Cricket 1910

A p r i l 2 8 , 1 9 1 0 . CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. »5 THE AU STRAL IAN TEAM IN N EW ZEALAND . (Continued from Page 77.) 5 th M atch , -v. NEW ZEALAND. FIRST TEST MATCH. Played at Christchurch on March 11, 12, 14 and 15. Australia won by nine wickets. Although beaten by nine wickets, New Zealand were far from being disgraced. They lost the toss and were sent in to bat on a sticky wicket, and the latter part of their second innings was played on a drying ground all against run-gctting. In their first innings only Sims, who scored 51 out of 109 in an hour and a-quarter, played with much con­ fidence against W hitty; he made his runs by a variety of strokes, but was missed when 24. After Maynehad been dismissed at 1 and Simpson at 31, Smith and Bardsley added 51 together and the latter and Armstrong 122 in an hour and a-half. Bardsley made some capital strokes on the on-side and batted 115 minutes for his runs; apart from a difficult chance when 29 he made no mistake. Bennett bowled well in the l itter part of the innings, taking his last four wickets for 3(3, and the Australians lead was restricted to 151. The home side’s fielding was of a high standard, Reese being especially brilliant. So well did New Zealand fare upon going in the second time that when stumps were drawn on the Saturday they had made 201 for the loss of only four wickets, and were therefore 50 runs on with six wickets in hand. Lusk and Siedeberg made 06 for the first wickct and the latter and Midlane 34 for the second. Midlane, who played the best innings of the side, also added 79 for the third wickct with Haddon, but was responsible for the running-out of Reese, who very unselfishly sacrificed his own wicket when called for an impossible run. Rain prevented a ball being bowled on the Monday, and on the next day the innings was continued on a ground which suited Hopkins admirably. The last six wickets, in fact, went down for 57. and Australia were set only 108 to win. The wicket rolled out well and it was everywhere recognised that no diffi­ culty would be found in making the runs. Mayne played an aggressive and powerful game so success­ fully that when the first wicket fell at 09, the score was made up as follow s:—Mayne, 60 not ou t; Bardsley, 6 ; byes, 3. With Simpson in the remain­ ing runs were hit off without further loss, but Maync, in making the winning hit, offered a possible chance to Howden at slip. Mayne scored 75 out of 101 from the bat in 65 minutes by means of a 6, ten 4’s, two 3’s, six 2’s, and eleven singles. Score and analysis:— N ew Z ealand . First innings. Second innings. O. M. R. W. O. M. R. W. Whitty ... 22 5 53 6 ... ... 32 10 73 2 Armstrong . .1 3 5 28 3 ... ... 19 5 40 0 Emery ... . . 3 0 18 1 ... ... 7 1 32 1 Warne ... . . 8 0 36 0 ... ... 5 0 24 1 Hopkins ... ... 103 3 34 4 Simpson ... ... 8 2 15 0 Kelleway ... ... 6 2 10 0 Kelleway bowled a wide. A ustralia . First innings. Second innings. O. M. R. W. O. M. R. W. H addon... . .1 3 0 40 0 ... ... 1 0 6 0 Oliff ... . .2 4 0 81 3 ... ... 3 0 12 0 Bennett... . . 25-3 2 74 5 ... ... 7-5 3 15 1 Reese ... . .2 0 4 55 2 ... ... 3 0 23 0 Howden . 8 1 31 0 ... ... 4 0 24 0 Sims ... . . 1 0 5 0 ... McFarlane ... !" 2 0 21 0 Haddon bowled two widcs. N ew Z ealand . First innings. H. B. Lusk, c Emery, b Whitty .......................... 22 H. G. Siedeberg, lbw, b Whitty .......................... 2 F. A. Midlane, b Armstrong 0 A. Haddon, c Simpson, b Whitty .......................... 1 D. Reese, b Whitty ...........20 A. Sims, not ou t.................. 51 T. Me Farlane, lbw, bWhitty 0 C. Oliff, b Emery ........... 5 J. H. Bennett, b Armstrong 4 C. Boxshall, b Whitty ... 19 A. M. Howden, c Mayne, b Armstrong ......................11 B 14, lb 6 .................. 20 Second innings, c and b Emery 39 .. 35 .. 47 b .. 47 .. 14 Total run out b Hopkins ... c Kelleway, Warne run out c Gorry, b Whitty 11 c Warne,bWhitty 16 b H opkins........... 2 b H opkins........... 0 st Gorry, b Hop­ kins.................. 17 not out.................. 0 B 21, lb 8, w 1 30 Total ...258 A ustralia . Second innings. First innings. W. Bardsley, st Boxshall, b R eese..................................97 b Bennett . 6 E. R. Mayne, c and b Oliff 1 notout..................75 C. E. Simpson, b Oliff ... 17 notout..................20 D. Smith, b Bennett...........16 W. W. Armstrong, b Oliff... 72 T. S. Warne, b Bennett ... 21 C. Kelleway, b Reese ... 32 A. J. Hopkins, b Bennett... 5 S. H. Emery, b Bennett ... 6 W. J. Whitty, c Howden, b Bennett ..........................14 C. R. Gorry, not o u t........... 8 B 13, lb 3, w 1 .......... 17 B 7, w 1 ... 8 The first Test match has gone to the Australians. This was generally anticipated, though, taking a line through the games played against the Provinces, it was not expected that the margin in favour of the visitors would be so large as nine wickets. But that figure hardly represents the game. Without in any way detracting from the merits of the win, it must be admitted that the New Zealar.d team had all the worst of the wicket and all the worfet of the luck. The Australians were obviously the stronger team, but the New Zea’anders were handi­ capped by misforiune from the first. The experts have given us the features of the play in illuminative del ail, and we are not now concerned so much with the result as with the lessons that are to be drawn from it. Our visitors came to New Zealand with the expressed inteution of giving us an educative display of the game, and while they frankly admit that their performances generally have so far been a long way below their Australian form, they have been equally candid in criticising the play of the New Zealand teams. Mr. Armstrong, probably with a conviction that he has a good deal in Land, is not greatly disappointed by the display of his own men, but he endorses the opinion which the patriotic onlooker must have formed when he says that the batting of .the home team was rea’ly excelleut. Upon many occasions, indeed, it was a good deal brighter than that of the visitors. The Australian captain joins with the other tried members of his team in thinking that New Zealand cricket is lacking in three es;entials. It wants good grounds, better bowling and improved running between the wick« ts. So far as the batting and the fielding are con­ cerned, the local men have earned nothing but approbation from their experienced ciitics. The question of grouuds, upon which Mr. Armstrong is so emphatic, is one that ought to be easily settled, but the other two essentials are matters of study and practice. Probably with better grounds and the employment of efficient coaches, New Zealand cricketers would very soon hold their own with those of Australia. In the meantime they are much indebted to the Australians for their kindly advice aud excellent example. The visitors have made many friends in the Dominion by their sportsmanlike bearing, and they will carry away with them the warm good wishes of both players and spectators .—The Lyttelton Times. Total ..306 Total (1 wkt) 109 ; W. W. Armstrong, captain of the Austra lian Eleven, speaking to a reporter, said that he thought cricket in New Zealand had improved considerably. He did not like to criticise the New Zealand team, because they had not had a fair opportunity of showing what they could do. They had the worst of the luck throughout. When the New Zea- lan lers went in to bat on Friday, they had a bad wicket, and when they continued their second innings yesterday the ground was also bad. However, some of them p'.ayed very well under the circumstances. He expected that the Test match at Wellington would be a fine one if the weather and the wicket were favourable, for he was of opinion the New Zealanders would make a good showing. Major J. C. Waine, who was manager of the New South Whales team which visited New Zealand about fifteen years ago, and who witnessed the recent Test ma'ch, in­ formed a reporter that cricket in the Dominion, especially in Canterbury and Otago, has improved “ out of sight” com­ pared with what it was fifteen years ago, and the improvement was noticeable in all depart­ ments. The only direction in which there was no improvement was in the wickets, which he found to be practcally the same. The wickets did not seem to get that atten­ tion they required, and what was wanted was an able man like T. Warne, who went to America to instruct the Philadelphia club, one of the leading clubs in the United States, to take the matter iuhand. As to the Test match, Major Waine said he had little doubt from the stait as to the ultimate result, pro­ vided that conditions were equal to both sides. “ You have three or four maguificent cricketers here,” he added. “ D. lieese is oue. He is able to take his place in almost any team, he is a magnificent bat and a mag­ nificent field, and showed strokes in this match equal to those of auy of the twenty- two. You have the material here all right; they have the keen love of the g im e; they are young and athletic ; all they want is gojd wickets. With them the time is not far distaut when Ntw Zealand cricketers will rank with those of England, Australia, and South Africa. The game which the New Zealanders played at the begiuning of the second inniugs was characteristic, and showed that they are a portion of the British race that never knows when it is beaten, and they battled against great odds and made a wonderful recovery. With a little more luck on their side, a much closer finish would have resulted.” Referring to the Australian team, h* said that Mayne had given, in the second innings, the finest exposition of accu­ rate fa t scoring that one could get. There were men in the team, he felt sure, who would ultimately make their mark in the future in international cricket .—The Press , Christchurch. 8Tn M atch . — v. TARANAKI. Played on March 23 and 24 and left drawn. Scores : Australia, 168 (Emery, 35; Smith, 23) and 138 for eight wickets (Emery, 40 ; Mayne, 31): Taranaki, 157 (Pratt, 31 ; Extras, 34). Whitty took five wickets for 33 and Emery 4 for 29. 9 th M atch . —v. NEW ZEALAND. ( t h e second test .) Commenced at Wellington on March 26. On the first day Australia completed their innings for 260 (Smith, 102 ; Bardsley, 36 ; Emery, 32). TE NN IS COURT BORDER NETS, good colour, 1 especially prepared, with strong line attached to net at top and bottom ; easy to erect or take away ; will not rot, can be left out in all weathers ; 25 yds. by 2 yds., 6s. 6d. ; by 3 yds., 7s 6d. , by 4 yds., 8s. 6d. ; any size made. Standards for same, 10 ft. high, Is. each. Garden Netting, 30 8q. yds for Is. Orders over 5s. car. paid. List of Fancy Tents free.—H. J. GASSON, Net Works, Rye. Est. 120 years.