The Cricket Field.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVII, Issue 6, 7 February 1912, Page 7

The Cricket Field.

Fateful Friday. EXT Friday is big with excite- ■ ment for cricket enthusiasts, I 1 for thereon will start ’the fourth / test match at Melbourne, and the Plunket Shield match at Christchurch. In the present position of affairs the test match will provide more interest than a test match has elicited since Warner’s first team carried off “the ashes,” for, from the Australian point of view, it looms as the rubber by which Australia will stand or fall as the world’s champions. What the Plunket Shield match means to Auckland requires no explanation to Aucklanders, or to anyone else whose enthusiasm moves him to a perusal of this column. All the. harm we wish Melbourne and Christchurch is a week’s drought.

Remove That Bauble ! All Auckland looks to Hemus and his merry men, or ten, to aet with the effect, if not in the spirit, of old Oliver Ironsides in having that Plunket bauble put in what all Auckland conceives to be its proper place. And the Canterbury loyalists will have to be a staunch lot to successfully resist the command with which Hemus is charged. When enthusiasts rub the old club prejudices from 'their eyes and get rid of the lit tie local inflammation caused by the dust raised in the stampede of applicants for the trip, they will be surprised to find themselves thinking quite unconsciously that the team is a good one —a very good one. If it wins it will be the best in New' Zealand. Admittedly there are some very excellent men left behind to keep their club colours flying; the writer prefers Cummings to, say, Anthony as a Plunketer. Admittedly also the bowling department has not all the ideal attributes of success; and some say Kerr should be in. But w rite the .names of the chosen down on a piece of paper —- plainly, so you can read them—think hard what special cricket points are required in a winning team, and you will forgot to make apologies to the selectors for doubting their work in your feverish anxiety to get Thursday’s “Star” and learn if Mason is, or is not, to perforin at Christchurch,, . 1

A Matter of Temperament. Personally, the writer is glad that he has not to decide the point of Mason’s inclusion. It must be recognised that Olliff in part covers the bowling ground that makes Mason a desirable member of the team. But again he does not go all the way that Mason does on his good day, nor is he the batsman that Mason is at his best. Still Olliff will be in the team because—partly because when he is beaten on the leg sMe, he can attack from the other flank, in a way that a leg-side specialist cannot do. There would still be room for Mason in the rest of his all-round capacity as rungetter and fieldsman, but for his lack of temperament. He has not the ideal ‘temperament of the cricketer who goes all out all the time, every time, and that may count against his final selection.

One Other Consideration. If Mason plays and performs up to his best, the one other consideration in the attack will be the effectiveness' of G. J. Thompson. Hitherto he has not reproduced the form on New Zealand wickets which he showed on his visit nine years’ ago. It seems ’to the writer that he does not trust his fieldsmen sufficiently, and aims all the time for the clean-bowled dismissal. However, he will probably have a hard wicket, and with a reputation to justify he is not likely to allow the Christchurch batsmen nny success that he can spoil.

Shield Sparklets. This is Auckland’s second appearance in Christchurch as challengers. The first, and successful, one was in December, 1007, when Keif and Hemus each captured a century. ■

The coming match will make the twelfth competition for the Lord Plunket trophy. Auckland has won seven games, Canterbury three, and one (Auck-land-Otago. 11)08) was drawn. The centuries recorded are:—Relf LIT 1907) and 118 (1910), Hemus 148 (1907), and 109 (1910), Brooke-Smith 110 (1908), C. G. Wilson 144 (1908), Sale 121 (1910),

Lush 151 not out (1911), and Hopkins 132 (1911). Did Yon Notice ’ There was a match at Temuka, South Canterbury, where Tetnuka’s score against South End totalled 58—one man 46 not out, extras 11, nine “quacks” and a single. It was a serious competition game.

Gisborne Y.M.C.A.' has captured a possible Trumper in Twinki I’ere, an 18-year-old Maori boy. In the Thursday competition, he played against United A, and scored 100 in the first innings and 139, not out, in the second, the first double century recorded in Gisborne cricket. His 139 is described as a chanceless score got 'by sound and stylish cricket.

Carrying his bat from first to last for Palmerston Old Boys, McVicar ■knocked up 107, not out, in a score of 165 against Feilding’s best the other da v.

Saturday, a week back, saw a couple of centuries flash up in Wanganui cricket. Tracy made 157 for Wanganui A, while Murchie contributed 101. not out, to a total of 154 for St. Paul’s.

Woolley's Big Hit. Woolley’s big innings of 302, not out. against Tasmania is a star of hope to batsmen who make a blob and a negative to the argument that cricket affords the batsman only one chance to make good. A blob, undoubtedly, is a better experience, and the man who collides with it is seized with a compelling desire to back clear of obstruction, push the lever hard over, and do a top-speed, get-away to raise a dust that will hide his tail number from the police-eyed crowd collected round the scene of the. accident. -But there ,is always another chance. Look at Woolley. The writer happened across a stray copy of the “London Sportsman." which summarises the county matches for 1909, and ip the inglorious record headed “pairs of spectacles” for the season, figures Woolley’s name. From the dark depths of a double blob Woolley has risen to the glorious, giddy height of 302, an individual score thatis one of the biggest ever. -.Surely that gives heart to the humble blobber. The Test.

On the test match which opens on Friday depends Australia’s repute as the champion nation. England has won two of the five tests and Australia one (the first), consequently to hold premier position Australia must win the two final tests. The Australian papers appear to have got a little hysterical on the situation, ’but it can safely be left to the selectors and the players to see that Australia is represented by her best, and that, whatever the result, what is done will -be t he best that could be done in the year and circumstances, Hordern, the Basie howler, and a dentist with a large business, has definitely stated that his stump extractions on the Sydney inhabitants will prevent his drawing the English fangs in Melbourne. .Should he adhere to this decision, large interest will follow the. performance of the Queensland representative McLaren.