CRICKET.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 212, 12 October 1914, Page 5

CRICKET.

SENIOR DISTRICT MATCHES.

AN UNPLEASANT NOB'-WESTER.

The Canterbury Cricket Association's competitions for 1914-15 were not launched in very happy circumstances. North-west winds are unpleasant in Christchurch at the best of times, but that which forced its troublesome presence upon cricketers and other folk on Saturday was an unusually obnoxious one. The Very force of the ; wind made it cold, especially at Hagley Park, and the hurricane gusts which howled and blustered across the pitches left little enthusiasm behind them in the hearts of the players and the spectators. No one expects to receive any thrills for the first matches of the season, but the gale took the edge off what keenness for cricket there was on Saturday. • . SLOW—VERY SLOW. Most of the spectators at Hagley Park gave the major portion of their ; attention to the match between the first eleven of the Sydenham Club, which won the senior premiership last season, and Riecarton, runner-up to Sydenham. They did not get much re- : ward for their patience. Riccarton, batting first on a good wicket, aggregated 150 runs in about two hours - and a-half. The top-scorer was E. R. Caygill, who took two hours in getting 35 runs. Scarcely enlivening, was it? .....Riccarton'a main hope, -the WhittaCaygill combination, was soon destroyed. Only 12 runs showed on the board when Whitta, who had made 8, snieked a ball from Bennett, bowling from the Addington end, into the hands of Martin in the slips. A. G. Fuller and E. R. Caygill put on 14 runs, and then Fuller was also out to a catch by Bennett off Patterson's bowling. The next was the best partnership of the innings. It was between S. J. Smith and Caygill, who put on 51 runs before Smith was clean-bowled, after making 29 runs, by J. Martin, who had replaced Bennett m the .attack. Bennett afterwards took up the" bowling at the other end, following Patterson and Hayes. Although they were swinging a little, with the aid of the wind, Patterson and Hayes did not trouble the batsmen over-much. The Martin-Bennett attack broke down the Riccarton defence without much trouble. After Smith was dismissed, C. Evans batted well for 14 runs and was then smartly caught at the wickets by Woods off Martin. R. Taylor was bowled by Martin's next ball, but H. Bell made a useful stand. However, E. R. Caygill was caught and bowled by Martin a little latei\ Rell made 16 before being bowled by Bennett, but the remainingbatsmen were soon disposed of. SYDENHAM A's NEW BOWLER. It was J. Martin's first appearance in senior cricket, and a very successful first appearance it Was, fop he took Six wickets for 51 runs.' Previously Martin has played in Thursday cricket, as a .member of the Post and Telegraph team, and in that he has shown that he can make runs, as well as , bowl. He is unusually tall, but he does not- make - the most use of his height when bowling. He is left-handed, and sends down a fair-length ball that comes in from the off. His bowling on Saturday was more varied than that of the other Sydenham bowlers. But it is rather early to consider him as a bowler who is likely to take many wickets in senior cricket, for his bowling on Saturday did not seem to be as dangerous as the batsmen made it appear. However, with luck he would have had even better figures, for twice E. R. Caygill snicked up in the slips balls from Martin that fell just out of reach of fieldsmen, and once Patterson dropped a chance from Smith. Bennett was the same steady length bowler as of yore. The Sydenham fielding was not up to standard; the groundfielding of several of the men, especially one or two of the new men in the team, was very patchy. Stopping the ball with the feet when there is time to get the hands down to it is slovenly. WOODS BANGS THE BOWLING. The game brightened up- considerably when Sydenham went to "the wickets, with F. Woods and R. Taylor as the first batsmen. Woods "opened out" immediately, and, with Taylor batting well at the other end, the bowling of Boulton and Bell was punished severely. Woods gave L. A. Caygill, at cover, a hot chance off Bell's bowling, but it was declined,, and the mistake proved costly. With 40 on the board, Whitta replaced Boulton, but Woods only became even more aggressive. He smote Whitta's deliveries with great gusto. Evans steadied down the run-getting a little, but the partnership continued until it had produced 103 runs. Then Woods-, who was driving with much power, and who had sewed 76 runs, tried to repeat a "sixer" which he had made off Evans, and he was caught by E. R. Caygill, on the boundary. Taylor (34) and Hayes (8) were also dismissed by catches, through undue eagerness to smack the bowling, which was of medium quality. With 134 runs for four wickets, Sydenham A should have the match in hand. WESTte LEATHER-HUNT. When the personnel of the senior teams was discussed in these columns a week ago, it was remarked that al-1 though the West Christchurch team should make many runs, there is also much likelihood of its having many 1 runs scored against it. The first match has emphasised that opinion, for East '•■ Christchurch knocked up 366 for nine wickets on Saturday against an attack in which the West Christchurch skipper, A.' T. Donnelly, rang the changes ou seven or eight bowlers. East Christchurch made a good start, : Beal and Greenlees settling down at once to the bowling of D. Reese and Bryan-Brown. Both played good [ cricket —Beal was the more attractive — | and the rate of scoring was very fair. Reese was bowling round-the-wicket 1 from the Addington end, and he was ' swinging across a good deal, with the ' wind, but he bowled without effect ' until he changed ends. In his first over ' from the pavilion end he clean-bowled ' Beal with a ball that came in a good deal. The partnership had produced 85 runs, of which Beal made T. ■ Cai*lton should have been run-out be- ' fore the score was increased. He patted 1 a ball tq the off and ran, but Green- ;. lees refused to respond. Carlton was ' at Greenlees's end - when Wafers, at f mid-off, threw the ball —to the wrong i endl If the ball had been thrown to I the wicket-keeper, Carlton would have been out by the length of the pitch.

However, a couple of minutes later Carlton cut a ball from Bryan-Brown, and ran. Greenlees was a trifle slow in responding, and he was run out. Carlton scratched for 10, and then was caught at mid-on, by Dr Wallace, off Reese, and three wickets were down for 98. R. H. North just got into double figures before being bowled by Reese. Then N. H. - Jones went out, "leg before," to the same bowler. With five wickets down for. 121 runs, much of the rose-colour faded from East's visions. But P. C. Dwyer and A. R. Blank demonstrated that the bowling had few terrors, and they smacked up 65 runs, to which Blank contributed 31 by free cricket. Dwyer, well set now, played good, steady cricket, and the bowling, by no means formidable at any part of the innings, was worn down considerably. After R, Martin had been dismissed, with 19 to his credit, "Ken" Williams, the former Riccarton player, smote -the bowling—not very gracefully, but with plenty of effect. He scored quickly, and it' did not seem long before the Dwyer-Wil-liams partnership had runs. By this time Dwyer seemed well set for a century. He was only eight runs off it when he gave Young, at the wickets, a chance off Bryan-Brown's bowling, and it was .accepted. The partnership was responsible for just 113 runs. Williams went on hitting lustily until the call of time; his score was 78 not out.

The most attractive batting of the innings was that of v Beal, who played clean, crisp, carpet-shots on both sides of the wicket. His square-cutting was particularly nice. Dwyer's batting was sound and steady,, rather than brilliant. Williams hit freely. The most sticcessful of the bowlers were Reese and Bryan-Brown, but both seemed short of practice. Reese declared that his strained shoulder did not affect him. KAIAPOI'S SHOWING. The inclusion of Kaiapoi in the competitions is looked upon as an advancement in district cricket. For its first game the Kaiapoi first eleven was up against a "good team. Nevertheless, with such old players as Dr J. H. Crawshaw and J. H. Blackwell, together with bowlers of the standing of Wilson and McGregor, it was thought that the country team would create a good impression. Unfortunately Wilson was unable to play on Saturday, he recently having undergone an operation for appendicitis. To pronounce judgment on the batting ability of the Kaiapoi eleven would be unfair at present, for it must, be remembered that the country men are used to playing on a concrete wicket. McGregor was the only man to score double figures for them, his 20 being hit off four of Perrin 's deliveries —two fours and two sixes. The next highest scorer in this innings was J. H.. Bla«kwell, with four not out. The remainder of the eleven did not remain at the wickets long enough for an observer to form an opinion of their batting ability. This was due chiefly to the consistent bowling of Arthur Thomas. He found his length in the first over, and maintained it throughout the whole innings. His average, six wickets for 6 runs, speaks for itself. Perrin, the only other bowler in this innings, did good work, but he sent down too many loose balls; nevertheless he gained the respectable average of 4 for 24.

* It was hoped that the Kaiapoi men would make a much better showing in the second innings, but Jalthough they nearly doubled their first score, they made a poor showing. Rollinson opened, but was dismissed after scoring a single. Smith and G. Blackwell met with similar fate, but McGregor and Green put on 21 between them. After this there was another procession, until Howarth, the last man, went in. - By dint of hard hitting this man prevented an innings' defeat.

If the Linwood players can be complimented on their bowling and fielding, they cannot be complimented on their batting. Certainly they were a man short, but this should not account for the miserably poor score of 86. Reid and Jones were the only men on this side to make a decent shSwing, and it was unfortunate that Reid was given out when he had compiled 20. The captains had previously arranged that the boundary on the west side would be the neighbouring pitch. Noell hit one to this boundary, and after running one for it, stopped. The umpire, however, ruled that the fence was the boundary and credited Doell with one, for his hefty smite. In the same over Reid sent one in a similar direction, and after some hesitation the batsmen decided to run it out, with a result that Reid was thrown out on the third lap. Jones's 21 not out was also a creditable display. He batted very steadily and was just getting set when the last wicket fell. Grant and Ridley were both clean bowled when they had scored nine only, and Perrin met with a worse fate, being bowled first ball, a beauty from McGregor. Linwood was somewhat unfortunate in the selection of its players. S. Orchard's leg is still too bad to enable him to play, and it is doubtful -whether he will be in the field at all this season. Smith, another of Linwood's players, resides in the Kaiapoi district, consequently instead of his playing for Linwood, as he was picked to do, he had to play for Kaiapoi, thereby leaving his old team a man short. ST. ALBANS v. SYDENHAM B. At Sydenham Park, St. Albans put up the respectable score of 275, occupying the wickets most of the afternoon. St. Albans quickly showed that it is a good batting side, no fewer than eight of the eleven reaching double figures. Bradmore, who was top-scorer with a nicely-played 60, is a batsman of the solid order. He has a good variety of strokes, but at times he is inclined towards playing across. This stroke brought about his downfall, he playing j a "mow" stroke to a slow one from Mcße'th. He should, however, be a great help to St. Albans. Brunton (41) started off well, playing good free cricket all round the wicket; but he is too anxious to have a "go" rather than settle down and "get his eye in." He is the making of a first-class batsman if he would only settle down at the beginning instead of taking so many risks. He was lucky in not being stumped on two occasions, once before he had scored. Hickmott (41) started off with good, free strokes all round the wicket. He, too, was lucky in not being stumped, being a good three yards out of his crease. Haigh was not impressive, and his performance on Saturday was certainly not up to senior form. Leeming was stumped first ball. Sandman went out for a hit, and was badly beaten when he had- scored, 10, by a slow one from Mcßeth. Lamb played his usual hitting game, but left early, he being : stumped by Aris, off Mcßeth r when his , score was 8.

Edgar, by scoring 36, made a verypleasing debut in senior ffricket. He played good cricket, and should make a lot of runs for his team. He gave two easy chances, being dropped s»by Patrick at square leg, and shortly afterwards by Hincksman in the deep-field, both off Wilson.

T. W. Beese made his 13 runs in real good style, and there is no reason why he should not show some of his old form again this season. Barrett made his 31 runs in his usual pleasing style and was unbeaten. He wasted no time in compiling his score, going for the bowling from the start. « The youthful Mcßeth bowled really well for Sydenham B, getting four wickets for 53 runs. He has a good delivery, and is the making of a firstclass bowler. McClelland, too, bowled well, getting five good wickets for 64. Wilson was most unlucky, Patrick and Hincksman both missing catches off his bowling, while several easy chances of stumping from his bowling were missed. Aris was disappointing behind the "sticks," he throwing away the easiest of chances. He should have stumped both Hickmott and Brunton before they had scored. These were two costly mistakes. Hickmott captained St. Albans, while Patrick led Sydenham. SQUAEE CUTS. A. Thomas, playing against Kaiapoi on Saturday, took 11 wickets for 25 runs. The Eiccarton senior eleven includes a third-grade player of last season, H. Bell, who shows some promise as a batsman. The first century of the season was made by King, of the Linwood secondgrade A team, who made 100 not out against Eiccarton. It is stated that several of the Auckland clubs have been greatly weakened by members joining the Expeditionary Force. , The idea of forming an Otago University team as a separate unit in the Carisbrook Club has been dropped in the meantime. It was pointed out that the scheme as proposed was unworkable. The only way to go about the formation of a University team is to establish a club on straight-out lines, with self-government, purchase- material, secure a ground, affiliate to the Otago Association, and play as an independent team. SATUBDAY'S PLAY SUMMAEISEB. Riccarton 150 v. Sydenham A 134 for four wickets. East Christchurch 366 for nina ( wickets .▼. West Christchurch. St. Albans 275 v. Sydenham B 51 for one wicket. Kaiapoi 39 and 63 v. Lhiwood 86. THE DAY'S HONOURS. BATTING. Individual scores of over 50:— P. C. Dwyer (East Christchurch) 92 K. Williams (East Christchurch) 78* P. Woods (Sydenham A) .. .. 76 H. Bradmore (St. Albans) .. ~' 60 O. Beal (East Christchurch) .... 56 * Signifies not out. BOWLING. C. Thomas (Linwood), six for 6. C. Thomas (Linwood), second innings, five for 19. E. Perrin (Linwood), four for 24. J. Martin (Sydenham A), six for 51. D. McGregor (Kaiapoi), five for 45.