CRICKET.

Waikato Times, Volume 98, Issue 16152, 29 November 1924, Page 16 (Supplement)

CRICKET.

(By Cover-Point.) PUBLICATION OF TEAMS. Secretaries of all sporting clubs are advised that teams, for insertion In Friday’s issue weekly, must reach this office by Thursday evening. Otherwise they cannot be' accepted. CAN YOU PICK THEM? Chance for Amateur Selectors. Three unfortunate gentlemen in Australia —Messrs Hill, Bean and Collins—will be faced during the next fortnight with the task of reducing to eleven the nineteen or so players with claims to inclusion in the Australian team for the first Test. There are numbers of other enthusiasts engaged in the same occupation, but with the pleasant feeling which the amateur selector has that no responsibility rests upon his shoulders, in view of the great interest which the forthcoming Tests arc arousing everywhere the management of this journal has decided to offer a trophy valued at £1 Is to the reader whose selection comes closest to the final choice of the Australian selectors. The rules for the competition are as follows: —■

f. All lists. ( addressed to “Coverpoint,” must be to hand not later than December 10.

2. The names of the eleven to be arranged in alphabetical order, and a twelfth and thirteenth man also to be given. 3. All selections to be accompanied liy competitor's name and address, and no competitor to send in more than one list. /,. if two or more competitors are equal the trophy shall he drawn for. 5. “Cover-point’s" decision shall be final. Honours Board. I Taylor (Hamilton' 59. ; Rockland (Y.M.G.A.) fit Hovworth (Y.M.G.A. ) 51 not out. Coins (Old Roys) 7 for 30. 10. Carter (Kranlslon) 5 for to. Connolly (Frankton) 5 for 10. Hemus (Dairy Co.' 0 for 30." Williams (Railway,. 5 for 10. Christian (Y.M.G.A.) 5 for tG. Clayton (Y.M.G.A.) 5 for 5.

Senior Championship. Frankton 6, Old Boys 5, Dairy Company 0, High School 0, Hamilton —5, Hamilton East —6. Junior Championship. Railway 11, High School 6, Y.M.C.A. 5, Frankton —2, Hamilton East —6, Dairy Company —l2. FOREGONE CONCLUSIONS. Two of the senior games had advanced to such a stage on the previous day that only a miracle could have robbed Frankton and Dairy Co. of the victories they had In sight, and as the mirao’.e did not happen their games finished early. Hamilton and Old Boys, however, saw the day out, Old Boys delaying the closure so long that they were unable to get Hamilton out a second time, and had to be content with first innings points. Connolly’s Match.

Connolly figured so largely in Frankton’s success against High School that the match may well be described as his. As recorded last week, he rattled on an inspiriting 63 not out in the Frankton innings, and he sent five of the School batsmen to the right-about in short order and so brought the game rapidly to a close. In the School first innings, however. Ernie Carter secured the bowling honours with five for 15. With Senior out, School had lost their mainstay, and the tail-end batsmen did well in putting on 46 for the last three wickets, Anderson bringing in his bat for 24, and Ewan scoring 10 in two hits. Frankton sent their opponents in again, and Senior and Anderson put on 21 for the first wicket. Tait, who is one of the mainstays of the School batting, helped Senior to a<?j another 38. The third wicket fell at 64, and 89 was on the board when Connolly came on the soene. He got a wicket with his first ball, three runs coming off the over and two runs off the next. In his next over he was sent once to the boundary, but he got a wicket in it, and in the following over, a maiden, he.took three wickets. Ultimately he wound up with five for 17, and School being all out for 127, Frankton won by an innings. The Frankton fielding was a little better than heretofore, and Smallwood, who is probably our best outfield, took two splendid catches. If it is intended to keep Connolly as a bowler Frankton will have to find a better wicket-keeper than last Saturday's occupant of the position. It is absurd to see a wicket-keeper standing six yards to medium-pace bowling, and even at that letting 23 byes go in an innings of 127. Unless there is an improvement in this department Frankton will be sorry they let Malin go.

Dairy’s First Win.

Wallis, the hope of the Hamilton ■East side, did not last long, Dean\ catching him off Hemus when he had added another run, and only F. Williams, who was run out after reaching doubles, and W. B. Williams, who hit lustily at the finish for 13 not out. troubled the scorers much. The side was all out for 81, Hemus’ average running out at six for 36. Requiring 38 to win, Dairy' Co. were within two runs of this when the second wicket fell, and they carried on to 71 without further loss, winning by. two wickets. Hamilton East are evidently up against it, and unfortunate that some of the senior players who promised to join up with them have let them down. Over-Cautious. With four down for 100_Jbimilton had a sporting chance of beatftig Old Boys 185, but Spurdle left early, and the fifth wicket fell at 107. With the exception of Lee, -who added nine to his previous tally of six, the rest failed, and the last five wickets added only 19 runs. Going took three of the six wickets that fell, and wound up with seven for 36. ■ Old Boys batted briskly in their second essay, Crawford getting 36 quickly, while Hawke, who had gone in late and carried his bat in each of his two previous innings, signalised a I well-merited promotion with a capital 33. Carter got a similar pumljer (a good double —49 and 33) and Gilmore smote manfully for 10. With five down for 148 Fraser declared, leaving his opponents 208 to get in 100 minutes. He had left the closure too long, for Hamilton played out .time, losing five wickets for 128. Another half-hour would have made all the difference to Old Boys, for the tail was in sight when stumps were drawn. Taylor made amends for his two previous failures by running up 59 in his best style. His innings was marred by only one blemish, and that was the wild shot he made at the yorker that bowled him. It was a foolish shot in view of the situation. However, no doubt Old Boys were quite glad that he made it—certainly his young son was, for he had applied to his father for an ice-cream just as the latter was going in to bat and had been told to wait till he came out. When Taylor did come out, an’ hour or so later, the boy said: “You were a long time, dad!” And, alas! ice-cream was off. Still, it’s an ihwind that blows nobody good, and one of our leading umpires got the benefit of the trade a little later on.

Spurdle and Seed held their wickets up at the finish, but their running was a bit. risky under the circumstances, and Spurdle might have manoeuvred a little more to get the bowling.

REV. BLAMIRES IN FORM. In view of the fact that Otago is to play Wejlington at the Basin Reserve at the New Year, the form of the Dunedin men is being watched with interest. The Rev. E. 0. Blamires completed 115 in two hours for Albion against Dunedin last Saturday week (says an exchange). The rev. .gentleman, when playing for New Zealand against the New South Wales team last season at the Basin Reserve, bagged a pair of spectacles. Nevertheless, hie is a very able batsman, and the Wellington bowlers will have to upset his pulpit at New Year time before he completes any such lengthy sermon a-’ he delivered to the Dunedin congregation on Saturday last. AMONGST THE JUNIORS. I doubt if there was a finer innings played during the afternoon than that Heyworth’s 54 not out for Y.M.C.A. against Dairy Company. True, the bowling was not very formidable, although Bob Johnston was playing, hut the runs were made in a way that stamped the batsman as a very promising youngster, with a good command of strokes, a sound defence, and the ability and willingness to punish anything over-pitched. As he is usually very successful with the ball, be should not be lost sight of. Buckland also batted very vigorously, for tiis Gl, which included a couple of G's.

The High School-Frankton game is recorded as a 3-point win for High School, although they seemed to be playing on for some time after play ceased in the senior game, and according lo the score hook there were still some Frankton men to hat. At all events, if Frankton did not lose by

3 points they richly deserved lo do so, for Ihe majority of their batsmen appeared to treat the proceedings as a joke and wenl in to hit wildly at anything that came along. That is

no way to play cricket; nor can a young ‘piayer ever hope to improve unless he takes the game seriously and goes in to- bat determined that he will not throw his wicket away but make the bowler earn it. A little more grit and determination on the part of some of the Frankton boys on Saturday would not only have saved the extra point, but improved their cricket instead of making it worse. If they had taken notice of what vvas happening in the senior match which was in progress st the same time they would have seen that the Hamilton men, although they made a mistake or two, recognised what their duty was and put their backs to the wall accordingly. The future of our cricket is in the hands of the juniors, and someone should see to it that they are made to work along right lines.

M.C.C. TOUR OF f.’JCTRALIA. LIST OF FIXTURES. The following is the list of remaining fixtures for the M.C.C. team which is now in Australia: — 29, Pee. i, 2, 4. —Queensland at Brisbane. December. 4,5, 6, 8. —Australian XI at Brisbane. 9, io.—Toowoomba, at Toowoomba. 13, is, 16.—Combined Juniors of Australia at Sydney. 19, 20, 22, 23. AUSTRALIA, at Sydney (Ist Test). 26, 27. —Southern District, at Albury. January. 1,2, 3, 5. —AUSTRALIA, at Melbourne (2nd Test). ' 7, 8. —Bendigo, at Bendigo. 10, 12—Ballarat, at Ballarat. P _ H. STRUDWICK. (Surrey.) Although it is twenty-ono years he first went to Australia with an English team, still he ist the best wicket-keeper in England. He was born at Mitcham on 28th January, 1880, and it is said that when he was only about sixteen he received a postcard from thesecretary of the Surrey Club asking him to go to the ,Oyal to show Ids paces and to ‘‘bring everything" with him. He was ndt quite sure what "everything” meant, so to be on the safe side he arrived with a bag bulging with bats, balls, stumps, gloves, bails, pads and various other things. P. F. Warner, who tells the story, says that Strudwick denies that he appeared in a furniture vah or that a bell-tent was included jrniengst his belonging! He first appeared for Surrey In' 1900, when the County had a regular wteket-keoper In Stedman, and it

soon became apparent that the younger man was much the superior. In consequence Stedman gradually dropped out, and In 1903 Strudwick took up the position .permanently. At tho end of that season he was chosen for Australia ss understudy to Lillev, and was also In the 1911-2 and 1920-21 teams. He is very quick on his feel, and has brought off some marvellous catches that seemed quite out of reach. During his career in first-class ■cricket, up to the end of this year's English season, he had taken 1924 wickets —1072 caught and 222 slumped. First at the end of the season he took twelve wickets in two consecutive matches at the Oval—six caught against Yorkshire, and five caught and onestumped against Leicestershire.

PREPARING FOR THE TESTS. The other day the cable told us that H. L. Collins, A. Klppax, W. H. Ponsford, P. M. Wallace, V. Y. Richardson, C. Grimmett,-and E. Taffe/has been chosen as members of the Australian Eleven to play the Englishmen at Brisbane. Under the leadership and eye of H. L.'Collins, of New South Wales, who will captain Australia in the tests, the selectors have chosen a number, of players who are likely candidates for test-match honours. Collins is the onlyplayer with test-match experience. With any luck at all, V. Y. Richardson, the South Australian captain, should succeed In making the test match team. An attractive batsman, with particularly good off-shots, he, In addition, is one of the most brilliant fieldsmen in Australia. It can be expected that in the impending match he will push his claims right home. His score of 200 not out for South. Australia against the Englishmen, and his 123 against Victoria, show that he Is on theitop of his form. He has been extraordinarily successful against Victoria, for in 17 innings be has failed on only three occasions to get double figures. He has three centuries to his credit, and also scores of 96, 72 and 06. In all he has scored 814 runs against Victoria, with an average of 47.88.

It scarcely is necessary to refer to the claims of A. Kippax (New South Wales) and W. P. Ponsford (Victoria). They are the two brilliant 'molts whc last season looked to be brilliant for test-match honours. But both have failed against the Englishmen, and so will he .given another batting chance. Ponsford played a characteristic innings In the recent game with South Australia, contributing greatly to the recovery made by his side. Wallace, of Victoria, is a bowler who sends down a fast-medium ball, but he ; is liable to sacrifice length to speed. I C, V. Grimmctt is another bowler who i may achieve greatness. He is a New I Zealander, at one time playing in Weii lington. Then he resided for som" j years in Victoria, later transferring to \ South Australia. When lie was playing j for South Australia recently, Victoria must have wished he had never left Melbourne. For in Victoria’s first innings he was the main agency of destruction. At the end of the first day of play he had bowled 30 overs, eight being maidens, and had taken four wickets for f>7 runs, his victims being Mavnc, Ponsford, Tarrant and Ellis. It certainly was a fine bowling performance. A slow bowler, he employed every trick possible, and every ball he sent down had to be played. He finished up with five for 97. Against the Englishmen he took four wickets for 187, accounting for 11. Sutcliffe, J. W.

Hearne, F. Woolley and A. P. F. Chap-* man

Taffe is a West Australian, chosen doubtless because of an Innings of 71 against the Englishmen. He Is ail opening batsman. Of the Queensland players to bo chosen for the Brisbane game, one. of the certainties will he P. Ilornihrook, on whom Australis has had'lts eye for several seasons as a likely test-match bowler.

'Some significance may be drawn from, the fact that A. E. V. Hartkopr, whom many conside.r should replace Arthur Maitey as Australia's slow bowler in the tests, is not being given a trial. If he were filling the eye of the selectors il Is likely that they would have tested ldm In ttie coming game. But Malley howled hi fine form for New South Wales against the Englishmen, and he now looks a certainty for the big trials of strength.