CRICKET.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7583, 23 December 1902, Page 1

CRICKET.

.NOTES. . (By SCORING-BOARD.) Whitta /played a painstaking innings aginst the United/on Dec. 13. He has no variety of strokes, but takes no' risk of getting out. Towards they end of his innings "he scored imore freely, chiefly by meaus of a hjalf push half drive to the off. . Garrard puts himself in much too late." Thus, : against' United 1 he was seventh in the order of batting, and actually followed men like Walmsley and Pea-roe. Howeii accomplished a fine performance against Sydenham on ' Dec. 13, ,in- the Litter's second innings. Whether" he will do anything against Otago remains to be seen, . but he has at le^st justified' a trial. 1 At'a recent ineetdng of the Canterbury Cricket -Association,' the desirableness of forming aav Umpires' Association was affirmed, ;Mr F. C. Ge.!rard was entrusted with the task of carrying out the' suggestion,; and I 'learn thai he will take the matter in hand immediately the holidays are over. A body such as that proposed woiild do a lot of good, and it is 1 to be hoped that the Association will soon be in working order. * .'••. ' : _I have, been shown a., letter which, an view of the presence in the colony of an English team, got together by Lord Hawke, is interesting. In 1898 a local enthusiast sent a letter to Lord Hawke, asking .if there was any chance .of his /bringing a team to New Zealand if he received an invitation, and the request brought the following reply :—" I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter in reference^ to a visit of English cricketers to Newy Zealand. I am greatly afraid the money difficulty will crop up, so much that a visit to New Zealand alone is , not feasible. The passage money is a hundred guineas each person, and, then the professionals would want JB2oO to JD3OO each, and then hot*l accommodation and /railway fares' have to be paid. Where would all this money be guaranteed? "I am afraid' cricketers in -this country have now to work for their living, and. -there are few, .indeed, who could dream : of paying their own expenses on such a tour. Thus,; until you can give me some idea as; to the money part of the question, P aim afraid V I cannot recommend you any action to take." . Fortunately, the financial part- of tie scheme has not proved such a difficult one; to arrange as Lord Hawke anticipated in his letter four years ago:-;:--: .■ .--■■•>. ■' ■ . ' ;... ';-,• Of; nineteen centuries an first-class cricket, Trumperj has made four in Sydney, all over 200 runs. ; ;. ■ .'■ ; , ■.-,•;; „ ,' The Austialiaas played six matches in South Africa, three ' being;' won and' three! drawn. • , . . / ■ . ■ , The Australians' share in the test matches will be £4258. The grounds' where they played have received £5503 eaoh, first-class counties £195, and second-class counties £48 each!. ■ :. . The' Australians have; a. high opinion of J. H. /Sinclair, who: made three centurietf against them- In South Africa. He played sound cricket, while at the same time he is as great a fitter as the world at: present ; knows.'.,:. ..' .•, .''.-. ■; ,. f ■..-.-•, ; -''„. I irtdale, disagreed from Layer and Giffe'n regarding the constitution of the -Rest of Australia team, in which he Wished to in- ? eludei-MackenzLe, Pye; \and Marsh. :' 'H?. Graham was finally selected as emergency, and in referring to him "Not Out," of the Sydney "Referee," wonders if it was in-tended as a- joke. "Has Victoria a better j batsman than Graham?" he asks. i ' Trump«r headed the batting averages of the Australians in the South African matches with 59.9, tihe figures of the other players, being : — Hill 52.3, Armstrong' 41, Duff 40:7, Howell 22.3, Noble 20.5, Hopkins ;?0. 4, Kelly 18.4, Carter 17.5, Darling 14.1, Trumble 9.6, Gregory 9.6, Jones 5 and Saunders 1.5. Among the bowlers, Howell took \forty-eight wickets at an average cost pf_ 9.6 runs, Hopkins sixteen at 15.6 and Sounders eighteen at 18.4. Trumble's two South African wickets" cost 96 runs each. ; . . . ' < , In the match between the Australians and the Western Province, played at Cape ■.Town, Howell came out of his shell as an all-round player. With the bat he made 20 and 57 not out, and with the ball captured, eight for 31 and mine for-' -23, or, in all, seventeen wickets for 54 runs. The other bowlers tried were: — Saunders none for 38, Armstrong none for 34, Noble, none for 21 and Hopkins two for 12. The. Australians won. by 282 runs, Trumper making 49 , and 19, Duff 46 and 26, Hill 32 and 13/ Armstrong 2 and 21, Noble 10 and 23, Hopkins 4 and 39, Gregory 18 and 21, Darling 5 and 61, Carter 25 and 1 and baunders 0 not out and 0. The local papers record the takings at the match as close on £1000. ' Table teaniis is threatened by a rival—table cricket — invented by Mr A. Wein,traud, and fostered by Dr W. G. Grace, who recently gave am exposition of the hew pastime at Wisden's <stablisbnieiit iiv.Cranbourne Stre&t. The criciket "pitch"' or table is a little over 3ft in length and