CRICKET.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7623, 5 February 1903, Page 1

CRICKET.

. _♦ NOTES. (By SCOHING-BOARD.) There was a fair attendance at Hagley Park on Saturday. The Senior Cup games had been postponed to enable the " rep." team to have a day's .practice together. The Thirteen chosen to play them made a good stand, and, had the day been more seasonable, the public would have had an ettjoyabl. afternoon's cricket. Towards the end play did not partake of a serious character. Tho Thirteen had first use of an easy wicket, but were never able to sccre rapidly. An hour saw three out for 37, and then followed a long partnership by Ollivier and' Howell. . This pair put on. 40 by very slow cricket, when the former temporarily retired to make way for Whitta. Similar steady lactics were pursued until a shower rendered fhe bowlers' task even more difficult, and both plaiyers livened up considerably. After these two were out am other lolig stand was made against Lawrence and Sims! Boddingtbn. quickly hit up a few, before being well taken in the outfield. The eleven had an hour at the wickets Nearly all 'the members had a few minutes' batting, and most of "them reached double figures before retiring. Ollivier played a sound innings last week. Until his last stroke he never attempted that dangerous long-on hit of his, and would take no risks at all. Among, his hits the square cut was most prominent. Howell surprised his supporters by the way he stonewalled last week. The wicket was one of those slow and true ones when a straight bat is practically all that is required to enable a batsman to stay in. Whitta played another characteristic innings on Saturday. He has only one offensive stroke, a drive past cover-point, and he played this stroke well. Games such as the one that took place last Saturday have not proved a great success of late here. The one played last week waa arranged purely to give the Eleven a little practice together, ;and the Thirteen might well have closed their innings earlier, and given the. team a little more match batting. . .Sines writing last week the Englishmen have got the bulk of tlie games against odds behind, them, and the next point of , interest,.- .^riicularly . to local people, 'is how Canterbury wilt fare against- the visitors. As is always the' case, tjhe. selection of the local team has given rise to a little criticism, and the exclusion of Howell came as a surprise to outsiders. Cricketers in the main recognise the selection as a good one. It required a certain amount of courage to leave out a bowler with Howell's figures, but when the men are pla-ced side by side, Frankish, Callaway and D. Reese are, on form, every bit as good, and their extra experience must mean a lot in playing against the Englishmen. All three have bowled well, and with success, against just as good batsmen as the best in this team. Howell is a very pbor field, and it he were included, would be the weak man in a team of which every other player can bs relied on to do good work in that department. Various opinions have been uttered as to the probable success of our men against the Englishmen. A few make the wish father to the thought, and think that-Canterbury may bring off a win, but, with equal luck, suVh a result would be only a wish. As an all-round team our visitors compare favourably with any county team at Home, with the exception of the redoubtable Yorkshire Eleven. In Warner and Burnup they have the crack batsmen of Middlesex and Kent. Taylor was easily first in the averages of the Yorkshire team, and. Lane for years has been one of Essex's mainstays* with the bat. Besides these, there are Dowson,Bosanquet and Thompson, who can all make centuries in county cricket. With the ball Hargreave and Thompson are, of course, the two chief men.- Dowspn and Bosanquet, however, while not among the bowlers who can claim " 100 " wickets in a year, have both proved more than useful to their side. To beat such, a team on its merixs, Canterbury would have to be equal to the leading first-class counties at Home, or stronger than the average team the Australians meet, and this would involve: a practically impossible result, namely, that a team playing the small amount, of cricket we do here could hold its own with men playing six days a week in the season at Home. At the same time, Canterbury has usually given visitors a good. game, and I can see no -reason why the present team should not make a creditable display against the Englishmen. The New Zealand Cricket Council will receive 50 per cent of -the groos takings in the matches played by the Elngliph team, in Sydney and Melbourne. , At the conclusion of the match between the Englishmen and Wairarapa, Warner presented Cobcroffe' with the 'ball which was used, instructing him to have it mounted and inscribed. at bis (Warner's expense). The hon secretary of the New Zealand Cricket Council, Mr C. Raphael, recently wrote to Mr P. K. Bowden, secretary of

the New South Wales Cricket Association, stating that both his Council and himself were astonished to learn that Mr Philip Sheridan, in his negotiations with them in conjunction with the Melbourne Cricket Club, was not acting on behalf of the Association. Mr Raphael forwarded a copy of all correspondence and cablegrams between his Council on the one side and Mr Sheridan and! the Melbourne Club on the other. This correspondence was laid on the table at the last meeting of the New South Wales Association. As a result the following resolution was carried : " That this Association repudiates the action of the Sydney Cricket Ground trustees in negotiating with the New Zealand Cricket Council, for the purpose, of arranging a match for Lord j Hawke's team to take place in Sydney, J thereby infringing the rights and privileges of the New South Wales Cricket Associa- : tion, the body entrusted with the manage- j ment of cricket in this State." The reso- ; lution {says " Not Out ") will b* forwarded | to the trustees, whose reply will be inter- i esting to cricketers generally. In one of the letters an effer to give the use of the r,Stydney Cricket Ground gratis for a match against Lord Hawke's team was made. One presumes that the trustees will be similarly generous in dealing with the body to whose j efforts 'the existence of the ground is due, and which spends all its funds in festering J cricket. j H. Mitchell put up a record score in pen- | nant cricket in BaUarat, on Jan. 17, when ho made 244 not out for New Ballarat against Ballaiat City. In a junior match in Melbourne, on Jan. 17, a player named Howe scored 255 for Brunswick against South Yarra. He waa batting for six and a half hours, and gaive only two chances. L.Ai Cuff played a fine innings of 77 in. a club match in Launceston last month. Bruce, the veteran left-hander of the Melbourne Club, is batting in great form this season. In pennant matches, he has the splendid figures of 49 for twice out. A fine innings was played in Adelaide last month by H. Pelldw, a, colt, who, for North Adelaide, made 168 out of 238 for six wickets agarinst West Torrens. He made his runs in 200 minutes, with one chanco at 99. twenty-two fives and thirty-nine fours. The trouble in Australia over tha attitude of Worrall towards the last Australian team has extended to the Carlton Club, of which Worrall and Saunders were members. Saunders has left the club and rejoined North Melbourne. In his first appearance he took four wickets for 34 runs. New South Wale 3 cricketers have established a fine record this sjason. Teams representing Queensland, Victoria, and South Australia have each been defeated twice in inter-State matches, and the New South Wales teachers and bankers also won matches against those of Victoria. Mr Abe Bailey, a well-known member of the Legislative Assembly of Cape Colony, and who was mainly responsible for the recent 'visit of the Australians to South Africa, is trying to arrange to take a South African team to England in 190?. Prior to that the team, will play in Australia, or South Africa will be visited- by another Australian combination. In a club match in Victoria recently, E. A. Salas registered two fine bowling performances. Playing for Maryborough against Adelaide Lead, he took eight wickets f0r.14 runs off 36 balls in the first innings, and jseven -wickets 'for 5 runs off 35 balls in the second. ' Tit his'last over he bowled five balls, and with each ball clean bowled one of his opponents. In the first innings he also did the hat trick. ' Quite the feature of the cricket in Sydney on Jan. 17 was the performance of North Sydney in the match against Waverley. The latter had mad© 394, and when North Sydney had lost five wickets for 180, tlie prospect was far from promising. Iredale, the ex- Australian Eleven man, then became associated with Haddon. For a few overs Haddon appeared ill at ease, but after that he settled down, and the pair proceeded to knock the bowlers about in great style, till they had hit off the runs required, when Iredale voluntarily retired, his score being v lO9. Haddon kept on till time was called, when he had made 165 not outj Iredale gives little or no time to practice, and is not in thoroughly sound condition for cricket, a fact enhancing his latest performance. At first he was quite stiff in getting along betweenjlwickets, but warming up to it he soon shuffled- alongalertly. He did not smash the ball with quite the old power on the drive, but whenever he got the ball he wanted on the offside, the cut was a very x -solid stroke. The hooks and pulls were- also Al. Playing uphill all tho time, he was more careful than usual in executing his forcing strokes, but once lie let go and the ball landed full on the sight-board. Haddon, who is the club's 'professional, made his runs in two hours and a quarter. According to an English writer, there is I some talk of the Yorkshire team in a body visiting Australia. The Lancashire and Hampshire County Cricket Committees have decided not to support the proposal to widen the wickets. Ceylon cricketers are rather proud of the bowling performances of T. Kelaart, who, since he first played in Ceylon cricket, has taken 1003 wickers for 5.2 runs each. According to a vote taken by an English ' magazine the following is the best cricket eleven in- the world : — Maclaren, Ranjitairihji, Trumper, Jackson, Hill, Lilley, Hirst, Rhodes,; try, Braund and Trumble. • A: Cy-MacUren, the Lancashire captain, is tne authority for the statement "that all the county captains, save one, favoured playing test matches to a finish. The one exception would not vote either way. On the question of widening the wickets, two captains voted against the proposal. T. Richardson, the Surrey bowler, has recently been giving his opinion regarding the proposal to widen the wickets from eight inches to nine inches. He does not believe. in the suggestion, and prefers putting two inches on the length. "If a bit were shaved off the bat it would make a difference, but what is necessary is to- make the wickets higher. Two inches would do it, and I'll bet you if you asked all the leading bowlers, they would be of the same, opini&n." He thinks the best professionals should be consulted in regard to alteration' in cricket rules." It is a great pity," he says, " new cricket laws are made without consulting leading professionals like Arthur Shrewsbury, William Gunn, Abel, and plenty of others who are in the first row of pLayers, and whose experience is twice that of many of' the younger amateurs who make the laws of cricketers. . ./. The leading professionals, who live on- the game, and breathe the air of cricket all the year round, should have a voice in the matter." The recent series of Test Matches, the " Sportsman " states, resulted in the Australians receiving the sum of- &4258 . 5s 6d as their half-share of the. gross gate money. Each club on whose ground a Test Match was decided will receive the sum of £503 10s 4d, while oh the accounts, as revised at the Board of Control meeting last Thursday, each first-claas county will receive £195 I*>, and each of the second class the sum of £48 0s 3d. Referring to the proposal to increase the width of the wickets by increasing' the; thickness of the stumps " Ranger ' writes in the- " Sporting and Dramatic ' News " •■. — " An extra inch of wood to bowl at should be worth 'a good deal to the long-sufferia^ trundler. Personally, however. I should

prefer to pee the increase made in the height, instead of in the width of the stumps. Every cricketer knows that, an spite of the prevalence ot high scoring ' -iring recent years, it is not such. a very easy matter to keep the ball- out of the present width of wicket. How frequently, however, we see a mam. beaten by a. ball wlncn skims over the stumps. That is very hard j on the bowler— if he heats the. batsman, anc has the ball dead on the wicket, it is not fair to him that a little liveliness on tl: c part of his missile should rob li:m ot a. victim If the- stumps be widened, a ma-nj like Schofield Haigh will, one imagines, be absolutely unplayable on a pitch ruined by rain " A recent cablegrajn stated that thai Marylebone Committee had approved of the suggestion to widen th& wickets.