SPORTING GOSSIP.

Auckland Star, Volume 55, Issue 12, 15 January 1924, Page 8

SPORTING GOSSIP.

(By "ACTAEON.")

CRICKET. The first Saturday's play of the penultimate game of the first round docs not indicate that any material change will he made in the positions of the teams, though it is possible that Ihe leaders. North Shore, will be defeated by Hie lowest team on the Mst. Parnell. Shores chances of winning are equally pood, however, nnd as Grafton, who have the next Inchest number ot points, are almost sure to he defeated by Kden. the first defeat of the marine team wili not prejudice them in comparison with Grnrton. Should Ponsonby win their came with University (the chances arc very even). Ihev will go up into second position. The final game of the I'limket Shield series, between Wellington and Otago, will i commence at Dune-din on Thursday, January SMALL SCORES AT DEVONPORT ' The feature of the game between Parnell j and North Shore at Devonport was the i brilliant fielding of both teams and particularly that of l'nrnell. The wicket left no room for complaint, and the North Shore skipper. C. Dacre. winning the loss, be sent, his team in to bat. opening with I'rater and Park. The pair settled down to steady scoring, and at _4 Prater, pulling the ball to Aitki-n at square leg, wati caught. Park, who was batting nicely, was foolish I v run out by hi.s partner. Oerrard. refusing to take an easy single. The Dacre brothers complied -t:i between ! them while they were associated at the ! wickets, but the best stand was made Ivy I Scott 139), who is solid rather than brilliant. Montclih shaped well for bis 10. Woddroffe making n like number, but Ihe tail was very weak, and the whole innings only realised Hi-'. Parnell then went to the wickets, and the opening batsmen. Ilemus and McT.eod. 'set out to wipe off Ihe whole of the Shore team's score. Hitting out in good ■ style the batsmen rallied up ::_ very I quickly, and then Ilemus. who had hit at ! anything and was taking risks, was bowled. iV. Badeley, making his first appearance i tiiis season, gave a forcible display and | had tlie fieldsmen scouting out on the I boundary. He ran up _7 when he was caught brilliantly by 1.. Havre. Three wickets were down for 71 and Parnell . were in a winning position, hut the rot I set in. and Anthony. Aitken and Somervell j only lidded two rims between them. When ] stumps were drawn for the day Parnell I bad Inst six wickets for S.!. and now ; require another So. with four wickets to I go. if they are to win on tlie lirst innings. I The position is interesting. j Aitken was the best of the Parnell bowlers, and he captured three wickets for 19 runs. Somervell also got three at 1 a cost of 40 runs. So far three of the j Parnell men have fallen a victim to the I bowling of Scott, who, hy the way. is : generally found tilling the role of wicketj keeper. ] CAN UNIVERSITY DO IT ? I The manner in which l-.e ball nipped off the pitch was responsible for the unexpectedly low scoring In the Ponsonbv,l'niversity nsntrh on Saturday, to the benefit of the averages of the paeey bowlers. 'When Ponsonby opened, and Snedden and •Smith were together for the third wicket. ■ with the former putting on runs in very crisp style, it looked as if a useful score | would be put up against the students, j Snedden was playing Ihe brightest cricket , he has shown this season, and looked, well jset when ftoodwln was brought on to-bowl iaDd clean heat him with a beauty. Iv his second over very short Iv afterwards the same bowler treated Smith similarly. and when he added Wetherall to his list of victims with only l_o runs nn the board. I'onsonby's chances of a .satisfactory score were gone. They had nine wickets down for 154, and it was a vigorous and useful last wicket knock by Broberg that brought the total to ISO. University soon found that this score was not so easy to overtake as It looked, for Sneddon, bowling with excellent length and change of pace, quickly had the student batsmen in trouble. Goodwin, who has greatly»'lmproved his defence as a result of his Southern tour and w. Garrard, held the bowlers in check till the latter was dismissed. It looked as if they had the task in hand, and then Sneddon got the next two batsmen before they had settled down. With six wickets down and 70 runs to get University has a sporting chance vet of a lead on the innings, for Goodwin is still there, and It Garrard and Graham arc - among - the hal>*men to come. The first hour of' next Saturday's play should be highly interesting. j EDEN'S BIG TALLY. The score of 32.~>. large ns it is in club cricket, assumes oven greater proportions to the opposing team, for it is cash r to make runs than "get" them. For tliis reason alone the odds were with Eden when Grafton went to the wicket about half an hour before slumps were drawn, with the task of compiling three and a-qunrter centuries. Now that they have lost half their side for practically nothing (22). Grafton's chance seems about one in a hundred. Certainly the batsmen who wore bowled by Harvey were the tail of the innings, and the Grafton skippef seems to have been at [fault in sacrificing his weaker batsmen in th- fading light. This is not the only I mistake he made in the afternoon, for the ] bowling was far from judiciously handled. | The opening pair, Allcott and Wilson, did not make much impression, hut Wilson bowled only four overs when he made way for Horspool. and it was not until over 200 had been scored that he came on again. Horspool was punished severely, sending down a lot of short ones which the batsmen had no difficulty in swinging to log. Ho was kept on too long when obviously being punished. Of the individual batting perI formnnces Postles was the best, and lie was | unfortunate in not getting his century. Cooper gave several possible chances in his Innings, while Gillespie was batting confidently when a low om- beat him. .1. Graham, an ex-Otago eriokofer. ' was included in the Grafton eleven on Saturday, and had a turn with the hall. He has a nice action.

SUBURBAN ASSOCIATION. The senior championship points in the Suburban Association competition are-— V.M.C.A.. fi: Ellerslie, 6; Harbour Board, 4 : R.V.. 3 : Ponsonby. 3 : Unity. 3. Saturday's games saw the bowlers in the ascendency on the Domain. ihe wickets being difficult and the outfield dead. R.V. collapsed for 37 rims against the bowling of It. Watts nnd Williams, the former with his fast delivery proving unplayable, h,i9 average reading'seven wickets for 16. Simpson howling for R.V. took seven wickets for 32. and his form this season, together with tho exceptional bowling performance in Wellington, stnmp him ns easily the finest fast bowler in Auckland. He has overcome the occasional bad length ball, and howls a consistent length ball with 'a dangerous swerve from the off. The only batsman lo make a decent score on Saturday was Martin, of Harbour Board, who made an enterprising -10. Great interest Is bring taken in tlie meeting of the two lending clubs. Ellerslie and V.M.C.A. next Saturday. Unfortunately the Domain wickets are wearing badly, and big scores will be rather the exception than the rule. Pell, of the V.M.C.A. second team, made a very finely compiled 100 not out against Tramways ou Saturday. After passing the SO he gave two chances, but he displayed great promise. The second grade game between Milk Company and Harbour Hoard I! resulted as follows:— Milk Co.—First innings 5." (W. Foster 12. Andrews fl. Ilerdson 71. Second innings f>4 for one wicket (Ilerdson 13, W. Foster 37 net out. Miuogue 30 not outl. Harbour Board R.—First innin-s 32. Second innings 74 for eight wicket's (Douglas 2S, Simpson IS not out). Bowling for Milk Co.. Phlllipson took seven wickets for 22 runs. P. Foster one for fl, W. Foster one for none. Milk Co. won on the first innin_-= Paton, captain of the V.M.C -V HI team, is a bowler of promise, and should have a future as a medium pace trundler. Six wickets for 2, six wickets for 10 and similar averages are performances to be I proud of, and batsmen in this grade find great difficulty in playing his deliveries. McMiken is another third grade player bowling a fast ball, and the Pnton-McViken combination is the finest bowling team in this grade. -I The executive are commencing to ~et ! matters torward for the Easter tournament which it is anticipated will he the most ' successful yet held. Several country associations have signified their intention of being present, also Wellington and Canter-' bury will, it is hoped, also be present ! The outstanding features of the Wellington tour were howling performances by Bulsson and Simpson, and hatting efforts by Breese. Elliot and Miller. The teams thoroughly enjoyed their trip, and ' were loud in their praises of the excellent ground and wicket provided. It was certainly i treat to sec the ball skimming to the h6undary from a shot which on the Domain would only result in a single.