The Game of Cricket.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLVIII, Issue 21, 20 November 1912, Page 7

The Game of Cricket.

Quarter Century of CricketGeorge Mills, Veteran. THOUGH still a familiar figure on Ellen Park when cricket draws Hie crowd thither, George Mills lias taken leave of senior cricket. The veteran lias recovered from the illness which prostrated him just prior to the opening of the season, and the spirit of the game is yet strong in him, but he feels'" that he has had his day, and is prepared to stand aside in favour of the young bloods whose careeaw are in the future. This does not mean that George is done with the game, for before the reason advances much further lie will probably take up the bat again, and act ill the capacity of guide, philosopher, and friend among the juniors, where tiie strain will be less severe than it is on tiie senior wicket. Wellington Wiped Ont. It is 25 years ago since George .Mills made his bow to senior cricket, as a voulh of 21, when he did battle for the 110 Hand’s team against Gordon, Parnell, and United. He came on the scene as a bowler, in the days when Tates, Test ro, 'Barton, Kissling, and Gould were the big men of cricket. He then bowled a slow leg-break, which was a novelty in those days, and caused such a rattling of hails that the colt won a place in the interprovincial eleven when Wellington sailed up the harbour, flushed with a big victory over Hawke’s Bay. to humble Auckland in the dust. Still Auckland didn't mike such a bad showing with ■tin- bat, and young George, though put in for liis bowling, and the wicketkeeper, Hawkins (later .M.P. for Pahiataat, put on between tin and 70 runs for the last wicket. Then those slow leg-breaks of George's proved a new' and fearsome experience to the men from the south. Salmond. the visitors’ smiteful skipper, wont in to treat the things in gallant styl". but when he turned to lift it over the boundary. the ungrateful ball turned out of its way and dodged through his legs to knock the wicket. Thereupon a great fear of George Mills descended upon the Wellingtonians, and at the of an insignificant, innings he had .in average .of six wickets for "0 runs. Wellington followed on, and George’s average this time was four for :i0 odd, the ultimate result, being a win for Auckland by an innings and 100 runs. Up and Down the Island. Next. season saw George following the game in Melbourne, where he battled tor Essendon (Hub. where he saw '1 rumble, Blackburn, Graham, and Trott in their breezy best. He stayed there live years, and came back to New' Zealand to settle for a time at Hawera, under engagement by tiie Hawera Cricket Association. While there lie was selected to represent the North Island against the South Island, the match being played in Wellington. Later he went to Napier, under engagement to the Hawke’s Bay Association. Krom Napier he returned to Auckland, where ho took charge of the North Shore ground, and played for two year-, with North Shore, in the juniors, tie madi so many centuries iu this grade that lie was selected from among tire, juniors, in IR9B, in the Auckland team ■igainsi Wellington, and his 104, not Oilt, in that match silenced criticism concerning the selection. Kor two or three years George stayed at North Shore, helping the local club from junior to senior grade, ami incidentally topping both bowling and batting averages ot the dub almost every season. He alfco achieved Hie distinction of winning his New Zealand cap, rind toured with the only Maorilaml team that lias visited Australia, but there were so many bowlers in the team that he was given very little opportunity iu that department. He then went to Dunedin. under engagement. to the (arisbrook Cricket ’ hil>. and for five years remained in I lie southern city, during which time he represented Otago against Auckland, Canlerliury, ami Southland. He finally returned to Auckland lo take charge of the Eden (’ark, the conversion of which inlo I lie present green playing Held forms not Hie least creditable pari of liis cricket, activities, (t will be thus seen that George Mills has had a unique

connect ion with New Zealand cricket of all degree?*. Backyard Cricket. As all Aucklanders know, George Mills is one of a family of cricketers. Of nine boys iu the family, seven took to cricket almost from the cradle, and the back-door windows and walls of the Mills* habitat continually bore the brands of various makes of cricket balls-— from the blirst and mis-shapen Duke’s discards, earned by the then lads as the reward for much scouting for local giants of the game in more or less adjacent real cricket grounds, to the much-prized coiripo. imitations pur chased by much clubbing together of boys’ rare shillings. Those good old days a real turf wicket was a ’thing sacred to the superior person who played in the “firsts,” and George Milk never touched such sacred earth till he got into the seniors. But to the backyard games he attributes niyeh of his batting success. <{ We dare not put the ball up,” he told an interviewer. “If wc did we were at once caught out, and we learnt the knack of getting well over the ball in playing forward, and of judging just when we should play back.” Though he didn’t say so, no doubt the

penalty of broken window-ware-was also a factor in teaching him to keep the ball down in those stern backyard contests. Anyway, it helped him un his way to the New Zealand Eleven. Inventing Leg-breaks. It was by his leg-break bowling at a period when leg breaks were rare that George Mills made his first, impression •in Auckland cricket. He had no instructor in the matter, no one to copy. His elder brother Ted used to bowl an oflbreak, and George, of course, learned the secret. But r he was not satisfied with that; he had an inquiring mind. “If you make the ball spin with the clock you get an off-break.” .He had learnt and demonstrated that, and he wondered why nolnxly bad reversed the process. “If the spin with the clock snakes the off break,” he argued, “then the spin against the clock must make « leg-break.” He was working nt Hobsonville when the idea struck him, and the argument appeared so ’absolutely sound on paper that he proceeded to put it to the test of practice. Ho prepared close handy to his work a pra«tic wicket consisting of two bowling spots a pitch’s length apart, with a barrier al the back of each, and with a slope* down on the leg side. Armed with u ball. George used to put liis liiiiolivon half hour nt this spot, and lie quickly learnt the grips which proved Ho? soundness of his leg theory spin, for I lie slope away of the landing spot demonstrated that

it was the spin of the ball and not the fall of (he ground Hat gave the leg break. He canie back to town cricket with this knowledge in hi« pocket, and his strange leg-breaks added a new terror lo the lives of the local batsmen, eventually earning him representative honours. Incidentally, too. he had thus learnt the rudiments of uva king wickets. George’s Hat Trick. Those who have watched <« corgi* Mills at work on the attack will probably recall times when he appeared to he rather anxious about the ’’set” of his cap. NVhen.be was up against »a. stubborn batting jwirtnership he did not give his cap to the umpire, set liis teeth, and then bump the ball down with every ounce of speed he could gather. Instead he 'had an odd trick of shifting the peak of liis cap round quickly, and then get ting on with his work. Il looked like a mannerism, but it wasn’t, and he let the interviewer into the secret the other day. He played cricket in the earls days iu the same team as his hrotlvr 'fed on Saturdays, and lived with him at odd parts of the week when there was no cricket on, and their conversation w.is largely on cricket topics. The result wax that they fixed upon an alphabet.

of signs for use on the cricket field. When George was brought on to bowl he pul Ted iu the slips, and 'Ted used to keep his eye on George’s cap. It told him just what was coming—log-break, off-break, faster pace, slower pace—and he, accordingly, came up close for a possible tuppenny catch, or dropped back

deep in anticipation of a fast snick. The result was that Ted was more often in the right spot than is the case with most slip fieldsmen, and George’s average improved. A Bit About Batsmen. In his day George Mills ha-s -seen many notable batsmen, encountered not a few of them on the field, and he has much tlrat is interesting to say of them iu the way of views and anecdotes. But though nominally a veteran, he still hopes to pul in a few' days of bis declining years to some good purpose on the field with the players that are coming on, so that he has not quite reached his anecdotage yet. He was rather wary of stating to the newspaper man any' decided views concerning local batsmen, but he admitted th’at he retained much admiration for the stylish and effective batsmanship of Barton. the -old-time Gordon player. Speaking out of hi* wide experience, he % remarked on the tendency' of good club batsmen to crumple under the little bit of extra res|M»nsibility that representative matches impose on a player,-and io consequently fail to reproduce their club form when called on l»v the province. He meiit : onv;l om instances Austin and S. • • ’Pg, ol Otago, both of them very tine l»nl*iueu with great club performances and indii ferenl averages in representative ma lobes. In this connect ion aho he quoted llcmus. ot Eden, as being pro bably t»he touiidesl tmlsman lie

known in Auckland, and a player wk had the ability to ris?.» to the occasion, with the result that his performancein big cricket w rt rc greater than hi, club cricket work. In Wellington. The senior cricket competition was continued on Saturday. 'North ami Ventral concluded their match, the for mer winning on the first innings. North made 212 and 112 (Phillips 27. Wilson 22, I.tickle 18, 1/ambert 17). < entr.d replied with J 35 (Naughton, not out, 4(1 •McArdle 17, Hickson 14). Bowling fol Ventral, ’Mitchell took four wi<ket» i’oi 39, Blamires three for 36, while foi 'North, Vasey took four for 54 and (Southall five for 50. East B met South on Koiburne Park, following 'Wing the scores: East 15. First innings, 144; second innings, 158 •for three wickets (Wagstaff, not <»ul, 50, 11 u tellings, not out, 42. Bowles Id). South —Fir-it innings, 72. Bowling for South. Burton took two for 24, and Keyone for 30. Blacklock, of the North team, appears to be back in form, as he top-suoi(»d in his side’s first innings, with a vigorous 04, being followed by ( . G. Wilson. lat< of Otago, with a hard hit 50. Enthusiasts in Wellington are puzzled by the absence of Kort lang, the ex \ ic. torian, wli€» came over for the cricket season, but has not yet put in an ap pea rance with any team. In Christchurch. The games on Saturday were mostly

decided on the first innings, nn account of rain having wtopped play the previous week, after 90 minutes’ play. St. Albans, •playing against Iticcarton, had 117 on the (board for three wickets when rain stopped play last week, and as Barrett. Wood, Reid, Miles, and Sand man all made runs, they were able to declare, their innings closed with nine wickets down for 255. Sandman at once got to work among the Riccarton batsmen, and the innings closed for 109, St. Albans cipated win with the score of 258. West ('hristchurch resumed against Sydenham, and increased the previous .total ifrom 60 for two wickets to 243 for seven wickets, when the innings was de dared closed. Thanks to a very free innings by Patterson, and sound batting 'by Hayes, Sydenham were able to pass I lie W est <*hristchurcli score with Ihe hiss of six wickets, gaining an unanti weipated win with the score of 258. (Linwood, with one wicket down for 71 continued the interrupted inning-, against ‘East ('hristeliiirch. Perrin. Jones, and Thomas scored freely, and the innings was declared closed with four wickets down for 178. East Christ church, with just under two hours to pla.V, scored steadily, T. Carlton hitting up til, not out, carefully . Beal'-* innings was interesting, and Reid vvns well set when he was run out, nlthougli he was badly missed in t lit? deep field when his score was It). *1 lie match resulted in a draw. East < hiistchurch scoring 173 M soyoii wickets.

Auckland's Week-end—Grafton's Recovery. It looks as if Grafton lias found the weak spot in North Shore's attack and will profit to the extent of a. win thereby. After a couple of losses, against Kden and Parnell, the players from City East were not expected to prove a inateh for the North Shore combination, but E. Horspool got into his scoring stride and notch' d a century, with the consistent ex-Wellingtoniaii, Sauvorin, bringing in a very handy 56, which gave Grafton « very comfortable start of 169 from two bats. Then North Shore's bowling and wicketkeeping were so utterly out of touch that "extras'’ came up with the very unusual score of 50 for twelfth inan. Minor contributions to Grafton’s total of 303 were made by Mason (18), Caro (17), W. Horspool (16), Patterson (13), and McCormick (10). With no wickets down for 3, the Shore has to face the task next week of getting 300, a fairly big job, even though the seasiders have a fairly accomplished batting team. Of the seven bowlers tried for Shore, the most successful was L. Dacre, with four for 47. The other averages are: — Howden one for 80, Archer one for 52. Townshend two for 32, Bush none for 18. Harper one for 19, Sale one for 5. Eden's Advantage. .Milch interest centres in the Parnell v. Eden game, as these are considered the strongest pair, and opening operations appear to have left Eden with first advantage. Parnell batted first, but failed to perform up to expectations only a nice innings by Grenier, and an unexpected last wicket stand (of 49) by Stephens and young Bennett, saving the side from an absolutely discreditable total. They got 155 —Grenier 45, Bennett 37, Wright 29, Stephens 1? (not out), Ollifl' 11. Grenier is a member of the Anglo-Indian Public Service, who if health recruiting in Auckland, lie plays a pretty bat to fast stuff on the off but is not very confident to slows an .1 leg-pitehed bowling. Eden rattled up 75 runs in an hour, a light drizzle having come on, which took the sting out of the attack of (Il iff and Kerr. Henins- played sparkling cricket for 37, and then mishit Ollit! and was caught. Taylor made 29 by sound play, and then got leg before to Olliff. The successful Eden bowlers were: Hay four for 40, Ike Mills four for 47, Cummings two for 26. 'Varsity Going Back. University, with F. A. Taylor absent, made a poor stand against Ponsonby, their total being 85, in which only Caradus (16), Jacobsen (14), Mulgan (11) and Graham (11) reached double figures. N. ('. Snedden (three for 29) and Woods (lire for 26) were the special agents of destruction. Ponsonby thereupon gathered up 174 for four wickets off the bowling of Walker-, Graham, Fenwick and Jacobsen—F. Wilson 46 (not out), ('. Snedden 36, Gavin 25, Kavanagh 16, Woods 15. It looks as if ’Varsity, having snatched a three-point win from last year's champions (Parnell) in the first round, have spent their force. Another Century. E. Horspool, of Grafton Club,' levied toll on the North Shore 'bowlers to the extent of 113, and was unbeaten when the inmugs closed. It was a characteristic knock, in which the batsman’s strength on the leg side was much in evidence, and Bowden’s bowling suffered in consequence. Horspool is now among the big-average men, his average for the three innings played (one not out) being 77. S.M. Team's Tour. The revised itinerary of the South Melbourne team’s New Zealand tour is as follows:— Melbourne December 11, arriving in Wellington via Auckland on Monday, December 16. Play Masterton on Wednesday and Thursday, December 18 and 19. Play Blenheim.on Saturday and Monday, December 21 and 23. Play Wellington (Saturday team) on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, December 26, 27 and 28. Play < hristchureh on Tuesday, Wednesday ami Thursday, Deeember 31, January 1 ami 2. Play at Dunedin on Saturday, Monday and Tuesday, January 4, 6 and 7. Flay Central Otago district eleven on Thursday and Friday, January 9 and 10. Play at Ashburton on Wednesday and Thursday, January 15 and 16. Play at Petone on Saturday and Monday, January 18 and 20. Play Wellington, on Tuesday,

Wednesday and Thursday, January 21, 22 and 23. Leave Wellington for Melbourne on Friday, January 24. Snicks. London, a Christ’s College boy, opened his season in Christchurch with 298, and followed this up with a duek. At Wanganui on November 9, the College B team knocked up 404 for six wickets against Aramoho, the chief contribution coming from a player named Hodges, whose score was 230 not out. The "Bristol Cup’’ is a trophy brought into existence for competition among the South Canterbury clubs, being first lield by the Timaru Club. It is provided out of a sum of money set aside for that purpose under the will of the late S. A. Bristol, which nominates the Timaru Club as first holders. J. H. Board, the Hawke's Bay- professional coach, made 107 in his first match for United B (Napier), against Hastings. Cullen, who played last year for* Grafton in Auckland, is now established as stumper for East Wellington. He has not so far done much with the bat, but on November 9 he assiifted his side by stumping three Petone batsmen. in the innings. The North Taranaki Association lias received an invitation to send a representative team to Wanganui about Christmas time, ami also from the South Taranaki Association to play a representative match at llawera at New Year. The son of Mr J. Board, the wellknown Gloucestershire cricketer, who arrived in the Dominion the other day, intends to take up sheep farming out here.