WOMEN AT CRICKET

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 29, 4 February 1935, Page 5

WOMEN AT CRICKET

ENGLAND AND WANGANUI VISITORS WTN BY 123 RUNS. CAPTAIN MAKES A CENTURY. M CORBY DOES WELL FOR WANGANUI. The English women’s touring cricket team played Wanganui in a one-day match on Cook’s Gardens on Saturday. Wanganui was defeated by 123 runs on the first innings. The visitors batted very attractively and their bowling was of excellent length. In the field' they were more accurate than Wanganui and far quicker at returning the ball to the wicket. Wanganui’s fielding lapsed badly at times, but shrewd glimpses of excellent form at others. The greatest weakness was hesitation about returns. At least two chances to take wickets were lost because the girls did not get the ball returned' quickly. Hesitation and' Uncertainty of the same type became evident, too in running between the wickets. In batting strength Wanganui had one or two stars. Mabel Corby was undoubtedly the best. In fact she was outstanding in the Wanganui team and, taken throughout, her performances, both at bowling and batting, justified her nomination for the New Zealand team. The visitors treated her bowling with infinite caution and to her fell the honour of taking the strongest wicket the English side displayed on the day Snowball’s. Corby’s batting was inclined to over caution, perhaps, but the English bowling was not of a type which invited liberties. Katana was the next best Wanganui bat. She played more attractively than Corby from a spectacular point of view, and is evidently of that class which, once the eye is right, can make runs by forceful hitting. Meyer who made 11 for Wanganui,

was another to show promise with the bat. .

Snowball’s 103. Snowball, who contributed 103 for England, played an innings which the public delights in, getting the ball away cleanly to almost any part of the field. Corby and Reid, (to a lesser extent) were the only two bowlers who seemed to give her anything approaching trouble. She proved herself master of every stroke and her defensive play was of that clean, deliberate type which stamps a good batsman from a bad. She showed a liking for the leg field and the gully. It took her 11G minutes to compile her 103 and she hit 13 fours. Morgan was the other of the English batting side to show form. Her 48 was an able contribution and necessitated a stand lasting 69 minutes.

Two little titbits in the match occasioned comment —the smart work of the English wicket keeper, Morgan. The way she captured two Wanganui wickets almost deceived the eye, and it was hard to imagine this girl was the keeping strength. Snowball is generally relied upon, but if she can do better than Morgan she must be of exceptional quality.

Viewed from a correct standard of comparison Wanganui has no reason to feel disgraced by the performance against a side which will probably be more than a match for the New Zealand eleven, and has probably proved its strength’ in Australia, Auckland failed to make a showing and Wanganui’s 79 was a very fair effort. There was great disappointment when England put Wanganui in to bat twice. Many in the crowd had been unable to attend in the morning, and, after seeing a good afternoon’s performance by the visitors in the field, would have realished a topping off to the day in the shape of a period of attractive batting. Still, the rules gave England the option and Wanganui was sent back to the wickets again. Messrs K. H. Cave and R. A. Kilpatrick were the umpires and their decisions were of that prompt quality which inspires confidence from both teams. RESULTS AT A GLANCE. England’. First innings (for six wickets, declared) 202 Wanganui. First innings 79 Second innings (for seven wickets, at stumps) 32 England won on the first innings by 123 runs. The Play as it Happened. E. Johnson opened the Wanganui attack against Child and Snowball, and the last ball of the over Child pulled to the boundary. U). Reid bowled the next over to Snowball and a mislield allowed the batswomen to run throe. Child then faced Reid and on the last ball of the over was given out l.b.w.— 7—l—4. Hide came on to partner Snowball, who got the ball away to the boundary twice, once to leg and then to the off. Both batswomen stepped out to anything loose and 22 runs came up in under 20 minutes. Wanganui’s ground fielding was erratic at times. E. Good ’s efforts were in contrast to some of the others, and she nipped two boundary shots in the bud. Thirty runs came up in just over 20 minutes and the batting was bright, Snowball justify ing her presence with nicely timet drives and an occasional glance Hide, when 10, was dropped by Reed but failed to survive the first ball o: Johnson’s next over. It was a fas delivery and it fooled Hide properly sneiking the off stump.—3 B— 2—ll Variation had done the dam age. Morgan came on and opened he score with a nice shot down the gull; for four. The first half-hour produce, 50 runs. Sixty came up five minute later. Corby came on to bowl at th St. Paul’s end and bowled the firs maiden of the day, Kumeroa replace' Reid at the opposite end. Wanganui' fielding improved considerably, bu there were still too many lapses in th outfield. Mabel Corby’s next over a lowed the opposition a meagre on< Two splendid examples of fielding wer displayed by Wanganui off Corby ' next over. Reid cut short a fast le boundary and Bullock another on th off. The over produced a singh Eighty runs came up 10 minutes undi the hour, but the scoring rate ha been considerably slowed by Corby good length bowling and a well place field. Snowball reached her 50 with four off Kumcroa. The scoring rat was still quiet at this stage an Kumcroa bowled the second maiden < the day. The first, hour’s play pr< duced 90 runs. Corby was taken off a

thi stage and Johnson came back to the St. Paul’s end. The first hundred runs came up in live minutes over the hour. Snowball was then at 64. Reid came back to bowl at the Ridgway Street end, relieving Kumeroa. There were 130 runs on the board in one hour and 20 minutes’ play and at the luncheon adjournment England bad lost two wickets for 133. Snowball had 67 on the board and Morgan 45. Play After Lunch. N. Bullock took np the Wanganui attack after lunch, Morgan getting the first ball away for two. R. Meyer was the other Wanganui bowler. Ten minutes after the resumption Morgan lifted Bullock into F. Reid’s hands at mid-on—l 39 —3—.18. Turner replaced Morgan, who had been at the wickets 69 minutes and had hit seven fours. LTever bowled a maiden over, but the English side kept batting effectively. Corby took up the bowling again and Johnson replaced Meyer, but Snowball continued to play with confidence, Wanganui's fielding had improved, however, and many boundaries were cut short. Returns lu the wicket were slow. It was definitely evident that the English batting was not prepared to take liberties with Corby. Even Snowball treated every ball with respect, and finally lost her wicket by lifting the ball back to Corby who made a smart, single-handed catch to dispose of the England's strongest scoring medium — 181—1 —103. Snowball had played a splendid innings, showing herself master of every stroke. She was at the wickets 116 minutes and hit 13 fours. Richards came in and after playing the first ball of Johnson 4 s over was run out—lB1 —s—o.5—0. Liebert was the newcomer. Another change was made in the bowling, Bullock replacing Corby. D. Reid came on to relieve Johnson, Two hundred runs took 135 minutes. Turner was given out l.b.w. to D. Reid when 22. The board then read 200 —6—22. Spear joined Liebert and the innings was carried on only a | few more minutes and England de- . dared with six wickets down for 202. i Home Team Begins Batting.

Wanganui opened with Mrs. Simpson and Good. Hide and Spear attacked for England, against an innings which opened at two minutes before three. At a minute past, Mrs. Simpson, was stumped by Morgan off Spear —13—I—o.1 —0. Corby came on to partner Good. The bowling and fielding kept the scoring down. Good played Hide to Liebert at point and the safe catch presented was held — 17 —2—G. D. Reid’s was th e next bat in, but there was an unhappy note about she and Corby and the scoring rate was slow in comparison with England’s. Reid misjudged a run and a quick return to the wicket had her run out —10 —3 —2. Ratana came on and another wicket was nearly lost (Corby’s) through inaccurate judgment of when a run shouid be at- , tempted. Maintaining her cricketing form of the morning, when she bowled the first maiden, Corby hit the first ; four for Wanganui, pulling Spear away along the gound to fine leg. Corby had a life when four. She hit a ball to poiut and was half-way down the wicket when the lieldswoman threw in to the wrong end. Richards was brought on to bowl and Ratana got her away to square leg for four. The next stroke, however, she lifted along the wicket and missed being caught by a fraction. Ratana got Hide away to the on boundary lor four twice in succession and eight from the over made it the most expensive so far. Turner, the fast bowler, came on to relieve Spear and bowled a maiden, Ratana playing each ball defensively. Corby was far from happy at this stage and was a long time getting set. At the tea adjournment Wanganui had , lost three wickets for 33. The same slow scoring rate was maintained after tea. Corby drove Richards to the boundary and brought 40 up. Hide resumed bowling at the Ridgway Street end. Ratana unluckily lost her wicket 25 minutes after the tea adjournment. She was put out of her crease and fell to a lightning stump by Morgan—43— 4 —lB. Ratana had hit three fours and had been at the wickets 46 minutes. ; Bullock joined Corby and 50 runs came up with the arrival of another four from Corby’s bat. Corby was opening her shoulders with a little more confidence and twice drove Richards to the boundary. Spear relieved Richards and with the second ball of the over clean bowled Bullock—s8 —5 —2. R. Meyer came on and Corby had apparently got over her earlier uncertainty. Hide was bowling an excellent length, however, and with her the batting took no liberties. Meyer brought 70 up when she pulled Spear for four. Risky running between the wickets enlivened things a little. Corby drove a ball to the boundary through mid-on and appeared set. The next ball glanced off her bat, however, into Richard’s hands in the slips and was held —79 —6—32. Corby had played a sound innings after her early stages. She was at the wickets 93 minutes and hit five fours. Wanganui then faced a decided rot. Johnson, Stewart, Hide, Kumeroa and Hodson failing to score and England captured the whole four wickets in

under 10 minutes. At one stage Hide was on the way to accomplishing the hat trick, having taken two wickets with successive balls. The third ball, delivered to Hodson failed however, and the crowd settled back to watch the last wicket partnership and speculate on how long it would last. It terminated in three minutes, Meyer skying a ball along the wicket which was ' caught by Morgan, who ran up well to get under it—.l79—lo—ll. Wanganui had to follow -on. Wanganui's .Second .Strike. There was some disappointment registered in the crowd when England decided to put the home side in to bat again. Many who had not been there in the morning would have relished a finish of bright batting. Good and Hodson opened the seconds innings, England attacking with Valentine and Liebert. Liebert captured Good’s wicket with a beautifully delivered ball which took the bails off cleanly. G. Johnson came on, but Hodson did not last long and wet when the innings stood at 13, to a clean bowl by Valentine—l 3—2—2. The newcomer was Kumeroa. Another cb.'an bowl from E.ebert got Kumeroa’s wicket 14 —3 —o. H. Ratana paired with Johnson. Valentine, bowling an excellent length, got Johnson’s wicket 14—4—0. Two balls later Ratana was disposed of as the result of a brilliant catch by Liebert off her own delivery—l4—s —O. Corby and Reid were together at a quarter to six. Reid’s wicket was skittled by Liebert five minutes later —l7—6—o. There were eight minutes of time left when Mrs. Simpson went on and there were four left when she came off with a blob—22—7—o, Bullock and Corby were together when the innings closed and Corby’s .14 was further indication of her capabilities as a bat which, added to her value as a bowler, place her in a. class well above the other members- of the Wanganui team. Detailed scores were:— Engian.d First Innings. Snowball, c and b Corby 103 Child, 1.b.w.. b Reid 4 Hide, b Johnson 11 Morgan, c Reid, b Bullock .... 48 Turner, 1.b.w., h Reid 22 Richards, run out 0 Liebert, not out 6 Spear, not out 2 Extras 6 Total, for six wickets, declrd. 202 Bowling.

Wanganui. First Innings. Simpson, stmpd Morgan, b Spear 0 Good, c Liebert, b Hide 6 Corby, c Richards, b Spear .... 32 Reid, run out 2 Ratana, stmpd Morgan, b Hide 18 Bullock, b Spear 2 Meyer, c Morgan, b Spear .. .. 11 Johnson, run out . . . . 0 Stewart, b Hide 0 Kumeroa, b Hide 0 Hodson, not otu 0 Extras 8 Tola I 79

Good, b Liebert 7 Hodsun, b Valentine 2 Johnson, b Valentine 2 Kumeroa, b Liebert 0 Ratana, c and b Liebert () Reid,; b Liebert (I Corby, not out 14 Simpson, b Burletson 0 Bullock, not out 3 Extras 4 Total, for seven wickets .. 32

Johnson Reid 0 M R ' 50 AV 1 Corby . .. 11 .1 17 20 1 I N. Bullock . . . 0 24 1 Meyer .1 6 0

Bowling. () At R AV Hide .. . IS X -1 4 Spear .. .13 b 20 4 Richards 1) 19 (1 Turner . . Second Innings. 5 0 0

Bowling. Valentin© . * Liebort () m 7 5 R W 4 2 10 4 Burletson .. 3 0 12 1 Richards .. .... ;. i o