DISTRICT CRICKET.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume IV, Issue 938, 12 February 1917, Page 2

DISTRICT CRICKET.

WET WEATHER MATCHES. It is unusual for two consecutive Saturdays in the cricket season to bo wet. It is rarer still for two such Saturdays to coincide with the first and second days of one series of district cricket matches in Christchurch. So the series which finished last Saturday—the seventh in the Canterbury Cricket Association's first grade competition—has at least one distinction, although a distinction whose absence would not have been regretted. Last Saturday the. weather was worse than it was a week before. After trying several points of the compass, the wind came from the south-west, blowing up rain, and consequently the grounds at Hagley Park were the least comfortable. Play was carried on between the worst of the showers, but as the afternoon wore on the rain became steady, and the games had to be closed down much before the usual time. The results of the games left Linwood with an increased lead for the premiership, it having scored . another three-point win over a weakened Sydenham team. West Christchurch and Rieeartoii did not reach even a firstinnings result in their game, and so they halved the minimum points, leaving them in the same relative positions as before. A two-points win for East Christchurch over Christ's College brought the former up to the same rung of the championship ladder as the College team stands on, a position which is also shared by Sydenham. St. Albans found Fortune against the hopedfor throe-point win against Bovs' High School, and it\had to be content with a victory on the first innings. The positions of the teams are shown by the following table: —

A Summary Finish, Absence from the city kept D. Reese and D. Redpath out of the West Christchurch team on the first day of its match with Riccarton, but Reese played la.st Saturday, and his presence was not particularly relished by the Eiccarton batsmen. From 223 for four wickets—the state at the etrd of the first day's play—the Eiccarton score slumped to 277 for the whole side, and that, was chiefly d\ie to Reese's bowling. 11. B. Whitta, whose score was then 101, and M. O. Sinclair, with 39 to his credit, resumed the batting, against the bowling of BeeSe and IT. B. Lusk. The batsmen scored well off Lusk's bowling on tho wet wicket, but they had to be more careful with Reese. When the score read 248, Sinclair, now 45, was bowled by Reese. The Whit.ta-Sinclair partnership had produced 142 runs. E. J. McQuillan was soon run out, and A. E. Byrne was bowled by the first, ball he received from Reese'. Then Whitta, who had shifted his score along to 130, which included 16 fours, lifted a ball'from Lusk into tho ready hands of Reese, at mid-off. L. Davison got a couple of boundaries and a two, but R. J. Nixon soon succumbed to Eeese, and that finished the innings, the eleventh man, A. W. Olson, having preferred watching trotters to helping his team. West, Christchureh's bowling figures were as follow: —IT. B. Lusk, 16 overs, 4 maidens, 52 runs, 1 wieket; C. Zimmerman, 10, 1, 42, 0; H. C. Watson, 16 .'!, 52, 1; C. Hammond, 18, 3. 52, 1; G. Ollivier, 9, 3, 28, 2; W. O. Holland, 3, 0, 12, 0; D. Reese r s.4i 1, 15, 3. The frequent stoppages on account of the rain left West Christchurch with but little time for scoring the runs needed for a win on the first innings, and apparently the team had no hone of getting them. But the opening batsmen, Lusk and Watson, were soon going in a brisk, confident fashion. The wicket was too wet, for the bowlers to get much turn on it, but, strange as it may sound, they- had a dry ball. The Riccarton Club uses waterproof balls, of English manufacture, and experience has proved that they arc really waterproof. Davison and Nixon were the bowlers. Watson gave a chance off the former's first, over, to Zimmerman, who was fielding as a substitute, at point, but, it was declined. After a couple of overs the batsmen pushed the score along. Lusk hit 13 off one of Davison's early overs. At, 18 Watson gave a fieldman a chance of running him out, but. it was not taken. Playing some very nice shots all-round the wicket, Watson got. 32 runs, which included six fours, before Davison bowled him with a fine, ball which just got the bails. The total score then was 69. Lusk was at 33. Play was stopned again because of the heavy rain. Then R. E. 80.n.g joined Lusk and got five runs, while his partner added 17. The next, stoppage was for the abandonment of the game, with West's score at 91 for one wicket. Lusk had made 50 not out. including five fours, in his usual confident, bright way. The Riccarton bowling figures were: Nixon, 6 overs, 1 maiden, 28 runs, 0 wickets; Davison, 9, 0, 42, 1; Sinclair, 3, 0, 17, 0. Lin-wood's Easy Win. Linwood and Sydenham continued their match at Lancaster Park. On the previous Saturday, Sydenham was left in a hopeless position, having made

only 20 runs in its first innings, to Linwood's 120 for five wickets. Last Saturday, E. l'crrin (60), ami W. King (22), the not-out men from the previous Saturday's play, opened to .1. Martin ami E. N. Goring. Runs came freely until they reached 139, when King was run out from a very smart return from E. Road, who was fielding as a substitute, Winsor ma!:ingT»o mistake behind the wickets. P. Lye fiVled the breach, and Perrin continued to score freely. Hitting at. everything loose, and taking plenty of risks, he reached his 100 in 119 minutes. Lye batted carefully, and made ,'!2 in fair style. P. Fleete filled Lye's place. Then rain stopped play, and after waiting for a -while Thomas decided to close Linwood's innings, which had reached 220 for seven wickets. Perrin was still unbeaten. Sydenham's bowling was not up to its usual form. Mcßeth being an absentee, the bulk of the bowling fell on Martin and Goring. The latter seemed to bowl too much at the batsmen's legs instead of the stumtis, which appeared to meet with Perrin'3,approval. Sydenham opened its second innings at "4 o'clock, with W. P. Patrick and J. Gray, to the bowling of E. Perrin and R. Read, the latter from the south end. Patrick did not. stay .long. After making' one run he was clean bowled by Road, with a ball that broke in from Hie off. J. Glarkson, a promoted junior, took his skipper's place, and commenced to bat in good style. He is a right-handed batsman, with some good strokes, and plenty of powder behind them; he hit five fours in his total of 26. Gray was out lbw.to Read before he was set. S. Hineksinan took Gray's place and he and Clarkson made things merry for a while. Runs came quickly, and the pair added 55 runs for the third wicket. Hineksman batted for 26. minutes for .'ll, including seven fours. All the other batsmen were unable to do anything with Read, with the exception of Martin, who batted nicely f,or 14, when he was badly beaten by Read, who removed the middle stump from the ground. Sydenham batted two men short, D. Mcßeth and F.O'Malley being the absent men. O'Malley has left for camp, to join the colours. Read got all the eight Sydenham wickets at a cost of 45 runs. .Ilia bowling was deadly, it being almost impossible to play him on the greasy wicket. E. Perrin and A. Thomas both bowied five overs, but failed to get a wicket. Linwood won the match by an innings and 10; i runs. ........ »! The bowling analyses were as follow: Sydenham (Linwood 's first innings).D. Mcßeth, 11 overs, 2 maidens, 39 runs, 5 wickets; J. Martin, 19, 2, 74, 1; E. N. Goring, 11, 1, 55, 0; J. Gray, 50, 25, 0. Liu wood (Sydenham's second innings).—R. Read, 9.1 overs, 0 maidens, 45 runs, S wickets; E. Perrin, 5, 0, 25, 0; A. W. Thomas, 5, 1, 13, 0. East and Christ's College.

Rain fell intermittently during the latter part of East Christchureh 's innings against Christ's College, on the College ground, and set in steadily when the College's second innings had been in progress about an hour. After one lengthy adjournment play was finally abandoned as half-past five approached, College's aggregate for the first innings and two wickets of the second being still 29 short of that compiled by the East Christchureh batsmen in the first and only innings they had. A, E. Ward added another to the East Christchureh century list. With 70 to his credit, when play was resumed, he continued batting • with confidence and with some luck. When he had added 13 to his previous week's score he was badly missed at third man by S'lgdcn, off H. 8. Hindmarsh. Soon afterwards he reached the century and went merrily on to 112, when he was again missed, at short slip, by Edmond, off Sugden. He was eventually bowled by Boulnois when his score stood at 122 and the total at 210. Under the circumstances his innings was an excellent one, being chanceless until the catches recorded above were given. It included 19 fours. W. Cunningham again showed good form with the bat, and had 37 to his credit when 11. S. Hindmarsh got him with a beauty. His slowness between the wickets is a fault that probably will be remedied as he gains experience. During his long association with A. E. Ward, quite .10 runs were lost owing to his inclination to admire the fieldsmen rather than to watch his partner. Of the other East Christchureh batsmen C. Just was the only ono to take advantage of the bowlers' difficulties. He ran up 33 by the agency of eight strokes —his score reading 4,' 4, 1, C, 4, 4, 0. 4. The innings closed, just on 4 o'clock, for 255, W. Howell arriving on the scene just too late to get a strike, which was something of a. disappointment, as, with two hard-hitting batsmen of his and Just's type associated, the spectators would probably have seen some exhilarating cricket. * College tried eight bowlers. Palmer securing two wickets for 5, Blunt 2 for 46, n. S. Hindmarsh three for 50, and Boulnois one for 36. The -score-books were kept very slovenly, and it is something of a pity that both clubs are without the services of a competent scorer. Several plavers and others had a "go" at the one book in whieh an attempt had been made to record the bowling analyses, but the results arrived at were all at variance, owing to the difficulty experienced in deciphering the figures. In East's scorehook no' record of the College bowling wa.s made at all.

Christ's College, in the second hinings, made n much better showing, and had 129 up for the loss of onlv two wickets when nlnv wns stormed. Tt. C. Rtunt and A. F. Hindmarsh opened steadily, and gradually carried the score along until it looked as though the deficit of l.ffl was to be wiped off without Io«s. With his score at 67, however, Blunt drove one back hard to U. Lawrence, who was bowling nnder-arin stuff and retired. ITindmnrsh, who wns then 30-odd, soon lost IMmond, who foil a victim to CunninjJham, the eighth East Christchurch bowler tried. Boon after the advent of the younger Hindrnarsh, rain began to fall more heavily than ever, and play was stopped for the day. A. F. TTindmarsh (50 not out 1 ) shared with Blunt the batting honours. lie has a variety of strokes and an excellent defence. With a little more aggressiveness in his driving, he will develop into a most attractive batsman. Blunt, too, has all the characteristics of a promising cricketer. St. Albans Wins. The continuation of the Boys' High School v. yt. Albans match at Hagley Park resulted in a two-points win for St. Albans. Both teams completed their first innings on the first Saturday, St. Albans scoring 24G, and School 77.

School's innings last Saturday produced 172 runs for six wickets. This total included 55 not out by Powell, 33 l>y 0. W. Reese, and 23 by'E. Bowet. Shortly after the commencement of the innings, a heavy downpour set in, which necessitated a temporary adjournment, when only 13 runs had been scored. After the weather cleared a little the innings continued quietly, with slow scoring. D. W. Reese and R. G. Burns, who went in first, wore dismissed by catches oil' deliveries from Johnson. After a spell of more slow play, the rain again commenced, and this time continued. The game went on for some time until it was decided to declare at 175, with R. Powell not out, and two lads s'ill to bat. Powell batted verv well for his 55 not out. The following are the detailed bowling analyses of the innings. E. G. Johnson. 14 overs. <i maidens, 47 runs, 3 Wickets; A. E. McNae. 8, 3, 35, 2; R. Andrews. 4. 1, 13. 0; H. S. Nightingale. 5. 1, IS, 0: W. Simpson, 4, 1, 22, 0; S. Johns, 7, 2, 28, 1. THE DAY'S HONOURS. FinST GRAPE BAITING. H. B. Whttta (Riccarton) 130 A. V.. Ward (Enst Christchurch) .. Vl'l E. Pcr'-'n (Linwood) IV)* R. C. Blunt (Chr'st's College) .. .. 67 R. Powell (Boys' H'sh School) .. f. r >* A. F. Hmdmnrsh (Chest's College) 50* H. B. L»sk 'West Christchurch) .. 50* SECOND GRADE BATTING. Jnckmnn (Si. Albans B) 101* C. Unwin (Riccarton) 101 Jenkins (St. Albans B) 74* THIBD GRADE BATTING. M. 11. Strnchan (Christ's Cq!l«ec A) 115f Vise (West Christchurch D.H.S.) .. to.j Harris (Sydenham) 105 G. E. Talbot (Christ's College R) .. 70 Sinclair (West Christchurch D.H.S.) s<> Dickson (Riccarton) .. 54 * Not out. f Retired. FIRST GRADE BOWLING. D. Reese (West CHrlstchnrchf, three for 15. R. Rend (LJmvood), cislit for 45. D. Mcßeth (Sydenham), five for 39. SECOND GRADE BOWLING. .1. Young (Sydenham), three for 7. K. Perrin (Linwood;, four for 23. C. FVanels, jiin. (Linwood), five for 11. S. W. Hickmott (St. Albans A), six for 62.

3-points 2-points matches. ina itches. W. D. X. D. I.. i>ts'. I .In wood . 3 — — — 1 15 West Christchurch 1 — 1 :t 1 1 10 Biccarton — — —• 4 1 2 9 Svdenhnm 2 — 2 — — 3 f> Christ’s College .. 2 — 1 ■— — 1 (i Ivast Christchurch ■— — 2 3 — 2 fi St. Albans .. 1 — 1 1 — 4 5 Boys’ High School — — 2 1 — 1 2