhovckl that any -uch tli'iig has been clone, the < aretaker i ■ 'liil'i ho il. mi-rid in-tantly. although he h.is been vviili n- for 18 year* " The c.iretak'-r wa- f illod up in front of I'iott and Mar hill A^lrd if le had clone nnvthin'-? to the wir'fPt lie said ye«, he hv& rnllod it in the oidmaiv way. "'You did not rut the , gi.i-s. then'" r.-keci A«lil)nlt. 'Oh, no," he | rcplnd. he* would not il'nik of doing sue'i ! v tliiiicr "Are you sati-fied. gentlemen v<l atkr.l Aihbclr, and both Trott and ilarui r.ll picitr-tetl that tliev vvnrc. pirfecTl\. I In face of the-p facts. Tiott's statement is ' nifu-dej :is rather pcculiai- | riio nre-ent English eapt.iin. A C Macl.iren. ha« so fa>- had great luck in the toss wbil" captaining England in tho test iintiln i Hi t.iptaiued Stoddarfs team in tv,-n nuiri In- iiid won tho toss in both In l-'r. l-i-l in TPQ9 he ra,.tamed the home ti'iin lor.i times, and won tho tr^i three toucs; «ui-i a,iaui, uui. liexc [miiJ, bsuunx.

d Referee) he has twice won it. So thai c captaining England in test mathes, he ha !e had the singular good luck to win the tos 0 'even times, the last four in. succession c J. Darling, as captain of Australia, has wo is the tosi twice in seven matches. c- The secret of the Australians' win in th i- second test match is to be found m the fat )■ that the bowling of the Australians vva a lot superior to that of th»ir opponents •r When the eleien weie chosen, it na )- thought that the batting had been strength h enecl at the expense of the bowling by t)v exclusion of M'Leod and Layer. Noble' c magnificent form with the ball fully com pensated for any apparent shortcomings ii that direction Indeed, one does not wan s to look beyond him for the precise causi i- of the defeat of the Fnglishmen. On© re c maik from Maclaren will be quite suffieien :. to convoy the excellence of Noble's attack , The English captain in the second inning - was caught at short-slip. He said : "It wa J a full toss that at first came straight a , my leg. I shaped to play it accordingly • f Ar the last moment it swerved to th< i- off stump. I altered my stroke, and wa : - caught. Any batsman would have played ai s I did. A man cannot be expected to plaj a jugglery." Commenting on the second test match - "Shortslip," in Sydney Mail, says:— Th« - English captain cannot be said "to have 1 made the best of the bowling at his dispo i sal. Barnes, Blythe, and Bround did nearlj s all the work ; Jones, Jessop, and Gunn being hardly used. Braund's style is not distress- | ing to him. He could "wheel" up his slow stuff all day long, and Blythe's delivery is ; also an easy one, but Barnes, who bovvle« fairly fast, and lakes a long run, was worked , to a standstill. After each over towards ' the end of tho second day, when fielding at • point, ho appeared to be quite knocked out, ret Tie would come up smiling again. He bowled splendidly, every now and then sjetting a shot from his locker that required . a lot of stopping. Hio best ball was one that came fast from the leg. When Hill I was batting, he sent down several that , came from the left-hander's off about 18in, l which put Hill on his very best behaviour. , Maclaren might possibly have saved his i best bowler more than he did with advan- ; t.ige. As before stated, the Australians i showed that they know how to negotiate Braund's leg theory. Blythe's finger wan probably somewhat against him ; nevertheless, he bowled pluckily. In fielding, the Englishmen took the honours. The English captain remarked : "We were fairly and EquareYy beaten. There was no difference with the tost-, and the luck was equally divided. We were simply outbowled. Noble howled splendidly on both wet and dry wickets. In fact, when the wicket was perfect the Australian bowlers could turn the ball much more than ours could- On the first day, when the pitch was bad, it \va.< worse for us than for tho Australians, as when we were in it had j dried somewhat. I think that Peel and i Jack Hearne would probably have had the Australians out twice in the day, but our bowlers did not show to advantage. Barnes was not nearly as effective on the wet wicket as I expected him to be. He could not get a length. The 112 by the Australians was really more than the wicket should have produced. Blythe's arm was stiff after the long and enforced rest prior to the match, and then, again, his injured finger was still tender. Darling was unfortunately missed by Gunn in the second innings, and that robbed us of 20 minutes, during which we might have got a few more wickets while the pitch was bad. On the second day, when the pitch was perfect, Barnes bowled very well, but the batting of Hill was too good, and the closing partnership was quite an extraordinary thing. There is no doubt about it, we were beaten by better batting and bowling. The ball fiom Trumble off which Hayward was stumped *as a remarkably good one.'' The wonderful recovery made by the Australian team in the second innings of the test match has never yet been equalled in any of the serien. The nearest approach wa>during the match at Melbourne in Junuaiy and February, 1898, when the first »ix Australian wicket* fell for 57, and the remaining four earned the total to 323. The match is thus described in Wi&den : "Of the five te-t matches, thin wat, perhaps the most eventful The Englishmen started in wonderful form by getting six wu-kets down for 57 run" ; but after that they were quite outplayed, the Australians gaining a brilliant victory by eight wickets. The turning point of the Australians' first innings was the partnership of Clement Hill and H. Trumble, 165 runs being put- on for the seventh wicket Neves befoie had Hill given quite »-o fine a display as liii 188. He was i batting a little over five hours, and, all things considered, hi« innings may be described as perhaps tho best seen in the colonies during the season. With only, a tolnl of 323 to face on a perfi-rtly soutid wicket, the EnglHinif n -eempd to have very good prospects, but they failed miserably, j tliPir dismissal for 174 marking the lowest point reached by their batting during the whole trip. They did not do very much better when they followed on, and it i.- no I more than the truth to say that they richly j deserved to be beaten. The Australians ] played their winning game wonderfully well, j the vanity and excellence of their bowling calling forth a high compliment from Mr ■Stoddart when the match «a< ovei. " Mr C. Robson »ii< on November 28 ieelected captain of tlie Hampshire County < rickef team It w.n announced at the annual meeting of the club, held at Southampton (s:iv» London Sportrsiiian), that Mr A. (' M.if Irfi-eu would be given the popt of .i-si»tain trca 'ui-t. at a =alary Returning thanks on behall of his team at the annual meeting of the York-hiie County Cricket Club. Lord Hawke referred to the lefusal of Rhodes and Hirst to accept the invitations to accompany Maelaren's team to Au-tiaha. Hi was, personally, veiy glad th(>v lih<! i-foppt i! at home- the more so bee.iu-o the Ai . tralinns were mming to ' England next ytai, and j- the two bowWs he hac' mentioned ump bound 'o i.ik" •'' very pomment plato m tiic re pir tyamß chosen against them. Nothing could | have been finer than the effoils inat'e by both Hnst and Rhodes lie had nt\oi .er-n finer bowling, nor had he ever '■een finer allround cricket than Iliist'i. 'lheir bowling P2rfoiirrinc'..s w. iv. to his mind, worthy ol Si'ffoith .i!id Pcate m the pa 5 t V Cl'ii-ic iimth t>!<Vi.iui '..iv- — In the senior cricket rmtch Midi; mi v. Lancnet^v | Park the former remained at the wickets all ' Saturday afternoon, being dismissed ju c t on ' the call of time for 355. Garrard made 106 j not out and Strange 69. The United de- I icated Svclenharn and Addmgtou by an j liiiimgs and 11 iuu-. Only 34- urtiutc-. t-ufirrd *o dispo-e of the rcmumii'p; five wicket, of the Englishmen iv LLg -(-■.■v'-ti i-'w.L j^m'.li^ aiicr C 3 LVM*

b. >EXI ior Cup Cansbrook A . . Mbion . Cansbrook B Grange • Dunedin „ Dpoho Pla>ed 5 .. 5 .j 5 .. 5 .. S Won" 5 3 :s 1 1 Lo^« 1 2 2 1 4 4

I A Team— Batting. ! Inn. H.S. N.O. Runs Avg Fisher A. H. .. 5 94 1 234 5S 5C Austin G G. .. 5 90 1 188 47 .0 C Mills 4 67 — H3 .15.75 Siedeberg .. .. o 76 — 331 26.2 C Rattray .... 3 19 1 46 23.0 C Broad .... 3 39 — 9"5 22 33 Pearless .... 5 61 — 111 22.2 C Cuft .... 3 27 — 65 21.6 C Smith C R. .. 3 24 — 28 7.33 Austin E. J. .. 4 18 1 21 7.00 Also, Howden 1 innings, for 11, Harraway 1 for 18, Burt 1 lor 72. B Team— Batting. Inn. H.S. X.O. Runs. Avg. Burt 7 79 2 196 39.20 Cuff .... 3 41 — 92 30.66 Harraway .... 6 32 1 110 22.00 Munio W 3 29 1 38 19.00 Howden .... 6 50 — 95 15.33 Butler .. ..8 48 — 110 13.75 Coiumb J 8 34 — 95 1187 Taptey ... 6 27 — 56 9.33 Fisher R .. .. G 21 1 46 920 Thomson .... 8 31 — 73 9.12 Maitland .... 4 12 — 33 8.25 Meldrum ... 8 33 1 4£ 6.57 A Team — Bowling. Wckts. Runs. Avg. Harraway H. .. 2 2 1.00 Fisher A. H. .. 21 104 400 Siedeberg .... 7 53 7.57 Smith 10 88 8.80 Monk .... 11 98 8.91 Pear!ess .... 5 57 11.40 Austin G. G 7 111 15.86 Farkness .... 2 45 22.50 B Team— Bowling. Wckts. Runs. Avg. Fisher R 25 210 8.20 Butler 22 283 12.86 Columt .... 2 37 18.50 Farquharson ..3 60 20.00 Howden .... 2 47 23.50 Maitland ... 5 140 28.00 \f/iMi-iim •» 111 AA M