CRICKET.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 31, 13 March 1914, Page 2

CRICKET.

SOME STRAY NOTES. Vernon, Bansford considers that New Zealand cricket has improved very perceptibly since he was in the Dominion with the Melbourne C.C. team some years ago. Public opinion seems to be agreed upon the necessity for selecting for the second test match- with the Australians a New Zealand team differinjg a good deal from that which was defeated at Dunedin. It is hoped that L. M 'Mahon, the Gisborne batsman who performed so creditably against the Australians at Gisborne, will be given a place this time. F. C. Eaphael, the popular and energetic secretary of the New Zealand Cricket Council, offered to present a bat to each member of the New Zealand team who made 50 runs or more in the first test mateh with the Australians. What would hie have said if all the New Zealand players had suddenly "gone mad" and rattled up 50 apiece! -As it happened, three men—Tuckwell, Patrick, and Whitta—qualified for bats. Connoisseurs who watched the first test match between the Australians and; the New Zealand team, at Dunedin, say. that the best batting of the match was Patrick's. They assert that Patrick's scores of 38 and 66 were made by wristy, crisp hitting that was not surpassed by even the Australian cracks, and that the way in which he kept the ball down on the "carpet" was splendid.

It is unofficially announced on unreliable authority that a well-known member of Sims's Australian team has been offered the position of head waiter at the Henley Accommodation-house, near Dunedin. The admirable way in which he "waited" at a picnic there last Sunday was almost sufficient to make the average waiter die of heart disease. But his clear enunciation of "Four soups, two without spoons," "Seven fishes without bones," and "Three creams with apples attached" betrayed the amateur. Commenting on the New South Wales team's doings in the season now ended of inter-State cricket in Australia, the "Sydney Referee" says;—"C. G. Macartney made a century against every State the side met and New Zealand, and finished with an average of 111.50 runs per innings. He has made a greater number of runs than any other two men on the side. H. L. Collins has also come to the front as batsman, and that, too, when runs were to be fought for. New South Wales still possesses splendid resources in batting, for many of the young men made it clear that they have the essentials, notably s T. J. Andrews, J. M. Taylor, and F. Buckle. When all the best players are available, opportunities for the younger men are restricted rather more than is good for their natural development, and if in future a few more matches could be added to the programme by the association it might be found highly satisfactory to the cricket of the State. Two players who ought to make names, L. A. Cody and A. Mailey, were quite stale, the one with the bat, the other with the ball, as a result of the continuous cricket in Australia, America, and Australia again. If this view of their play and form be correct, the pair should perform with some sting next season. "Among the bowlers. of the State, two men stand apart from all others on performances, and likewise on form—viz., C. Kelleway, who captured 45 wickets at 12.68, and- R. J. A. Massie, 37 wickets at 16.32. Through sheer determination and keen Study of bowling methods as practised by some of the best he has seen, Charles Kelleway has developed subtle and strategic qualities, and I believe will become still better. At all events, one has to go back some time to find such an aggressive leading-off pair as Massie and Kelleway proved this season. The lefthander has realised all one's expeeta : tions, and I feel sure that he will become a still greater bowler. A fine thing about Massie and Kelleway is that they are fighters.''