COMMENT AND CRITICISM ON WANGANUI CRICKET

Wanganui Chronicle, 3 November 1949, Page 6

COMMENT AND CRITICISM ON WANGANUI CRICKET

Review Of Form On The Opening Day

(B.

“NAVTER”

Wanganui cricketers opened the 1949-5(1 season in ideal weal her last Saturday. The senior matches on Cook’s Gardens were lull of interest and it was evident that the players enjoyed their first, match of the season, even though the majority of batsmen did not have much success.

The batsmen were out of form. J ( but many of them showed that Ip with further practice they should |b score the runs expected of them. |C |b Main interest, as far as batting wasj concerned was centred on G. S. Nim-'V mo, captain, who had a splendid re- h’l cord last, season, finishing with an Is average of more than 90. He did c; much to win the competition for his i n club. Batting about number five, he ill invariably saved his side after their |t< bad start. Batting patiently at first! and getting a good sight of the ball, tJ he would later attack the bowling to e score freely all round the wicket. s: On Saturday Nimmo opened the in- s« nings against United and immediately IV attacked the bowling. He had scored tl 17 (including one 6 and two 4’s) when he was dismissed by a well-judged t catch near the boundary. It was h rather surprising to see Nimmo force n the pace so early, and it was also sur- h prising to see him opening the in- b nings. However, he will probably bat h lower down the list w hen two of last p years' players, B . Farrell and J. ■ C Mutimer, return to tne side. Nimmo’slr weakness is the new ball, and he is r too valuable to Marist to be an open- Ji ing bat. Batting in his usual place, p he should again establish himself as a a heavy scoring batsman. He is prob- s ably the best, club batsman seen in j< Wanganui since 1940. a Batsmen who impressed, mainly for t the way they batted, rather than the runs scored, were R. Thomas c (T. 0.8. H. B. Cave (Wanganui), D. s McCawe and B. Poananga (United), s Thomas played a typical innings n against. Wanganui to retrieve the position after a bad start. He played ? Cave confidently. However, a left- j hander is less troubled by Cave than v a right-handed batsman. Cave’s 44 was the highest, of the afternoon and included some of the “ best shots. McCawe arid Poananga, who opened for United, played attrac- 1 five strokes. They have the ability t to become a good opening pair for ] their side. i Absent from the Wanganui team t were W. A. Priest and J. S. Rumbold, c who will playing this year. t Priest, a former prominent Otago and Taranaki player, was captain of g the team Last year. He came to Wanganui when past his best form, but r he made many useful scores. No . batsman could play tne late cut down to third man better than he could. Cricket here in Wanganui has lost a - good mdketer and personality. Rumbold, a dour opening bat, 1 scored many runs last season. He may have scored them slowly, but he was a difficult batsman to dismiss. « The Wanganui Club has been greatly weakened by his retirement. < Bowlers had a good day on Satur- ] day and generally were on top. How- 1 ever this was due to the batsmen’s | c lack of practice rather than to good j bowling. The vagaries of the wicket ; also helped the bowlers. One of the ' worst features of the Cook's Gardens j wickets during the past few seasons ' has been that the bowlers earn their j wickets too easily. Spin bowlers ob- j tain more than ample spin and the ( fast bowlers are assisted at times by ( the “shooter” and on other occasions by the ball that rises. Wickets, are 1 not expected to be so perfect that a bowler cannot receive any assistance. But at the same time they should make a bowler strive hard for his J wickets. . , , , : Steady bowling was provided by R. Head (Wanganui), who is playing his first season in senior cricket. Against TOB he took two wicketsand rarely bowled a bad ball. Head bowls well s

to left-handers as he moves the ball away to the off. His bowling will improve if he learns to bring the ball back the other way. Apart from Cave and Board, most, of the fastish bowlers in Wanganui are inswingers. While R. Head was bowling for Wanganui, his brother, Les Hean, was opening the attack lor Marist. The latter is not as steady as Ron, hut he can bowl a dangerous ball. It was noticeable that, during his run up to the wicket Ron would glance across to see how his brother was faring. J. H. Felts (United), who is now' in the veteran stage, is still a good bowler. He keeps a good length and consistently attacks the stumps—two essentials for successsful bowling. J. McConway (Marist; also observes these principles with success. Best, catch on the opening day was taken by L. A. Wood (United), who has played senior cricket in Wanganui for over 30 years. Naturally, he has slowed down in his movements, but once he gets his hands to the ball he does not. make mistakes. The representative wicketkeeper, L. W. Condliffe (United) showed there is nothing wrong with his form. He made an excellent stumping on the leg-side off Poananga The highly promising N. Walk, r (T. 0.8. gave an encouraging display behind the stumps. He probably has the hardest job of any ’keeper in the competition as he has come difficult bowlers to take. Both the senior matches are in an open position and interesting cricket should be seen on Saturday. At present no team stands out as likely winners of the competition. All teams have their shortcomings both with bat and ball. Fielding will play a major part in determining the championship winner. “That’s Better.” An anecdote of an umpire in an English county cricket match was told by the captain of the New Zealand cricket team, Mr. W. A. Hadlee, in Christchurch recently. A bespectacled youth who had been brought dowm from the hills of Wales for a trial as a bowler appealed to the umpire, who was well known as a “hard shot.” “How’s that, umpire?” he cried. "Not out. Over. Come here, young man,” the umpire said. “You must learn not to say ‘How’s that, umpire?’ but. 'How’s that, sir?’ ” he told the youth. A few overs later the bowler made another appeal- addressing the umpire as “sir!” The reply was: “That’s better. That’s out.” Junior Cricket Council. The New Zealand Cricket Council does not favour the suggestion of the Hutt Valley Cricket Association for the formation of a junior cricket council on a national basis. Hutt Valley had * sought the support of the four major associations and had asked the New Zealand Council to assume control or permit the formation of such a hody. The council replied that the suggestion had been considered hut it could not agree that it should assume control of boy’s cricket. Captain J. Danby. chairman of the Hutt Valley Junior Advisory Board, in a statement yesterday expressing disappointment with the cricket council’s reply, said he felt that with Auckland and Wellingtxai favouring a Junior Cricket Council and with Canterbury displaying interest, the council might be induced to give the subject further consideration. The formation of such a body would, in his opinion, do much for school boy csicket, he added.—P.A.