CRICKET NOTES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 48, 27 January 1932, Page 9

CRICKET NOTES

GOOD BATTING RETURNS.

(By “Slip.”)

It would make matters more interesting in the local senior cricket competition should Old Boys and High School carry the day against Palmerston and United respectively. in the present round. The termination of play on Saturday made it appear as though it was not beyond the bounds of possibility.

As the result of players being on their annual vacation, tho three adult clubs as well as High School have had gaps in their ranks to fill of late. In view of the fact that they batted with 10 men—after enlisting the services of two juniors—and that the usually fruitful scorer, Holz, was lost to the side as the result of an injury, Old Boys did well to top the second hundred against Palmerston.

Peculiarly enough, High School have not been incommoded to the extent of the other senior teams in reepeot to being minus their regular players and they had to enlist the services'of but one non-regular member on Saturday. jYleSkimming came up from the junior ranks for the occasion and he signalled tho promotion by knocking up 45 not out in confident style. Fletcher, the High School batsman, has shown promise of better things with the willow than his batting returns would indicate, but it was not till Saturday that he really produced them. Matters were not running over brightly for his side when he entered upon his strike and his 98 was all the more meritorious in consequence. It was indeed unfortunate that he could not have joined the ranks of the century-makers. In the early portion of the present season K. Hatch was faring badly with the bat for High Sohool and it was not till the inter-school game with Napier High School that he really proved himself when he played a splendid innings for his 70 odd. His elder brother, It. Hatch, has always proved himself as tho more fruitful batsman and he was able to even outdo his brother in the inter-school game by reaching his century. As on that earlier occasion, ii to a lesser degree, they were associated in a valuable partnership on Saturday, but it was the younger brother who returned the better figures, having 46 against R. Hatch’s 30. It would appear that “Slip’s” prediction that Diederich had recovered his old batting form is proving correct, for the Old Boys player returned another good total on Saturday and his last foulstrikes now are 73, .17, 33, 63. Another very consistent scoring member of the side is O’Keefe, for his last four strikes have been productive of 53, 53, 73 and 52. O’Keefe failed in tho initial game of the season and missed tho first round meeting with Palmerston owing to being indisposed. Mishaps in the field or at the batting crease are apt to entail inconvenience on occasion and Old Boys have been unfortunate in that they nave had two of their players placed out of action through damageu ringers. Young, who had been up m Taranaki, returned to his home town, but at his first appearance for Old Boys he damaged a ringer when staking a catch right at the beginning of trie game. Saturday saw Holz taking strike against Palmerston when the first ball sent down by Berquist broke the digit ringer of the right hand and the services of yet another member have been lost. As Holz had failed but once in five appearances to return figures of half a century or more Iris loss is a severe one.

Akuira has fully earned his place in the senior eleven of. Old Boys, and with greater experience in the higher grade lie should prove a very valuable member to his side. Ho continues to show some of the refreshing brightness which marks the batting activities of many junior players, and while his strike of Saturday was not devoid of chances he carried his total to 59 before being sent back to the pavilion. J. Ongley, another member of the well-known local family,' has been able to take the field for Palmerston during tho school vacation and he promises to follow in the footsteps of his father later, for despite the fact that he only went forward to St. Patrick’s College in Wellington last year he is quite at home in senior ranks with both bat and ball. Both against United and Old Boys this young trundler topped the returns for Palmerston with four for 64 arid three for 56. Gallichan, the United trundler, emerged wfth a bag of five wickets against High School on Saturday, but he did not secure them on his customary cheap basis for he had 102 knocked off his deliveries. . He has now accounted for 28 wickets in the inter-club series for an aggregate of 415 runs, and his average of 14.46 is still good.

THE JUNIORS. Saturday marked the third meeting for the season between Y.M.C.A. and Palmerston and, as on the preceding oocasions, the meeting resulted in the championship points being shared. In the first round Palmerston made 188 to which Y.M.C.A. had replied with 179 for six wickets when time halted them. At the next meeting Y.TVI.C.A. had first use of the batting crfease and although Palmerston had lost eight wickets in the compiling of 170, the two not-out men were batting so strongly that members were quite confident at the time that victory would have been theirs. On Saturday Y.M.C.A. had reached 141 for the loss of six wickets in reply to Palmerston’s 143 when time brought the struggle to a halt, so it might well be argued that on fast wickets one-day matches are insufficient.

• Prior to entering upon their match on December last Old Boys had enjoyed a five points advantage over Y.M.C.A. and City Council, but Palmerston lowered the leaders colours on that occasion and with Y.M.C.A. forcing a four point win over their opponents the same afternoon, they were able to get to within a point of Old Boys. However, a draw with Palmerston on Saturday cost Y.M.C.A. a point, but the position is such that anything might yet happen in the competition. As in the senior grade, there was not a single century registered in the junior series on Saturday, but a City Council player, Turner, went closp to attaining the desired total for he carried his total to 94 before losing his wicket. Earlier in the season Turner registered 62 at one of his appearances. Sandman, one of the opening batsmen for Y.M.C.A., had carried his total to 66 before the call of time brought his strike to a halt. It was this player’s third good total this season for he had previously made scores of 105 and 75. There were two excellent bowling performances forthcoming in the junior grade on Saturday, Lane, the City Council trundler, bagging eight wickets at a cost of 38 runs, while Gardner, of High School, emerged with a bag of seven for 37 runs. The latter player, prior to the holidays, had been assisting Kia Ora in the third grade and the fact that three of his bowling feats have been productive of five wickets for seven runs* seven for 57 and seven for 69 makes it evident, that his promotion to the higher grade was overdue.