Senior Team.

Considering the calibre of the players at the disposal of the Club, the season cannot truly be called a very successful one. No club in the City had more promising material to choose from, and in view of that, the record of "Won 5, lost 5," does not read very convincingly. Nevertheless the team finished fourth in the Wellington Championship table, and had the distinction of beating the team which afterwards won the Championship.

Owing to the comparative failure of the more sparkling batsmen of the side, the burden of making runs fell largely on the more sedate members of the team. Mackenzie, the wicket-keeper captain, was in excellent form with the hat and with the gloves. He was remarkably consistent, scoring two centuries—158 and 128—and on two other occasions made the two fine scores of 94 and 87. Hollings, our all-rounder, finished up the season with a batting average of 29.09. He had hard luck in the manner of his dismissal on several occasions. Although he was not in so good form as two seasons ago when he was hailed as the most promising young batsman in the City, he was always a very valuable member of the side. His fielding was again a lesson in itself. We sincerely hope that the rumour, that he will not be playing for V.U.C. again next year, is unfounded. Vietmeyer batted remarkably well during the season. Originally placed in the team as bowler, he finished up third in the batting averages for the season. Theo. Nelson was very consistent, but for some reason, Tripe, Osborn, McLeod and Leys could not strike form, although "Tiny" scored a good 56 against Institute. These were the freest batsmen in the side, and their failure weakened the side as a match-winning combination. Bailey was always painstaking, and possessed a splendid defence, while Peter Caldwell was a real find, and should do extremely well in the Senior Grade next season. Jack Greig batted very well, saving both the Old Boys and the second Petone games. His transfer to Palmerston North has left the Club minus a fast bowler, we wish him luck in the future.

The Club lacked a good match-winning bowler. Eddie McLeod, with his slows, bowled excellently throughout the year, while Vietmeyer, Nelson, Greig, Hollings, Bagge and Tripe all took over ten wickets, and were dangerous at times. "Tiny" Leys did not have much success at the bowling crease either. Bagge, a new-comer with a delightfully easy action, was a decided gain for the Club, but although a steady bowling side, the team never possessed a real "shock attack."

The fielding of the side in general was good, and although catches were dropped the team compared more than favourably in this department with any other team in the Competition. McLeod and Hollings were the best of a keen lot.

Notes on the Games.

After a bright opening performance against Kilbirnie, in which Mackenzie started off the season with a fine 128, and in which our bowlers did such damage that Kilbirnie were dismissed for 88, we made a dire collapse against Wellington, after having only 153 to get—Cousins was the destroying agent. Against Midland, however, the team shaped much better, Mackenzie notching his second century—158—and Hollings getting 94—he had hard luck in failing to reach the century.

Petone caught the team at sixes and sevens-a weakened side through vacation, and Hope and Rotherham, the Petone fast bowlers, played havoc amongst our men.

However, on meeting Old Boys, who later won the Championship, the team gave one of its best performances, winning outright. Although Old Boys were without Lamason and Lambert on the second day, they could hardly have won even with these men. We batted only ten men in our first innings. Johnnie Greig and Veitmeyer put on a great last-wicket stand.

page 54

The Hutt game ended in an even draw. After a poor bowling performance, the side managed to avert a defeat by batting soundly all the next day.

A very exciting finish in the Institute game saw us just beaten after a great last-wicket stand by Henderson and Rogers, and another close-fought game all through saw us win outright on time at Petone in a return match.

The last match of the season resulted in a poor performance by the team. Mackenzie redeeming the side by making 87 out of 165. Midland piled up a big score, and we had to resort to our wickct-keeper to bowl out one of their batsmen who was nearing the century (?).

Junior B.

At the beginning of the season, H. J. Bishop was elected Captain and R. W. Osborn Vice-Captain. In spite of this brilliant conjunction, however, the fates were unkind to us, and for a long time it seemed as if we were going to finish the season without a win. The chance came at last, however, and while the Captain was away performing military duties at Trentham, the Vice-Captain succeeded in leading the team to victory against Old Boys—a three-point win which, with a little more luck, would have been a four-pointer. Fired by this, the eleven determined to win the next match, although they were handicapped by the presence of thir captain (who had been sacked from the Army). In spite of his efforts, 'Varsity were in a strong position, with only 89 runs to get and 45 minutes in which to score them. This task proved too great, however, and we were beaten by six runs, the last wicket falling with a bare three minutes to go.

Apart from the meritorious draw against Hutt, in which we still hold that we would have won by for the fact that there was no play on the second day, the one win represents the sum total of our success. We finished up in the Championship table with 4 points—an easy last.

The only feature of which we can be proud is our fielding. On several occasions we were complimented, and on the second day of the match against Railways, on Anderson Park, and against Marist in the last match, the team fielded splendidly. Bishop and Osborn were the best in this department. The former took eleven catches, one of page 56 which, against Hutt, was almost as spectacular as the one taken (under exceedingly trying conditions) at Wanganui by him on New Year's morning.

In batting, Campbell alone achieved the distinction of notching a century. His innings against Y.M.C.A. was an exceedingly fine one. Macfarlane played a fine 97 against Railways, when it was a question of scoring fast against time. Osborn played one good innings against Wellington, but failed to strike form apart from this. Bishop came to light twice when runs were wanted, and played a stubborn not-out innings, but on these occasions could get no one to stay with him.

While Campbell was with us, he was easily the steadiest bowler, and we missed him greatly when he was promoted. McKenzie and Smyth bowled well, but Sherwood failed to show his true form. He atoned for this, however, by a fine innings of 52 against Old Boys. Frost came out with the best average of the stock bowlers, and on several occasions bowled really well. Osborn bowled only in two matches, but obtained a sensational average.

The team was unfortunate in losing Moore and Macfarlane for the greater part of the season, in which they played with the Junior A team. Campbell, who went up half-way through the season, was badly missed, as he was easily the best all-rounder. Smyth also played several games Junior A. After the Christmas break, we were fortunate in obtaining the services of Martin, who promises to do really well, and C. G. Frazer, who played in the last two matches, in which, besides keeping wickets excellently, he played three innings of over 50. Martin batted and bowled very well, and was a great acquisition to the team.

The team had a most enjoyable season, although an unsuccessful one, and even if we did forget the main object on occasion, as at Porirua, we hope that we gave our opponents a game, and always took our licking in the proper way.

Junior A. Matches Played, 9. Won, 5. Lost, 4.

After winning the first five matches in succession, we seemed to have every chance of becoming the champion team, but in the later games, the batting fell short of requirements, and V.U.C. occupied a modest fourth place in the Championship. The season was a very enjoyable one. however, as most of the games were closely contested, and there were some exciting finishes.

The batting averages were headed by Dormer, who batted very consistently in the few games in which he played. Robinson early displayed his capabilities by scoring two centuries, and thoroughly earned his place in the Junior Representatives. Chadwick developed into a reliable, hard-hitting batsman, and made a succession of solid scores in the latter part of the season. Wilson and Macdonald also proved their worth as run-getters. The team was unfortunate in losing Hall early in the season. Williams proved very effective with the ball, especially at the beginning of the season. He scored the best average, with 28 wickets at a cost of 15.1 runs apiece. Macdonald, resourceful as ever, accounted for 34 batsmen during the season. Not the least of his achievements was the dismissal of a Hutt batsman with an under-arm delivery. Campbell and P. Caldwell, who took 21 wickets and 19 wickets respectively, also rendered good service. The team's fielding was better than that of the previous season, but was hardly up to standard except at Johnsonville, where the fielding was little short of brilliant and won the match.

The following are the averages:—

Batting.

	Inngs.	N.O.	H.S.	Runs.	Avge.
Dormer	7	1	87	272	45.3
Hall	4	—	67	149	37.2
Chadwick	14	3	*76	382	34.7
Robinson	13	—	141	387	29.7
Wilson	11	1	*67	285	28.5
Macdonald	15	1	96	318	22.7

Bowling.

(Averages of those who took 10 or more wickets.)

	Overs.	Runs.	Wkts.	Avge.
Williams	138	423	28	15.1
Campbell	91	334	21	15.9
P. Caldwell	76	322	19	16.9
Macdonald	141	726	34	21.3
Dormer	52	215	10	21	5

page 57

v. Petone.—Won by 50 runs on first innings. Petone, 238 (Macdonald 6 for 75). V.U.C.. 288 (Chadwick, 68; Hall, 67; Robinson, 39; Williams, 26).

v. Johnsonville.—Won by 25 runs. V.U.C., 115 (Robinson, 24), and 105 (Hall, 46). Johnsonville, 85 (Williams, 6 for 41; Chadwick, 3 for 6). A close game noteworthy for a fine bowling "double" by Williams, who was supported by splendid fielding.

v. Institute.—Won by 7 wickets. Institute, 73 (Williams, 6 for 32; Chadwick, 4 for 14), and 328 (Macdonald, 4 for 73; Dormer, 3 for 89). V.U.C., 333 (Robinson. 141; Dormer, 68; Macdonald, 42 not out; Arndt. 25; Hall, 21), and 73 for 3 wickets (Wilson. 23; Dormer, 22 not out). Institute recovered well after a sensational collapse in their first innings, and M. Bilby scored the only century recorded against us during the season. For V.U.C., Robinson showed that he is a first-class batsman, and in compiling his big score, hit one six and 20 fours. Robinson and Dormer scored 153 for the third wicket.

v. Karori.—Won by 4 wickets. Karori, 162 (P. Caldwell, 4 for 2), and 153 (P. Caldwell, 4 for 48). V.U.C., 172 (Wilson, 51; Moore, 29; Arndt, 33), and 145 for 6 wickets (Wilson, 67 not out; Macdonald, 25; McFarlane, 22). Wilson batted very well in this game in passing the 50 mark in each innings.

v. Hutt.—Won by 151 runs on first innings. V.U.C., 490 for 9 wickets (declared), (Robinson, 112; Macdonald, 96; McGavin, 26; Smyth, 24; Williams, 23 not out). Hutt. 339 (Macdonald, 5 for 95; P. Caldwell, 4 for 75). Robinson scored his second century of the season by sound batting, and hit 17 fours. Macdonald gave a remarkable display of hard hitting in making a score of 96, including seven sixs and 10 fours in 28 minutes.

v. Midland.—Lost by 4 wickets. V.U.C., 145 (Chadwick, 76 not out; McClure, 18), and 206 for 7 wickets (declared), (Wilson 67; Arndt, 48; Chadwick, 31; G. Caldwell, 31 not out). Midland, 213 (Campbell, 4 for 64; McClue, 3 for 38; Macdonald, 3 for 43), and 144 for 6 wickets. In V.U.C.'s first innings, after 9 wickets had fallen for 54, McClure and Chadwick added 91 for the last wicket. McClure played a valuable innings for the side in keeping his end up while Chadwick, whose score included five sixes, rattled on the runs at a great rate.

v. Kilbirnie.—Lost by 58 runs on first innings. Kilbirnie, 242 (P. Caldwell, 4 for 75; Williams, 3 for 55), and 211 (Campbell, 4 for 34). V.U.C., 184 (Dormer, 34; P. Caldwell, 33; Chadwick, 24), and 155 for 4 wickets (Chadwick, 64 not out; Dormer, 44; Wilson, 26).

v. Old Boys.—Lost by 59 runs on first innings. Old Boys, 310 (Campbell, 7 for 81), and 185 (McClure, 3 for 21). V.U.C., 251 (Dormer, 87; Chadwick, 45; Paety, 35). Campbell bowled very ably in this match and Dormer was in his best form with the bat.

v. Wellington.—Lost by 5 wickets. V.U.C., 159 (Macdonald, 65; Osborn, 26), and 180 (Arndt, 44; Chadwick, 32; Robinson, 29). Wellington, 218 (Osborn, 3 for 21), and 124 for 5 wickets.

page 56 page break

page 57

Junior D Cricket Team.

The fourth eleven of the 'Varsity Cricket Club spent a very enjoyable season. The personnel of the team changed considerably towards the end of the season, but at all times the members were enthusiastic.

The team was beaten in many of its games by the smallest of margins, and was unlucky to secure only eight championship points.

The batting department of the team discovered to the club a very promising player in McCarthy, who captained the St. Pat's College First Eleven last year. This player had eight completed innings with the good average of 36 runs per innings. Bad wickets accounted for his downfall on each occasion, and next year should see him in the First or Second Eleven of the club.

Supporting batsmen were Nicols, Richmond, Stace, Struthers, Frazer and Carey. The bowling of the team was equally divided among Nichols, Stace, Struthers and Richmond, while Taylor also bowled.

The fielding of the team was of fair order all the season, and most players improved every match. Struthers and Scholefield were two players who took three catches each in a single innings.

The team pulled together during the whole season, and the captain's part was a wholly enjoyable one.