Out door Sports

Observer, Volume XXI, Issue 1195, 23 November 1901, Page 11

Out door Sports

By Harrier.

COMING FIXTURES. December 18— New Zealand A.A.A. Champion ship Meeting at Auckland. December 21 — Australasian Championship Meeting at Aneklaiid, N.Z.

FINE weather but a poor attenddance was the order of the day at the cricket matches on Saturday last. With the exception of the United-Shore match, the other two senior matches are at a very interesting stage, and I should not be surprised to see the two unbeaten teams — Auckland and Parnell — go under. Ponsonby team 'are showing improved form. McLaren spends his thirtieth birthday in Australia. D. Hay is striking his best form, and all his strokes were well-timed. There is a probability of W. (Jardiner settling down in Auckland again. 1. Mills soon fell a victim to Southall on Saturday, only registering a single. Harris still continues to make runs, and with Lnndon, helped to swell the Ponsonby total. N. Williams »till keeps up his trundling form, and the Parnell batsmen did not seem at home with Him. It will take Parnell all their time to reach Gordon's total- Ohlsen's batting was the feature of the Parnellites' innings. Parnell have some good change bowling, and on Saturday it was Resteaux's day out. , He kept an excellent length. Shore made/ a bad start against United, and have lost 3 wickets for 3 runs. N. Lusk and Stemson were too good for the batsmen. St. Paul put up the best performance he has done this season, getting 5 for 36. Several of the Ponsonby batsmen found him unplayable. In the match against victoria the Englishmen are shaping much better than their first effort. Trumble's absence weakens Victoria a lot. Hawke's Bay tour South as far as Dunedin this season, but the Association at the present time cannot give any definite promise to visit Auckland. McCormick and Henms pulled Auckland out of the nr«, and they put on half the score between them. Both players gave a good exhibition of batting. Fish was top - scorer for Gordon, getting his 28 very cautiously, but R. B. Lusk hit out merrily for his 20 . not out, and went in rather late for anyone to keep the other end up. Of the fifty-six test matches that have been played between England and Anstralia, the Englishmen have won twenty-seven, the colonials twenty, and nine have been drawn. W. Mills registered an excellent performance in capturing 9 of the Auckland wickets for 52 runs. He bowled right through the innings, and his dismissal of Nefl was a great effort, making a beautiful one-hand catch. The Shore bowlers mads big efforts to break the Robinson- Walton partnership, but the former was in too good form, and his innings was the most attractive feature on the United side. Walton did not take too many liberties. , In the latest Sydney Referee, is a review of Clem Hill's career. It says : " Clem Hill, at 24 yearn of age, has made his eighteenth century in first-* ;class eriok«jD, and i* doing so has equalled the record for an Australian

in this respect, held by George G»if«u, Ten of hid centuries have v^peen atit against English bowling, a recpwf^ Anglo - Australian first-class, inatcriee which no other cricketer, save J. Doling, equals-. W. G, Grace has made nine centuries against. Australia* bowling, and 8. E. Gregory rife against English bowling. Darling* record, however, against English bofcr ling alone is twelve centuries, so tHat Clem has yet to travel in order to overtake his old fellow colonist. In one respect Hill has a unique record, inasmuch as he has made a century'in each of four consecutive matches for South Australia against an English team. In 1894, when 17 years of age, he played against Stoddart's first team, making 20 in the first match, and 150 not out and 56 in the second. His contributions in the two matches of Stoddart's last team were 200 and 45 in the first, and 8 and 124 not out in the second. In seven completed innings he has made 790 runs for South Australia v. English teams." * M'Laren on his team : "It is all rot for certain people in England to say the team is not representative. It includes seven men who played in the last ruhher of the test matches in England. That can't be said of the 1894 and 1897 elevens that visited Australia." J. B. Webster will compete at the Wellington A. A. Club's sports on December 7th. W. F. Simpson considers Robertson, the young Canterbury athlete, the finest distance runner he has competed against, and quite capable of defeating any of the Australian distance cracks. Should the Canterbury athletes get their full team away for the forthcoming championship meeting, they will be hard to beat for the tanner. Amongst those showing good form is Keating, the ex Aucklander. The Sydney Metropolitan Rugby Union is inviting the Auckland Rugby Union to send its representative team across to Sydney next year, but, seeing how many rep. fixtures we have to play, it is doubtful whether this could be arranged. The New Zealand team do not go over the other side till 1903. At the Pioneer A. A. and B. Club's sports held in Christchurch on Show Night, they put a Two Mile Run on the programme, and J. W. Simpson, the Australasian champion, essayed to break the record of lOmin 3sec, long held by P. Morrison, a one-time champion. There were two other starters, Flewellyn and Robertson, the latter a young runner who has lately jumped into prominence. Robertson made the pace fast from the jump and it was not until the last lap that Simpson caught him. Then the champion made a great ran, and finishing with one of those sprints he is noted for, he ran home a winner by 40 yards, in the record time of 9min. 42 l-sth see. This is a great performance, and compares very favourably with the American and world's records. Simpson, if he keeps his form up, should have the distance events at his mercy for the forthcoming championship meeting here in December. Ponsonby Cruising Club's opening on Saturday, and the Parnell Sailing Club's first races of the season eventuate. Excellent arrangements have this year been made by Mr Buxton, the railway traffic manager, for the convenience of the public attending the Mercer Regatta on Saturday week. Three special trains are to be put on from Auckland instead of two as in former years, the extra train to leave town a little after 8 a.m. There will also be an additional train on the return journey, leaving Mercer at 5 15 p.m., which will suit people wauting to get home early^and yet see the last event. Every Maori event will this year be well contested, and in the large war canoe races at least four crews will compete. The grand spectacle ol four war canoes, each manned by 4§ enthusiastic Natives, ought in itself to induce a large crowd to make the trip, *or all rowing events there are good entries. In one race, Maiden Tight weights, eight crews wiU face the starter.