CRICKET

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 18796, 7 February 1931, Page 14

CRICKET

C. A. Roach, the West Indies outfield, performed gloriously against Australia (says an Australian writer). His speed and picking-up were of the highest order. We are seeing some inspiring outfielding this season.

In the course of his latest century, Taylor completed his 2,000 runs for South Africa against England, the average being 45 per innings (says an exchange). This places him in line with the. finest batsmen that have ever played for Australia, seeing that he had to face Barnes and Foster when that invincible pair were in their prime, establishing a reputation as a combination that has, perhaps, never been surpassed by any other contemporary pair of Englishmen on good wickets.

In R. W. Hope, the Petone Club possesses a good fast bowler (says the “Dominion”). He accompanied the New Zealand team to Australia in the 1925-26 season, and that he can still rock them in at rare pace he proved oh the Petone Oval on Saturday, when he secured eight Midland wickets for 83 runs. He clean bowled Shepherd, V/. Dustin, Clark, Cutts, and Bryant, got Doneghue 1.b.w., and had Baker and Morgan caught off his flying deliveries.

What with the selection of the New Zealand team and the appointment of a manager, the appointment of a scorer, and baggage man has been overlooked by most cricket followers, but the question was opened locally during the course of the week when reference was made to a statemen appearing in an Australian paper that Mr. W. Ferguson, the Australian eleven scorer, had been appointed to the position at a fixed salary, says a Dunedin paper. No confirmation or denial of this statement appears to have been made yet by the New Zealand Council, but it does seem rather unusual on the face of it for the council to go outside the Dominion in making such an appointment. There are men in New Zealand who have given good service to the game who are entitled to be considered for this position, and local cricket administrators have persistently put forward the claims of Mr. W. A. Rowland, who has for years acted as Otago’s scorer at home and away. The writer ventures to assert that Mr. Rowland has no superior in the Dominion as a scorer, he has been a valued committeeman of the Otago Cricket Association for many years, and as secretary of the Grange Club over a considerable period has placed the old North-end club in a strong

Dosition. He has had a long experimce of cricket both as a player and in administrator, and has acted as

(By “STUMP”)

manager of Otago teams, and it may also be mentioned that Mr. Rowland has shown himself to be possessed of considerable organising ability by the way he has controlled the meetings that have been held at the Speedway Royal, where he is the clerk of the course. It would be well worth the while of the Otago Cricket Association to place the claims of Mr Rowland before the New Zealand Council, as he is an ideal man for the position of scorer with the New Zealand team in England.

Alan Kippax has made 32 centuries in first-class cricket, and W. H. Pons- ; ford 37. These batsmen and Don Bradman have far to travel before they j eclipse the best records of the older players. W. Bardsley heads list with , 56. C. G. Macartney comes next with 51, and the W. W. Armstrong 46, C. Hill 45, and V. Trumper 43; M. A. Noble 37, and H. L. Collins 36. Bardsley, Macartney, .and Armstrong would have added, a few . more but for the outbreak of the war in 1914

Cricket is a game that lends itself to unusual happenings, but. surely this strange coincidence occurs but seldom (states the Sun). Six matches were in progress at Kugiey. Park recently, and at one stage a wicket in each game fell within the space of a minute or two. So the eager cricket enthusiasts seated round the ground who are wont to transfer their attention to another of the games than the one they are particularly interested in when a wicket falls, looked in vain for incident, for every fielding team took advantage of the spell to rest on the grass.

In Canterbury’s cricket match with Wellington, M. L. Page completed the scoring of 2000 runs in representative cricket on New Zealand wickets. He has now played 32 innings (once not out) in Plunket Shield games, for an aggregate of 1227 runs, and an average of 39.58. Before he made his 116 against Wellington his highest score in such matches was 73, against Auckland in the 1926-27 season and again last season. He also had played two innings of 76 against Auckland and one of 66. Against Wellington his highest score, before his century, was 71, two seasons ago. His best scores against Otago are 73 and 71. He has, however managed twice to get past the seventies in. matches against teams from overseas, by scoring 89 (he made 67 in the first innings) for New Zealand against the Melbourne C.C. team of 1926-27 —he also played an innings of 77 against that side, for Canterbury —and 86 for the province against A. H. H. Gilligan’s English team last season. In matches against overseas

teams, Page has played 17 innings for 614 runs, at an average of 36.11. In matches against Southland. Taranaki, and South Canterbury he has played five innings, with a highest score of 81, for an aggregate of 172 runs, at an average of 34.40 an innings. In all matches of the kinds mentioned in this paragraph he has played 54 innings (once not out) for 2013 runs and an average of 37.98. Now that the suggested Australian trip to New Zealand is not to take place, a strong combination will spend Easter in North Queensland. Alan Kippax will be captain, and Don Bradman. A. Jackson, S. J. M‘Cabe, C. V. Grimmett, and K. Rigg are regarded as starters. Edgar Waddy and H. Hooker are also in the offing, the former as manager. In Brisbane some time ago an objection to projects of this nature was discussed it being alleged that the tourists were sharing in the gates. But there can be no doubt that the visit of players of the calibre of those named must benefit the game and inspire to higher things the players of the centres they tour (says an Australian writer).

The Plunket Shield this season was won by Canterbury, which defeated the other three provinces outright and scored 24 points, the maximum total. Auckland, by defeating Otago and Wellington outright, scored 16 points, Welington 8. while Otago failed to score. Auckland and Canterbury now head the ist of shield-holders, each province saving won the trophy on eigh occasions. Wellington has been successful six times, while Otago triumphed on one occasion only. The following table shows the holders since the inception of the competitions:—

1906- —Canterbury. 1907- —Auckland. 1908- —Auckland. 1909- 10.—Auckland. 1910- .—C an ter bur j;. 1911- —Auckland. 1912- Canterbury. 1913- —Canterbury. 1914- —Canterbury. 1916-18—No matches played. 1918- Wellington and Canterbury. 1919- —Auckland. 1920- —Wellington. 1921- —Auckland. 1922- —Canterbury. 1923- —Wellington. 1924- Otago. 1925- —Wellington. 1926- —Auckland. 1927- —Wellington. 1928- —Auckland. 1929- Wellington. 1930- —Canterbury.

One of the features of this season’s Plunket Shield games has been the success Blunt, of Otago, has met with his slows. Blunt, in England in 1927. 'was one of the stock bowlers of the New Zealand side, his bag for that tour consisting of 994 wickets for 2.306 runs, an average of per wicket. Against Wellington at Christmas time (says the “Dominion”) Blunt secured -one

wicket for 24 and four for 54, and against Auckland at Dunedin he bagged eight for 99 and one for 18. which, up till then, gave him fourteen wickets for 195 runs, at an average of 13.92. Blunt is such an able spin bowler that he is worth his place for that alone. A peculiarity about his performance at Dunedin, was that four of his victims fell l.b.w. Mills. Weir Matheson, and Cleverley all got their legs in front to Blunt in Auckland’s first innings, which would suggest that the slow bowler must have sent down a good many “wrong ’uns.” With the bat in shield games this season, Blunt scored 30 and 11 against Wellington and 40 and 43 against Auckland. He is a fine all-round player. The results of the fifth round of matches has tangled things up somewhat in the senior competition, and there may be further surprises before finality is reached for the 1930-31 season, says the Dunedin “Star.” Standing out, of course, was Albion’s unexpected three-point win against Grange, in which the glorious uncertainty of cricket was never better illustrated. Albion looked certain to lead on the first innings with seven wickets in hand and a shade over 50 runs to get, but there was a total collapse with Albion eight runs in arrears. Grange went to the wickets again, and to the

consternation of its supporters was dismissed for the paltry total of 37 runs. Albion having little difficulty in knocking off the runs required. Christian Brothers offered stubborn resistance at Logan Park to Old Boys, who could collect only two points, which places the ex-pupils a point- behind the leaders. Carisbrook. The latter suffered defeat at the hands of Dunedin, which is now in third position along with Grange. Albion scored its first win, and there is no telling what surprises last year's champions have in store for some of the teams yet to be met.

Tom Howard, who accompanied the last Australian eleven to England as treasurer, would have made an ideal manager. Easy going and unassuming, he seldom has much to say, but, to use the words of an old song, “When he speaks the angels listen” (writes Arthur Mailey in the “Sydney Sun.”) Recently at the Cricket Association meeting he hotly condemned the introduction of larger wickets. His logical view of the question probably influenced the meeting to such an extent that it decided not to favour larger wickets. The decision is pleasing to those who have the welfare of Australian cricket at heart. The association had come io the conclusion, and rightly so.that although the larger stumps might assist the bowlers to get more wickets there was no guarantee that the larger stumps would improve the standard of the bowling in Australia. The problem of larger wickets is psychological and can often be answered better by the student of the game rather than by the first class player. Handing “doles” to bowlers wall eventually kill what ambition they should possess.