CRICKET.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2684, 14 December 1909, Page 6

CRICKET.

POVERTY BAY ASSOCIATION. The usual weekly meeting _of th© Management Committee of the i irtv Bay Criokot Association was held at the Alhambra Club rooms. last evening Mr. W. Gibson presiding. discussion took P lac ®'«\ th ? tate ? the turf wicket and outfield at Victoria TWdn ■and it was resolved to ootam estimate of cost of a horse 'awnnmoweP The groundsman was instructed to P in as much of his time as possible m keeping down the grass on t e A draw'was made for wickets at■ VicJSrVnM r. Y .M C A.; concrete ■***> )’ h S”tnrday 18th inst.-Con-cir United; Y.M.C.A. v. Wanderers.

rNTntes bv “Sbort-Slip-”) was quite a ehangv sun ghi n e after' the Srten tteralo for th *,l’ ! Ef < ftileßNew 1 e ß New Zelland climate s r - “|£HcraS —• wSious which have had to be contendcd agamst S“r weather for the remainder of th ßoSrmatches on rliursday brimful of interest. A great fln*sff was witnessed in the game between Y M C A. and Te Rau, at iaru heru Te Ran set out on their task of heading the 169 made by their opponents on the firs dav With one wicket down for 0», Harry Wack (36, not out) and Jack Wadk (10, not out), set resolutely about their task. Harry foun bowling too good to take liberties and runs came very slowly off his blade, but his brother. Jack, went at the bowling from the jump, and scored with great freedom. The sturdy little left-hander gave Ins best display so this season, and brought off Ins favorite offstrokes with all the power and aeeurac- which distinguished his play a couple of seasons ago. The score wa, taken, without further loss, to 11<U when H- Wack. who had never seemed comfortable, was clean bowled by. a slow one from Hunt Joe Monk joined J Wack, but the former, with his score at 56, was beaten by a good one Sorn Barker. With 30 runs to make and seven wickets in hand, the = o looked the best of things for le> Ran , hut Banker was bowling so well at tms stage that the wickets commenced to fall rapidly. Monk was keepmg an end up, but it was not until Tom Gibson joined him that a stand_ was made. The pair stayed together tor quite a ' good spell, and there was much, excitement as the score crept up towards Y.M.C.A.’s total. Howevei, Monk was bowled by Grant for a stubborn 17, and Barker dismissed T. Gibson for a dozen. The remaining batsmen went for blobs., and Te Ran were left 11 runs behind. It was .a good finish to a well-fought game. Barker bowled remarkably well in. securing ' seven wickets for 38 runs, off 150 balls. Y.M.C.A. scored 79. for seven wickets in their second innings. Barker followed up his.howling success by scoring 44 in fine style, and thus put tn a good afternoon’s performance. Joe IVLonK howled well in Y.M.C.A.’s second innings. He kept a better length than usual, and bagged five for 24 off 42 The match between United and Alhambra on Thursday last provided an interesting finish. In reply to United s first innings’ score of 185, Alhambra had made 42 for two wickets on the opening day. On resuming on Thursday last, they never looked like .getting the runs, and were all dismissed for°96. Babbs played a good, though extremely lucky, innings for 41 ; not ' out. United ran up 64 for one wicket, and then declared the innings closed. W. Gibson (27 not out), and L., Manning (20, not out) both put the runs on rapidly, the latter making a number of brilliant leg strokes. Alhambra col- ' lapsed in their second innings, and at • call of time had eight wickets down for 39. United just failed to get a 3-point win, as had another wicket fallen, Alhambra had not another batsman on the ground to continue the innings. Olsen played a .sound defensive game for 16, not out. E. W. Grenfell did some remarkably good bowling for United, sending down 48; balls for 11' runs, and. securing five wickets. He performed the hat trick, securing the wickets of Sim, Shillabeer, and Atkinson with successive balls. Last Saturday saw the commencement of the second round of fixtures. In the game between Taruheru and Wanderers, on the ground of the former, the Taruheru batsmen had -the advantage of first knock on a perfect ' wickfet, prepared by' groundsman ' Charlie Whiteley in his best style. It is a strange thing that the men of Taruheru do not make better scores than they do. The- have a distinct • advantage, over the batsmen of other clubs inasmuch, as they never leave r tHeir own ground, and consequently have better wickets and faster outfield to score on than that of Victoria v Domain. They also have a lovely v ground at their doors, with every facility for getting’ regular practice. ' With such capable batsmen as Sharpies, Hodge, Lasker,' Davies, and Dillon on the side.

it is strange that - they collapse match after match. On Saturday, all they could total against Wanderers was 81. Whiteley, Monk, Horne, and Monzari were the only men to score, and each were got rid of after just running into double figures. Young (three for 10) did good work with his fast deliveries, clean bowling Whiteley. Dillon, and Lasker, tho latter* for “nowt.” Glennie secured two for a dozen with his medium slows. On Wanderers taking strike, Bert Sharp and Glennie wei;e got rid of cheaply, but Len McMahon and Athol Young then became associated, and scored freely. Both batsmen showed sound defence, but came down heavily on anything short-pitched. They carried the total from 37 to just past the century, when Young was caught by Sharpies, off the colt Monzari, after playing an excellent innings for 37. It is a pleasure to see - this batsman in form again. He dici not do himself justice last season, , but has got into his stride at last, and Jet us hope he will repeat this season the fine form which distinguished him two seasons ago. The ex-Sydneyite, Me- ( Mahon, played most attractive cricket His strokes were correctly made, and his timing and placing perfect. He handles his bat in artistic fashion, and it is always a pleasure to watch his batting displays. He was left .unbeaten, with 44 opposite his name, and it will not be at all surprising if he runs into three figures on resuming next Saturday. . , At Victoria Domain. Y.M.C.A. and United met on Saturday, the turf wicket being used for the first time this season. The wicket played wretchedly, and United had to scratch all they knew to laboriously compile their total of 111. Alick Scroggie, the erstwhile Liverpool man, top-scored with a well-made 29. His defence was sound, while he got full weighkonto his drives. Hallamore, the United, captain, made some big hits in running up 22. W. Gibson and Grenfell, with 17 and 14 respectively, were the other men who helped to swell the total. Sam Mill was the best bowler for Y.M.C.A. He tossed them up well, and got a spin on from both sides, capturing six wickets for 32 off 13 overs. Ned Ellison captured Gibson’s wicket with an abnormal off-break, which came back fully six inches, and completely beat the batsman. Ellison should have been bowled more, as he was turning the ball well; but he was ordered behind the sticks in order to allow Rewai to have a turn at the bowling crease. Rewai kept a good length, and dismissed Hallamore with a really good one. Y.M.C.A. made a feeble stand on going to the wickets. They appeared all at sea to Fred Farrell s slow left-handed deliveries, and man after man came and went in rapid succession. Batting two men short, the innings closed for 30 runs. Farrell got a lot of work on. and captured six wickets for 10 runs off 30 balls. With a lead of 81 runs on first hands Hallamore gave his tail-end colts a chance to go in early in the second innings. Consternation soon set in in the United ranks, as Barker proved so deadly on the crumbled pitch that the wickets went' down before him like ninepins. Before the United men knew where they were, five wickets were down for 6 runs. The veterans then came in, but were as helpless to make a stand as the colts. It was absolutely impossible to foretell Avhat trick the ball would play after pitching. One would rear up, hydra-headed, and leer at the hapless batsman, while the next delivery would shoot like a streak of lightning. Just on call of time, the last wicket fell, Scroggie being well taken in the deep field by Dave Gorman who was fielding substitute for Y.M.C.A - ., off Dudfield. Scroggie absolutelv covered himself with glory by making a dozen runs, and being the snlitarv double-figure man on the side. Barker sent down 48 balls , for 10 runs, and captured six wickets, and was absolutely unplayable. Ellison dismissed Hallamore with a wonderful off-break, the identical oall that scattered Gibson’s sticks in the first innings. Y.M.C.A. are thus left to get 118 runs to win. If Joe Monk can provide a decent wicket for next - Saturday, Y.M.C.A. may easily .got the runs, but if the wicket is anything! like it was last Saturday United should dismiss them'for under the.half-century. Y.M.C.A. will be without the services of Ellison and P. Rewai next Saturday, who left for Otago on Sunday last. Ellison intends to settle in Dunedin, so will not be able to get on any more of those wonderful off-brea‘kes of: his in Gisborne. Good luck to him ! I hope he gets one or two into C. G. Macartney at Carisbrook. They would considerably astonish' the little All-Australian champion. But the wickets at Carisbrook are hardly, as good (for big breaks) as they are on Victoria Domain, Ned. .V. _ , , •/ ' : It will be good news to local ericketers that A. M. Howden, the crack Auckland, rep. player, who is at present in Gisborne, has stated that he intends to bring down'another Auckland touring team to Gisborne at Easter time. The team Howden brought with him last season whs a distinctly good one. containing besides himself, such well-known Auckarid representative players as E. V. Sale. Robinson. ,L. McMahon, L. Prime, and J. M. Hussey. The visit of first-class players such as these-, do an incalculable amount of good to cricketers in such an isolated spot as Gisborne. Let us hope that Gisborne cricketers will ever treat the Aucklanders with such warm hospitality that they will make the visit an annually recurring one. They are such good players and good sportsmen'that we cannot have them too often. The last visit of the Aucklanders resulted in Len. McMahon, one of their best players, taking up his permanent residence in Gisborne. Let us hope that Alisher Howden and Ned Sale will Jb© so charmed with our little city on the: banks of the Turangianui that they wil] absolutely refuse to go back to the Queen Citv after Easter. Speaking seriously, th" visits of firstclass players such as Howden brought down with him last season does a great deal to raise the standard of plav in a district such as Poverty Bay, and it, something for local players to keep in their very best form for right through the season.

POSITION OF THE clubs.. SATURDAY COMPETITION. • SENIORS. Club. Matches. played Won 3 3 Lost Points. 0 7 "Wanderers o 1 2 3 Taruheru United Y.M.C.A. 3 1 3 1 2 3 2 .2 JUNIORS. aub. Matches. Played Won Lost Points. 3 13 "Wanderers i ° 6 4 6 3 n 1 2 10 Y.M.C.A. 3 7 Alhambra 6 3 COMPETITION Club. Matches. Played Won Lost Points. 1 6 Alhambra 3 2 1 5 United • q 1 2 2 Tc Rau Q I 2 2 Y.M.C.A. round THE GROUNDS.