Cricket.

Southland Times, Issue 19054, 12 February 1921, Page 9

Cricket.

(By “Twelfth Man.”) Fourth test began yesterday. Australia-Wellington match in progress. Diack (Ex 5.8.H.5.) bowled well on Saturday. G. Mcßeath looks like becoming a Jack Gregory. Groves and Petrie put on 71 for last wicket on Saturday. Groves also smartens up Appleby colte’ running between wickets. Clem Hill places Armstrong as the best all-rounder in the world. He considers Hobbs’s century was the finest in the third test. Clem Hill and C. B. Turner are not impressed with the Australian bowling. They say there is no variety. What they want is a medium-paced right-hander and a lefthander who can make the ball spin. When Gregory commenced bowling against Victoria in the last Sheffield Shield match he had the southerly buster behind h;m, enabling him to accumulate unusual pace. His field for the occasion was extraordinary, for there were seven men behind the wicket. There were five men standing in line in slips and another far back behind them near the boundary. There was no point and no man at square leg. Midon and mid-off were in line with the wickets, about five yards away from the stumps. The other man was placed deep about where mid-off usually stands in local matches. It was a remarkable tribute to Gregory’s accuracy. After making a very poor start against I.C.C. on Saturday Union B managed to pass the century before the innings closed. The fly in the ointment, and a big one at that, was Kingston who collected three wickets in his first over and brought Union to that state of mind which is known as “getting the wind up.” However, C.

Brown and Stead, two -most unorthodox batsmen, presently saved the situation and from stubborn defence went merrily to strong attack; and in the end they were even banging J. Doig all over the ground. Brown made, a welcome 43 and was loudly applauded by both teams on his return to the pavilion. Throughout the innings Kingston was always troublesome and was practically unhittable. He is a mediumpaced left hander who makes the most of his great height. He keeps a fair length, and, even when the ball is overpitched, it is very difficult to hit. His stock ball is the off-break, natural to left handers. His veteran relative kept a good length but his bowling lacked the sting he used to get into it. I.C.C. made a rare start—one down for 119. Gleeson and Camm went for the rather easy bowling, and working harmoniously between the wickets, they completely demoralised the Union side. Changes in the bowling, assisted by Raines’s catching, broke the partnership and kept the incomers quiet. Out of a total of 162, two men made 143. The next four men made 11 between them. To the writer’s mind Union made a mistake in keeping the first two bowlers on so long; Raines and Chappell should have commenced the attack. On No. 2 wicket Appleby batted first against Union A. Appleby began badly—five down for 29; but the innings closed for 158 . An Appleby player was not far wrong when he said, “We should have all been out for 30.” The Union fielding was poor, Mackenzie and Dixon dropping about half a dozen catches between them. Groves was in good form, scoring 75 in free style. He would do well, however, to pay a little attention to a few of his strokes. His work on the off, cutting and driving is excellent; but his hook to square leg, productive as it is of many runs, is often a dangerous stroke. In hooking a high rising ball he usually sends it over the fence, but at times he is inclined to put up a catch to a man standing close to the square leg boundary. In fact, the captain of a fielding side can be recommended to place a man at short leg and another, taken preferably from long field, at square leg towards the boundary when Groves is batting. Another stroke that Groves used incorrectly on Saturday was the half cock. He glanced the ball into the slips. So much has been written about the half cock that the learner usually approaches the stroke with fear and trembling, much in the style of the bather when he takes a deep breath just before plunging in on a frosty morning. While, of course, the only justification for a stroke is admittedly the amount of success with which a player uses it, it may be safely recommended to the average player to leave the half cock alone until he has gained the mastery over most of the well known strokes that Groves has. The stroke is liable to hamper the freedom of forward play, for which it is often mistaken. As for scoring off the half cock, the ball should be turned to leg for preference, by bringing the left foot up to right (in the case of a left hander) so that the batsman is (facing square to the bowler. In any case, there is only one bowler in Southland against whom the half cock is necessary and then only when Dan McBeath is on a fiery wicket and is making the ball “talk.” The stroke gives a sense of security and for the man who is slow on his pins it is much more convenient than back play. On the other hand, to take two extremes in batting, Pope would find it easy to play back to the bowling, while Wish with his long reach would be quite at home with his powerful drive. To return to the Appleby-Union match, the last- wicket partnership must be something of a record for this season: Groves and Petrie put on 71 runs before Dixon caught Petrie. Petrie batted fairly well, although in driving his timing was not accurate, the ball usually going off the edge of the bat to square leg. His love of late cutting was again in evidence and he put some nice shots past the field. Dykes’s slows kept him thinking at times. Diack secured the best average for Union. He bowls a medium paced ball, keeps a rood length, and has an easy action which is very deceptive for batsmen. As a bowler, he is one of the most promising of young players in the province. He should be looked after. Union opened well—4 down for 72. Dykes and Diack made 34 between them. Diack is not a good bat. The best that can be said of him at present is that he has remarkable eyesight. His best scoring strokes are a pull drive and a hook, which, if they should not be dropped altogether in his case, should be considerably curtailed. Battersby spotted his weakness straight away and in his second over he sent down a fast yorker which Diack’s doping bat could not stop. Hamilton got 32 not out, but he had some luck. Extras yielded 29 runs.

Battersby was in his best form and his four for 27 (all bowled) was well earned, the fielding not favouring him. He kept a good length (a little short at times) and made the ball swerve with the wind while howling at a fine speed. Kavanagh and Bisman took two wickets each. Strangely enough, none of them were bowled. J. W. H. T. Douglas, the English eaptain, would be interested in this one by Oriel in the Melbourne Argus:—“There are rumours that a bull once tossed Armstrong. The latter decided to bat. Another Wyndham collapse on Wednesday for which Groves was responsible. The Appleby fast bowler has not bowled faster this season and Wyndham, badly rattled, were quite unable to score off the short, stuff he sent down. Three of his wickets were obtained by the field, a not unexpected result, as Groves was making the ball rise very high from the pitch. Dan Mcßeath reached 17 in solid fashion and was a little unlucky to be caught, -Leggat taking a splendid catch behind the stumps. H. Mo Beath’s batting showed an improvement, while Hunter is consistent, even if his scores are not very big. He made some nice shots on the off. Extras was second best with 15, mostly off Groves’s fast stuff, which occasionally went to the boundary. Petrie bowled six balls at the end of the innings and secured two wickets for one run. He got H. Mcßeath with a beauty and sent Johnstone back to the pavilion with a ball that usually gets a dogger in difficulties— a fast full pitcher on the off. Johnstone, of course, tried to drag it round to leg and instead mishit it to Poole. Appleby’s first innings (169) brought out some good batting exhibitions. Groves’s 41 was the best display in any match on Wednesday. His defence was splendid and the way he punched balls on the off to the fence was a treat to watch. He obviously did not like Raymond’s slows—incidentally, slow bowling seems to trouble him—and he exercised much patience in picking out the right ball to hit. He does not get a great number of runs in front of the wicket, and the writer would like to see him try a little more carpet driving. Kavanagh hit up his runs in free and confident style and his 47 will be a valuable recommendation when places for the rep. team are considered. However, he sends too many skywards. Appleby had a hot combination out and Darragh was brought into action for the first time this year. He drove well and pulled to leg in his usual style; but Ijeyond these he does not seem to have many strokes. Wyndham had eight bowlers who had to work hard for their wickets. G. McBeath, who bangs the ball down at a terrific rate, bagged a brace, the family getting eight out of nine. I.C.C. did fairly well against Union. Gleeson, who has been batting very well of late, secured 32. His improvement is in large measure due to the fact that he has dropped a stroke which usually brought about his downfall. It was a pull to leg which Gleeson often mistimed badly. It is only a man in perfect physical condition with an unerring eye who can afford to take the risk of these shots. For the man who is getting up in years, and is find ; • ’’at the alertness of youth is passing, o. ; x play is his best defence against age. Of the rest of I.C.C. Camm and James Gilbertson were the only ones to do anything above the ordinary with the bat. The Union bowling was severely handled at the beginning and there seemed to be too much leg stuff coming down. Ten for extras was a fair result for Pope and Richards who looked after the fast bowling very well. Fogo was the best Union bowler and he.

came on at an opportune time, just when ; the I.C.C. batsmen seemed well set. Union had six down for 56 when time j was called. The wickets flew in rare style until Hamilton and Wish got together, j Hamilton rightly went for defence, although it cramps his style and his 19 was worth a lot, despite the fact that he gave a few chances. . Wish faced the bowling with much confidence and his driving was hard and clean: too many in the air, though, j Doig has not been bowling very well this , season, but he was doing well on Wednesday ! and he made the Union colts sit up and take ' notice when he removed his sweater. The ball he got Ferguson with was characteristic of the man. It wps a good length ball, to which Ferguson went forward quite confidently—and missed. A neat break from leg and Ferguson was hugely surprised. THE SOUTHLAND TEAM. In a consideration of the Southland rep. team this season there are some unusual circumstances to take into account. In the first place, Southland will be beaten in both matches against visiting teams. One does not need to be a pessimist to see that fact clearly. It is not that interest in cricket has declined in Southland. In ordinary years we might have had a chance against Canterbury, but this is not an ordinary year. The divided half-holiday has hit all sport hard, and cricket is no exception. Then again it is only a month ago since cricketers began playing on Rugby Park. The games that took place on the High School ground earlier in the season were not cricket. Therefore it is safe to say that Southland cricketers are only just getting into form at the present time. All that is left for Southland to do is to put up a creditable performance against each of the touring teams; to be beaten, but not disgraced. The question this year is not “What is the best team for 1921?” but, “What is the best team for 1921 and the following years?” This being so, the writer pute forward what is for Southland an unusual suggestion: that is, that one or two of the veterans be asked to stand down and that young players be chosen in their places. It is all very well to say , that veterans give confidence to a team, but how are the young men to gain confidence if their claims to inclusion are persistently ignored? Southland has become noted—notorious is a better word—for the way in which it has kept the young men out of rep. sporting teams. J. do not mean cricket only. All over the world it is clearly seen that youth must prevail. A. C. McLaren, the famous Englishman, says that England lost the rubber through the fact that there were too many of what he calls the “over-forty brigade” in the team. % For these reasons the writer suggests that places be found in the rep. team for Bisman, H. Mcßeath and Pope. Bogue and Petrie are also worthy of consideration. Bisman should go into the team in any case as he is one of the few reliable bats in Southland. The cx-Christchurch player is of the stonewaller type, a tyr? which Southland is much in need of. His 41 a week or so ago shows that he can make runs, too. The only argument at present against him is that he has not been trietl against Wednesday bowling, but that is not Bisman’s fault. H. Mcßeath is the only fast bowler in Southland who can keep a length under any circumstances. His trouble at present is that he pitches too many off the wicket—his fast ball on the off is not hard to punish. Mcßeath has, unfortunately for himself, a brilliant brother whose performances are apt to overshadow his own solid merit. When a player says that H. Mcßeath’s bowling is “easy” he usually has in the back of his mind D. Mcßeath as a subject for comparison. McBeath is not a brilliant batsman, but he is of the kind that make 10 to 20 runs fairly regularly. As for fielding, it is sufficient to say that he is a Mcßeath. A game in the rep. team would give him some valuable experience. Pope has done nothing out of the ordinary this season, but a brilliant 66 last season still lingers in my memory. He is, of course, naturally made for back play and he infuses a lot of vigour into his strokes and, is a hard man to bowl. He is a safe field and at a pinch could be used to relieve a wicket keeper who might be required for other purposes. Bogue is another unfortunate. He seems destined to be kept out of a Southland team until the present ’keeper, Gilbertson, one of the best we have ever had, decides to rtire. It is on the score of batting that Bogue loses ground. As a ’keeper he is above the average. Petrie is the youngest of the five and at present does not take his cricket too seriously. He is a natural bat, and he plays good cricket as if by instinct. A* a bowler he has great possibilities, but he suffers from a tired feeling and is apt to bang the ball down half-heartedly. If the selector should, decide in favour of more young players, his action would have the hearty endorsement of all who have given thought to Southland cricket and its problems; and from what the writel knows of the older players concerned they would not mind very much.