CRICKET.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16321, 10 January 1921, Page 3

CRICKET.

THE BATTING WEAKNESS

The need for a stock-taking in Canterbury batting was pronounced enough in the representative matches, and it was again emphasised . in * the scores • wliieh figured in the conclusion, of the fifth round of association cricket on Saturday. Patrick’s 151 and Blunt's 40 alone relieved the dulness of the exhibition given individually by the men who have enjoyed representative honours This season. The average innings appears to have degenerated to something below 150, and the need for a. coach, to bring on the younger players seems to he necessary.. With a. slight change in the luck Sydenham might have headed the list

at the conclusion of the fifth round on {Saturday. If Ri©carton had managed to put down St Alban-. a. task that they were unlucky to fail in, Sydenham would have been one point-ahead in the competition. This fact, at the conclusion of the. first half of tlio cricket season. shows how ordinary the general standard of play has been, for Sydenham were accounted a very weak combination at tho beginning of the season, and there seems to be no reason for revising that estimate now. Riccarton and Lin wood are the outstanding disappointments of the season, so far. and Riccarton particularly so. in view of their persistent batting failure, while it is obvious that St Albans are- going back a. bit in batting, and are fortunate to have the services of the best bowler of the province. The sixth round next Saturday should provide very interesting cricket with three teams so close together. Th© points are a -s follows:

The draw for next Saturday is fol lows:— Lin wood v. Riccarton. Hag ley No. 1. Sydenham v. .St Albans, Hag ley No. West v. East, .HagJey No. 3. ST ALBANS v* RICCARTON. Finishing the match with the hat trick, I). Sandman carried St Albans to victory against Riccarton in a. match that was notable for good bowJing averages only. The batting of both sides was extremely weak, and on the second day’s play St Albans hardly deserved their win, which was due to bad Riccarton hatting when the game seemed to be well in hand. St Albans in. two innings made 29(3 runs and Riccarton made 263; but the St Albans scoring mas more rapid, their first innings of 203 taking 120 minutes, while their second innings of 93 took eightyfive minutes. Riccarton, on the other hand, made 138 in Jl3 minutes and 125 in 101 minutes. The second innings of St Albans wns a complete rot. relieved only by a ninth wicket stand by Gordon and Hickmott, whose partnership saved the mutch- Gordon was very patient for his 22 not out. which consisted of thirteen singles, two fours and a single. Ho and Ihekmott had some hair-raising misunderstandings in running between the wickets, and although the Riccarton lielding generally was keen on® easy chance oi a run out was missed. 'Willi St Albans all out for 93. Riccarton had two *d<l a half hours to bat and 159 runs to make. It looked a very easy thing, ©specially with two wickets dowiv lor 62, but just then TV hit t a wa* given out 1.b.w., and this was the turning point of the match. Caygill vas top scorer with 26, but he had n very early life when Sandman dropped him close iu, and ho should have been run out once when Allard missed an easy throw’ at the wicket. Holies was more steady than usual, and just beat Whitt a by’ ono run for second place. Guiney with 16 was the only other double-figure scorer. The Riccarton wickets fell at 13, 27, 62, 67. SI, 93, 115, 120. 120 and 125. Sandman's * hat trick’’ was performed with the last two balls of one over and the first of the hex t. Sandman bowled with wonderful consistency. taking six for 11 and six for 45. an average ol : barely 7.2. He came very fast off the pitch as usual, swerving and breaking. Evans, for Riccarton, nearly got the whole ten wickets. Hia nine for 48 (or 5.3 per wicket) had to he watered down by his four tor 83 in the first innings, but his thirteen wickets only cost 10 runs apiece. Allard.’.*? five wickets cost 12.4 runs apiece. Brim ton has gone off visibly as t» wicket-keeper. Fourteen byes got past him in the first innings and J. 7 in the second, as against A. O. Fuller’s figures of 1 and 4. Of course, Brunton is much the better man at taking the ball.

LINWOOD v. WEST CHRISTCHURCH. Any chance of a good finish in tho L.inwood-West* Christchurch match was spoiled bv the absence of Dan Reese, J\ Dwyer, and C. L. Young. Batting three men short for their second innings, West could only raise !»3 runs, to meet deficiency oi 275. Liu wood,

therefore, gained an easy three pointer. When play started for the day Linwood had. a forty run lead on the first innings. Their second venture looked patchy until F. Smith and N. Jones got together, and banged. the ball about, past and over an indifferent field. From seventy they carried the score to over 170. all in under fifty minutes, 4.lie fastest, rate of run-getting in Senior cricket- this season. Ihe whole 235 runs took less than two hours, a particularly good anceWest’s seven wicket? fell in a little over ail hour, ns follows:- One for 0; two for 21 ; three for 40; four for <W) : five lor 43 : six for 54 : seven for 93. Read and Thom a a opened Hie Howling, but A. Grant, come on the first change, and finished up with the fine average of four for 36 out. of four overs. R-earf go? two wickets at. n cost of thirty runs. F. Smith's was the host hatting performance of* the dnv. Though badly missed at 12. he was a\ home to every howler, tiruling beautifully. Tie 'hit l thirteen fours and m six in a score of 72. N- Jones gave a- chance at 23, and then went on exuberantly t.o 57. notching nine fours and two sixes. Blunt, for West, began cautiously nnd went out with the. weakest of shots, but in between he gave glimpses of his best form. In his score of 46 there were ten hits to the houndnr'. Bowling honours for West went to T>. M'Lachlan Tn I.inwood’s first inn ings he got four for 3.. and in their second six for 65. But for three or four mulled catches, the figures would he a long way ahead of that. If M Lachlan goes on imuroving he must soon be a certainty for representative honours, even though the competition from a bowlers' point, of view is dectdedlv keen. Blunt, who was hit for 35. 14 in one over, never got a. wicket-. Altogether the match was a remarkable one for boundaries. In Linwood b second innings the batsmen scored off severity shots. No fewer than forty-one went over the chalk line Even byes tried Lo keep in the fashion. Sixteen out of the twenty-three registered were due. to non-stop deliveries. EAST v. SYDENHAM. It was only by the very narrow margin of I t runs that East avoided a three-point defeat at the hands ot Sydenham. Had there been a few more i minutes' play Sydenham would almost certainly have got these 14 runs, as the batsmen were well set and scoring i l'uns off practically every ball sent down to them. Throe wickets were down for 75 when time was called, Sydenham thus gaining a two-point At the close of the first day’s play the position looked anything but hopeful tor Sydenham, as East had knocked, up 308 m their first innings, to which Sydenham had replied at the call of time with 118 for four wickets. To Patrick’s brilliant innings of 154 must he accounted th© close finish to the game. Patrick survived one appeal behind the wickets, when liis score stood at about 60, but apart from this he played practically a faultless innings and gave a brilliant display of cricket. His total included 27 fours, one six. one three and four twos. The Sydenham tail wagged vigorously in the first innings, materially aiding

Patrick, and all the batsmen on Saturday got double figures. Only three bntsmesn got into double figures m East’s second innings and four failed lo break their duck. Interest livened up when East's last wicket fell for 119, Sydenham thus having a sporting chance of getting a threepointer. Time was certainly against them, but East went straight out again to give them every opportunity, f rom the first •ever it was apparent that the hatsinen ( l ray and VN atson- were out to wipe off the East margin, 17 runs corning off the first over. Nineteen were hit. up oft the second, and fours were being hit in rapid succession. One wicket was down tor 27 and tiro for 41. From this slag© on the bowling and fielding became keen, and the rate, of scoring very materially slackened, and Sydenham's chances grew-’ more slender as the <lock ticked its way on to 6.30. When Barron succeeded Patrick, who was. stumped bv Woods when bis score stood at 7, the score began to jump up again, Barron notching a four aud two twos in succession. Time was called, however, when the hoard showed 75 for throe wickets. East thus averting a tliree-point defeat. Coomber earned. Ins bat for 28 and Barron was also not out for 8. NOTES Mr E- H. I.!litre)l, honorary secretory of the Canterbury Association, will take a learn to Wairratc and Ashburton at Easter time. leaving Christchurch. on March 25. The team is as follows:—E. K. Caygill, H. C. Watson, E. E. Lmtrell, A. C- Fuller, O. T. Corrie, G. Jamieson, M O. Sinclair, F. W. Gurnsey, F. Bullock, C. E. Evans and O. T. Moor.

JUNIOR CRJCKET. Notes and scores in connection with Saturday’s games will be published tomorrow.

St Alban* TT** t “ CliTi stch.urch 8-pt. 2-pt. wins. wms. Drn. T1 ‘ 2 1 ~l .2 3 — 0 TAi Ctirifitchwrch Rirrarton Iiinvoocl — 2 — 1 1 4 3 2