CRICKET

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17245, 11 January 1924, Page 3

CRICKET

THIS GAME AND THK PLATERS,

by

“SQUARE-OUT.”

In 1912. on the show ground, Goulburn, N#w South Wales, eleven Tickoera played eleven Jefferys. the former winning by 84 runs on the first innings. Tiokners. 166 and 292; Jefferys, IdS and two for 102. There were twenty Tickners present, and three were absent. G. Tiokner. aged 117; W. Tiokner, 72 j G» Tickner, 50.

The late Tom Lewis, a wall-known l>leyer in the 'sixties, played a copnjtrv match once, and hit the ball into an adjacent river. He ran nineteen inns; the fieldsman conld see the ball, but a« he oould not swim he could not get it. 4 Lost ball ” could not be called, and the batsman kept running until a player able to swim got the elusive sphere.

Only one more Plunket Shield match remains to be played—that l>etween Wellington and Otago He would be a bold prophet who would sav that Otago can beat their opponents, even on Cariabrook ground. It looks like Wellington's shield. Eron if Otago win Wellington should , get U e trophv oil the law of averages.

Many apparently unique performances arc found upon examination to he duplicated, but so far the ]>erfomiancc of Frank Iredale In a gamo between Gordon and Petersham is unequalled. Playing for tlio former be was caught four times off no-balls delivered by Jack Scott; twice the wicket keeper caught him, and the other two catches fell to mid-efT and slips. Kindly ho was caught off Bassett for 26

Thirteen players have represented th© province to date. Two of them— Blunt and Oliver—have averaged between 30 and 40. Young and Patrick between 20 ami 30, and Sandman 19. The remainder range from 14 dowivwards—very poor for a represent at i»»» vide. It will thus be seen that the te»m is anything but strong in batting when only four men can show averages over 20.

Though not showing quite such good form this year. Blunt has done well for his province, finishing up with a century against Auckland. Oliver lias fully justified his inclusion, and it is pleasing to see the young colt mak* such a successful debut in representative cricket. The fact that Young has two not outs iu liis cre<its makes his average read 22. Br.i i :>r tins I act it would not be so good. and be can scarcely rank as a representative batsman on this season’s showing. PatTick has not shown his best form, no doubt on account of the fact that his Md© has always been up against it. Sandman lias batted consistently, and his average of 19 is very fair for a bowler. Ho proved a hard man to get rid of. Head’s averago of 14.25 is satisfactorv for a bowler. Cunningham and M'Beth are howlers and are not looked to to make many runs. Boon is likely to improve with tho bat Crawford only plaj'ed in one match—against Wellington—and scored 0 and 22. Gregory has not been a success, and Talbot has been a big disappointment. It will not be surprising if these two are miasms from tlie team to play the Aussies. Fuller batted twice, scor--1 and 12, both times not out, so that he has no average yet.

How are the mighty fallen l After gaining three fine victories in Plunket Shield matches last, season and becoming possessors of the coveted trophy, Canterbury have gone from first place to last. They have not won a match this year. And yet there is not such a great -difference between the team that won the shield and this year's eleven. Otago defeated Canterbury by 218 runs. Wellington beat them by four wickets, and Auckland’s victory was a ten-wicket one.

Regarding the bowling. M'Betli has easily been the most successful, and considering that lie has had very little practice this year he has done remarkably well. Next to M’Betli. Sandman has bowled best. He is bowling well just now. and as an all-rounder he is still a valuable member of the Canterbury eleven, Read and Cunningham have been disappointing, especially the latter. Patrick has proved the best of tho change howlers. One shudders to think what Macartney and Co. will do to our bowling. The late A- G. Steel .the famous AllEngland and Cambridge University player, gives the following sound advice regarding bowling:—“ No rule can bo laid down with iegard to tho frequency of bowling changes, except the more the better. A howler should never be kept on if be is not getting wickets and if the batsmen are playing him with ease. If a long stand is being made, every style of bowling should be quickly tried. Thirty runs should never be allowed without a change of some sort, unless the bowling is particularly puzzling to the batsmen and is being badly played.”

A single-wicket match was played in a Lancashire village. The first man made 14 His opponent had in the meantime become hungry, and refused to bat until he hnd satisfied the inner man. It was useless arguing with himHe said to his opponent, ‘ Tha can bowl at the wickets, and if tha hit* them Aw’m out.’* This was agreed to. When he returned forty minutes later he found the match over. “ Tha’s won,” said the umpire. “ Nowt of tha sort.” was his reply. ‘ But tV has. Your opponent has bowled 15 wides!”

Matting wickets were first introduced into Sydney bw F. J. Ironsides in the Thomson Junior Cup matches. Moore Park, in 1881. The first concrete wicket, was that made for the Ivnnhoes at Rush cutter Bay. Chipped wickets and mud pitches are frequently seen in country games Recently * new stylo of wicket has been introduced in Tasmania. It is known as the ‘‘scrim wicket. Canvas takes the place of mnttng, and it is claimed for it that it- is smoother and better than matting, and more like turf. When the late Alfred Shaw took his first English team to Australia in 1876 he came out in the s.s. Poonah. At Suez a Sydney man. Shaw, and several members of the team went, on a fishing excursion. Tho Sydney man swam to another boat for bait, and during his absence, and in spite of Shaw’s watchful eye, his valuable watch was stolen. The Arabs -denied the theft, but the native police kept the suspects in prison without food until they confessed and went back to where tbe boat had l»een anchored, dived into the sea, and brought back the missing watch.