HE WORLD OF SPORT.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13814, 21 November 1908, Page 9

HE WORLD OF SPORT.

CRICKET.

NOTES OF THE WEEK,

(By "Mid-on.")

The third round of the Saturday games was played on November 14. New Plymouth, taking a weak team down to Egmont Village, suffered defeat by 2? runs. The scores wereNew Plymouth 68 (Homer 33, Steeds 14); Egraont Village 95 '(O'Byrne 23, 11. Marsh 13, T. lvinsella 12.) Williams, suffering from an injured hand, was of little use to his side. • Steeds was unable to keep wickets for the same reason. Muldoon was the only remaining senior player in the eleven. McLaren camt to the rescue of his side in the bowling department. Striking a good length, he kept one end going for the best part of the- innings. He kept down tho runs, taking, four wickets for 15. Putts made a fair showing behind the wickets, but the play on neither side, with the exception of Homer's for the visitors, calls for any special mention. Homer went in when New Plymouth looked .to be in for a "rot," and, hitting at everything indiscriminately, saved the situation. ,SteedSj 'when getting well set, had the misfortune to hit his wicket. O'Byrne, of Inglewood (23), batted well for Egmont Village, but he should have- been out from the first ball, bowled, and he had "another life in the following over. United Service, A team v. High School proved an. interesting game.' The former, batting first, made 105, Ma^ kay (43) and Colvile (22) again proving themselves the mainstays of the eleven. Mackay is playing good cricket very consistently this year. The fielding of the boys was of a hjgh order, and compared very favourably with that of their opponents,- and Severne's bowling (five for 11) almost brought off a win for th© School. Ward was kept on too long, and had the change been made sooner there is little doubt that the match \vould have been won by the boys. Sinclair played a good innings (34) for the School, and Wills with 21 not out also did well. Colvile (five for 36) and- Mackay' (three for 23) wero responsible for most of the wickets. Mackay took a big risk in his * method of changing the bowlers. This nearly spelt disaster 'for his side. The boys are to be congratulated on ' the fine fight they made. United Service B played Fire Brigade, arid were robbed of an almost certain win outright by the unsportsmanlike conduct of their opponents in leaving the field after their own second innings. The Service's team were left ■with only 11 to get to win and an hour and a half left for play, but as onehalf of the Fire Brigade eleven had left the ground, they had to abandon the chance offered them and content themselves with a win on the first inliings by the narrow margin *of four* runs — a result which; by no means re---presented the merits of the. two teams on the day's play. Rule sof the IN.T-C.'A. provides .. that' during the. aiunibtraf NoveittoeTr; December; -VJkrin- J ary, arid February matches shall continue till 6.30 p.m., so, had Fire Brigade led on the first innings by the four runs, they would have lost the - match' on a protest by their action. Sonthall bowled with great success, taking in all 15 wickeis for 31 runs. Lash took five for 21. The Thursday matches Had all to be postponed on account of the weather. The rain will, however, do an immense amount of good to the grounds, which were getting very hard- and fiery. The Recreation ground has been cut, and the outfielding will be much improved i>y the application of the big horseyoHer. . The following table shows the positions of the clubs in the two competitions i— Thursday Competition.

Surely it is time that superfluous farce the "trial ball" was eliminated from cup cricket. For years it has ■ completely disappeared from clubi cricket in England. It only survives' in village cricket. Rule 18 of the revised laws of cricket reads: "At the liegijijjjing of the match, and of each 5 nnings, the umpire at the howler's tvicket -sikstll call 'Play' ; from, tl^at iime no <feriaj ball shall be allowed to any bowler on jtjke ground between the iciekets." The general opinion seems (to be that it rests with the batsman whether or not he wiH have a trial ball fowled to him, f>ut this is not the c«»G. It is astonishing 'how few cricketers are thoroughly conversant with the rules of the game, and as unfortunately we have to draw our^ umpires «M most cup games either from onXottkers who may be on the groxind or irom the players themselves, it is, sad to ret&ie, too often- thai we see glaring mistakes made, which very often decide the fate of matches. In mo^ ie«ses the l.b.w. rule furnishes the greater number of victims. How freqaetitly we see a batsman given out I.lmv. itd a right-handed, bowle* bowlIng round the wicket, the batsman "himself befog right-handed. -Take -a ruler and draw a," diagram of a cricket pitch, rulo off lines from the outside edge of the bowling crease to the off and leg stumps of the opposite wickets, and you will see^that a ball to get a man out l.b.w. must pitch very nearly full to do so, and the batsman must tie covering his middle stump. It is jjusi barely possible that a man may be •out *mder these conditions, and a bowser rhig&tjb think himself lucky to get *) ne decision in his favour in a season, yefc hardly a anatch is played in which ait least one "batsman does not sorrowfully wend ids way fcaek to the pavilion» "umpired out." Umpires should bear lit mind that they imjsfc invariably jrivi? the batsman the benefit <uf . the <loubt. The law is most explicit qix tliis point.

At Christciiurefe Jast Saturday A. E. Ridley, playing for Ljnwood against Hiccartott, compiled 217 ru«s. It is described as the best innings #y<er played in cup matches in Christchurch. It establishes a new record in Chtrjstchnrda. cricket, lbs >|«ieyi9»s best being

, Lusk's 200 not out. Linwood's first innings yielded 402 runs. A. Sims is due back in Christchurch at the end of the present week, and cricketers generally wilr warmly welcome his return (says the Weekly Press). He has been remarkably consistent with the bat for London, County j during the past t\vo seasons, and t should prove a tow6r of strength to the East Christchurch Club, as well as the province. x At Christchurch last week a match took place between a Canterbury eleven and Fifteen Colts, who included Humphreys, the English professional who recently arrived in the Dominion. The Colts just won on time. Writing of Humphrey's .performance in the match "The Native" of the Weekly Press says: f'He came through the ordeal with credit to himself and to the entire satisfaction of the critics. Both as a batsman and bowler, ho will be a tower of strength to the Canterbury reps. He gave a taste of his quality as a batsman on Friday by making 53, and he scored his runs by beautiful strokes. In style he is not so finished a bat as many of the champions I. have seen here. In playing forward to a length ball he adopts a somewhat crouching attitude, and this rather detracts from the grace of his movements. But for all this, there is no question as to the quality of his batting. To the good ball he presents a straight bat, and when he gets .accustomed to our wickets he will be a hard man to dislodge. . He drives along the . carpet beautifully, and there is great power behind these strokes^ He is also very ' clever at flicking leg balls away to fine leg. He is remarkably quick on his feet, and this is doubtless an important factor in his batting." " Tho London correspondent of the Christchurch Press, writing under date September 25, says : The first-class cricketing career of tho Jam Sahib of Nawanagar ; better known as Prince Ranjitsinhji, is at an end. It is extremely doubtful if the English public will ever see him in the cricket field again. Tho sportsman Prince, who for tho past six months has made his home at Shillinglee Park, Sussex, has booked his return passage to India on the boat which leaves England on .December 3. The' Prince is now in perfect health, his "sick leave" over here having enabled him to recover completely from the effects of enteric fever and asthma. The Jam Sahib, much as he regrets the coniing parting from England and English friends, who one and all, from the King downwards, have united to- make his sojourn pleasant, is going back to India for a single reason which includes all others. He believes it to' be his destiny. C. Wordsworth, of.Redfern, has, been engaged by, the Ofcago Cricket Association as cricketer and coach. A fastmedium to fast right-hand bowler and a batsn.an, he has been '» fair performer in the First Grade for two or three seasons (says the Sydncv Referee). In all three coaches "are being engaged by Otago at a cost of £3 per week for 24 weeks, and the\ likelihood of other employment in- the winter season. ■ A peculiar point in the Laws .of 'Cricl^-J^'Bip^Ut4orw^a'd ; bx^6^ref spondent of the Sydney Arrow. B/e v writes: "If when batting the batsman lets go the bat with one hand, and the ,ball,» v tpuchhig this hand, is caught, is he out? v (Phis incident happened in the. rnatdi, Beecroft v. Thornleigh B, in the -Northern District C.A., last Saturday, October 31, and catised a deal of argument, tho umpire giving him not out." "Gulliver," Jn the Arrow, made tho following comment: "Under the Laws of Cricket the batsman is out, though we have never seen a man dismissed in that way. The law is clear, viz., 'The striker is out, caught, if the ball from a stroke of the bat or hand, but not the wrist, be held before it touch the ground.' The law does not provide only for 'the hand (with bat),' "

v.UflWon. Lost, finished. 1 Pts. 1. AVaitara 2,0 a 2 % Urenui 2 1 0 2 3. Carrington lid 1 0 2 1 ' 4. Inglewood.... 1 0 '21 5. "Wanderers... 0 2 1,0 6. Rovers 0 3 0 0 Saturday Competition. New Plymouth 2 1 0 2 Unit. Service A 2 1 0 2 Unit. .Service ß 2 1 0-2 High School ... 2 1 0 2 Fire Brigade.... 0 3 0 0