CRICKET

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16940, 15 January 1923, Page 2

CRICKET

• The Game and the Players •

SENSOR GAMES. FIFTH ROUND CONCLUDED. After an interruption of four weeks in club cricket the fifth round of th? Canterbury Cricket Association’s competition concluded on Saturday. Th j results of -the play put Linwood at the- top of the. list, two points ahead of West Christchurch. At the end of the fourth round these teams ha 1 seven points each. Linwood defeated Sydenham on Saturday, but West went down to St Albans by 136 runs on th? first innings. Riccarton also adde 1 two points to their total by beating East, who are still at the bottom of the list. The positions of the teams at the end of the fifth round are : 3-pt. 2-pt-. Tl. wins. wins. pts. Linwood ... 1 3 9 West Christchurch .1 2 7 Ht Albans ... 0 3 «> Riccarton ... 0 3 6 East Christchurch 0 0 Q ST ALBANS* v. WEST CHRISTCHURCH. West Christchurch, by being defeated by St Albans by 136 runs on the first innings, have lost their position at the head of the competition, which, at the end of the fourth round, they shared with Linwood. When stumps were drawn on the first day ol play (December 16), St Albans had lost seven wickets for 212 runs in reply to West’s first innings total of 10-3. On Saturday St Albans carried their total to 241, and West declared their second innings closed with the score at 232 for eight wickets. This left St A 1 bans with 97 to make in fifty-six min utes in order to secure a three-point win. St Albans failed to accomplish this task by thirty runs, their sco'e standing at 67 for the loss of four wickets when stumps were drawn. GOOD BATTING BY WORKER. Top scoror in West’s second innings was Worker, who compiled 77 in good style. He looked set for a century when he was given out lbw to Sand man. On returning to the pavilion Worker stated that the ball had hie him on the groin and lie had a bruise on that part of the body as evidence of this. His total of 77 included two sixes (both off Sandman) and eightfours. He was at the wickets for an hour and ten minutes. Second top scorer for West was .Hud, son, who carried his bat for 45. Hud son gave a good display. He started cautiously, but once he got set he soon piled up the runs. He and Facfarlane carried the score from 141 to 193 and their stand was a most useful one for West as far as saving a three-point win was concerned. Macfarlane made 34 before he was clean bowled by Thomas. He gave a chance in the slips when his score was 25. but otherwise his innings was a good one. TWO DOUBTFUL DECISIONS. Of the St Albans bowlers Sandman took the most wickets (four). However. he was a bit lucky in this respect, for besides the decision which sent Worker to the pavilion, that which retired Blunt lbw was regarded as a doubtful one. To persons in thj pa vilion it appeared that. Blunt had hit the ball. Sandman wafc knocked about, p good deal and in fifteen overs be had 104 runs knocked off him Maiden overs were almost conspicuous by their absence in this innings. In fact, there were only two maidens and both were bowled bv Thomas. The first maiden was the twenty-seventh over of the innings. Thomas took one wicket for 45 runs. He bowled fourteen overs. Stringer. Reese and Martin were also given, a turn with the ball. Martin bowled four overs and took one wicket at a cost of 20 runs. Although Reesv

did not take any wickets he was not knocked about much, and in four overs only eleven runs were scored off him. SLACK FIELDING. The fielding of St Albans was slac'c especially during the early part of the. innings. The result was that "West were presented with a good many runs. One or two easy chances wen missed by St Albans. SECOND INNINGS OF ST ALBANS The .second innings for St Albans Was opened by Woods and Thomas, who scon began to force the pace in orrlw to score the 97 necessary for a threepoint win in the fifty six minutes available. However, when the scon stood at 21 Thomas was caught bWorkcr off Hayes. GOOD BOWLING BY BLUNT. After this a temporary *• rot ’' set in and four wickets were down for 33 The three wickets after the first were all captured by Blunt, who went on in place of Cocks. Blunt took the three wickets in his first over. ’He bowled Woods with the second ball oi the ; over, Martin with the fourth, and HickI mott played on the last of the over. I Blunt did not take any more wickets j after this, but lie finished up with the respectable average of three for 26. He bowled six overs. THR EE-POINTER MISSED. After the fall of the fourth wicket Crawford and Reese became associated, and they played out tune. They adaed 34 to rue score, but light from the start ul thou- partnership it ivas apparent that there was not sufficient nine to score the runs necessary iur a three-point win. Crawford carried his bat for -29, but he was ratner lucky in reaching this total for lie gave chances when Ins score stood at five, sixteen and seventeen respective tj*. resides he survived a fairly strong appeal lor 1 b w. flie three chances he gave wore all off Hayes. Reese carried his bat for 8. He never seemed particularly happy and “scratched” about a good deal. LINWOOD v. SYDENHAM, j With their score standing at 118 for j two wickets Sydenham looked to have j every chance of passing Linwood 5 s first innings total of 211, but Saturday’s play produced some surprises. Vs hen , Sydenham resumed the bon ling of Read and Russell proved too much for the batsmen. PATRICK IN FORM. The not out men, Young and Cun- ! ningham went back to the pavilion j early, the latter in the first over. The j rest fell easily to the bowling, with i the exception of Patrick, and the side j were all out for 186. leaving them 25 runs behind. Patrick played a careful innings, with some bright strokes, and seemed to be well set when he lifted one of Read’s deliveries and was caught. READ CAPTURES SEVEN WICKETS. For Linwood Read and Russell bowled unchanged. Read’s average of seven wickets for 82 runs speaks for itself. Ho was in tip-top form. Though Russell secured only one wicket he sent down some good overs, keeping the batsmen quiet. LINWOOD’S SECOND INNINGS. The opening of Linwood’s second innings saw a veritable procession, the batsmen being unable to do anything with the bowlihg of Patrick and Cunningham. Only 27 runs had been secured with five wickets down, and it looked as if Sydenham, would still have a chance of winning, when F. A. Smith and A. Jones settled down and put on 70 before the partnership was closed. Smith pasted the bowling and rattled up 60 with aggressive hitting, this total including thirteen fours. He was the first of the pair to go. tipping an easy catch.

A GOOD FINISH. Jones carried on for some time, evenually knocking up 28. Orchard and fates put on a good last wicket stand, nd Read was another responsible for •oosting the score, so that when the ide were dismissed, at 6.5 p.m., the otal had reached 123. Patrick got the bowling honours with ive wickets for 47 runs, Cunningham apturing four for 62. RI CCA R TON v. E A ST. CHRISTCHURCH. Riccarton defeated East Christchurch >y 164 runs on the nisi innings. The natch was commenced at Lancaster *ark on December 16, when Riccarton ompiled the creditable total of 334 for ight wickets. East Christchurch commenced their ir>t innings on Saturday with Gregory ud Harris. Runs c-ame steadily, both latsmen shaping confidently. The ormer, who specialises in shots to the iff, was quite at home to Rix’s off >reaks and frequently got through the ield with crisp carpet drives. [TEMPORARY ROT FOLLOWS GOOD START. The first wicket, Harris’s, fell at 70 rnd things looked bright for East. t vas a batsman’s wicket and a respectible total was expected. Yet two rickets fell for 88. three for 90, four or 99. five for 100. six for 105, and even for 112. When Howell went :n Kings livened up. He commenced to lit out and several boundaries and one >ix came bis way. The only other iatsman to show anything approaches form was Elvey who with Egau >ut on 36 runs in 19 minutes for the linth wicket. This partnership was characterised by “ tip and run ’" tactics md both batsmen t\>ok numerous •isks. The innings closed for 180 and £ast Christchurch following on. made » much bette- showing in their second nnings. compiling 188 for the loss of :hree wickets when stumps were Irawn. GOOD BATTING BY GREGORY. Gregory had a day out and his contributions of 43 and 93 were really ine. He puuished anything loose but ?xerc-ised line restraint in other direcions. He gave an all round display )l scoring shots, with a penchant for he square cut. His score of 43 included five fours and two sixes. In nis second knock he had hard luck in nissing his century, being run out vith his score seven short of the reluirecl number. OTHER GOOD INNINGS. Harris is not such a spectacular bat is Gregory but he gets the runs. 3rosnahan was not at all impressive n the first innings but he opened out n the second and got in some good strokes. He keeps the ball well down is a rule and his boundaries are cleary hit. Howell’s 19 was a bright satch in the first innings. He hit a ine six right over the east stand. Elvey was remarkably lucky to reach U. He should have been run out on it least three occasions. BOWLING AND FIELDING. F. Powell secured most of the rickets in the first innings his figures Doing four wickets for 45 runs. Bain ,ook two for 14, R. F. J. Powell two or 25. and Rix two for 65. The Riccarton fielding was decidedly pDod, in the first innings R. F. J. Powell being particularly smart in his eturns. In East’s second innings :liere was a falling off however, and several overthrows augmented the :otal. In East's second innings Gregory gave a great display of hard hitting, md his 93 was chanceless. He was ibly seconded by Brosnahan whose 33, although scored at a slower rate, vas nevertheless attractively compil?d. Whitta who took the ball towards die close of proceedings came out with die best bowling figures ; one for 8 m L. 6 overs. It was also in his over that Gregory was run out. Rix captured die other wicket at a cost of 13 runs. He sent down a lot of loose easy stuff vhicli should have been hit about a JOTTINGS.

effort was made to secure the service* of J. M. Gregory, the New South Wales fast bowler. While declining tor business reasons, he intimated that he would probably play again in big cricket if circumstances permitted. Of the 103 matches that have been played New South Wale® has won 57. and Victoria 46 matches. The high eat totals by the respective sides are 813 by New South Wales, and oil by Victoria. The highest individual innings are 321 by W. L. Murdock for N#rv South Wales, and 204 by F. Tarrant for Victoria. Right through the series on the official list- the matches have been played alternately in Sydney and Melbourne, dating back to 1856. with but very slight breaks, once through a difference over an umpire’s decision *n a Sydney Domain match, and later through the great war cutting out al? first-class* cricket. V The match between the second eleven of New South Wales and Victoria, played at Sydney at Christmas time, was won by New South Wales by 49 runs, the scores being New South Wales 275 and 280. Victoria 216 and 290. The batting of Forssberg in the second innings of New South Wales attracted the attention of Not Out” of the “Referee” who writes as follows:—Forssberg played an innings of r. type all too rare in these, days of Australian cricket. After he had sighted the ball he unfolded his drying powers, using his feet well and Tutting with full swing of hife arms. We want more of that class of cricket on tho last Australian wickets. Forssberg should have had no trouble in getting his century, though he fell for 90. Instead of continuing to punch the ball, he shut up for the jmrpose of playing a gentle stroke for a single. whi?n might have lost him the strike: but the Fates played him false, as he popped the ball up on the off side, and was caught. He performed a feat a kind I do not remember having ever seen before, and I doubt if it ever was done by any man on a ground the same size as the Sydney Cricket Ground. Two balls in succession from Grimmett were driven by him over the fence at extra long-off. They were extraordinary strokes, a 6 being very rarely hit to extra long off while two off successive balls must be unique on such a ground. It was a treat to see Forssberg punching the ball by really firstclass, aggressive batting, with no slapdash. wild hitting obtruding. It is . o be hoped he will continue to bat thi* way—that is, in the way Nature intened. He is a well-built man, swing* the bat well, uses his feet nicely, and is a pretty good judge in picking tho ball. *•* New Zealand batsmen (writes the “ Dominion’ cricket contributor,) with, very few exceptions, still cling to the belief that the wicket-keeper has them almost as much at his mercy as the bowler. The Australian, on the other hand, believes that the wicket-keeper is a force that has to be circumvented, l just as each of the fieldsmen is to be j avoided by the stroke that must be ] placed between them to the boundary. } vVhen batting is invested with more enterprise at tho expense of caution; when tho forward stroke of our fathers is used only to flick a ball to the leg; boundary; and when every ball that* may be driven is treated to the lialfvolley, irrespective of the position of the feet and the crease, the rate of our run-getting will be accelerated, and we may succeed in getting New Zealand on the map of cricket as a coun- , try of first-class batsmen. A rising star is Harry Philpott, the eighteen-year-old Carlton (Victoria) bowler (says an Australian paper). iHs only performance of note until this year was 4 wickets for 32 runs for Scotch against "Wesley College in 1929. Then for two seasons he played with a matches, and at the beginning of tbe present season he joined up with Carlton. was given a chance with the first XI., and succeeded at once. In his rst match, against Richmond, he took 1 wicket for 37; against North Melbourne, 7 for 39; against the leaders, Fitzroy, 5 for 74; and against Uni, 4 for 76. Now he has been chosen to practise with the Victorian team, and is sure to get his chance with the colts. I vast year young Woodfull stepped from the Maryborough Public Service team straight into the Victorian colts’ XL, but he had a country batting average for 1920-21 of 195; and for half the 1921-22 season* for 482. He proved an immediate success in his new company. too. for he scored 169 not out against the South Australian rolts an l 227 not out against the N.S.W. second eleven in his first two knocks, and > i now a fixture in the Victorian XT. Should Philpott succeed with the hall a- Woodfull has with the hat. lie ran pack his trunk for ."England, for firstclass bowlers have never been so scarce as thev are to-dav. fPhilpott played for Victorian Colts against South Australia. hut did nothing startling in tho howling line, his figures being 2 for 32 and 0 for 35). CONTINUED ON PAGE 3,

New Zealand bad an excellent chance to defeat the M.C.C. team, and might have succeeded but for errors in the held. It was not only Ahe dropped catches that mattered, bul many tourers were recorded on the score sheet which would have been but singles, had fieldsmen shown more enterprise :'n some instances, and judgment in others. There were numerous occasions on which fieldsmen utterly failed to sense the direction of* the ball, and were “loft standing’’ as it were. Now and again really brilliancy v.as seen, but generally speaking the fielding was well below representative form. Had it been up to the standard one has the right to expect from a Dominion team the Englishmen would have been tested to the. utmost to prevent defeat. Tom Carlton, who played in representative cricket in New Zealand for several seasons, was a member of the Victorian second eleven in the match against New South Wales. He scored 63 and 3. and his bowling figures were 0 for 24 and 4 lor 4.3. The 103rd match between Victoria and New South Wales, played at Mel bourne at Christmas time, was very keenly contested until the last day. when the Victorian batting gained the supremacy, and the home team won by seven wickets. It was a great victory seeing that- the losing team con tained no less than eight international players. While recognising that, mi recent seasons, Victorian cricket has been showing considerable improvement. Sydney cricket do not attribute the recent severe defeat so much t<> Victoria’s improvement as to the deterioration of New South Wales all round, hut particularly in bowling. The criticism is not of a captious nature, but the position is stated frankly, and the question is asked whether ericket- in the State has not been permitted to get Hack, and whether Vic toria’s success in winning ten Sheffield Shield matches in succession i» not due to strict, attention to team building, aiid liberal encouragement *o young players. “The Selection Committee.” says one writer, should keep its weather-eye open for young cricketers of high possibilities—-batsmen bowlers and fieldsmen, irrespective, of whether they play in grade, junior or schools. Our grade cricket has become commonplace, so wanting in class that the time has come again when selectors must go further afield than grade clubs in search of talent.” For tbe final shield match of the season, which commences on January 26. an