CRICKET

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 72, Issue 234, 2 October 1929, Page 10

CRICKET

WANGANUI CLUB REVIEW OF PAST SEASON The annual meeting of the Wanganui Cricket Club will be held on Thursday night. Following is the annual report to be presented on that occasion. For the season 1928-29 your club entered one team in both the A grade and B grade of the Wanganui Cricket Association’s Cup competitions. The A grade championship was won by your club, the team consisting mostly of young players, who put up a very fine performance by playing exceedingly keen cricket. The games played were 8; the games won were 6; the games lost were 2; points on championship ladder 30; next highest team 18. It was very pleasing to see the club gain the honours, as it is several years since they held the cup. Credit is due mainly to our captain, Mr J. H. Williams, who, apart from being captain, has many sterling qualities as a cricketer. In the B grade competition your team was placed third. To the winning team —Marist A —your club tends its heartiest congratulations. Averages.—The following table indicates the three leading averages for the season in the A grade and B grade teams: — A grade.—Batting: R. W. Coupland 53.8, C. Stewart 37, G. A. Thrush 35. Bowling: R. W. Coupland 10.22, F. Cullimore 11.38, L. R .Spurdie 12.33. Catches: G. A. Thrush 8, R. W. Coup; land 7, A. J. Darby 5. Stumping: A. J. Darby 1. B grade.—Batting: W. S. Thrush 18.24, T. James 17.77, D. Livingstone 16.8. Bowling: W. S. Thrush 6.43, O. Hales 7.83, R. Orlowski 11.1. Playing in the A grade against United, B. W. Coupland made 178, and G. A. Thrush 124, making a sth wicket partnership of 252; also F. Cullimore gained the fine average of 12 wickets for 58 runs in the same game. In the B grade, W. S. Thrush gained 62 wickets for the very low average of 6.43. Donations.—The appreciative thanks of tho club are extended to the following gentlemen for donations received: Messrs G. S. Gordon, patron; A. N. Cave, president; H. P. Lanco and F. Ireson Jones, vice-presidents. Also for a trophy presented by Mr Livingstone, being competed for by the B team, and being won by Mr W. S. Thrush. Fielding trophy.—Tho Henderson Memorial, a Handsome Cup, being awarded annually to the best fielder.in the A team, will be presented to the winner at the annual meeting. Material.—The club has a good supply of material, but it will be necessary to supplement the stock for the coming season.

Finance.—The financial position of the club is satisfactory as will be shown in the balance sheet to be presented to the meeting by the hon. treasurer.

General. —Whilst fully appreciating the difficulty the Wanganui Cricket Association has had in endeavouring to raise the game to a higher standard, your committee impresses upon the clubs the necessity of co-operating and striving to stimulate a keener interest in the game—a factor that has not been in evidence during the past two seasons.

Thanks.—The season of 1928-29 was a very enjoyable one, being favoured with excellent weather. The groundsmen in charge of the playing fields, largely contributed to the enjoyment of the game, by their attention to the wickets. The Wanganui club wishes to tender and place on record its sincere thanks to the gentlemen concerned.

Personal.—We cannot close this report without referring to the departure from Wanganui of Messrs C. J. Eeles and R. W. Coupland, who have removed to Wellington and Invercargill respectively. Mr Eeles has been hon. secretary of the club for some years, and Mr Coupland was a member of the committee. Both these gentlemen were keen cricketers, and their removal.from Wanganui is much regretted. However, Wanganui’s loss will be the other centre’s gain. In conclusion, we thank the "Chronicle” and Herald for the generous manner in which the games were recorded in their respective papers. ENGLISH TEAM’S VISIT CLASHING OF UAS&L. SECOND TEST AT AUCKLAND. [ Per Press Association ] WELLINGTON, Oct. 1. In consequence of the dates at first allotted to the Second Test match with the English team in Wellington clashing with the local race meeting and then with the Canadian athletes’ fixture, this test will be played at Auckland and the third in Wellington on March 1. This, however, still clashes with another appearance of the Canadians in Wellington. The Poyerty Bay Association has sent in a protest against the refusal to give them a match. It is alleged they were promised one if the sailing of the Rotorua was postponed till March 8, and have since been notified they cannot have it unless the departure is further postponed, although Southern Hawke’s Bay has been offered a game. AT A POLO MATCH "ARGUIN’ WITH THE REFEREE.” One of the interludes at a New South Wales polo contest between Harden and Goulburn at Kensington recently was a brief "debate” between the members of the Harden team and the referee. It appeared as if Harden had infringed the rules and the other side was to be awarded a free hit. The Harden men gathered around the referee to explain -what had happened. Tho incident caused quite a stir in tho crowd, and a conflict of more or less partisan comment. The old cricketer frowned sternly and rubbed his glasses. Then he fixed a hostile eye on a group in the playing field, which included the referee and the four Harden men: .“What’s this?’’ he asked in censorious tones, apostrophising the landscape at large and all the human units of the adjacent crowd. “The blinkin’ umpire being argued with by the players?” Then he began quoting Bret Harte: “Do I sleep, do I dream, do I wonder and doubt, are things what they seem, or are visions about?” A bystander assured him that it was no vision—that “those Harden blokes

wuz arguin’ good and plenty with the umpire, mate.” The old cricketer was rendered speechless. “It ain’t done,” he protested in a tone which suggested the futility of every human undertaking. “Why, if they argued wjth the umpire on a cricket field a meteorite would fall on ’em, and they would be carried off in the blinkin’ ambulance. An’ that’s just about what ought to happen to coves that argue with the umpire. ’ ’ At this stage, the old cricketer being clearly distressed, a sympathetic bystander assured him that polo wasn’t cricket—“polo was a real game, with plenty of life, and kick, and thrill, and dash in it, no bloomin’ funeral marches and stonewalling, and the like.’’ Tho old cricketer looked hurt, a» Ji another sympathetic, bystander ex plained that tho Harden team were really not arguing with the referee; they were merely explaining an incident in which they were supposed to have incurred a penalty, which meant a free hit for tho opposition. But the old cricketer refused to be comforted. "It ain’t done,” he grumbled into his beard, and ho was last seen seeking consolation at the liquor bar.—"Warrawee,’’ in the Sydney Referee.