CRICKET.

Waikato Times, Volume 98, Issue 16174, 27 December 1924, Page 16 (Supplement)

CRICKET.

(By "Cover Point-")

The Honours Board.

W. Menzies, 71 Barnett, 53 (not out). Johnstone 6 for 22. E. Carter, 6 for 32 Going-6 for 47. The Senior Championship.

Old Boys 10, Frankton 6, Dairy Co. 0, High School —l, Hamilton East —5, Hamilton —lO.

EXCITEMENT GALORE.

The short hours of play, shortened as they were by late starting, provided an exciting finish to the

Frankton —Dairy Co. game. Had play started up to time and had it gone on for another half-hour as it might very well have done so far as any question of light was concerned, Frankton might conceivably have put three points to their credit instead of losing two, for they could have delayed their declaration and still left them a little more time to get rid of the opposiion.

Robertson, the not out man of the previous Saturday, was an absentee, and Marcroft and Williams went in to continue the Dairy innings. The latter pulled and pulled and kept on pulling anything at all pullable with great vigour and success until with a C, nine 4's, four 2's and five singles, he had made 55, Marcroft making ten the while, and some of his strokes were capitably executed. It was only a matter of time, however, before he would hit one up, and ultimately that one came and found a resting place in Smallwood's safe hands. Six for 231, and 65 for the partnership; but Marcroft played all over a straight one and the others were soon disposed of, so that the total after all was only 246—105 on.

Frankton's policy then was to get | as many runs as possible quickly andthen try to get Dairy out. Hawkel and Menzies opened to the bowling of, Marcroft and* Hughes. Marcroft kept them very, quiet, but the left-; hanfler, who was a little bit under the -weather, was very erratic, and runs came fairly freely off him. Hemus replaced him, and had Menzies in; trouble for a time—as he will havei most fast-footed batsmen—but pre-; sently they warmed up, and 97 was up before Meikle disposed of Hawke, who had contributed a useful 40 Menzies went on to 71, Carter, forsaking his usual caution, 38, and Connolly\36. Pour were thus down for 194 when Rabone and Beechey came together, and they went for it merrily, taking all the risks. 220 was up when Beechey hit Hughes into Dean's hands, and Rabone then declared. This was at ten minutes past five. A quarter of an hour later Morgan and Hughes went in.

It was a situation that called for a match-winning bowler—a Tate, a Kelleway, or even a Lenihan, who would have mowed down the first three or four wickets in short order; but the Frankton attack is absolutely devoid of venom, and the batsmen went quietly along, not forcing the pace, but picking up all the runs that came their way, until at 52 Morgan was out for 39. By this time Hughes, having found his feet a little, was batting with the crispness which has characterised him of late,' and gradually it began to dawn upon the spectators that not only were Dairy putting defeat out of the question, but they stood a fair chance of getting the extra point. Especially was this so when

Hemus came in to join Hughes, but after he had scored 10 he was smartly oaught at the wicket on the leg side by Connolly. Marcroft was next, but after hitting a four he too was snapped up by the wicket-keeper. Meikle . came in without any pads—a wag who remembered that he had been l.b.w. in his last two innings re-

marked that he would keep his legs out of the wicket this time and as the minutes ticked off and runs came slowly and surely the 'crowd were on tip-toe. Unfortunately for Frankton their -fieldsmen were getting rattled at this critical time. Hughes had been dropped off Atkinson's first ball—an easy catch —and then he played one into the slips. There was no run in it and he stayed where he was, but Meikle came running down to him, turned, and ran all the way back, making good his ground before the ball arrived. The gallery were counting audibly now, and at last, with the last ball to go, six runs were want-

ed for the outright win. Instead of despatching it over the boundary, as the Dairy supporters hoped he might do, Hughes hit it into Hawke's hands close in at cover, and he was out. Dairy just missing the three-pointer by the proverbial whisker. Hughes's 35 was a capital effort considering all the circumstances, and on the other side Ernie Carter put up a good performance in getting the whole six wickets. . ''

FIRST BLOOD. . After being behind on the first innings Hamilton East achieved a meritorious victory—their first by no less than 93 runs. For this they have to thank, firstly, Barnett, who hit up a sparkling 53 out of the 65 made for the last four wickets and was unbeaten at the finish. He treated all the bowlers alike, and fours simply poured from his bat, nine of them and a six accounting for 42 of his total. Johnstone, who was not out with 33 on the previous day, added only five to his total, but when Hamilton went in again he was in irresistible form with the ball. Keeping an irreproachable length he took 6 wickets for 22 in twelve overs, and had it not been for a 6 hit by Moyers

off his last .ball his figures would have been better still. It must be admitted that some of the opposition was weak, but he had Spurdle, Pomeroy, "Withers and Taylor amongst his victims. Spurdle, who top-scored with 28, batted with great care, and it seemed to me as though his respect for Johnstone was a little exaggerated. Still he himself is of opinion that he has been up against nothing better this season. Christian got only one wicket—-Pomeroy's, but he is a valuable adjunct to the Eastern attack, and his swinger is a teaser. The fielding was excellent, and this success should stimulate Hamilton East, strengthened as they will be after the New Year, to greater things. Winning or losing they are a happy family, cultivating the social side of the game as no other team does, and the happy little presentation to Mrs Owens for her efforts in this direction could not have come on a more fitting day.

OLD BOYS IN THE LEAD. With Frankton downed, Old Boys are the only unbeaten side, and they now have a clear lead of four points. They had no difficulty in disposing of School for 92. Going and Lenihan again bowling unchanged. Don Hawke got some runs at last, leading the way with 23 and although he had some luck it suggests that he will get going shortly. His run of failures appears to have cramped his style a bit, and if he could forget them and play his natural game he will do better. ALL-ROUND PLAYERS.

Someone has asked for a system upon which to judge the all-round merits of players. It is rather a difficuft question, and the best I can do is to give the system followed by the Hawthorn —East Melbourne Club. Under it points are awarded as follows :

Three points for every wicket taken without assistance from the field.

Two points for every wicket taken with assistance from the field.

Two points for each catch taken. Three points for every 20 runs made.

One point for wicket-keeper, and one for fieldsman who assists in a run-out. i

Two points for fieldsmen who effects a throw-out.

Two points for every stump by wicket-keeper. It is usually stipulated that to be eligible a player must take part in a certain number of matches—say, half of those played by tho team during the season.

I am afraid that with the haphazard methods of scoring that obtains in Hamilton such a system would be well-nigh impossible to carry out.

ARTHUR RICHARDSON.

I Arthur Richardson, says a Mel- ' bourne writer, is just the type of batsman the public like to see. He is one of the few players now in big cricket who combines with a very strong defence the abilty to score fast off any bowling. He has shown at times that he can play the steady game, but his natural game is to hit the bowling hard. There is, how-

ever, never any recklessness in his hitting. There is not a sounder batsman in Australia to-day, and it is doubtful if there are any who can hit. harder. But he is judicious in his hittng. The good balls are played as carefully as they would be by any other batsman, but the ones that can be hit are hit harder than most other ’batsmen would hit them. And the number of balls that he has no hesitation in hitting is surprising when we compare, hs methods with those 1 of other batsmen. A man who, scores consistently at the rate of 40 or more runs an hour, as he does, compared y/ith the 25 or 30 of most other mep, and does it all the time with perfect safety, is the man for the public—and he is the man for Australia in the . Tests. | Richardson’s full-blooded drive is a I delight to the onlooker, but this is not the only stroke in which he excels. Indeed, there is no stroke in the batsman’s repertoire which lie does not execute with ease and facility, as well as power. Combined with this power of aggression is a defence that few bowlers can penetrate, and the ability to place the ball through the open spaces in the field. ' In addition to his batting, Richard- ' son is a useful bowler of the “heady” type—one of the few who understand the art of varyng pace and flight for the purpose of deceiving the batsman. H. L. HENDRY. HIS VALUE IN THE SLIPS.

For some years Hendry has been one of the best all-round players in Australia,- and he had test match experience with the last Australian team in England. He is a sound batsrmm,

with strokes all round the wicket, and a strong defence, and a medium pace bowler who relies mainly upon his accurate length and the ability to flight and swerve the ball. He has shown by his play with the Victorian eleven this season that he is in good form both with bat and ball, and his second innings century at Adelaide did more than anything else to win the match for Victoria when it appeared to have been lost.

But good as Hendry's batting and bowling are, he has another important qualification. That is that he staryis right out as a slip fieldsman. • With Jack Gregory or any other fast bowler operating It Is Imperative that Australia be well manned in the slips. He and Gregory stand out as by far the two best Australians in that position, and while most Australians have regarded Gregory as the champion of the slips, many who saw Hendry fielding there with the last Australian eleven considered him the fast bowler's superior. However, they arc two wonderful men in tho posilion, and il matters little which is the belter. The best men should always be picked for the more important fielding positions, providing, of course, that the batting or bowling does not suffer seriously by it—and they can hardly suffer in the case of Hendry. He is not a brilliant batsman, but is of 'the solid type who is always likely to make runs against the best of bowling; and as a bowler he always commands the respect of the best of batsmen. !

WITH THE M.C.C.

. (Notts.) The reserve wicket-keeper of the team, who nevertheless doubtless' owes his place to his great batting performances 'of the past English season, for te rarely keeps wicket for his County,

who have a capable man m Gates. Nevertheless when he does keep wickets he usually does It well. He first played for the Notts first eleven in 1910, in which year he made 140 against Staffordshire, whlcfi. team included the great. Sydney Barnes, who with F. R. Poster, had so much to do with England's recovery of the Ashes in 1911-2. Whysall started very confidently, and at the end of two. or three overs was asked by his partner if he knew' who it was he was hitting about so vigorously. He said he didn't, and when told it was Barnes said he had never heard of himl If he had realised who was bowling to him he would probably not have been so vigorous and his\ success would not have been so great. There is great magic in a name sometimes. A story is told of an Australian touring these parts three or four years ago who took with them to Rotorua and Tauno a leading light in local cricket circles "whom they christened Liddicutt and who played under that name in one or the matches, bowling nearly all the other side out. It may have been the name, or it may have been the bowling; perhaps it was the latter for at the fall of a wicket Kippax took the bat to show how this deceiver shou.'d be played, and he was promptly skittled. Originally a steady player he commenced last season to play a more vigorous game and scored a tremendous number of runs. In June he scored in successive matches 61 and 150 not out against Hampshire, 7 and 138 against Northampton, 151 and 23 not out against Kent and 131 against Worcestershire. He also scored 137 against Warwickshire and 109 not out against Kent in a later match, carrying his bat through the innings. For his county during the season he scored 1786 runs, averaging 48.27. Since his first appearance in 1910 he has played 2701 innings. for Notts and has scored 7730 runs, at an average of 31.22. His captain, A. W. Carr, who came 'into the team at the same time as he did, has played 245 innings for 7304 runs and an average, of 31.48. A curious similarity in figures. Whysall adopts the two-shouldered stance, but he moves quickly across to the off-ball. He is very strong on the on-side and to leg and gets most of his runs there. He is a good slip-field.

(Lancashire.) The burly man of the party, who took 184 wickets in England last sea-, son for 13.98 each. His best performance was against Leicester when, going on for the first time when the three men were out for 76, he took Ave wickets in Ave maiden overs, the innings closing for 89. His ananysis was as follows: j.... w w w > . .. w. w . He bowls slow leg breaks, occasionally sending in one which goes straight through and frequently gets him an l.b.w. He keeps a persistent and accurate length. His batting too is not to be dispised, and in England's first innings against New South Wales, when all the cracks but Hendren failed, batted with judgment and enterprise, scoring 36 out ■ of 59 for the nintli wicket. He also batted well in Queensland and many people thought he should have been chosen for the first Test. With his round, chubby face, cheery smile, and boundless energy he is a great favourite with the crowd, who christened him "Kewpie" in Melbourne.

THE GAME IN ENGLAND. Talking of the standard of the game in England with a Ghristchurch reporter, Mr P. Wilding said, inter alia: He is of opinion that English cricket is now improving after being for a few years under a cloud. They have no bowlers out of the common, he said; their fast bowlers were- . not nearly fast enough to be dangerous on a good wicket, and their slow medium bowlers were good, but nothing beyond the average. However, the batting of the team chosen to visit Australia is extraordinarily safe and good throughout. He had seen practically all the men play at Lord's under very different conditions, "and" he said, "I shall be much surprised if they don't put up some huge scores in Australia during their visit. Those who think the test matches will result in easy victories for Australia may be very much surprised. "How they are to finish a match in less than a week in favourable weather conditions with batsmen like Hobbs and Hcndren, I cannot see." His own view was that the Australians' bowling on their own wickets would be better than that of the Englishmen.