THE CRICKET FIELD

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 109, 4 November 1939, Page 22

THE CRICKET FIELD

OMFORTANT MEETING NEXT WEEK

CONFERENCE WITH MINOR ASSOCIATIONS

The annual meeting'of the management committee" of the Wellington Cricket Association- with representatives of its minor* associations will be held in Wellington next Monday. From several.

r'- points of view it is a most important gathering. If the minor ; \ bodies have any grievances then they can, figuratively speaking, \ ."get-.theni. off their chests" in a much more satisfactory manner ' than by weighty and indefinite correspondence, and perhaps, ' most-important, of all,'it brings into being personal contacts between the associations that normally could not be achieved.

. Not unexpected is the remit from the Manawatu Association concerning the formation of a fifth Plunket- Shield side. Unquestionably, the keenest advocate for such a team is Mr. A. M. Ongley, president of the Manawatu Association, and although nothing definite has been stated it is thought that Mr.- Ongley himself will represent that association at the conference.

ii came about through the allocation of t wickets on. Nairnville Park, the club's' * headquarters. In the club's action, which caused the Wellington Cricket ' Association's management committee some concern, there was the evidence t of that enthusiasm which makes for a club's progress. It really seemed at , the time that the club was doing someg thing which it thought would be of assistance to the Wellington Cricket j Association in securing more wickets > at Nairnville, but actually the association did not want anything that .would ; mean more travelling for town teams. , However, there has always heen a £ desire to have district cricket encourj aged, and in this Onslow has shown , its interest. It is a growing district, ' and no doubt desires to rise as dis- „ tricts like Kilbirnie, Karori, and the [ Hutt have done. It would be a great , thing, indeed, if district clubs could be [ in the position of having sufficient [ wickets at home to accommodate all |. their teams, and that cricket planning could be done in the same way as in many competitions overseas—home and 1 away matches. The grounds question in Wellington, however, present difficulties, but eventually these may be removed and each district club may . have everything to its liking. With regard to the Onslow Club's action the association wrote to the club seeking an explanation. In its reply to the Wellington Cricket Association the Onslow Cricket Club explained that some time ago when the Reserves Committee visited Nairnville Park (as a result of the club's efforts to have the playing area extended) the amount of travelling that Onslow players had to do was mentioned to the, Director of Parks and Reserves. That amount of travelling was by reason ;of the fact that only three of the five wickets on the ground were available for Wellington Cricket Association matches. The Director of Parks and Reserves promised to bear the matter in mind when making his recommendations with regard to the allocation of wickets for ,the season. "The visit of the committee was such a- hurried one," the Onslow Club's letter stated, "that we felt that possibly the matter might be overlooked and a letter was sent to Mr. McKenzie (the director) to remind.him. of.it. At the same time we wrote to you renewing our request of last year for your approval of an increase in. the allocation, following it Up with a further letter "setting out our position in 1 greater detail and forwarding tables showing the amount .of travelling done by the various^ clubs last season. We also saw some members of the Parks and Reserves Committee, explaining our viewpoint to them so that they might be fully seized of it wuen the allocation came up for consideration. "It is unfortunate, and we fully accept responsibility for this, that the taking out of the1 tables and our request to your committee were delayed so long that you were not able to deal with the matter finally before the Reserves Committee had met. We did what we did in fulfilment of what we consider our duty to our players, and we had no intention whatever of flouting the authority, of your committee or doing anything underhand. If our action is open to that interpretation we can only express our regret that this should be so and assure you of our earnest desire to work in harmony with your committee and to carry out our obligation as ah affiliated club." ■ "The explanation is quite a full one," said the chairman (Mr. J. H. Phillipps) when the letter was read at this week's meeting of the W.C.A. management committee, "but I think it should be pointed out to the club that at no time had it been suggested that it had acted in an underhand manner; it was an unconstitutional action." The committee agreed that the Onslow Club be advised accordingly.

He has been trying for some years to get the New Zealand Cricket Council to, agree to the introduction of a fifth side (from the minor associations) iiito the competition. The New Zealand controlling body stated quite definitely last year that it could not agree to a further entry, but this has not prevented the Manawatu Association —and behind it Mr. Ongley—trying again.

As has been stated before, there are several factors in favour of the fifth side. For one thing it would give niinor association players every chance in big cricket—and it cannot be said by any stretch of the imagination at the moment that they are getting this,

and, also, it must be. rather disappointing; to regular city players to be kept but of the main provincial sides by . one or two country players who have proved' Beyond any shadow of doubt that they have earned their places. It is obvious, therefore; that.the introduction of a fifth side would be ; satisfactory to both the town and country .players. ' ' ' ;; v There will be no questioning. the fact that the best team from the minor; associations ■ would provide extremely strong opposition ,to any of the main centres, with the possible exception of Auckland, who,, on paper at least, have a powerful combination. —Although nothing has been mentioned in the remits about the annual Wellington Town v. Country match it is anticipated that there will be some discussion on this. It may be that the match will- be agreed to immediately, I but there is always the possibility that a suggestion may be made to cancel , the.match in view oi present circumstances. Actually, the question of the Town-Country match is. pretty well ' wrapped 'up with the fifth Plunket Shield team problem. Until there is a fifth Shield side then the TownCountry match should be retained as a means of giving the country players some chance in the best company. , Mrv S. R. Cantlon, secretary of the Marlborough Cricket Association, will be\ representing his province at- the conference, and there is a possibility that' the r former. South Island representative cricketer. E. R! Neale, will be representing the Nelson Association.: Rangitikei and 'Tai'anaki will both probably have delegates here, although no notification has been received as to who they will be. Others who should be present are representatives from the Wanganui, Hawke's Bay, Southern Hawke's Bay, and Wairarapa Associations.

Wellington 5, l'etone EasL 0, Midland 0, Karori 0, College 0, Old Boys 0. , SIXTH GRADE. . Karori S, Onslow £), University 8, Technical 8,• Wellington; S, Institute 0, Kilbirnie o,'Brooklyn. 0, Midland 0," HuttO. ' • GRADE. Y.JLC.A. .8, -Kilbirnie B S, Jolmsoiivillc 8. Old1 Boys 8, Ollslmv 0. Kilbiniie A 0, Karori 0, Institute 0. '. .■ v : EIGHTH GRADE. St. Fat's 0.8. B 10, Onslow B 8, Wellington S, Hutt.B, I'ctonc 8, -.University S, .lolinsonvllie S, Institute. 0, .Kllbiriiie f», St. J'at's 0.8. A '5, Onslow A 5. Onslow CO CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP. Unit 100, Institute 1)7,. Onslow 80, Kilbirnie 77, Old Boy's 31), University r,G, Kail ways IS, Technical -18, Wellington -17, St. rat's 0.8. -!•>. Midland -M, Petoue 32, Johnsonvillc 32, Karon Pctonc Knst 0, College Q. 21, Hospital 24, Brooklyn 21, V.M.C.A. -1.