MORE SUCCESS TO THE BOWLERS.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 935, 4 December 1933, Page 13

MORE SUCCESS TO THE BOWLERS.

Hope, Graham and Moffat Find Form

With the Ball.

INTERESTING PLAY IN SENIOR CRICKET.

AGAIN senior cricket provided some interesting play, with good individual performances, when the fourth series of matches was concluded on Saturday afternoon. A notable feature was the number of good bowling ligures secured. Hope took six wickets for 66, and was the main factor in Riccarton's failure to catch the West Christchurch first innings total. The accurate and deceptive slows of W. Moffat, of Old Boys, who took six wickets for 59 runs against Sydenham, prevented the batsmen from playing out time for a draw; and despite some excellent batting by Lancaster Park, M. Graham took seven wickets for 72 runs. Bellamy again headed the batting list. While there w r ere no centuries, many batsmen made creditable showings.

AN EFFECTIVE ATTACK. West Christchurch, till the present time, have been very much stronger than any team that has been put up against them. Xot only have the West batsmen helped themselves to many runs, but the bowlers have proved too much for the opposition in every instance. The fielding, too, has been of excellent club standard. When the best of the West Christchurch batsmen went for poor scores on the previous Saturday, it looked as though the leading team might have to submit to defeat at the hands of Riccarton, whose bowlers were having a day on form; but Gregory rose to the occasion and the side made 255. With Roberts, Stringer and Jacobs heading a strong batting side, it still seemed that on a plumb wicket Riccarton had a good chance of success; but on Saturday West's bowling was a shade too good, and all that the innings realised was 179. Riccarton were without J. L. Powell. Hope’s fine fast bowling was the main 1 actor in Riccarton’s dismissal, but that would not have been sufficient had it not been backed with good fielding and plenty- of steadiness and variety i n the rest* of the attack. While Hope was swinging them down with the wind behind him, Vincent was tossing up slows that hung a little in the breeze, and had enough turn to keep the batsmen on edge. He got Andrews lbw when that batsman was getting set. and later in the innings tempted two batsmen so that they were stumped by the wicketkeeper. With the wind to help him, Hope was geting great pace off the pitch, and fine wicketkeeping and four men iu the slips made it fatal to nibble at anything just outside the oft stump. Every now and again he would send down a shorter ball that rose high, and then vary proceedings with a length ball on the wicket. These tactics succeeded. 1 wo men were caught by the wicketkeeper (Allen was standing right up, and stopping them cleanly) ; one went lbw, and three were bowled by this trundler. Cutler, Findlay. Spring and Smith provided useful backing, though none of them took wickets. Andrews proved that he is an allrounder with a useful 29, and Stringer enhanced his reputation as a solid opening bat by scoring 46. He was just beginning to open out a little when he was given out lbw to Hope. His shot? on the oft were beautifully timed, and all went along the carpet. Hooper impressed as a batsman who will make a lot of runs when he settles down a little. His tally on Saturday was 41 not out, and he handled Hope confidently', playing some pretty shots on both sides of the wicket. Bull impressed as the makings of a batsman with the way in which he collected his 28. Roberts was going well when, at 13. he was beaten by a good one from Hope. While West were batting out time Cutler gave a bright displav for 90, and Allen (31 not out) and Peake (26) hit the slow bowling hard. A TACTICAL ERROR. One of the main reasons for the defeat of Old Collegians bv East Christchurch was the tactical error of the Collegians’ captain in putting two slow batsmen in early. As a result, valuable time was wasted. East did not carry on after hitting up 3-31 for seven on the previous Saturday-, and Collegians wanted 332 for a win, a position which demanded that there should be no pottering about. Dunster batted in great style to rattle on the runs, but Walter and Byrne et the pace slip badly-, and with three wickets down the Collegians suddenly realised that a hot tempo was needed if the runs were to be secured. The result was rashness in the hurry and wickets began to fall. It then was not a case of getting the runs but of staying at the wickets until stumps were drawn. That the Collegians could do, so that East won by 47 on the first innings. The bright batting spots were the 75>°» rtS ° f Dunster (66) a nd Smyth . Dunster was dropped several times, but he showed that the bowling was not over-strong. Smyth’s knock was a fine one for he went to the wicket at a critical stage when wickets were falling. Skilfully keeping ’Post of the bowling, he gave a bril—nt display of driving past mid-off -* ,J d through the covers. The East Christchurch bowling was not full of dangers, but it was steadv and varied. Park had a good afternoon with three for 34. He kept a sound length, but it was a pity to see him pull up dead just prior to

delivering the ball after the completion of a lengthy run. S. Ellis, who was brought on late, was consistently on the spot with his medium to fast stuff, and with a low trajectory- he gathered much pace off the wicket. He fully deserved his four for 43, lor he had a number of chances missed in slips. The slips fielding of the East Christchurch men was shocking as seven or eight chances, some of them easy, went begging. Some practice with a slips machine seems to be indicated. CROMB’S FIRST KNOCK. Lancashire League cricket has evidently taught I. B. Cromb to make runs quickly. On Saturday, lie opened his first knock for Lancaster Park with a four, and then proceeded to score 61 runs in forty-four minutes. There were four t-.. -in his total, and the runs came at a rate which made other batsmen seem slow. Few of Cromb’s scoring shots were made on the off side. He drove L. C. Lindley through the covers once, and was dropped at cover point when C. G. Crawford failed to hold a stinging' drive, but most of his runs came from a drive past long on. At times bis use of this Phot bordered on audacity, for lie tried to pick balls off his off stump, with mixed success. Lancaster Park owed a lot to Cromb’s breezy innings, as he came in when the score was only 38 for three wickets, and left when over a hundred runs were on the board. He finished up the dav by donning the pads in the St Albans second innings, and letting wicketkeeper D. J. Lee have the ball. Lee promptly showed his appreciation by getting T. Birch caught at square leg. In marked contrast to Cromb's sparkling knock was the innings played by the Lancaster Park captain, S. J.‘ Yates. The first half was painfully slow, but Yates had to steer the side into a safe position for their win. He played on the defensive until the runs were obtained, and then began some hard hitting. One hundred and sixteen runs came on in forty-seven minutes, and when the innings was closed he was unbeaten with 80 to his credit. B. R. Hawkings did not hat on the previous Saturday, being away at Ashburton. and he was last man in on Saturday in place of A. P. Cobden. Usually an opening batsman, he was in his element with Yates against a flagging attack, and most of his 45 runs came from off drives to the boundsrv, Brighter cricket was also the order of the day when R. J. Read came to the crease, and there was nothing halfhearted about the way he hit J. Johns over the leg boundary for six. There was a crop of fours in his 25, one crashing into the pavilion. Except for M. Graham, who kept one end going for 31 overs, the St Albans bowlers did not command respect, and their averages suffered towards the finish of the Yates-Ha wkings partnership. Graham bowled consistently to secure seven wickets for 72. He was , making pace off the pitch, and kent a j good length. SPIN BOWLERS SUCCESS. The final day of the match between Old Boys and Sydenham resolved itself into a contest between the wits of the Old Boys' bowlers and the broad bats of the Sydenham batsmen, a contest in which the trundlers ultimately triumphed. It is true, of course, that caution was most necessary on the part of the batsmen in the earlier stages of the game, for the bowling was accurate; but after becoming set it is arguable that more enterprise on the part of the leading Sydenham batsmen would have been attended by better results. The Old Boys bowlers were allowed to send down the ball they Wished, and no leal attempt was made to knock them off their length. When Page came on for a short spell he sent along - stuff that was meant to be hit. He was obviously trying to force his opponents into errors, but the class batsmen who were opposed to him played it with a dead bat for the most part instead of promptly sending it to the boundary. A win for Sydenham would have come within the bounds of possibilities if a policy of aggression had been pursued at certain stages of'the game. One of the main features of the game was the neat and polished display of batting given by the left-hander Bellamy, who reached the nineties before he was caught. Jt would appear that Bellamy relaxes or becomes uver-ccn-fident when j n the vicinity of the hundred mark, and perhaps a little more concentration on his part would prolong his innings until the century reached. Bellamy lias a wide range of scoring shots, and is especially good with his behind-the-wicket shots, which he executes with delightful precision. E. Gasson. who was short of practice, opened the Sydenham innings in a way that indicated that he was making up for this deficiency, and certainly played a very useful knock. Displaying sound defence, Gasson made no mistake about following the flight of the ball from the bowler's hand, for he kept ois head well down during his innings. By holding his left elbow well up he was able to show the full face of the bat to the opposing bowlers for a long time until be could not resist the temptation to flick at the rising ball on the off stump, and paid the penalty. Gasson played many good strokes on ‘lie leg side, but he, too, was inclined to let the ball hit the bat. Nevertheless, without his knock the side would have made a pitiable showing. The best bowling performance for Old Boys was put up by W. Moffat. a bowler who sends down a tricky and guileful leg break. lie lias a short, vigormrrun up to the wicket, holding the ball in his left hand and transferring to his right as lie approaches the crease, and he sends along a lively ball lo which spin has been added bv finger, wrist and body action. Throughout nis turn at flie crease Moffat kept the ball w-il up to the batsmen, and was not afraid of being hit. realising that an onpou- n* is more likely to make faulty shots when going for a hit. He put in Some grand work with the ball, and ihorougbly deserved his string of victims. The Lower Grades. SECOND. At Hagloy Park, Old Bovs. 315. beat St Albans. 217 (Sandman 46. Cummings 34. Rankin 24. Truscott 2S, Henderson 20 and Mayo IS), by 98 runs on the first innings. At Elmwood Park. West Christchurch 173 and 52 for two wickets (W. Brown 28 not out and J. Hill 21). beat Old Collegians. 148 and 122. by 25 runs on the first, innings. For West. Hill took seven wickets for 4 4 and Brown three for 43. At Lancaster Park. Riccarton. 34 7. beat East Christchurch. 185 and 172 for six wickets, by 162 runs on the first innings. Third. A Section. Sydenham, 264. bent St Albans C. 199 and 194, by 65 runs on the first innings. Lancaster Park, 211. beat St Albans A. 167 and 164. by 44 runs on the first in nirigs. Old Boys. 452 (G. Colville 165, M.

Turner 57 and R. Round 4S not out), beat Riccarton, 245, by 204 runs on the first innings. West Christchurch. 379, beat East Christchurch, 138 and 100, by an innings and 141 runs. B Section. Boys’ High School. 278. beat St Albans B, 170 and 141 for eight wickets, by 108 runs on the first innings. Sydenham B, 307, drew with West Christchurch, 24 4 for nine wickets. Christ’s College. 214, peat Lancaster Park, 66 and 96, by an innings and 52 runs. ro-urth. A Section. Riccarton, 251, beat East Christchurch, 222, by 29 runs on the first innings. Sydenham, 354 for seven wickets declared, beat Lancaster Park. 18S and 178, by 166 runs on the first innings. Working Men’s Club, 279, beat Old Collegians, 120 and 133, by an innings and 26 runs. Old Boys, 217 and 59 for four wickets, beat St Albans, 132 and 207, by 85 runs on the first innings. B Section. West Christchurch D.H.S.. 215 and 65 for three wickets, heat St Andrew's, 125 and 149, by 90 runs on the first innings. Boys' High School, 224. beat West Christchurch, 124 and 75. by an innings and 25 runs. Fifth. St Albans, 161 and 144 for eight wickets declared, beat Old Boys. 102 and 128 for eight wickets, by 59 runs on the first innings. Christ’s College A. 100 and 120 for three wickets, beat Lancaster Park, 135 and 68, by seven wickets. Technical, 120, beat West Christchurch, 70, by 50 runs on the first innings. Boys’ High School A, 317, beat Bovs’ High School B. 154 and 70, by an "innings and 93 runs. Sixth. Boys’ High School. 165. beat Sydenham A, 60, by 105 runs on the first innings. St Andrew’s, 149. beat St Albans, 75. by 1 4 runs on the first innings. GIRLS’ CRICKET. fair Standard Reached in Second Round. The second round of the girls’ senior competition was begun oil «Ainrd«v and though weather conditions "were uiipleasant, play generally was of a. fair .standard Pitches were inclined to be rim o'- , At Ensor's Road, Technical S • rn . a,nlained their unbeaten lecoid, wmning convincingly from the ArgyJe House side, which, however, comoi o<l t l ,e sooa score of 51. Against BecKenham. Mai Moa ran up a good ?h2£ e *» befo, *f . th , ey declared, and then ly eaaiß Unted for their opponents fairMai Moa v. Beckenham. M. Marks and S. Garner were again the opening Mai Moa bats and Lad put ut l I V n l u hen Miss Garner was bowled by Jt. Cursons lor 17. V Belwoithv replaced Miss Garner, but with only 5 runs ad ded she was beaten by 11. V\ oodham. M. Phillips went for B,‘and then B. Te Itangi and Miss Marks carUed the score to 84 before Miss Te B an &'' with 16, was smartly taken by Uoodham off Miss Cursons’s bowl* .. opened disastrously, when \. Wilkins was clean-bowled by B. Te Kangi off the first ball, and shortly afterwards H. Woodlmm, the other hat, was snapped up by 1. \\ ilson, at mid-on, in M. Marks’s second over. This left M. Norman and R. Cursons at the wickets, but Miss Cursons was dismissed, plaved on trim B Te Rangi. without making a score. Ihe .Mai Moa bowling was good and packing the usual close field runs were hard to get. Miss Norman and R. Haim batted soundly for 11 ,md 17 respectively, but none of the others reached double figures, and the innings closed for 45 runs. V. Bel worthy, a last left-hander, was in form for Mai Moa and took four wickets for 6 runs B Te Rangi took two for 14 and m! Chapman two for 16. High School Old Girls v. Sprcydon. Adopting defensive tactics from the start, Old Girls made this game a dull one to watch. J. Webster was bowled by E. BerJaml for 12 and then H. Watson was dismissed, plaved on from the same bowler, for a " duck.” Miss Berland also accounted for M. Preece, when, after an hour at tire wickets, she had made 8 runs. S. Rolls was another stonewaller who. during her stav at the crease, compiled a useful 10. Then M. Sisson, attempting to open up play, caught a,ul bowled by B. Fellowes. Ihe best Spreydon bowling figures were obtained by E. Berland with three for 2 and M. Kennerley with three for Faced with only a small deficit, hpreydon appeared to be in a good position. but after the top wickets had fallen little resistance was offered M Kennerley (14) and J. Pooley' (!*) made the best scores. Of the Old Girls bowlers. J. Gray and H. Watson, each with two for 5, and S. Rolls v/ith two for 10 secured the most wickets. Technical v. Argyle House. Technical had no difficulty in dealing with the Argyle House bowling and they knocked up 177 runs for eight wickets before retiring. R. Symons (66 retired). K. Jones (24) and D. Preece (23) all scored freely. Miss .Symons’s innings including thirteen boundaries. Argyle House had a full team this time and against the steaclv Technical attack did well to reach 51. G. Mortimer, who played her first game for this season, made 20 runs. ami P. Whitehead knocked up a valuable 12. Bowling for Technical, R. Symons took six wickets for 9 runs and E. Jones four for 4. For Argyle House. G. Mortimer took two for 35 and E. Hooper two for 47. Results:— SENIOR. Mai Moa 105 for eight wickets (declared) beat Beckenham 45. High School Old Girls 51 beat Spreydon 39. Technical 177 for eight wickets (declared) beat Argyle House 51. JUNIOR. Ballantyne’s 95 (J. Algie 21, N. Thiel IS: jj. Kennedy three for none) drew with Tohe B (A. Randle 21 not out, V. Griffiths 21 not out; K. Reilly four lor Ha re wood 71 (O. Hay ton 13’ retired, H. Boakes 13, B. Jones 11; P. Ibiyton three for 2, O. Hay ton three for 9) beat Tohe A 53 P. Ricker by 21, B. Smith 17: P. Rickerby three lor 29, 11. Griffiths three for 14). RETURNING HOME. Duleepsinhji Gives Reasons for Move. United Picks Assn.—By Kleeti-ic Telegraph—Copy right. LONDON, December 2. | K. S. Duleepsinhji says that state- ; oients attributed to him that he is rei tiring from international cricket in j consequence of discrimination by the | cricket authorities because lie "is an | Indian arc unauthorised and exaggerated. He is simply returning home owing to his brother’s illness, having learned that there arc more serious things in life than cricket. Friendly Mulch. At St Albans Park on Saturday, Carlton defeated Ballantynes by 146 runs to 68. Batting for Carlton Cunningham 50 retired, Macfarlane 25. Kennedy 23 and Austin 15, were the highest scorers. Successful bowlers for Carlton were Macfarlane, Austin and Beveridge. Batting for Ballanty m’s, Barnett 27, and Rouse 16. were the best. The best bowlers for Ballantynes were Duff, Sculler and Rouse. Tn a match. Kiwi Club v. Albion, played op Elmwood Park on Saturdav. Kiwi made 152 and Albion S 3. For the winners. Archer made 25, Lawrence 19, Cull in IS. Harris IS, Keys* 15, Dynes 14. For the losers, Woods made 46, M'Keni zie 18. For Kiwi, Culter took seven for 12, including the hat trick. For Albion. Smith took three for 38.

POSITIONS OF TEAMS. 8-pt 5-pt _ Wins Wins Lost Pts. W est Christchurch. 0 4 n 20 Lancaster Park .. 1 2 1 19 Old Boys 0 2 2 12 Riccarton 0 2 2 12 Sydenham 0 2 2 12 St Albans 0 1 3 8 East Christchurch 0 1 ;> 8 Old Collegians .... 0 1 3 7 HONOURS LIST. Batting. F. Bellamy (S.) 91 A. H. Cutler (W.) 90 S. J. Yates (L.P.) SO* L. R. Dunster (O.C.) 66 B. S. Smyth (O.C.) 62 T. E. Cromb (L.P.) 61 C. V. Walter (O.C.) 50 O. H. Stringer (R.) 46 E. Gasson (S.) 45 B. J. Hawkings (L.P.) 45 T. Kennedy (L.P.) 41 J. A. Hooper (R.) 41* H. Armstrong (St A.) 35* P. Allen (W.) 31* * Not out. Bowling. M. Graham (St A.) .... 7 for 72 W. Moffat (O.B.) 6 for 59 R. W. Hope (W.) 6 for 66 A. H. Park (E.C.) 3 for 34 S. Ellis (E.C.) 4 for 43 E. A. Vincent (W.) 3 for 4 7