CRICKET NOTES.

Patea Mail, Volume XLV, 1 November 1922, Page 2

CRICKET NOTES.

By “0.9.” The thanks not only of cricketers but of the public generally are due to Mrs R. A .Brewer for her generous and sportsmanlike action in giving the splendid recital she did on Friday last in aid of the funds of the local Cricket Club. Not only was the recital a genuine treat for all who were fortunate enough to be present at it, but in ad. dition it has helped ithe club beyond all expectations. And who will grudge them their good fortune? The game is the cleanest of sports and one of the best of our many pastimes for character building. As there are some promising youngsters in the club the benefit of such an institution is obvious. Thanks to Mrs Brewer’s - kindly action the club will benefit to the extent of over £4O and should not lack for mater, ial of any kind during the present season. Well done, Mrs Brewer!

•» * * • There is still some doubt amongst'the young players as to Ithe correct interpretation ot the l.b.w. rule,. Briefly it may be explained thus. Supposing when the crease is being marked the marker were to be taken down the pitch and two parallel lines marked from the oulter edge of the 'outside stumps at each end. You would then have two lines eight inches apart running the whole length of the pitch. Now Ithe first rule in connection with l.b.w is that before a batsman can be out the ball must have pitched inside this long 8 inch parallelogram. Next it must in the opinion of the umpire be likely to hit the wicket —that is to say— firstly there must be no break om it that would cause it to miss the wicket even though it pitches dead on the wicket and secondly it must not have been pitched so short that it would have gone over the top of the wicket. Strictly speaking there are only two men in ithe field besides the umpire who can really tell 'whether a man is out Lb.w. or not and they are of* course the bowler and the wicket keeper. : Heneo these two are the only two who should appeal for 1.b.w., .though any man fielding is quite justified in appealing if he considers the batsman was standing in front of his wicket and the bowler or wicket keeper has neglected to appeal. Young players should remember .that it is better to give the batsman the benefit of the doubt and not appeal unless they are' either bowling or wicket keeping though - it annoying; after the batsman has been knoellkig the cover off he ball Ito hear the unqujhk say ‘ ‘ Why on earth didn’t you chaps appeal for l.b.w. in the first over? -The batsman was clean out.”

« * • * With a catch at the wicket it is different. The umpire judges more by sound than by sight. Any of the fieldsmen who hear a “click" as the ball passes the bat have a right ito appeal—in fact they would be very foolish not to appeal. Anyone who has played particularly one who has kept wicket, knows the familiar click as the ball grazes the bat and he appeals instinctively. But with regard to l.b.w. as at least 90 per cent of the cases where an appeal is made are not out it is better to leave the appealing entirely to the bowler or wicket keeper and give the batsman the benefit of (the doubt. After all cricket is a game and not a business and .the fieldsmen should be as pleased at seeing a good exhibition of batting as the batsman is at giving it.

I was asked the ether day how many way s there were of getting out in cricket. Well according to Prince Ranjitsinhji there are nine ways here they are. 1. Being clean bowled; the most satisfactory way of all anl one which is seldom disputed. 2. Being caught out; sometimes disputed, sometimes not. 3. Being stumped out; disputed more often than not. ' •4. Being run out; the batsman generally has some doubts. 5. Hit wicket; nothing to be said usually. (5. Leg before wicket; always disputed. 7. Wilfully hitting the ball twice except in defence of the wicket. S. Handling the ball. U. Obstructing the field. Tom Emmett declared there was a tenth way-V- being “umpired out." 'i • o « LEADING BATTING AVERAGES The following are the leading batting averages of the Patea Cricket Club for the present season: — Harding 84 Cunningham 53.5 Pindlay __ 44 Hemingway ' 40.5 Owen; 35 J. Smith 29.2 Mexcer 24.0 Ormsby 18 Tinaey 14 Naismith ~ U Smith, sear., 10 L' . /.A • * ® BOWLING AVERAGES. ‘ The leading bowling averages to date are as follows: wickets average Norton 4 1.5 Ormsby 2 2.5 Findlay 1 3 McCarthy 1 5 Mercer 12 . 7.25 Smith 9 7.6 Hoult 5 8.6 Gibbs 12 . 8.25 Cunningham 4 10 Tinney 11 ' 10.3 1 Hamel 6 10.3 Partridge 4 jg . .