Cricket 1913

F eb . 15, 1913. CRICKET: A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. 53 B, were all out for 27— a sufficiently striking study in contrasts. Matters had improved a week or two later, when Caris­ brook B ran up 360 for 5 v. Carisbrook A —B. J. Tuck- well 144, Barron 95*. Tuckwell is an ex Victorian; he made 90 odd for Victoria v. Queensland in one match about ten years ago, and was reckoned a coming crack, but somehow was not persevered with. It is only lately j he has migrated to New Zealand. Opoho made 200 for j 7 (Higgins 130) v. Albion. But one must not forget S. T . Callaway’s 82 (in a I total o f 140) for Opoho v. Carisbrook B on November 23. The Australian representative of former days, a veteran now, hit in great style— two 6’s, eleven 4’s— and one ball was sent clean out o f the ground into a street beyond. The first match for the Hawke Cup has been played, with the following result :— South Taranaki, 26; Wan­ ganui, 453 (in 197 minutes— Orton 147, Bathgate 66, Butterworth 47); South Taranaki, 33— a win for Wan­ ganui by an innings and 394 runs ! 1 have 110 full score of the game, or would give it as a curiosity. The destructive bowlers ought to receive their meed of praise, but 'the report that has reached me does not even give their names. The game was played at Wanganui, where the local paper won’t even trouble to give the scores o f the senior matches. But I should think it would give this game a line or two ! A Napier reader, himself a representative cricketer for Hawke’s Bay, writes :— “ Gloucestershire cricket sup­ porters will be glad to hear how well Jack Board is doing here. He is in really splendid form, better than in previous seasons, even. So far, in matches o f importance, he has had six innings— 107, 5, 102, 17, 37, and 40 their outcome. The centuries were chanceless, and the last two scores were gems. They were made for Hawke’s Bay against the N .S .W . Teachers, a strong side, mainly com­ posed o f Sydney first-grade players. The wicket was anything but good, and the bowlers. Harvey, O ’Neill, Freeman, etc., are regular bowlers for their electorate teams. Board’s wicket-keeping is still up to the highest standard. It puzzles us all here how Gloucestershire came to drop him last season. On present form, he ought to have been indispensable. As a coach he earns golden opinions, and is turning out some jolly fine cricketers. I f ! New Zealand had a few more Jack Boards she would soon be lifted out o f the rut! ” SOU TH A F R IC A . Scores of the six Currie Cup matches played in Decem­ ber and January will be found elsewhere, and as “ Cypher ” has dealt with them in his article, there is no need to add anything here, except to note that the remaining four matches will not be played until about Easter, when Natal will meet both Eastern Province and Western Province at Durban, and Eastern Province will also visit the Rand and receive a visit from Western Province. The winning o f the Cup will probably depend upon the result o f the Natal-Western Province game, as Transvaal is out o f the hunt, and the Eastern Province men are not regarded as at all likely to retain their hundred per cent, figure. On December 16 a trial match was played at Stellen­ bosch to help the selectors to choose the Western Province team. Country; assisted by Fred Bowley and R. E. Turner, antagonised Town. Country scored 250, ot which the two Worcestershire pros, made 173 between j them, and Town replied with 253 for 10, winning by one wicket (twelve aside played). For Town, J. McPherson was top scorer with 84. D. de Villiers (8 for 75) bowled so well for Country that he went straight into the Currie Cup team. Is he related to P. H. de Villiers, an excel­ lent bowler for the province twenty years ago, and an opponent o f our men in the War, I wonder? There was, a finely-fought match between Claremont and Green Point at Cape Town on December 14 and 21. Claremont totalled 340 (J. Carstens 79. R. M. Robinson 71, W. F . Lambrecht 57*, W. Hubner 52), and Green Point, replying with 316 (S. Haughton 69), lost by only 24 runs. Two centuries on the Rand and four on the coast fall to be recorded, thus Dec. 14— R. A. H. Hands, 111, Western Province v. Cape Town. ,, 16—M. Commaille, 105, Cape Town v. Western Province. „ 16—F. I.. Bowley, 112, Country v. Town (see above). Jan. 4— A. S. Frames, 105, Wanderers A. v. Randfontein. ,, 4— J. H. Moulder, 107, E.R.P.M. v. Crown Mines. ,, 4—G. Hearne, 139, Cape Town v. Merchants’ league XI. Among other good scores must be noted A. V. C. Bisset’s 99 and P. A. M. Hands’s 97 for Western Province (349) v. Alma, L . J. K ing’s 85 for Pirates v. Wanderers, J. V. Morkel’s 80 for V .M .R . v. Yeoville, and F . Le Roux’s 69 for S .A .R . v. Grimston Callies. In the bowling line one notes 5 fo r 5 by S. J. Pegler for E .R .P .M . v. Crown Mines, . and 5 for 38 by the same bowler v. Yeoville; also two good performances by F . W. Elworthy, the Yeoville googly exponent— 6 for 69 v. E .R .P .M ., 7 for 81 v. V .M .R . They say that ifonly Elworthy could keep a better length he might make his mark in first-class cricket. Perhaps he will get a chance when the M .C .C . team tours South Africa. With a lull in Currie Cup fray, “ Cypher ” will no doubt return to club games next month. . Meanwhile, these few notes are offered by way of keeping the record up to date, as pressure on space forbids giving the synopses of matches. A match between Griqualand West and Transvaal— old opponents, o f course— may be played this month, I gather. It is a great pity the Kimberley team did not enter for the Currie Cup. There are several very promising young players in Kimberley just' now. IND IA . Madras United, the crack native team of the Southern Presidency, gave the Excelsior C .C . (also a native organi­ sation) a heavy beating in a match played early in January. The latter side scored 95 to start with (K . Pillai taking 4 wickets for 44, C . K . Ganapathy 3 for 25); then the M .U .C .C . ran up 260 for 5 (B. Subramaniam 130, retired; Ganapathy 49*, C. Ranganatham 39); and finally the Excelsior side was put out again for 98 (Ganapathy 4 for 17, B. Charrv 3 for 18). The United side is quite capable o f holding its own with the Madras C .C ., the leading European club. In a match between the two clubs a few days before the game just referred to the scores were:— Madras C .C ., 277 (A. C. Tweedy 70) and 177 for 7, dec. (P. W. Part­ ridge 77); Madras United, 255 (Swarna 59, Latehman Rao 48, Subramaniam 36) and 52 for 4. Subramaniam took 5 wickets for 68, Ganapathy 6 for 155, for the native side. For Madras C .C . (301 for 3 dec.) v. Mr. Shear- burn’s Team at Chepauk, R. H. V . Cavendish scored 156*, J. Farquharson 60, and G. B. Reiner took 5 for 36, the club winning by 190 runt.