Cricket.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume IV, Issue 201, 31 May 1894, Page 1

Cricket.

The cricket season for 1 893-4 has at last dragged its weary length to a close —not, however, before the enthusiasm of both public and players alike had to all intents and purposes ceased. Th© season just concluded has been prolonged to an unusual extent, principally owing to the tie which took place between the Roller Mills, Belmont A and All Saints Clubs for the second junior championships. Another reason is to be found in the fact that too many clubs competed in this ' class, and I hope to see the Association next season start a third junior champion ship, for which at least five of our present second junior teams should compete. The final heat for the second junior championship was fought out on the Queen’s Birthday between the Roller Mills and Belmont A teams, and to the surprise of the few who took an interest in the fixture, resulted in a win for the former. Owing to the previous heavy rain the wicket was absolutely unfit for play, and to make matters worse, the players were compelled to retire at intervals in order to allow frequent showers to pass over. Belmont batted first, and although a strong batting combination, were all out for 30 runs. The only batsmen to make anything like a stand were Parker and Totman, who contributed 14 and 11 respectively. Roller Mills succeeded in doing slightly better than their opponents by compiling 34 before the last wicket fell. Of this total Gallagher and Watts each contributed 7. As a last hope the Belmont team declared their second innings closed for 24 runs, having lost five wickets. With only 21 runs to make the Roller Mills went to the wickets a second time, and although failing to knock up the necessary runs, they nevertheless had several wickets to fall when time was called, and thereby won on the first innings by four runs. The following are the scores: Belmont—First Innings. Thomss by Gallagher 1 Coombe, b Todd 0 Totman, c and b Gallagher 11 Grindrod, lbw, Gallagher 2 Spurway, b Todd 0 Gillespie, b Bramley I Parker, c Gallagher, b Todd 14 Molloy, b Bramley O McLillop, c Bramley, b Todd . o Jowitt, c Howard, b Bramley o Stubbs, not out 0 Extras 1 Total ...30 Roller Mills —First Innings. Howard, c Molloy, b Gillespie ; o Gallagher, b Gillespie 7 Lee, b Spurway o Howard, bGillespie 6 Totman, b Spurway I Sadler, c Thomas, b Spurway 2 Hayes, st Subbs, b Spurway o Todd, b Gillespie 4 Bramley, b Gillespie 1 Watts, b Spurway "] Noonan, not out . 2 Extras 4 Total 34 The fielding of the Roller Mills was rather better than !)hat of the defeated team, which had they kept down the extras would have made the game a tie on the first innings.

No less than six of Belmont’s best bats failed to break their “ ducks.” This does not read well in the final heat for a championship, but is accounted for by the state of the wicket. For Belmont Spurway and Gillespie divided bowling honours, each securing a good average, while for Roller Mills, Todd, Gallagher and Bramley trundled with great success. Batting Averages All Saints C.C.

W. E. Arey.. Runs. 144 Inns. H. score Not out Avg. 11 31 1 14.4 V. Langsford 149 12 42 0 12.41 F. C. Crookes 146 14 74 2 12.16 R. Dacre 63 7 17 1 10.5 E. Robertson. 59 10 * 14 1 6.55 D. Pillenger.. 55 9 26 0 6.11 R. Speight .. 55 10 21 0 5.5 G. Osmond .. 38 7 14 0 5.43 P. Mackie 23 & 11 0 4.6 J. Jackson .. 12 6 6 3 4 J. Peacock .. 47 12 - 12 0 3.91 * Not out. Bowling Averages All Saints C.C. No. of balls Mdns. "Wirts. Runs. Avg. V. Langsford 883 66 55 - 272 4.94 F. C. Crookes 373 9 32 184 5.75 R. Speight .. 207 11 20 71 P. Mackie .. 184 8 14 63 4.5 R. Dacre 257 18 13 81 6.23