DISTRICT CRICKET.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume III, Issue 885, 11 December 1916, Page 2

DISTRICT CRICKET.

THE FIRST GRADE MATCHES.

Each of the eight teams engaged in the Canterbury Cricket Association's first-grade competition has now played three matches, aud there is only one of them that has not suffered defeat. The -unbeaten team is Linwood, which now has seven points to its credit. Christ's College has come up to second place, one point behind Linwood. West Christehnrch failed to hold its position on the premiership ladder. The. present position of the teams are shown by the appended table. 3-poiuts 2-points matches. matches. , A N K Xhp. VV. D. L. W. D. 1,. Pis. Linwood .. .. 1 -~ Christ's College.. 2 1 West Ch'ch .. Riccarton .... Sydenham .. .. 1 1 East Ch'ch .. .. Hoys' High Seh'l 1 St. Albans .. .. - - .'! 0 A Splendid Victory. The surprise of last Saturday afternoon was provided by the very decisive manner in which the Boys' High School team defeated West Christehnrch on the first innings—a defeat which postulated a complete reversal of form on the part of the School team. The School eleven was precisely the same as that which was routed by Christ's College just over a week before, but this time it appeared as a militant organisation, imbued with a matchwinning spirit, and showing nothing of the nervous tension which characterised its play against Christ's College. There, was verve in the batting, the bowling and the fielding of the School players, and if, retaining the confidence which the result of Saturday's game should have given them, they can rise to the same standard of play in their match in Auckland next week they should have a very excellent chance of bringing the Heathcote Williams Shieid'baek to Christehnrch. Possibly the West Christehnrch men held their opponents a little cheaply in the early part of the game, and possibly they had some idea of "giving the boys a chance." But even if such inclinations did affect their play to any extent, at first, the development of the game must have made them realise, that they were "up against it." As the game wore on, the, frequent, changes in the West Christchurch bowling" showed that the senior team was becoming anxious. But, started off with 107 for fiv-e wickets on the first afternoon. .of the game. School consolidated and improved its position, and finished up with the fine score of 355. The subsequent dismissal of West Christchurch for the poor score of 118 simply emphasised that School had the older team "on the run'' and had kept it there. It was a fine victory, and there can be no question that in this match it was the better team that won.

L. S. Woods, the High School captain, batted excellently for his 96, and it was a pity that he did not reach the century. Still, he must blame his own ardour for his dismissal when he needed only a boundary hit to reach the three figures. When he was nearing the hundred, he was hitting out just, a little too freely, without keeping the ball down, and a good catch by C. Hammond, in the deep-field, off a stroke that otherwise would have produced a four, dismissed him. Woods played nice strokes all round the wicket, but he scored chiefly with drives. A six—off Nelson, and a fine hit it was—aud 111 fours, were included in his tally. He iiave a chance on the first day, when he had scored four runs, but no others until he was dismissed.

Page's Fine Innings. The innings which most delighted the spectators was that of M. L. Page, for he is just a little chap, but he bats in gallant style. Going in at the fall of the sixth wicket, when the score was li)2, he set, about playing himself in very nicely, putting a straight bat in front of everything that was on the wicket. Presently a very pretty legglide aroused the onlookers to take notice that the little fellow was something more than a «tonewaller, and when he repeated the stroke a f<-\v minutes later it was hoped that he had rid himself of the bad luck that had attended his batting in the previous competition matches this season. When he had settled down thoroughly, he put the loose stuff away in line style, his leggliding an<l square-cutting being quite high-class. His partnership with Woods forced many a change in the bowling, and eventually C. S. Boxshall was given a turn with his "Zepps." But Page got out to Boxshall's dropping slows in great style, with neat, smart, foot-work and excellent timing, and after throe overs Boxshall had to be taken off again. Not once in his innings of 78 not out did Page give a chance of a catch. That his innings was not of a mere stonewalling type is shown by the fact that he got 10 fours. It was an admirable performance, and he was deservedly "chaired" in triumph to the pavilion when the School innings was finished. Woods and ho had simply collared the West bowling, and they put on 130 runs for the seventh wicket.

W. If. I!. Buekhurst, who took liis score from 17 to 35, and with Woods pot on 5,'! for tlio sixth wicket, played "oino nice shots, especially on the off, but he was lucky, as he gave a chance at .17, and another at 31. The latter chance produced an unusual amount of juggling with the ball, by Redpath, who was fielding at mid-on. Redpath made about seven attempts to hold the ball, and was quite an appreciable time in juggling with it and contorting himself into strange attitudes before he dropped it on to the ground.

Without any adventitious aids, the West Christchurch bowling did not rise to any high standard, but that fact does not materially lessen the merit of the School players'' performance, for the batsmen who did the scoring had played it with confidence from the start, and had not made the mistake of waiting to find out if it held any terrors for them. The story of the West attack is well told by the full analyses, which were as follows: —I>. Reese, 2!» overs, 6 maidens, 9.') runs, 3 wickets; 11. Wilson, 14, 2, 44, 1; Dr. J'. S. Foster (bowled on first day only), 4, 1, 10, 0; .(. A. Nelson, 13, 0, 76, 2; C. Hammond, 0, 2, 2.",, 2; VV. Holland, 4, 1, 15, 0; C. S. Boxshall, 3, 0, 17, 0; Sir C. Moon, 4, 0, 25, 1; 1). Redpath, 3, 1, 12, 1. "West's Batting Fails.

Encouraged by its batting success, High School set about attacking West

Christchnrch with good bowling and snappy fielding. West had just two hours in which to bat, and it had to

fake risks if it wanted to get anything better than a point for a drawn game. But, it had not bargained for the quality of the School out-cricket in this game, and after the first four or five batsmen had been sent back the thing became a rout. The start was a bad one, Woods bowling that excellent batsmen, Harold Watson, with a fine ball, at 25—1—16. Two runs Infer, Page, at point, smartly caught Hammond, off Buchhurst's bowling, licdpath, who had gone in first wicket down, apparently had realised that it was not such an occasion for risks, after all, for he was playing carefully. However, D. Kecse took to the bowling with great ardour, and double changes had to be worked. The second change bowler was P. T. Maxwell. Peese hit a four, a six and a two, and then tried to get another six off the last, ball of the over. It was a very high drive, too high to reach the boundary, and O. A. Wright, in the deep-field, took a magnificent running catch. Kecse had hit up 4:5, of which 32 came from boundary -hots, in a very short time. Redpath got 2:>, and then a very nice catch by J. N. Frascr, at third man, off Maxwell's bowling, settled him. Woods took up bowling again, and he and Maxwell finished the innings. G. S. Boxshall got 10 runs, ami then skied a ball from Woods. Wicket-keeper Morgan, running down the pitch, took the catch, and five wickets were down for 11.'!. Fraser took another nice catch nicely, this time from Sir Cecil Moon, off Maxwell. Woods cleaned-bowlcd H. Butters and 11. Wilson with good balls, the latter after Wright had taken another catch in the deep field, from Nelson, and Dr. P. S. Foster being absent —he has "joined up" for service on a hospital ship—the innings was over at 118. Woods's last three wickets cost only two runs; his slow ball and his "wrong 'un" had troubled most of the batsmen, especially after his relief by Mehrtens. Maxwell, a left-hander, who bowled over the wicket, and sent down several deliveries which pitched on the middle-pin and swung away, had ail his four victims caught out, the last three at a cost of seven runs. The full bowling analyses in this innings were:— L. S. Woods, 12.4 overs, 2 maidens, 47 runs, 4 wickets; W. H. B. Buckhurst, 8, 0. :!7, 1; F. W. Mehrtens, 2, 0, 9, 0; D. T. Maxwell, G, 2, 19, 4. West Christchnrch had to follow on, and when time was called had scored only .'59 for three wickets. Woods got two wickets for 12 runs, in seven overs, of which two were maidens. His victims were Boxshall and Holland, but he also had D. Reese missed off him, by Austin, in the long-field. D. Reese's wicket fell to Maxwell, at 24—.1— 5', his nephew, D. W. Reese, taking a running catch in the deep-field in spleudid style. H. Wilson, who got 14 not out, was missed off Maxwell, when he had scored three runs. Maxwell's figures this time were:—Six overs, no maidens, 27 runs, 1 wicket.

Christ's College Wins WeU. Imbued with confidence by its handsome win against Boys' High School, the Christ's College team set out after Sydenham's collective scalp, at Sydenham Park, and got it. On the first day the game was left in an interesting state, slightly in Sydenham's favour, but the latter team sadly disappointed its supporters bv being beaten by over fifty runs. College gaining a three-points win. College opened its second innings with A. F. Hindmarsh and 11. W. Maefarlane. The latter got, 10 runs, and then was well caught, one-handed, by E. N. Goring. T. C. Lowry filled the gap, and started pff smartly. He was rather inclined to lift his shots, but he batted very nicely, hitting all round the wicket and punishing everything inclined to be loose. He survived an appeal for Ibw, in which he was lucky in getting the verdict. He hit up 64 in just under the hour, including nine fours, and was looking like a century-maker when he hit one high over the bowler's head, which was accepted by Goring. The only other batsmen to gain double figures were S. D. Reeves (28), and J. N. Lowry (12 not out). The former batted verv carefully for his runs.

The fielding ami the number of chances missed by some of the Sydenham players were disgraceful for first, grade cricket, no end of catches being mulled. E. N. Goring was the most successful bowler on the Sydenham side. He was tlie. fourth bowler to be tried and finished up with the good figures of five for :t2. lie bowls righthanded, medium paced, with a slight break from the off, and keeps a good length. Sydenham started its second innings with 159 runs to got to win, but failed very badly. J. Gray was the only batsman who looked like making runs, hitting seven fours and one six in his score of 48, made in 27 minutes. The other batsmen to make doubles were J. McEwin (19, including one 6), and the veteran J. N. Fowke (not out, with 13), who ought to have been sent in earlier, ami no doubt would have saved the rot which set in early in the innings. W. L. Patrick survived an Ibw appeal, and, attempting to hit a (5 the next ball, was well caught by W. (1. Rich, well over (he bowler's head. The innings produced only 107 runs. Blunt got six wickets for 5.". runs, and 11. S. Hindmarsh got two for one. A Remarkable Innings.

The Linwood —St. Albans game, concluded at Lancaster Park, was a remarkable one, producing, as it did four records for the season. Linwood's second innings aggregate was 336 for four wickets; the runs were hit up in 140 minutes (120 of them in 33 minutes); Reg' Read's century took exactly 40 minutes to compile—this performance being a decidedly better one than his last season's 121 in 70 minutes in the final match against Bicearton; every man in the St. Alban's team, except the wicket-keeper, was put on to bowl. Two individual centuries in the one innings has been equalled only once previously this season. Linwood scored n, two-point win as (he result of the first-innings lead of four runs, gained a fortnight before. Thomas lost his opportunity of a three-pointer by not declaring his second innings closed earlier, but his resolve to continue until live o'clock was probably prompted by a desire to give Read a chance to reach the century rather than by that of making sure of a two-points win. As it turned out only seven St.. Albans' wickets had fallen when time was called, a fact due to the excellent innings of Gordon, who played just as the circumstances demanded —safely and soundly, without taking undue risks. When stumps were pulled he remained

undefeated with 45 runs to his credit. The wicket was in excellent order, while the outfield showed signs of having undergone considerable preparation in the fortnight that had intervened. A. Grant and E. G. Perrin started off Linwood's second innings, with a rattle, going for the weak bowling with exhilarating aggressiveness, the lefthander, in particular, adopting forcing tactics from the jump. The telegraph jumped to 80 in half an hour. The century appeared 13 minutes later, and its appearance w r as marked by the unusual circumstance of 1 lie wicket-keeper chasing the ball to the fence in a vin endeavour to save a boundary. The bowling was chopped and (hanged about until 117 was on the board. Grant hit Simpson into the next' parish, and in attempting another six, was well caught by Hatch off Simpson's bowling. His 69 'included 9 fours and :: si .es, and look 50 minutes to make. Perrin was then 46. McXae was al this perio I the only St. Albans bowler to give the batsmen any apparent trouble, lie was taken off after bowling six overs, which had cost 35 runs.

At ISB King was run out, with his s.-ore at 24. Perrin's then being 90. With Bead's arrival, Perrin reached his century, but six runs later, he w-as bowled by Hatch, the eighth St. Albans bowler tried. He had given a bright, chanceless display of forceful batting, cutting, pulling and driving with nice precision. His score took 94 minutes to compile, and included 15 fours and one six: 21G—3—100. Hatch clean-bowled Bool! next ball, and, when Read hit MeNae into Gordon's hands at, long-on it looked as though Linwood's star was on the wane. The catch was dropped, however, and Rend, who was then 15, went merrily on. He hit everything that came along, and the way the ball rattled against, the palings showed how excellently the strokes were timed. He went in at 4.10 and reached his hundred exactly 40 minutes later. He knocked 13 off one of Hatch's overs, and 25 off the first he got from Johns. His score -cads---6. 4, 1, 4. 4. 4, 1, 1, 1, 4, 6, 4, 2, 2, 6, 2, 2, 4, 4, 6, 6, 4, 4, 4. 2. 4. 2.2. 4. 4 —and it gives an idea of the batsman's aggressiveness. He saw 14.8 added while he was at the crease and gave only the one chance. Thomas, who joined him when Boe'.l was dismissed, also carried his bat. .

Interesting Bovrling Figures. . St. Albans' ten bowlers sent flown 27° balls in 140 minutes—quick going. These cost runs fit the average rate of 1.25 per ball. The bowlers worked as follows: —Reese and Johnston till 46: Reese an-1 Nightingale til! 57; MeNae nnd Nightinga'c till 98; Simpson and McNae till 140; Sinrpson ami Gordon till 165; Gordon and Andrews till 188; Gordon r.nd Hatch till 216; MeNae and Hatch till 260; Johns and -McNae till 316; McNae and Barrett till 336. The 36 balls sent down by Johns and Nightingale cost"88 runs while Reese's °4 cost 10. The best bowler on the side was undoubtedly McNae, who bowled 72 balls for 59 runs. He had decidedly bad luck in not getting a wicket. Hatch opened sensationally. His first ball was hit by Perrin for 4. His next two got wickets. Read, however, treated the remaining 27 rather unmercifully.

St. Albans made a mistake in not having rolled the wicket, off which over 300 runs had been scored. Read, who bowled consistently well throughout, found two spots —one well up and

another a few inches farther back —on the off side. From the latter the hall bumped awkwardly, while an occasional shooter shot in off the other. the side was set the impossible task of making over IS 10 runs in 90 minutes, batting was slower than that of Lin wood: nevertheless 57 was on the board in half an hour, when Reese sueeumhed to u beauty from Head, which nipped in "rom the off. Ten runs later, Nightingale was sent brick with a similar one, after making 37 in an attractive manner. Gordon then fame in, and saw J. S. Barrett, E. G. Johnston, W. Simpson, A. E. McXae, and S. Johns go. He started off with six" fours, and played

■■i sound innings, picking the likely ones with judgment. The wickets were well divided, the Linwood bowlers' analyses reading as follow: —Perrin: 5 overs, 0 maidens, 24 runs. 1 wicket; Thomas: 11— 4—31—2; Read: 20—5—52—3: (irnnt: 52 —20 —1. The fielding on both sides was keen, Barrett, the St. Albans point putting in some particularly smart returns, while the throw-in of Johns that dismissed King was a clever pieee of fielding. The catching was good. Read's life and one to McNae in the slips by Kirk, off Read, being the only mistakes in this department. St. Albans is likely to have many such leather-hunting experiences unless one or two bowlers are unearthed somewhere. Eiccarton's Win. E. E. Luttrell and G.Haines continued their innings for Riceartou against East Christchurch, their scores at the conclusion of the first day's play being 21 ami 15 respectively. Play opened last Saturday with the score at ]IG, and it was not till 24 runs had been added that Howell, bowling from the southern end, scattered Luttrell's wickets, 140-5-38. L. Davison joined Haines, and both were verv soon quite at home to the bowling. "At 1(50 Crichton replaced Williams at the northern end, and, along

; witli Howell, suffered a great deal of i punishment at the hands of Haines and i Davison. The former particularly was ! very aggressive, fours ci niing from his bat in quick succession. At 200 A. R. Blank took Cricditon's end, while Just i went on in plac-e of Howell. Blank ef- ' ferted a separation in his second over, Haines sending an easy one straight back. Haines rattled his 64 ujj with ! good hard hitting, -18 of his score I coming from boundary hits. 219-6-64. E. B. Caygill, who was making his first appearance this season, joined Davison. j and quickly put on 19, when he sent \ one off his pads on to his stumps. ,244-7-19. C. E. Guiney followed, but ; soon lost Davison, who was caught by j R'ank off Howell. Davison, who hit up the good total of 57 runs, had begun to slow down towards the end, when he should have opened out more. 267-8-57. McQuillan was next in, but was not eom- : fortable, and could rake only two together before falling a victim to Wil- ! Hams. 290-9-2. The innings olosed after another single had been added, Howell bowling Guiney, who had scored 22. I East Christchurch sent F. Woods, and i J. W. Crichton in to open against Davison and Nixon. The first wicket was not long in falling, Davison getting Crichton lbw in his second over. 17-1-3. A succession of fours was hit by Just off the next over from both bowlers. I Then Nixon : s third over included a wicket, that of F. Woods, who was clean ! bowled. 57-2-19. Just next knocked I two fours and a six from one of Davison 's overs, but he succumbed to the

first ball of Nixon's next over. Just's 37 included seven fours and a six. 74-3-37. G. Connal joined Blank, who secured most of the howling and scored steadily, hut Connal soon left, Nixon scattering his stumps. 0 3-4 2. Jones took ConuaFs place, hut did not staylong enough to score. 98-5-0. Ward was not associate.l with Blank, hut during a fairly long stay could scoro only seven. 122-6-7. William? caine in only to see Blank caught bv Guinev off Luttrell. 141-7-54. Flood and Williams hting together for a while against the howling oi Whitta and Luttrell. Both reached double figures before being bowled by Whitta.-' The last wicket fell at 6.5 p.m., with the total at 161. Riccarton gave East another kno<-k, and played havoc with the batsmen. o\vin;j to so many of East's men leaving the ground early it appeared for a while that Riccarton would secure a three-pointer, but Blank and Williams just managed to last out time. At 6.30 East lutd lost three wickets for 12 runs, and had only two wickets in hand, the other members of the team having departed. East's bowling analyses were:— Howell 23.2 overs, 4 maidens, SO runs, 4 wickets; Williams, 14, 3, 55. 2: Flood. 8, 0, 23, 0; Crichton, 12, 0, 73. 2; Just. 7, 2. 22, 0; Blank. 3, 0, 20, 1. Riccarton's bowling figures were:— Davison. 14 overs, 1 maiden. 74 runs, " wickets: Nixon. 11. 0. 46, .".; Luttrell 4.4, O, 23. 2: Whitta. 2, 0, 4. 2. THE DAY'S HONOURS. FIRST GRADE RATTING. E. G. Perrin (binwood) 106 R. Read (Linwood) 10V I. S. Woods (Roys' High School) .. 96 M. 1.. Page ißoys* High School) .. 78>A. Grant (Linwood) 69 T. C. Lowry i Christ's College) .. .. fii G. Haines (Riccarton) 64 L. Davison (Riccarton) 57 A. R. Rlank (East Christchurchi .. 54 SECOND GRADE BATTING. Gould (Christ's College) 11l G. Tate (Linwood! 104* J. Carrick (Riccarton) 85* C. L. Crowley (West Christchurch) 78* Illnckmore (West Christchurch) .. 69 L'nwjn (Riccarton) 57 Cowlishaw (Christ's College) .. .. 55 THIRD GRADE BATTTNG. Cooke (Christ's College A) 125t Wise (West Christchurch D.H.S.) .. 89 P::lmer (Technical College) .. .. 8.1 Johnston (Christ's College B) .. .. 68 Leckic ißovs' Histi School A) .. .. 59 Orchard (West Christchurch D.H.S.) 52 Talbot (Christ's College A) .... 51 •Not out. t Retired. FIRST GRADE BOWLEnG. D. T. Maxwell (Boys' High School), four for 19. E. N. Goring (Sydenham), live for 33. R. C. Blunt (Christ's College), six for U'.'. L. S. Woods (Boys' High Schoali, four IcP 47. SECOND GRADE ROWLING. Bissett (Linwood), three for 10. Zimmerman (West Christchurch*, Ave fop 20. Gould (Christ's College), four for 26. F. Grant (Linwood), three for 24. A. Dcy (West Christchurch), four for 43. THWD GRADE BOWLING. Orchard (West Christchurch D.H.S.), seven for 6. Yates (Technical College), five for 7 and live for 19. -Sinclair i. vßoys' High School B), three for 10. Wiseman (West Christchurch D.H.S.), ■*• three for 11. Stevens (Technical College), three for 12. Sinclair ii. (Boys' High School B), four for 27. Nicholson (Riccarton), six for GO. CHILDREN'S RESTLESSNESS dis. turb~ the household. Avoid narcotics but give hali'-teaspoonful doses of Fluenaol which allays fever without injurious c£Vtts. 1.6 and 2.6. S