Cricket 1912

68 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. A p r i l 20, 1912. M.C.C. wickets were down for 122 at the end of the first day’s play. Tufnell, after being badly missed, hit up 45, and only tw o runs divided the totals. Argentina went down cheaply before Baird and Wilson in the second innings. M.C.C. wanted 102 for victory, and only MacLaren’s really fine play took them home b y the narrow margin of two wickets. Foy, w ith 12 wickets for 126 in the match, bowled magnificently, and Garnett kept wicket in rare good style. Argentina, beaten on the rubber, was far from being disgraced. There seems to have been nothing in the condition of the wicket to account for the low scoring. Argentine Born was not a very strong team, being sadly deficient in bowling, and numbering some fieldsmen who seemed incapable of raising a trot. These aroused •T. O. Anderson’s ire. Brown and Gardom put up 44 for the first wicket in the first innings ; in the second J. O. Anderson and Cowes added 62 for the fourth. MacLaren’s 172 was a great innings only in respect of number ; he hit freely, but was not really at his b e s t; Tufnell played admirably free cricket. These two put on 314 runs for the third wicket. Hatfield took 13 wickets in the match. Unlucky— for somebody ; probably for Argentine Born ! The last match was the only one played away from Buenos Aires. It took place at Rosario, on what appears to have been a “ middling funny ” wicket. W ilson’s bowling- was the chief feature of it. He was handicapped by an injured hand in the first innings, and could only get 6 for 66. In the second he had eight for 10 ! Foy again bowled well for the M.C.C.’s opponents. MacLaren’s 64 was a good and free innings ; Cowes and Middleton shaped best for the North. In the nine matches Lord Hawke’s team aggregated 3714 runs for 127 wickets (average 29.24), their opponents 2778 for 164 wickets (average 16.93). Among the Argentine players, N. W. Jackson, as batsman, and P. A. Foy, as bowler, stood out conspicuously. Jackson batted in ten innings, and made 79, 51, 49, 45, 38 twice, 31, 12, 14, and 8— total 365. F oy bowled in five matches, and took 39 wickets at a cost of 571 runs, average 14.64. There were other successes. S. A. Cowper in one match hit tremendously, and Garnett, Toulmin, Doming, Drysdale, J. R. Garrod, Brown and the Andersons (J. O. did his best work for the team, though, not against it) all proved themselves to be good batsmen ; while Toulmin and Doming each had one fine match as bowlers, with 10 for 125 as the figures in the case of each— a curious coinci­ dence. M.C.C. TEAM ’S AVERAGES. Inns. Not out. Runs. Aver. Highest Score. <Overs. Runs. Wkts. Aver. Anderson, J. O. ... 4 0 135 3375 89 __ __ __ __ Baird, Capt. H. H,. C. 14 1 160 12-30 48 154-2 497 27 18-48 Bird, M. C. ... ... 14 0 405 28-92 74 72 256 6 42-66 De Trafford, C. E. ... 13 0 824 24-92 116 — — __ Findlay, W. ... ... 9 2 167 23 57 69 — — — __ Fulcher, B. J. ... 10 1 192 21.33 51 92 319 10 81-20 Hatfeld, C. B. ... 12 6 204 22-14 90 203-4 675 52 12-59 Hawke, Lord ... 10 1 142 15-77 54 — — • __ __ Hill, A. J. L.... ... 12 0 289 24*08 60 70-5 317 10 31-70 MacLaren, A. C. ... 13 3 394 39-40 172 5 28 0 __ Troughton, L. H. W. 14 2 397 33 08 112 * 2 8 0 — Tufnell, N. C. ... 9 3 301 50-16 163* — — — .— Wilson, E. R. ... 12 1 360 32-72 105 208 601 53 11-33 * Signifies not out. The centuries made for the team were :— C. E. De Trafford, 116 v. Southern Suburbs, Los Talleres ground. L. H. W. Troughton, 112* v. Combined Camps, Hur- lingham. E. R. Wilson, 105, v. South of Argentina, Hurlingham. A. C. MacLaren, 172 v. Argentine Born, Hurlingham. N. C. Tufnell, 163* v. Argentine Born, Hurlingham. The only century against was S. A. Cowper’s 182 for Southern Suburbs. Six matches were won, one match was lost, and there were two draws. FOE SALE.—A few copies of “ Surrey Cricket and Cricketers ” (Bev. B. S. Holmes), “ Annals of Cricket” (W. W. Bead), Ayres’ “ Cricket Companion” for 1907, ‘ ‘ Catalogue of Cricket Literature” (A. D. Taylor), “ Parsi Cricket” (Pavris), and “ Chronicles of Cricket” (Nyren).—Any reasonable offer accepted. A.B.C., c/o Editor of Cricket, 33 and 35, Moor Lane, E.C. Cricket in New Zealand. C a n t e r b u r y v . A u c k l a n d . The first match of the Auckland team’s tour was that to which the most importance attached, as upon its result depended the resting-place for the nonce of the Plunkefc Shield. The Northerners, by a narrow margin, won back the trop h y ; but the result might have been different if Dan Reese had put them in to bat first. N ot that he is to be blamed for his decision ; it was said that Hemus would have sent Canterbury in if he had won the toss ; but the captain who ventures upon a gamble of this sort has unpleasant things said of him if it fails to come off. Auckland had brought down a powerful team, including George Thompson, who has this season been filling Albert Relf’s old place, last season held by Fred Pearson. Heavy rain had spoiled the wicket, and Thompson proved very difficult to play. Though Oliff had the better analysis, it was the English pro. who, by disposing of the first four wickets quickly and keeping all the batsmen thinking hard, was chiefly responsible for Canterbury’s small total of 86. Only Harold Lusk stayed any length of time. Reese bowled finely when the visitors batted. Hemus played a steady game ; Sneddon, missed at the wicket when 28, gave a masterly display apart from this ; and Mason and Oliff added 37 for the last wicket in good form. When the innings closed on the Monday morning Auckland had established a lead of 134. Against this heavy deficit Canterbury did somewhat better work on a much better wicket. Reese, Patrick and Sandman all showed really good form and young Hickmott shaped well for the few he made ; Norman was not at his best. This time Oliff bowled best, varying pace and length cleverly. He had fine figures for the match— 11 for 104. • Auckland wanted 59 to win, and some grand bowling by Dan Reese, ably assisted b y Joe Bennett, very nearly pulled the game out of the fire for the home side. A t 20 Reese bowled Sale. Twenty runs later Hemus, Horspool, Brooke-Smith, Sneddon and Taylor had all departed. The light was bad, the excitement intense ; Hemus came out twice to appeal against the light, but the umpires would not stop the game. Wallace, the New Zealand Rhodes Scholar of 1912, and Mason stayed together. Fifty went up ; the score crept to 58— one to win 1 Mason tried a risky run ; Wallace would not have it and Mason was run out. Thompson came in, and Reese promptly bowled Wallace. Another frantic rush, Ellis nearly run out, but failure by Boxshall to take off the bails, and Auckland had got home ! The fielding of both sides was excellent, except that Boxshall was by no means at his best behind the wicket for Canterbury. Hickmott in the deep and Hayes closer in were brilliant for the losers, and the Aucklanders were all good. The receipts amounted to £236, of which £168 was taken on the Saturday. O t a g o v . A u c k l a n d . This match was started on a wicket soft from overnight rain, and only Thompson could do much against the veteran Downes, whose bowling the conditions exactly suited. The pitch improved later ; but Thompson’s bowling was so deadly and accurate that the Otago scoring was kept low and slow. Later Hemus hit finely ; and Ellis, the wicket-keeper, taken in first with his captain because of his not-out score in the first innings, helped him to send up over 100 before a wicket fell. Rain during the night before the last day delayed the start, and returning later put a complete stopper on play, Hemus being 135 not out at the finish, a splendid innings, his play to leg being particularly fine. O t a g o v . S o u t h l a n d . The bad weather down South continued, and only an innings by each side was completed in this match at Dune­ din. Donald Hamilton’s 61 for the visiting side was the highest score, and Rutherford’s 5 wickets for 33 for the same team the best bowling analysis.