WITH BAT AND BALL

Taranaki Daily News, 8 February 1934, Page 10

WITH BAT AND BALL

CHRISTENSEN’S PROSPECTS ' rtORTH TARANAKI MATCHES. ■ PERFORMANCES .OF ’KEEPERS. i .13 . ." V-’’ ■■■ ■.■■■■-— ■ ~ There were-few surprises in the competition matches on Saturday. Old Boys’ dedared with-a comparatively safe total as they did the week .previously, and again New Plymouth failed. Park again defeated High School oh the first innings,, and again -the. same School batsmen scored double• figures.. ■ ThtFarrangements made by the North division of the Taranaki cricket associa-. tion this ..season have ..not been vepr satisfactory. Admittedly unsettled wea-. ther and games have interrupted the usual smooth running of fixtures, , but in-.the opinion of many cricket- followers "it would have been more satisfactory to have left the interrupted round in abeyance and carried on with the 'usual- change of matches. Players 'lose interest and spectators become .caustic critics when matches • are repeated ’in succession, which has happened twice this season. After all variety is ;the Spice of life. That axiom stands in cricket.;

Improving All-round. E. Christensen’s great performance on Western Park last Saturday stands out as a beacon of brilliance in a rather stodgy afternoon’s .sport. As was indicated in these notes after the Poverty Bay match Christensen, once he concentrates on length and allows his freedom of action and delivery to develop his speed and govern length, stands supreme as one of the most effective wicket-getters among the minor associations. Last week the policy of sending the fast bowler last to the wicket was criticised in this column. On Saturday he opened with the steady. Syd. Fookes, and although he did not make a large score he was quite comfortable against the bowling of Crapper and Groombridge. at its peak, and was unlucky to be held so brilliantly by the reliable Hawkins behind the stumps. Christensen should be among the Taranaki nominations fojf-the Country team next year. A spell of coaching from a good batsman would assist in his development as a passible Plunket Shield player in a season or two. Birch Consistent

Bowlers undoubtedly had a field day last week oh a batsman’d wicket. Birch was the only man in the four teams to show eonfidefice in his run-getting, and his 235 nine in his last six innings place him as Old- Boys’ leading batsman this season.

The Larkin Brothers. The Larkin brothers brought the family name to the fore.on Saturday at the. High School ground, both topping their respective side’s individual totals. L. I seems to have reached batting form at last, and a lift nearer the top in the batting order should allow him to gather more runs. Tom requires two more essentials to consolidate his claim to representative honours—a good deal of ground-fielding practice, and lessons in alert -deportment on the field. Two Newcomers. .

The two New Plymouth batsmen, Gibbins and Lawrence, have probably played their last games as Senior B players this season, as Gibbins’ consistent form arid Lawrence’s confidence in the face of : difficult bowling must surely have assured.'the selectors of their value to the A team. New Plymouth’s opening batting order might well be -next Saturday: Nasmith, Kinsella, Davison, Gibbins and Lawrence.

The Wicketkeepers. AIL teams-had a good assistant in "Mr. Extra.” New Plymouth gained 20 out of 100 runs scored,” Birch dropping one catch and. allowing, a good many to pass him, although six were difficult • leg byes. Hawkins accepted a brilliant eatch, but allowed 16 extras, of which three were leg byes. Park and School, not having Christensen and Crapper to contend with, were more fortunate. Bullot allowed 14 extras, three leg byes included. Biggar was the most successful, allowing, only 10, six being leg byes. ; /dually only two balls that he might ’ have’ taken passed him. In large scores some extras are expected, but in total tallies of no more than a hundred or so double figure extras may cost the game. The success of the four wicketkeepers in dismissing batsmen so far this season is as follows:— Hawkins (New Plymouth), 11 catches, 4 Stumped,-total 15; Biggar (Western Park), 3, 2, 5; Bullot (High School),' 2,1, 3; Birch (Old Boys), 2, -, 2. Hawkins’ failure as a batsman rather puts him out of representative consideration, but he has fully proved his value behind the sticks to New Plymouth. Watch That Field.

Two fielding errors at Western Park were' noticed 'on Saturday.' Birch, in scoring 30 odd runs on the leg side off Crapper indicated the first. Crapper whs bowling more on the middle and leg stump than to. off, and yet three slips md one square leg were placed. Groombridge at first slip never fielded a-ball, ilthough his taking of six wifkete for his afternoon’s work was a creditable performance of steady good length bowling. Nasmith or Crapper himself should have seen the obvious and moved Groombridge to extra leg. The alternative, of course, should have been “off theory” to a field placed for such bowling. ' ' The second mistake was Old Boys placing of gully on the boundary. He stopped two fours but three short catches went astray Owing to his being too deep. Gully is always placed deeper than first, and second slips but if a boundary-fields-man is required, gifily should retain his position and an extra man drop back to the boundary.

ladies’ Notes. Cricket enthusiasts claim that one of the greatest features of the game is its great potentiality for the unexpected. Discreet inquiries disclose that this . charm is probably much greater in women’s cricket than in men’s competitions. For instance, an enthusiastic woman player the other day was discussing Some' of her team’s disappointments this season. One. of the greatest was that after the side’s star bowler had secured nino wickets for five runs the side lost the match I A Pair of “Specs.” Victor Richardson, captain of the Australian team which is to tour New Zealand, is a free and dashing batsman with plenty of spirit. A team mate once said of him, “If he does not get a score in the first innings he will get one in the second—he never fails completely.” Once, however, Richardson got a pair of specs against New Zealand. That was in 1925, when the New Zealand team under W. R. Patrick was touring Australia. Richardson was caught by C. F. W. Alcott off R. W. Hope in the first innings and was stumped by T. C. Lowry off R. C. Blunt in the second.

Bail Performances. When R. H. Cleave, the Auckland representative cricketer, was bowled by C. Elmes in the recent Plunket Shield match against Otago at Eden Park, one

of the bails: performed a most uppsual and peculiar trick. The ball hit the leg ahd 1 middle ; stumps. 'One bail. fell to the ground’and the other flew into the air, turned over , two or three times, and then came to rest in the. centre groove of the middle stump. When McCormick, the Richmond .(Victoria) .fast., bowler, clean bowled Mullett in a district cricket match at Essendon, one of the* bails flew 60 : yards through the air, and- finished between the football boundary line and the fence. McCormick’s pace beat most of the Essendon batsmen, and he finished with six wickets for 79. ■

Progress in Country Districts. All cricket enthusiasts will be pleased to note the’progress'the game is making in the country districts of Taranaki. The North Taranaki Country Association has become a live organisation and plays an important part in- Taranaki cricket. Its success is due to the fact that its organisation caters essentially for country cricket. The hours of play are' fixed to suit .the exigencies of: farming and so too is the spell between the rounds. In South Taranaki a somewhat similar rural association has • been formed around Eltham, Mangamingi,. Fraser Road, Normanby, Okaiawa etc., and all will wish it success. Though it is difficult to gauge the' standard of its cricket at present, there is no reason why the association should not turn out a Taranaki representative or two as the northern association has done. At any rate an indication of its strength will be given to-day, when it is playing A and B representative matches against the North Country Association. The latter is taking no chances, however, as it has selected its strongest ' eleven to meet the A team. Indeed, the eleven contains Norm Giddy, who has performed so well in Hawke Cup matches this year, Stan Giddy and Spence Giddy, who have represented Taranaki, as well as others who have represented North Taranaki. It is a formidable side that would be capable of extending the elect of North or South Taranaki. In order to select its~B team the North County Association arranged a trial match during last week-end between its Thursday players and the next best of its Saturday players. As a result a strong eleven has been selected. If the rural association so early in its career can make a creditable showing against the North Country representative teams it will have made a- very satisfactory start indeed.

Saturday Competition. The Saturday competition has advanced a further stage, two matches of the second of the series of second round matches being played. It looks now as though the issue will be between Tarurutangi and Urenui, which are both level in the lead with ten points. Brixton A, which was well in the running, has now dropped back to third place, two points below the leaders, though having played one match more. Last Saturday Brixton A suffered its second defeat at the hands of Urenui. W. Sheard, the northern team’s-fast bowler, again played-a leading part. This time he scored 67 runs .and captured four wickets for six runs, 'whereas last time he scored 76 and captured three for 15. He is a punishing (batsman when he gets going, as he has done frequently this season. Ron Wilson, the slow bowler, also did damage, capturing six for 33 this time and seven for eight in the first round match. M. Jonas, 37, also proved a valuable batsman. Tarurutangi had no trouble in defeating Brixton B .as anticipated. The latter club’s bowlers, A.’ Arms and N. Hall, kept the Tarurutangi score to reasonable dimensions, though J. Gayler did not prove as deadly as usual, but the Brixton B batsman could not handle the bowling of Norm Giddy, Spenci Giddy and L. Bishop, who had a field day. Penny’s Excellent Bowling.

Penny, the Hawera skipper, has had an excellent, season so far With the ball and topped his performance by taking seven wickets for 40 runs against Kaponga on Saturday. He had Kaponga on the run at one stage, getting rid of S. .and V. Betts, Reg. Eden and Court very . cheaply. As, however, the Hawera batsmen had failed his-splendid effort did not bring success. He can still turn the ball sharply and with a little assistance from the wicket can make the batsmen make mistakes. S. Betts Treated With Care.

The other outstanding performance of the match was S. Betts’ bowling. The resp’-ct he commanded was such that only two of his overs were scored off, a single in each.- He commenced batting very well but once again fell a victim to frying to score too rapidly, Fraser taking a good catch well out. Hawera B’s Fielding Lapses.

Hawera scarcely looked like a cricket team in the senior B match with Manaia. The team owes its position at the top of the table mainly to its fielding, which has been well above the standard of other teams. When the fielding slumped on Saturday it let Manaia, which played its strongest team this season, have a good win. The veteran Hobday gave an excellent display with the bat for the winners, and the advantage was rammed home by good outcricket, with Nelson and C. Whalen doing the damage.

Power Board Wins Again. Power Board has “the Indian sign” on Opunake. Though Power Board’s win on Saturday was not as crushing as in the first round game at Opunake it was decisive enough, the Hawera team scoring twice as many as its opponents. The Hughes brothers and Lendrum really won the match with their well varied bowling. If Power Board could only produce this form in every game there is no doubt which team would be leading in the competition.

Old. Boys and Stratford. Once the bowling of Foley for Stratford and Sturrock for Old Boys has been remarked on there is not a great deal in the game at Stratford which calls for comment. It was simply a case of one bowler dominating each innings. Foley is a find as far as Stratford is concerned and had not the team been weakened by the loss of Sandford and Wilson, who have left the district, and others who are on holiday, the High School boy might not have had the chance to show his capabilities in senior A cricket, especially against an eleven of Old Boys’ calibre. He clean bowled Thrush, H. Barker and Beamish, while Duke, Sargent, Brett and Pritchard were caught off his bowling. Low Individual Scores.

Moloney made 22 and the top score of the game. Nobody else could get into the twenties. In the Stratford score Beere’s 10 constituted the only double figure entry. He was unlucky to have been run out at that stage, for had he settled down he might have inspired the remaining seven men. As it was they scored ten runs among them. Sturrock was the fly in the ointment where Stratford was concerned and though he clean bowled only one of -the six batsmen whose wickets he took he was sending down a' tricky type of ball that gave the fieldsmen every opportunity. The Stratford fielding was poor' in comparison with Old Boys’ and is a department of the game on which Stratford could concentrate to advantage.