1916 Cricket Club

MAY 10th. — Cricket made its first appearance to-day. The season this year, owing to the prolongation of the Easter vacation, will be a very short one, but we hope to make up for this by the quality of our cricket. All clubs started in full swing to-day and, thanks to the energy of the captains, the pitches were in excellent condition. On the crease we had some practice in nets and the form shown was, for the beginning of the season, very good indeed. Dan O'CONNELL, our Captain, and Louis CORBETT look like being the two "strong men" of the season, while MARKS has improved considerably, both in bowling and batting, since last year.

May 16th.—Rain for the past few days had seriously interrupted our practice, but to-day brought heat and sunshine in abundance, and we spent the evening at hard practice in the nets. The good batsmen are now beginning to assert themselves and are showing good form for the practice match tomorrow. May 17th.—Summer has indeed come in and to-day was an ideal day for cricket. Good form was shown in the match, and it seemed a day for the batsmen. O'CONNELL was the most prominent among the batsmen and with good steady play added a substantial score to the board. CORBETT and MARKS were bowling well, but are not yet up to the form they showed last year. In the fielding we were especially weak, and many simple opportunities were allowed to slip. May 19th.—For about half an hour today we had very good fielding practice, and the fellows began to use their hands somewhat better. In the evening we had practice in the nets and the XI showed good form for the match with the National University on the 21st.

May 21st.—The weather in the early morning looked promising but later a drizzly rain commenced to fall and continued throughout the match. University won the toss and decided to bat. McWEENEY was soon disposed of, being clean bowled by MARKS on the second ball. O'CONNOR, who took his place, gave a good display and remained firm until seven wickets were down, when he was held off CORBETT'S bowling. McDERMOTT, who looked like getting set, was cleverly held behind the wicket by FITZGERALD. The succeeding batsmen made a good stand, but 3 o'clock saw the fall of the last University wicket, leaving their total at 107. For Castleknock, O'CONNELL and CORBETT opened the innings, but in the first over O'CONNELL. "played" on to his wicket, and Castleknock suffered a serious loss in their Captain. MARKS followed next, but CORBETT was almost immediately run out, leaving the score at 7 for two wickets. Things were looking pretty bad for the College, but a better stand was made by the next two men, and runs mounted up more rapidly. O'MEARA was the next to go, and KENNEDY did not last long after him. SWEENEY was beginning to hit when he was " held" by a fine catch brought off by CULLEN. Stumps drawn at six o'clock saw the College with nine wickets down for 85 runs up. Thus ended our first match this season in a draw in favour of University.

May 24th.—Hard at work again in spite of the wet weather. We had a good practice match to-day. MARKS and CORBETT are bowling very well indeed. The fielding has improved considerably, and in spite of the wet and slippery condition of the ground some smart fielding was shown. Altogether the form all round was improved, and we have every hope of beating " The Past" in our match on the 28th.

May 28th.—To-day we played " The Past" and under ideal conditions, as the weather has taken a turn for the better and the sun shows itself more often than before. Castleknock won the toss and elected to bat. O'CONNELL and O'FARRELL opened the innings and for a long time kept their wickets up. O'FARRELL was the first to go, being held by MURPHY, at "leg" off NUGENT'S bowling. MARKS who followed him, played steadily but was held, off NUGENT's bowling again, bv McWEENEY at "cover point." CORBETT followed next but was most unfortunate, being " run out" without receiving a single ball. The telegraph now showed 47-3-0. O'MEARA followed but was held by BOLGER at " point" after adding four to the score. FITZGERALD, KENNEDY. and, McNALLY quickly followed, neither adding to the total. O'CONNELL went next, being clean bowled by MORRIN, having held up his wicket since the beginning. The telegraph showed 101-8-34. SWEENEY, who had been making a very fine stand, was at last " held" off MORRIN'S bowling. The next few men followed quickly and the Castleknock innings closed with a total of 104. HURLEY and McWEENEY opened the innings for " The Past," but HURLEY was soon "held" behind the wicket by O'FARRELL. McWEENEY followed him soon afterwards, clean bowled by McDONNELL. The next man to go was O'DONNELL, being smartly stumped by O'FERRELL after adding 12 to the score board. NUGENT coming next was bowled by MARKS for five. ELLISON made a good stand and had 18 up before he was finally " held" behind the wicket by O'FARRELL. CALLAGHAN also made a good stand, being "not out" for 18 and the total was HO runs up for 9 wickets down, Castleknock being beaten by 15 runs and one wicket.

June 1st.—We again met Clongowes in cricket. Great attention was paid to the game during the season, as the feeling between the two Colleges ran high, and all were keen on winning. The morning proved to be very wet, and the prospects of a good match were not high. Nevertheless the eleven set out for Clongowes, and on arriving there the weather took a turn for the better. But the rain had already done the damage and the pitch was reduced to a bad state.

Castleknock, winning the toss, decided to bat. O'CONNELL and O'FARRELL opened the innings, but O'FARRELL proved most unfortunate, being bowled by FLEURY in the opening stages of the game. To add to this, the rain began to fall heavily and the pitch became, if possible, more sodden than before. CORHETT, who followed, was quickly dismissed by FLEURY, who seemed in good bowling form. MARKS did not stand much longer, being cleverly stumped by FITZGERALD. A fine catch brought off by WILKINSON put an end to O'CONNELL. O'MEARA and KENNEDY were beginning to settle down when the rain interrupted the game, and the field was forced to retire. On resuming play KENNEDY did not last long, and the next two followed in quick succession. SWEENEY came in to hit but McDONNELL and McGAHEY, failing to support him, left him not out. After the luncheon interval Clongowes opened the innings on a somewhat more favourable pitch, the sun having at length appeared. RICE and WILKINSON opened the innings, making a long stand, but RICE was at last dismissed by McDONNELL, McGAHEY bringing off a splendid catch at mid-off. Next man in did not stand long, and FITZGERALD came in. WILKINSON and FITZGERALD now made a stand, but the former fell at last to McDONNELL'S bowling. FLEURY, his successor, was bowled clean, first ball, and O'BRIEN, who followed, was held off McDONNELL'S bowling by McGAHEY, McDONNELL thus bringing off the " hat trick." The next man to fall was FITZGERALD, who was run out. The next man, GAYNOR, was given leg before wicket to McNALLY'S bowling, and O'CONNOR and DIGGAN succeeded in putting up a score, being not out at drawing of stumps. Clongowes closed their innings with a total of 113. WALSH and COOLICAN did not bat.

D. O'CONNELL.