Cricket 1913

78 CRICKET : A WEEKLY RECORD OF THE GAME. M abch 15, 1913. the east coast of the North Island (Poverty B ay district) on Thursday, January 23. The K iakaha captain, believing he had a soft thing ori, sent in Alhambra to bat. A t the close of the day’ s play Alhambra had made 406 for 2 w ickets— O. R. Olsen 108, M. Guthrie 116, T. Atkinson 131*, W . J. Schmollum 17*, extras 34. The most successful K iakaha bowler had one w icket for 87 ! C EY LON . D ikoya beat Dimbula in an innings at Radella on February 7 and 8. These are the crack up-country sides, nearly all their players being men engaged in the planting industry. A year ago D ikoya were beaten at home in an innings, D imbula aggregating 500 ; and this complete reversal of affairs in D imbula’ s own ground came as a surprise. The scores were : D ikoya, 480 (Capt. H. V. Greer 171, M. H. Grant-Peterkin, 55, H. H. Sloane- Stanley 51, E. Ware 48) ; Dimbula, 270 (A. L. Gibson 122, R . E. Martin 74), and 185 (Gibson 70). Alston did the hat trick for the winners, D . A . Wilkinson, W. G. Beauchamp, and H. G. W. Y a tes being his victims, and H. B. Daniell and R. V. Routledge, an old Felsted boy, bowled very effectively. Greer’s was a remarkable innings. He was only in a trifle over two hours. Off one over from A. L. Gibson he hit 24— -4, 6, 6, 6, 2. E. Ware played such defensive cricket for his 48 that, after sharing in a partnership of 77 for the second wicket with Sloane-Stanley, he stayed to add 158 for the third with | Greer. Gibson, top scorer in each innings of the losers, batted splendidly. In another Dimbula match, a little earlier, V. L. Cameron took 11 for 81 for Dimbula, and C. A. Horan, probably next to Greswell the best bowler in Ceylon, 13 for 46 for the Nondescripts. Three centuries were scored at Colombo on February 8, when L. C. Davies made 116* (eight 6’ s) for Sports Club v. Customs C.C., Colonel Block 100 (retired) for Mr. R. W . Forbes’ X I. v. Mr. A. F . W est’ s X I. (Colombo C.C. practice match), and S. Nagendra 101* for Tam il Union v. T rin ity College. --------------------------------- ry?>-■ ■ — South African Cricketers. Johannesburg, February 17, 1913. We have had no Currie Cup games since the New Year, and in consequence league cricket has held sway. There has been plenty of interest in it, too. Some time back I told how, on the Wanderers’ grounds, two matches ended within a few minutes of each other b y margins of three runs and one run respectively. There was an even closer result on the Wanderers’ main ground last Saturday, when Wanderers A. and S.A.R . played a tie of 267 runs. My luck seems to be in this season. I saw all three of these finishes, and also happened to be present when in Durban the (Durban) Wanderers beat Casuals b y a single run. Exceptional circumstances attended the tie match of Saturday. The captains— F . le Roux and A . W. Walshe— agreed to play to a finish if possible, and the I end did not come till half-an-hour after scheduled time. ! A t one period Wanderers A, appeared to have the game well in hand, for with 220 up they still had five wickets to fall. But three more went for five runs. Then came a stand by H. N. Heeley and E. J. Pickerell, who took the score to within four of victory. A t that stage Heeley (27) was very smartly run out b y Le Roux. W. J. Goulding, last man in, scored a two and a single. This brought him opposite Le Roux for the next over. The first ball from the S.A.R . captain all but bowled him. A t the second Goulding made a terrific swipe, and spooned | an easy catch to Bennett at mid-on. Poor Goulding ! He admitted quite candidly after­ wards that he did not like the situation. “ Le Roux looked so fierce,” he said. Two days before Le Roux had received a ball in his left optic, and the resultant colouring certainly did add a touch of ferocity to his aspect. The aspirants for the Lionel Phillips Cup, which goes with the championship of the Transvaal League, have been reduced to two Only E.R .P.M . (holders) and Pretoria are in the running, as the log will show. T r a n s v a a l T a b l e L e a g u e (to Sunday, Feb. 16.) P. W. L. D. Pts. E.R .P.M ............................. 9 8 1 0 16 Pretoria 9 7 2 0 *4 Pirates 9 5 3 1 11 S .A .R .................................. 9 5 3 1 11 Randfontein 9 5 4 0 IO E.R . Union 8 4 4 0 8 Wanderers A 9 3 4 2 8 Village Main Reef 9 3 4 2 8 Wanderers 8 3 4 1 7 Germiston Callies 9 3 6 O 6 Crown Mines 9 2 6 I 5 Yeoville 9 1 8 O 2 Two points for a win, one point for a draw The tie game counts as a draw. Every one is pleased to see Pretoria making so good a show. Nearly all sports have been under a cloud in the Transvaal capital for the last few years ; but since the New Year a distinct awakening has been (noticeable. The leaders and Pretoria have still to meet, so that the result may quite possibly be a tie for first | place. It is a trifle curious that Pretoria’ s two defeats have been at the hands of two of the weaker sides, IWanderers and Crown Mines. Turning to individual performances, one is struck by the way in which the same batsmen’ s names crop up time after time as heading their club’ s scores. H. J. G. Bennett is the most prolific batsman in the Transvaal League this year. His scores thus far read : 114-46-9-50- 6-4i*-i3o* = 396 runs, average 79-20. No other regular player approaches this record ; but D. Davies (109 and 30) and W. Stoll (7-43*-77), both of E .R .P .M ., have high averages for a smaller number of innings. For consistent merit W. H. Watling (Randfontein) must be ranked next to Bennett. There can scarcely be a }doubt that Watling is the oldest player in the League. | Like Lilley, he is a grandfather. Bu t his performances j this season have been such as may well have made his |son, a member of the same team, envious. T h u s : I24* _ 4 — 5— 79— 60— 60— 3 = 335, average 55-83. In close attendance on him comes H. E. Smith (E.R.P.M .), a member of the S.A. Team of 1907 in England, with 86— 46— 0— -27— 44— 6— 53— 126* - 388, average 55-42. But perhaps the handsomest-looking sequence is that