SEARCHLIGHT ON SPORT

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19504, 10 December 1937, Page 10

SEARCHLIGHT ON SPORT

(By "Pour-Forty.")

The weather was perfect for the continuation of the cricket in Gisborne last Saturday. In the Senior A Grade they have reverted back to the two days' play for the time being at any rate. It seems peculiar that the one-day cricket has been a huge success in Christchurch, but the writer is of the opinion that unless the players decide to play the oneday cricket in the spirit it is intended it will never be a success here.

In the matches that take place in the High School grounds in the Senior B Grade the association should limit the time of finishing to 6.15 p.m. At present play is stopped at 3.40 for afternoon tea and is not resumed until 4 p.m., or 20 minutes, against the 10 minutes on the Oval. In the game that took place between Rugby Old Boys and Marists last week there were three intervals between the innings of 10 minutes and then 20 minutes for afternoon tea, equal to 50 minutes lost all told out of 4£ hours allowed for play. In this match and also the one between High School and G.H.5.0.8. Blue, the last men were in when time was called. The High School team lost a first innings win, while the Rugby Old Boys lost what might have been an outright win only for the lengthy afternoon tea adjournment. Senior A Grade Cricket

Colin Flavell gave a glimpse of his form in his score of 56 for Old Boys against City. He is a good all-round-er in the club and should hold his place in the representative team. Stan Reeves, who has not played for some time, again donned flannels on Saturday and made a useful 61 against City. Stan uses a hard drive through to the cover point that takes some stopping.

Phil Dwyer was the only other batsman to make double figures and he has been fairly consistent with his scoring so far this season.

Colin Fraser, the slow bowler with the City club, got a fair amount of assistance from the wicket and secured the good average of five for 50 and also made 18 runs before he fell a l.b.w. victim to a straight ball from Nawton.

Ernie Bridge, 41, and G. Stewart, 25, are the only other City men to have made runs and with five wickets still to fall they may find it hard to score the necessary 58 runs for a victory. Bob Carroll and Peter Dow, who as a rule are always good for a number of runs, were both clean bowled by Lockett and Blathwayt respectively before they had opened their accounts last week.

Newton, the slow left-hand break bowler in the Old Boys' club, had the good average of two for 21, as did also Blathwayt, the speed merchant. The Marists club, who have been very unfortunate in losing several good members through transfers, gave the G.H.5.0.8. team a day of leather hunting. Ted James had the use of the wicket for nearly two hours out of the four his team was at the wicket, but, despite this steady play, he could only score 34. He is one of the batsmen in Gisborne who could liven up his batting a lot. Bernie Scholium gave a glimpse of his old form in his score of 62. His favourite stroke is the "carpet" drive. Clem Scholium was the only member of his side who failed to score, but his time will come, probably when his club needs the runs.

Pat Tilley, although well down in the batting list, knocked up his 43 not out in quick style. The batsmen took a liking to Trevor White's slow deliveries and scored 62 runs off his 15 overs for one wicket. The most successful bowler ior xne G.H.5.0.8. was Allan Wilson, who secured three good wickets for 31 runs. Senior B Grade Cricket In the game between Civil Service and Gisborne Club the latter team secured a win by five runs on the first innings. Alf Bignall, for Service, was unlucky in being run out when he had scored 27 runs. Alf has been fairly consistent with the bat this season and is one of the keenest players in the Bay. Vic. Clements showed the rest of his mates last week that he can score runs, knocking up 36 undefeated in quick style. Only for this effort Service would have made a small score. Ben Jeffreys, with five wickets for 37 runs, was the best bowler for the club. He bowls a medium pace delivery and gets a lot of nip ofT the wicket as a rule.

A. Knights, 68, and Joe Moody, 27. were the only batsmen in the Gisborne Club to reach double figures. Knights, who hails from the South Island, has been of great assistance to his team so far this season. Jack Griffiths, who has been playing for Civil Service for some seasons, secured his usual bag of wickets.

Dick Carr, with two for 52, was more expensive than usual, but a bowler cannot expect to get wickets all the time.

Wallie Higgs did not show up so well with the bat, but he took two good catches that dismissed Knights and Jeffreys. All the cricketers on Saturday evening were asking what had happened to G.H.5.0.8. White, which team was dismissed by High School B for 12 and 32 runs.

Jack Barbour was top-scorer with eight in the first innings and no less than seven of the 10 men failed to score, while in their second effort seven by H. Thompson was the top score.

G. Harris, who scored 101 not out the week before, failed to score last Saturday, but made amends in the bowling for School, when he had the

good averages of five for live and six tor seven, a good day's work. Torric also did well at the othoi end from Harris and secured three (or seven and two for 13. E Bilham, 24, was the only High School batsman to score many runs against the usual good bowling of Crawford-Smith, four for 29, and Thompson, four for 19, in the first innings, but in the second effort Harris, 20, Billy Toroa, 20, and Bilham, 25 not out, showed better form. High School A were unlucky in not defeating G.H.5.0.8. Blue when they declared with five down for 159. The main scorers were McGregor, 43, Roderick, 40 not out, and P. Bull, 31. Bill Wilkie, for Blue, scored 40 in quick time, getting no less than four sixes, but he also had five singles in his scoring strokes, which is an unusual thing for a batsman like Wilkie.

Joe Murton came to light with the bat and made 36 in pleasing style. Freddy Stenner and Alvin Hansen played out time in a good effort to gain a draw for their club. Ingram, 17, was top-scorer for Rugby Old Boys, but was badly beaten by a "long hop" from Scholium which clean bowled him.

McMullen also did well with the bat and ball. He secured two for 10. "Mac" swerves the ball a lot and is a good change bowler for the club. Don Hosier got his usual "bag" ol wickets with five for 16 and six for 15. He bowls a good off-break and places his field well. Geoff. Steed has been appointed captain of this team and on Saturday there was a distinct improvement in their fielding. In the week-end games some names new to Gisborne cricket are appearing-

Strachan, playing for the Times, secured seven for 10 off three overs. In the last over, which was a maiden, he secured four wickets. Ernie Beer, sen., had a day out as first slip man to Hosiers' bowling against Allen Bros, and Johnstone, securing new fewer than four catches in this position. Playing for Justice against Sargoods in the B grade Mercantile League in Wellington Colin Dow scored 49 and Mick Boon, who has recently arrived there from Gisborne, made 50. In the last series of test matches played in Australia the runs were scored in the following times: — England Australia

Athletics To-morrow on the Basin Reserve, Wellington, Graham Quinn, the local sprinter, will take his place in the 100yds and 220yds trials to select the New Zealand team for the Empire Games to be held at Sydney next February. • • • * H. Opperman, the Australian wizard of the bicycle, who recently rode across Australia from Fremantle to Sydney in 13 days lOhr. llmin., broke the previous record, held by W. Read, by no less than 5 days Bhr. 21min. "Oppy". weighed 9st 3Jlb when he started his journey, but was 141 b 2oz. lighter when he arrived at Sydney. His bicycle was fitted with a six-speed gear ranging from 54 to 84 and a calculation shows that the pedals were pushed down 1,031,000 times in his journey of 2751 miles. # * » »

The race between Ossie Nicholson, in Australia, and Rene Menzies, the Frenchman, in England, for the record for one, year's cycling has reached an exciting stage. Up to November 30 Nicholson had covered 50,200 miles and his French rival was only 58 miles behind. From now until the end of the race, midnight on December 31, Nicholson will have the benefit of the long Australian summer's days, while his adversary will have to endure the shorter daylight and the English winter. "Oppy" has cabled Nicholson that he would immediately so back to Melbourne and assist him as a pace maker during the latter part of his ride.

Runs Mins. Runs Mxns First test .. 358 401 234 348 25G 391 58 71 Second test ; 426 489 80 107 — -— 324 390 Third test .. 76 114 200 283 323 278 564 622 Fourth test 330 435 288 335 243 294 433 519 Fifth test .. 239 324 G04 GOG 1G5 207 — — Total 241G 2933 2785 3281