The 1927-28 Season saw the Club as strong as it has ever been, each of the four teams fielded meeting with a very fair measure of success. Particularly gratifying was the great improvement shown in the Senior Eleven's record. Far from filling bottom place in the championship, as in the previous season, we actually finished third, with 5 wins against 3 losses; the other game (against Institute) being drawn, no result being arrived at on the 1st innings. Two of the losses were sustained at the hands of Hutt and Kilbirnie in the first two games.

Our success was in a very large measure, due to the eleven's popular skipper. R. H. C. MacKenzie, who, besides leading the side with great skill, had a fine season personally, finishing at the head of the batting averages with the splendid figures of 559 runs made in 8 complete innings; his average, 69.87, being second only to that of C. S. Dempster, New Zealand's finished batsman. To cap his brilliant performances, MacKenzie dismissed no fewer than 20 men behind the sticks—13 caught and 7 stumped; truly a wonderful record.

E. McLeod, who joined up with us this year proved a tower of strength, figuring prominently in bothbatting and bowling.

R. E. Tripe was just getting into his stride when a business appointment called him away to Auckland. His batting was much sounder than in the previous season.

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W. Vietmeyer met with little success at the bowling crease, but made up for this shortcoming by filling fourth place in the batting averages.

Our leading all-rounder of last season, A. M. Rollings, had a lean time of it, in spite of a couple of centuries.

T. Nelson and J. C. Greig, bore the brunt of the attack, the former doing particularly well at the commencement of the season; the latter finishing off with a splendid burst, his 6 for 33 against Thorndon, being a magnificent effort. Our opponents were so completely at sea to him that on a perfect wicket they failed to reach our total of 201, after having 85 on the Board for no wickets!

E, T. Leys was another player who experienced a poor season. He made a couple of scores of 77, but was very inconsistent.

H. W. Osborn, who was so successful as an opening batsman last year, fell right away, and except for one splendid unfinished knock for 70, he failed to get going at all.

W. Dormer, our leading junior batsman of the previous year, batted well throughout the season and should prove one of the team's chief run getters.

H. C Bailey, who promised to be another "Stonewall'1 Jackson, and as such, an invaluable opening batsman, joined us early in the season and played well on several occasions, without, however, striking his true form.

Lastly, we have to congratulate A. C. Tripe on his quick recovery from an operation, which kept him on the bank till more than half way through the season. We sincerely hope that next year he may produce the form shown by him in the Auckland match, where he clean bowled five of our opponents for 10 runs apiece, and followed up with a dashing batting display.

Reviewing the team as a whole, we find that we have eleven men capable of knocking up at least fifty apiece, but what of the bowling? We sadly need a match-winning bowler, no fewer than 9 of the team trundle—more or less—but we haven't a bowler who can be relied on to gather in four or five wickets an innings! The fielding was first-rate, as it should be; E. McLeod and H. C Bailey, being our "stars" in this department. However, we enjoyed our season and are looking forward confidently to an even more successful one in 1928-29.

Details of the matches and the averages will appear in the next issue of The Spike.

Junior A.

Matches played, 9; won 5; lost 4. Championship points, 19.

Last season was rather a disappointing one for the above team. With the calibre of the players available, it was thought that the Junior Championship was again within the grasp of the club, but poor fielding and unreliable batting, combined with the fact that on certain occasions, engagements on the cricket field were forgotten, destroyed all hopes of championship honours. Nevertheless, several interesting and exciting games were played, and we had the satisfaction of being the only team to defeat Institute, the junior champions. Outstanding among the personal achievements of the season, was C. H. Arndt's brilliant innings of 209, not out, against Thorndon. Arndt batted throughout the innings and hit 35 fours. McMichael's efforts with the ball met with success, and it was unfor page 56 tunate we did not have a greater use of his services. P. Caldwell and Williams, both bowled and batted steadily throughout the season, and G. Caldwell batted exceedingly well, as well as keeping wickets in good style. It was a matter of great satisfaction to the learn that P. Wilson and P. Caldwell succeeded in winning places in the Wellington Junior Representative Team, and Wilson had the further distinction of leading the team to victory against both Auckland and Canterbury.

Detailed results as follows:—

v. Hutt.—Hutt 260. Greig. 2 for 25; P. Caldwell, 3 for 65; McDonald, 2 for 27. Varsity 165—Mackay, 52; Arndt, 28; Wilson, 25; and 61 for 3—P. Caldwell, 23 not out. Lost on 1st innings by 95 runs.

v. Kilbirnie.—Kilbirnie 81. (McDonald, 4 for 24; Mackay, 3 for 10), and 105 (Greig. 4 for 31; Mackay, 3 for 25; McDonald, 2 for 35). Varsity, 189.—McGavin 61; McDonald, 44; Smyth, 26. McDonald played a slashing innings, including 6 fours and 2 sixers. Won by an innings and 6 runs.

v. Institute.—Institute 186 (P. Caldwell, 6 for 71; Smyth, 3 for 17), and 71 (McDonald, 6 for 36; Cormack, 3 for 12). Varsity 218.—Wilson. 37; Vietmeyer. 32 not out; McDonald. 32; Cormack, 27; McGavin, 20; Frazer, 19; and 44 for 2.—McGavin, 21 not out. Victory here was made possible by a fine last wicket stand in the 1st innings by Vietmeyer and Fraser, who carried the score from 168. passed the Institute score of 186, to 218. bothMcDonald and P. Caldwell bowled ably in this game. Won by 8 wickets.

v. Petone.—Petone 155 (Cormack, 5 for 27) and 202 (Cormack, 5 for 60). Varsity. 302.—Wilson, 63; Arndt, 61; P. Caldwell, 53; McGavn, 44. Set 55 in the last innings to win. Varsity underrated their task and almost paid the penalty. Won by 1 wicket.

v. Wellington.—Wellington 273 (Cormack 4 for 74; McMichael, 3 for 75). Varsity, 91.—McDonald, 34; G. Caldwell, 15; and 127.—G. Caldwell, 31; Arndt, 30 not out; P. Caldwell, 19. Wellington's batting was too strong, for a team weakened by Christmas holiday. Lost by an innings and 66 runs.

v. Karori.—Karori. 149 (McMichael, 7 for 36) and 142 (McMichael, 4 for 34; P. Caldwell, 2 for 28). Varsity, 244—McGavin, 54; Moore, 41; Cormack. 38; Arndt, 33; P. Caldwell. 22; and 56 for 1.—McFarlane, 21 not out; Smyth, 17; Williams. 16 not out. Won by 9 wickets.

v. Midland.—Midland, 279 (McMichael, 2 for 17; Williams, 3 for 56; P. Caldwell. 3 for 71). Varsity 112.—Williams, 23; Wilson, 21; P. Caldwell. 19; G. Caldwell. 16; and 103—Hall, 27; Arndt, 19; Wilson. 13. Lost by an innings and 64 runs.

v. Thorndon.—Thorndon, 278 (McMichael, 3 for 67; McDonald, 2 for 25; Williams, 2 for 40; Cormack, 2 for 87); and 262 for 7. (Cormack, 3 for 54; McDonald, 2 for 62). Varsity, 479.—Arndt, 209, not out; G. Caldwell, 77; Hall, 49; Moore, 38. Won on 1st innings by 201 runs.

v. Old boys.—Old boys, 101. (Williams, 4 for 29); and 6 for 109 (Mc-Michael, 5 for 43). Varsity, 79.—Arndt, 31; McFarlane, 10; and 7 for 181 (declared)—Williams, 64; Hall, 35; Wilson, 27. This was a typical end of season game, both teams being short. At call of time, Old boys had only one wicket to fall, and 50 runs to get. Lost on 1st innings by 22 runs.

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Averages.

Batting.

Name.	Innings.	Not-outs.	Runs.	Highest score.	Av.
Arndt	15	2	442	209*	34
McGavin	10	1	237	61	26.3
Hall	5	—	118	49	23.6
G. Caldwell	10	2	175	77	21.9
Williams	9	1	160	64	20

Bowling.

Name	Overs.	Maidens.	Runs.	Wickets.	Average.
McMichael	80	16	261	23	11.3
Williams	64	16	205	13	15.77
McDonald	90	10	463	27	17.15
Cormack	117	19	472	27	17.48
P. Caldwell	86	3	461	18	25.6

Fielding.

McFarlane, 8 catches; McDonald, 6; McGavin, 5. G. Caldwell stumped 5; caught 2.

Junior B.

The season was commenced with what appeared to be a good side, but on the arrival of the holidays, the team was completely disorganised through some members leaving Wellington, and others being commandeered by the Junior A team.

It was unfortunate that the team could not be kept intact throughout the season, as it possessed some capable batsmen. Moore topped the 70 mark twice before being promoted to the Junior A grade. In the latter part of the season Robinson showed a pleasing return to form and made a succession of solid scores, including a score of 80 not out.

Cottier, Turner, Hughes and Parton also batted well. The team was not strong in bowling and was unfortunate in losing the services of Hickling and McMichael. With a stronger attack the team would probably have done better.

Junior D.

This team was led by G. A. Nicholls, and, considering the difficulty that was often experienced in mustering 11 players, its record (Won 5, Lost 4) was a very creditable one. At one stage the team was leading for the championship but it failed to maintain its position.

Of the individual performances the most noteworthy was the great score of 256 (not out), made by N. Clouston. In compiling this total, which was the highest individual score made in Wellington during the season, Clouston attacked the bowling vigorously and hit 15 sixes and 30 fours. This player, however, took part in only a couple of games. The mainstay of the team's batting was McDuff, who scored over 300 runs during the season and batted consistently throughout. Riddell was easily the best bowler and reaped a good harvest of wickets, as well as rendering good service with the bat. His best bowling effort was 5 wickets for 8 runs, against Old boys. Davies also proved himself a useful bowler. Other members of the team performed well on occasions and it was a welcome change from previous years to find the team well up in its grade.