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The Spike or Victoria University College Review September 1927

Cricket

Cricket.

Patron: Professor Mackenzie; President: Professor Hunter: Club Captain: R. H. C. Mackenzie; Deputy Club Captain: A. M. Hollings; Hon. Secretary: R. E. Tripe; Hon Treasurer: C. H. Hain; Committee: C. H. Arndt. W. J. Hall, J. Greig. and W. Caldwell.

The 1926-27 season was on the whole a very successful one. The first XI, in the Senior Grade, did exceedingly well before Christmas, and although good fortune deserted us later on, there is every promise of a far more successful record this season. The most noteworthy event of the cricketing year was the Wellington provincial record established by Hollings in scoring three successive centuries. Indeed, this player's batting throughout the year was of a particularly high order, and he played regularly in the Wellington representative team, making several good scores.

The lower teams all put up good performances, and the proportion of matches won was very satisfactory. The fielding throughout the Club was in general good, and we hope that the standard may yet be improved upon this season.

During the winter months the Club organised a dance in the 'Varsity Gymnasium, and this achieved the dual feat of being both a financial and a social success. The orchestra provided excellent music, and all those present spent a very enjoyable evening. Had the night not been so wet, it is possible that the dance would have been an even greater success.

The Inter-'Varsity Shield Match—Won by V.U.C. by 71 runs.

As the Tournament was to be held at Auckland this season we arranged with the Aucklanders to play our annual match up there at the same time. Travelling with the various Tournament teams from the New page 59 Zealand 'Varsities was naturally very enjoyable, but hardly conducive to sleep, the inevitable consequence being that we felt more like bed than batting on the Friday afternoon.

How our skipper contrived to win the toss will always remain a mystery. However, keeping his presence of mind admirably, he sent Hollings and Osborne to the wickets. The outfield was very slow and runs were hard to get, and though Hollings tried to open out after a while, unfortunately he only succeeded in getting himself out. Mackenzie and Tripe became associated later and gave a splendid display of batting, both men scoring freely all round the wicket. Tripe kept the fieldsmen on the off always on the alert until a straight-through from Saunders found the wickets. The partnership had put on 100, of which the outgoing batsman had compiled an excellent 50. Mackenzie carried on in good style, and with McDonald improved the score by another thirty until the latter was caught in the long field. Hain was next, and in characteristic fashion provided some of the brightest cricket of the day. but the remainder of our batsmen could not stay, and Mackenzie, attempting to force the pace, was last out with the score board reading 212; our skipper had played a fine innings which was absolutely chanceless. Saunders was easily the best of the Auckland bowlers, keeping a good length and turning the ball considerably both ways.

Williams and Hudson opened to Hollings and Tripe, the latter bowling with eight men on the on. Hudson became desperate when ball after ball swerved away past his legs, but Mackenzie did not give him a chance; the first time he left his crease he heard "How's that?" and Hudson retired stumped. He was not the only batsman to fall to Tripe's leg theory, however. Garrard and Saunders both batted well, the latter being run out at 48 when well set. For us Tripe and Hollings bowled steadily, and were backed up by very good ground fielding, Hughes, at cover, being especially prominent. Cormack proved an excellent partnership breaker. Mackenzie gave a fine exhibition behind the stumps, several spectators remarking that he was on a par with Wellington's brilliant young 'keeper, Ken James.

Thirty behind on the first innings Hollings and Osborne gave us a great start, putting on 96 for the first wicket. Osborne played a very Sound innings, scoring well all round the wicket. Mackenzie was the next to get going, and he and Hollings, batting beautifully, took the score along in leans and bounds till the latter was bowled by a typical Eden Park submarine two short of the century. Hollings played his usual polished innings scoring off anything at all loose; the slow outfield alone prevented his score from being much larger. After he was out no one stayed long with Mackenzie, who played his best knock of the season without doubt, following his first innings with one even sounder and more brilliant.

With 160 to get on a fairly good wicket. Auckland were soon in difficulties. Both Hollings and Tripe bagged a wicket early and from then on Auckland were always fighting. Saunders was again their best batsman, and with Hudson nearly saved the game, but thanks to our fielding, which was really brilliant for the first time for many seasons, we managed either to run our opponents out or catch 'em. Hain and Cormack, as well as taking great catches, proved more than useful change bowlers. The brunt of the attack fell on Tripe and Hollings again, but this time their work was a real pleasure on account of the fine fielding. Mackenzie once more was a "Strudwick" in disguise behind the wickets.

Details follow:—Victoria University College.

First Innings. Second Innings.
A. M. Holligs, c J. McDougall, b Saunders 26 b Garrard 98
R. W. Osborne, b Smih 6 b Saunders 33
A. C. Tripe, b Saunders 50 b Knowles Smith 1
H. E. Moore, l.b.w. b Saunders 1 b Saunders 0
H. W. Cormack, run out 7 l.b.w. b Saunders 0
R. H. C. MacKenzie, c and b Saunders 66 c Binmore, b Garrard 36
J. Macdonald, c Yates, b Saunders 14 b Garrard 10
T M. Hughes, b Saunders 4 st. Wilson, b Saunders 0
C. H. Arndt, l.b.w. b Garrard 12 not out 2
C. H. Hain, c Rix-Trott, b Garrard 12 b Garrard 7
M. P. Robinson, not out 0 l.b.w. b Saunders 1
Extras 22 Extras 14
Total 212 Total 202
page 60
First Innings. Second Innings.
Bowling: Saunders, G wickets for 91 5 for 32
Garrard. 2 wickets for 50 4 for 41
K. Smith, 1 wicket for 28 1 for 38
Bannister 0 for 26
Binmore, no wickets for 16 0 for 20

Auckland University College

First Innings. Second Innings.
Hudson, st. MacKenzie, b Tripe 0 run out 22
Wilson, b Hollings 30 b Hollings 0
J. MacDougall, b Tripe 2 b Tripe 3
Rix-Trott, b Hollings 2 c MacKenzie, b Cormack 6
Garrard, run out 48 l.b.w. b Hollings 12
Bannister, not out 73 b Tripe 5
Saunders, c MacKenzie. b Cormack 68 c Cormack, b Hain 21
K. Smith, l.b.w. b Cormack 0 c Hain, b Hollings 12
Yates, c Hughes, b Tripe 6 b Tripe 2
A. MacDougall, c MacKenzie. b Tripe 6 c Hughes, b Tripe 0
Binmore, b Tripe 6 not out 2
Extras 9 Extras 8
Total 250 Total 93
First Innings. Second Innings.
Bowling: Tripe, 5 wickets for 67 Tripe, 4 wickets for 35
Hollings, 2 wickets for 64 Hollings, 3 wickets for 24
Cormack, 2 wickets for 44 Cormack, 1 wicket for 9
McDonald, no wickets for 18 Hain, 1 wicket for 17
Hain, no wickets for 46

The 1st Eleven Season, 1926-'27.

We opened the season in really brilliant style, being skittled for 50, yet in spite of our feeble total it looked as though Petone would fare even worse. 6 wickets falling for 16 runs! Unfortunately Brice had other views and much to our concern proceeded to send the first four balls from Hollings—the first for 6, the second for 4, the next for 6, and the last for another 4- the second sixer nearly hitting the War Memorial. Hain eventually had him caught on the square leg boundary, but the total had then reached (197), of which the Petone skipper had compiled 127, including six sixers. Our second innings commenced and ended, and we had been beaten by an innings and 51 runs.

Nevertheless, against Wellington we allowed such fine batsmen as Hiddleston and Airey two or three lives each and then nearly won. Hollings and McGavin gave us a fine start, the latter being seen at his best. Later, however, Hollings failed to connect with a Yorker and was bowled, and apart from P. Wilson, the rest of the side fell cheaply.

After our improved showing against Wellington we set out in determined fashion against Midland, Vietmeyer creating a sensation by taking 5 wickets in his first senior game. At the end of the day we had 81 lead with 5 wickets in hand, Hollings being assisted this time by A. C. Tripe, who reached 61 before being bowled. These two gave a very free exhibition of batting, and Hollings reached his second successive century just before "stumps." We did not have very much cricket on the following Saturday. MacKenzie being caught off a full toss and P. Wilson being the only batsman to stay with Hollings. The innings finally closed when the latter tried to pull a straight one and failed. Once again Vietmeyer, backed up by A. C. Tripe, skittled the veteran Midlanders, and we proudly walked off the field winners by an innings and 43 runs.

Bucked by our success we commenced with real vim against Y.M.C.A. collected the other five and the Young Men were out for 137. When we Vietmeyer helped himself to 5 wickets this time for only 5 apiece, Hollings went to the crease Hollings and A. C. Tripe once again proceeded to make things lively by flogging the bowling in good style. Henderson and White, the Y.M. "stars," presenting them with many a four. Though missed at 75, Hollings completed his third successive century in Wellington senior cricket, thereby creating a local record. Next Saturday, declaring with 320 page 61 on for 6 wickets, we expected to be able to force another outright win, but reckoned without our hosts. Y.M. batted practically all the afternoon and were still wanting 14 runs to save an innings defeat with only two wickets in hand when stumps were drawn.

Resuming after Christmas, our run of success ended, first of all we played Thorndon, and had the pleasure of presenting Kortlang with the highest total made in senior cricket during the season, namely, 204. Unfortunately for us he was dropped off difficult chances twice before he had reached 20, otherwise he played a fine innings, especially after reaching his first century. Faced with 368 to win, we were perhaps a trifle unlucky in not making the number. Hollings foolishly ran A. C. Tripe out when the latter was well set and things generally went wrong, nevertheless, our scoring was very consistent, only three failing to reach the twenties, Leys in particular batting well.

Our next game was against Institute, played as a whole day match on Anniversary Day. Little need be said on our side apart from the fact that Mackay bowled well and Osborne batted confidently in his second knock. Institute owed their win chiefly to a display of fireworks by Baumber, who made his 100 in a little over the hour and hit six sixers. He proceeded to bowl to such good effect that we were out for 160, his analysis reading 6 wickets for 49 runs.

Next we met the Championship winners on their own ground. Thanks to a good stand by Nunn and Aldersley. who made 71 and 112 respectively, our opponents reached 282—not at all an out of the way score. Their faces grew rather long as our total, after reading 1 wicket for 0 runs at one stage, slowly mounted till it read 114 runs with only 3 men out. Leys, who had not shown the form of the previous season, batted splendidly for his 45, and Hollings reached the half century. When these two were out the side collapsed badly, 9 wickets being down for 131 runs; however, Mackay and R. Tripe fought gamely and took the total to 165, nearly saving a follow-on. Requiring 117 to save us from an innings defeat, matters looked far from rosy when Hollings flattened his own wickets, MacKenzie and Osborne were bowled, and Tripe and Leys caught with the total 29. Cormack, however, displayed much abandon in sending Watson for a beautiful sixer into the creek, and incidentally saving us from an innings defeat.

In the Old Boys match Leys and Hall came to light with half centuries (which, by the way, were overdue), but apart from these two nobody seemed to relish the slows of Ken Tucker, who once again ran through us. In our second strike his two overs cost nearly 20 runs, so it appears his reign of terror has ended.

We finished the season by losing the toss for the ninth time (we had first use of the wicket against Petone because we were sent in—not by our own skipper, however). Kilbirnie batted nearly all the first day for 298—a moderate total on such an excellent wicket. A. C. Tripe and R. E. Tripe both bowled very well, the former meeting with the more success. He rather astonished Badcock by getting him trapped for a paltry 2. Next week we struck a veritable bowlers' paradise, and after losing Hollings, Tripe and Leys for very few, we were in a sorry plight till, to our surprise and delight, MacKenzie, who had failed to get going at all during the season, gave of his best, and first with Osborne (who had opened) and later with Vietmeyer, took the score to within 61 runs of that of Kilbirnie—a fine performance on such a wicket and against a bowler of Badcock's calibre.

Reviewing the season, we see by the score book that unlike the previous year, the run-getting and howling were left to a few only, MacKenzie in particular and Leys to a lesser degree, being right off colour. We sincerely hope, however, that these two strike form early in the coming season, and if the other members of the XI. keep at it we should certainly have a fine team. Among those who turned out with us for for the first time last year A. C. Tripe, Vietmeyer and Osborne proved trumps indeed. The first named showed himself to be a good all-rounder, being a free batsman, a steady left-hand bowler, who exploits the leg theory to advantage, and a capital fieldsman. Vietmeyer gave promise of being the bowler we were looking for, when in three consecutive innings he bagged half the wickets at small cost, but unfortunately he failed to meet with much success after Christman; he certainly proved, however, to be the slip fieldsman we were needing. Osborne, who joined up after the holidays, proved to be a solid page 62 opening batsman, and among other good knocks, played a great fighting innings against Kilbirnie.

Needless to say, we filled a very conspicuous place in the Senior Championship with only 2 wins to our credit, but it is prophesied by more than one "veteran" of Wellington that our team will not be long among the tail enders. How can we justify such an opinion? In future it is to be the aim of this Club to place Eleven fieldsmen in the field primarily—if they can bat and bowl also all the better, but before a man can hope to acquire and hold his place in the First Eleven he'll have to be able to field. Most cricketers know that a good fieldsman derives even more pleasure out of his fielding than out of either batting or bowling!

Particulars of senior games:—

V. Petone.—V.U.C. 50 and 97, Petone 198 (Hollings 4 for 79, Mackay 3 for 28). Lost by an innings and 51 runs.

V. Wellington.—V.U.C. 249 (Hollings 117. McGavin 49), Wellington 268 (Hain 3 for 18, Hollings 4 for 91). Lost by 19 runs.

V. Midland.—V.U.C. 268 (Hollings 135, A. C. Tripe 67, Wilson 25. Midland 123 and 102 (Vietmeyer 5 for 50 and 3 for 31 Tripe, 3 for 31). Won by an innings and 43 runs.

V. Y.M.C.A.—V.U.C. 320 for 6 (declared), (Hollings 124, A. Tripe 58, Leys 50. Y.M.C.A. 137 and 8 for 169 (Vietmeyer 5 for 25, Hollings 5 for 52, Tripe 4 for 51). Won by 183 runs.

V. Thorndon.—V.U.C. 344 (Leys 89, Hollings 63, Osborne 41, Tripe 35). Thorndon 367 (Leys 3 for 45, Hollings 3 for 53). Lost by 23 runs.

V. Institute.—V.U.C. 160 and 4 for 123 (Osborne 69). Institute 346 (Mackay 4 for 72). Lost by 186 runs.

V. Hutt.—V.U.C. 165 (Hollings 50, Leys 45) and 8 for 68. Hutt 282 (Leys 3 for 22. Cormack 3 for 43). Lost by 117 runs.

V. Old Boys.—V.U.C. 182 (Leys 54. Hall 50) and 43 for 0 wickets. Old Boys 324 (A. Tripe 3 for 62). Lost by 142 runs.

V. Kilbirnie.—V.U.C. 236 (MacKenzie 60 not out, Osborne 63, Vietmeyer 33). Kilbirnie 297 (A. Tripe 4 for 71). Lost by 61 runs.

Synopis.—Played. 9; won, 2; lost, 7; championship points, 7.

Averages:

Batting.
Innings. Not outs. Total runs. Highest score. Average.
Hollings 11 1 556 135 55.6
Osborne 8 1 226 69 32.2
Leys 12 315 89 26.2
Tripe, A. C. 12 1 286 67 26
MacKenzie 12 3 158 60 not out 17.5
Bowling.
Overs. Maidens. Runs. Wickets. Average.
Hollings 143 22 523 25 20.9
Tripe, A. C. 98 11 444 20 22.2
Mackay 82 13 351 13 27
Veitmeyer 90 8 438 16 27.4

Fielding.

  • MacKenzie stumped 2 and caught 6.
  • Hall caught 9 and Leys caught 6.

Second XI.—Junior A Grade.

The 1926-27 season was notable for its fine weather, the games being postponed on one Saturday only. The team did well, winning six games out of the nine played during the season, and it is to be hoped that in the forthcoming season we will do even better. Several interesting matches were played, the most outstanding of these being against Institute. Thorndon. Old Boys and Midland.

Institute batted first and made 79. In this game our fielding was good, several excellent catches being taken. We replied with 162 (Dormer 40), thus having a lead of 83 on the first innings. Institute fared better in their second strike, making 169. Dormer bowled well, taking 7 wickets for 33 runs. We were then left with 87 runs to get for a win, but we failed miserably, being all out for 39.

Against Thorndon our first innings realised 117, C. H. Arndt played right through the innings for 64 not out. Thorndon replied with 174, leav page 63 ing us 57 behind on the first innings. We commenced our second innings on the second Saturday and put on 268 runs for six wickets, Evans (86), Tripe (70 not out) and Cormack (43) being the chief scorers. Thorndon required 212 runs for a win. They did not have time to compile this score, but it seemed likely that they would play out time, until J. McDonald came to light in the last quarter of an hour of the day. He took six wickets for 16 runs, and we left the field winners by 81 runs.

Our match against Old Boys lost much of the interest usually attached to this game owing to the fact that the Christmas holidays intervened between the first and second Saturday. Old Boys put up the good score of 298, and we realised that we would have some difficulty in passing this total. However, we managed to win by 29 runs on the first innings, owing to the good batting performances put up by Childs (62), Cormack (57), Tripe (50), McDonald (48) and Hall (30).

Our match against Midland was notable for the excellent sixth wicket partnership of McDonald (13S) and Greig (111), and also for the good batting of McGavin, who made 74. We opened badly, having two wickets down for 15 runs, but McDonald and Greig became associated and carried the score from 147 to 392.

The following table will give some idea as to the form of the individual players:—
Batting.
No. of Total number
Name. wickets of runs. Average.
J. McDonald 8 228 32.5
R. E. Tripe 7 169 28.1
C. H. Arndt 9 197 24.6
W. Dormer 8 171 24.4
L. J. Evans 11 242 24.2
H. W. Cormack 10 194 19.4
C. H. Hain 5 90 18.0
S. C. Childs 9 141 15.6

J. C. Greig, W. Hall and C. G. Frazer also batted four times for us having averages of 40.7, 88 and 32.3 respectively.

Bowling.
J. McDonald 9 98 10.9
W. Dormer 24 331 13.8
J. Duff 17 241 14.2
R. E. Tripe 9 155 17.2
C. H. Hain 9 156 17.3
Smyth 8 142 17.7

W.T. Veitmeyer Played two matches for us, taking 11 Wickets for 86 runs.

Generally speaking the fielding was not good. The ground fielding was only fair and too many catches were dropped. Childs, Hain and Hughes were consistently good in the field and saved many runs. Taking the team as a whole, the material was there, but several players did not show their true form. It is to be hoped that in the 1927-28 season last year's junior players will be fighting for places in the senior eleven.

Third Eleven.—Junior B.

This team began the season with a strong XI., but owing to the promotion of some of the outstanding players to fill vacancies in the higher grades, did not figure as high on the championship table as was expected. Apart from this a most satisfactory season was experienced. The outstanding feature of the season was the very fine team spirit shown by all members, to which fact is ascribed most of the success that came to us. The fielding throughout the season was first-class, and the bowling fairly reliable, but the batting was lamentably weak.

Matches played, 10; won, 4; lost, 5; drawn, 1.

V. Wellington B.—V.U.C. 66 (Hughes 23) and 82 for 6 wickets (McFarlane 35 not out). Wellington 94 and 44 (McDonald 4 for 30). Success in this match was due to fine fielding, resulting in the running out of four leading Wellington batsmen. Won by 4 wickets.

V. Hutt.—V.U.C. 164 (McDonald 50, Blakeney 35) and 36 for 5 wickets. Hutt 225, declared (McDonald 5 for 73). Lost on first innings by 61 runs.

page 64

V. Johnsonville.—V.U.C. 109 (Robinson 29, McDonald 29) and 145 for 7 wickets (McDonald 59). Johnsonville 134 (Smyth 5 for 36) and 119 (Smyth 5 for 32, McDonald 5 for 65). A most interesting match, which V.U.C won on time. Splendid catching was shown by the team in this game—12 of the Johnsonville wickets falling to catches. Won by 3 wickets.

V. Karori.—V.U.C. 71 (Critchley 33) and 49. Karori 117 (Smyth 4 for 60, Baillie 3 for 13) and 10 for no wickets. A very weak team was fielded against the championship leaders. However, our bowlers rose to great heights and dismissed Karori for what was probably their lowest score of the season. Lost by 10 wickets.

V. Wellington College.—College holidays. Won by default.

V. Wellington A.—V.U.C. 224 (Pickwell 67, Moore 62, McFarlane 38) and 121 (Blakeney 27, Parton 20). Wellington 237 (Smyth 6 for 70) and 114 (Smyth 5 for 50). A most exciting game. Lost by 6 runs. Played during the holidays and consequently it was found difficult to field eleven players.

V. Old Boys.—Lost by default. Owing to Christmas holidays it was found impossible to assemble a team.

V. Porirua.—V.U.C. 73 and 184 (G. Caldwell 85, Critchley 35). Porirua 152 (Turner 4 for 24, Clouston 4 for 67) and 64 (Turner 7 for 22). An extraordinary game. After being 79 runs behind on the first innings V.U.C. in second innings lost their first four wickets for 10 runs— a fine innings by G. Caldwell saving the side. An equally fine bowling feat by Turner in Porirua's second innings enabled V.U.C. to win 10 minutes from time. Won outright by 41 runs.

V. Institute.—V.U.C. 133 (Parton 50) and 176 (Moore 50, P. Caldwell 35, Button 30). Institute 190 (P. Caldwell 8 for 57) and 3 wickets for 120. Lost by 7 wickets.

V. Wellington College.—College 188 (G. Caldwell 5 for 40). V.U.C. 124 for 4 wickets (McFarlane 55. Frazer 48 not out). Match drawn. Rain on second day's play interrupted an interesting match.

Averages.
Batting.
Innings. Not out. Runs. Average.
McDonald 6 156 26
Moore 7 177 25.3
Bowling.
Overs. Runs. Wickets. Average.
Turner 20 84 11 7.64
Smyth 57.1 265 26 10.2
McDonald 45 230 18 12.8

Fielding.—McFarlane 12 catches, Robinson 5 catches.

Junior D.

Last, but by no means least. Though kept as a convenience to the Club so that the higher teams could borrow our men, we put up a creditable performance. In the first round we won four out of the seven games played. We lost our first match through having had no practice, the match against Railways through the tactlessness of our captain, who actually had a twenty-first birthday on the same day, and the match against Midland through some of our members displaying an unwarranted interest in the turf. Individually the bowlers are more to be congratulated than the batsmen. MacDuff was the most consistent scorer, but no one attained the honour of hitting up a century—such things are not done in our grade. Riddell, with the invaluable aid of the umpire, reached 75, but then got bowled. If it had been l.b.w. he might have reached his century. It was in bowling that he specialised, Taylor heading the averages, Riddell also doing good work.

All round, considering that we had some 30 players at various times during the year, we are to be congratulated on doing so well.