NEW SOUTH WALES v. CANTERBURY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4867, 5 February 1894, Page 1

NEW SOUTH WALES v. CANTERBURY.

The second day's play in the above match, on Saturday went to establish one Or two things. Either the visitors played much below their form, or else we possess in this province a team of cricketers very far above any that has ever before battled for the honour of Canterbury at the game. The play went all in favour of our men throughout ; in batting, bowling and fielding they more than held their own, and that, too, againet a team that is undoubtedly a very strong eleven from the sißter colony. There must be no mistake made about that point; statistics and performances, independently of the opinions of the Sydney Press, and the judgment of the men themselves prove it beyond dispute. The wicket too, on Saturday, despite the heavy rain on Friday, was all in favour of the batsmen ; that was shown by the easy manner in which Collins and Pearce added 35 runs in the morning to the Canterbury score. The reasons for the strong ltad established by the Canterbury eleven is therefore a difficult problem, and one rather inclines to the idea that there is something in both theories to account for the very moderate display of batting given by the -Tew South Wales team against the bowling, of Robertson and Labatt. For some time it has been customary to judge our cricket as being weak in bowling and etrong in batting. That theory was generally acoepted, bat : then the bowling was gauged as opposed to our own batting. Now that onr bowlers are opposed by foreign batsmen, they prove their merit, and their successes . go to show that this province is in possession of batting and bowling talent the : strength of which haa been hitherto nn- . suspected. There is a good deal of sound argument in the reasoning that the New South Wales batsmen played much below their form. It is easy to believe that Robertson's rapid, variable and decided : breaks, and Labatt's steadiness and Accuracy, backed np, aB they were, by all- • .round fielding good enough for any team ' in the world, came .upon the visitors in the : light of a revelation, and not only non- . plugged the batsmen, but caused a number \ of them to lose their wickets before they qnite realised the deadly nature of the ' attack. In loyalty to Canterbury great . pleasure must be expressed at the decided j lead taken by our team, but at the same , time the thoroughness of that satisfaction ' is tinged to an appreciable extent if die- ; appointment at the comparatively miserable innings of 118 of New South Wales at " the first venture, and the somewhat nn- ; fortunate start made in the follow-on. The attendance was abont a record foe ■ a cricket match in Canterbury. It was ] eßtuinated that there were fully 3000 persona present during the afternoon, and ] they -ill appeared to take a deep interest . fn the game, although a feeling of dis- ■ appointment was felt at the batting of the visitors. i The visitors were taken to Sumner yesterday afternoon, and were the guests ' of the members of the Lily camp there. A ' very pleasant and enjoyable hour or two J were spent at the seaside, and they j returned to town at 6 p.m. ■ THE NEW ZEALAND ELEVEN. ' For the first time in tbe history of cricket in this colony, a New Zealand Eleven is an established fact, and Canterbury people, at anyrate, with the recent phenomenal performances of the local i eleven fresh in mind, will be inclined '. to greet the establishment of such an i organisation with feelings of satisfaction 1 and welcome. The occasion whioh haß ■ warranted the constitution of a New _ Zealand Eleven has been, of course, the ] visit of Mr Davis's New South Wales ' Eleven to this colony, and a natural desire ] which originated here, and has spread ] to the other centres, to see the full strength . of New Zealand pitted against a foreign \ foa at the British national pastime. , Consequently a match was arranged j aa a finale to the Sydney team's ' programme, between the visiting eleven * and a selected team from all New Zea- < land, to bo played at the end- of next < week at Lancaster Park. The Canter- ] bury Association accepted full responsi- ' bility, financial and otherwise, of the ; venture, and despite some few insignificant : provincial jealousies, Mr A. M. Ollivier, , the Canterbury selector of teams, was < practically appointed unanimously as the . man fittest to choose the pioneer New Zea- '■ land Eleven. Mr Ollivier's selection is • published . below, and although it will ' doubtless fall short in the matter of ! giving satisfaction to all, it is evidently a 3 painstaking and careful choice. Mr Ollivier consulted the selection committees '> in the other centres, and received from : them a list of players with their qualifica- ; tions, and also an assurance of their '- ability to obtain leave to visit Christchurch in the event of their being , chosen. The following are the names of : the selected eleven :— ' L. A. Cuff ' 1 H. De Maus | A. M. Labatb }- Canterbury J. D. Lawrence ( W. Robe t^n J J. N. Fowka ■)»_•._ I. Mills j Auckland C. Gore 1 t- v* t. A.R. Holdahip j Wellington A. Downes \ n*_„-. J.C.Lawtoa j 0ta 8° The members of the team from other provinces will be wired to-day to ask them to arrive in Cbrietchurch as early as possible, in order to get all the practice at Lancaster Park that is obtainable. Today Mr Coleman Davis expects to receive an answer from Mr Newell or Mr Coningham, who have been cabled for to come over to strengthen the New South Wales team. The selection has been very favourably received in Canterbury, but it is possible that there will be complaints from elsewhere in tha course of a few days. The eleven ia a really splendid one, and should the men play up to their form, they should beat the Australians, even with the latter's mcreasad strength. Of the players outside Canterbury, Holdship, Gore, Mills, Lawton and Downes are first-rate batsmen, and Fowke, who ia, of couraej chosen for wicket-keeping, is a patient Btonewaller, with great defence. Downeß has been bowling in Dunedin this sea -on with wonderful success, and although he has hitherto done little in Christchurch, aoatliern experts tell us that he has greatly improved this year. Lawton's bowling talent is' well-known in Christchurch, and Holdahip and Mills can both trundle fairly well. Gore. is one of the best outfields in New Zealand, Holdahip ia brilliant close in or well out, Mills is a magnificent point, aud both Downes and Lawton are good all-round fieldsmen. Our own men's qualifications are too well-known to need any description at preeent, and it only remains to congratulate the colony upon the poaarsdon of a aplocdid eleven to represent it upon the first occasion of such a team being called for.

NORTH CANTERBURY ASSOCIATION. In the North Canterbury Association's Cup matches on Saturday, the Ashley

Connty thirteen and the Woodend thirteen met at Rangiora and the former suffered defeat on the firafc innings by 25 runs. Woodend batted first and made 70, the highest scorers being Mathias 22 and Garrard 12. The County made 45, the only man to reach double figures being Stewart with 21. Woodend commenced a second innings and scored 35 for six wickets. For the County, Garty took six wickets for 29 and Mansell five for 34 ; for Woodend Uru took four wickets for 21, Judson two for 8 and Garrard six for 12. The following have been selected to play for South Canterbury againet the New Boufib. Vfalea team at Timaru on Wednesday and Thursday :— H. W. Moore, B. R. Macdonald, F. W. Fish, W. P. Studholme, J. B. Beckett $ C. A. G. Jefferson, C. T. H. Perry, J. Rothwell, J. H. Smith, H. W. Posfclethwaite, J. G. Hargreaves, C. S. Fraser, W. B. Denshire ' and D. Ferguson ; emergencies— Lane, Pearpoint and M'lntosh.