SPIRIT OF CRICKET.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20162, 24 January 1929, Page 8

SPIRIT OF CRICKET.

A GROWING APPRECIATION I

REFLECTIONS OF TUESDAY I

ASPIRATIONS OF ARDENT YOUTH

There is room for improvement in this cricket spirit of Auckland, but unaneg. tionably it is improving. To this asse r . tion one of the old brigade gravely refers to attendances and asks how cricket ?s to fare if the public has not sufficient active interest to throng the grounds for a big match and help the game toward a happy future, when it will have real pitches and so on. Nevertheless, he is inclined to become impatient if one should remark that, after all, there are severe limita. tions to a week-day "gate," and that in any case, Eden Park's amenities coald be vastly improved. Then, too, members of the old brigade are not invariably the best apostles of the gospel of cricket. Some of them get out with the intention of not expecting too much, so that they will not be dig. appointed. On Tuesday one of the elders observed that he would never mistake the ingoing batsman for Jessup. This pawky kind of humour is quite entertain, ing, but it is rather a pity that men who live in the past along with the Graces and Trumpers, and even come sufficiently | forward to include the Hobbses in their company of heroes, should judge New Zealand cricket by the standard of th# world's best. A Joyful Example. One recalls a very gallant gentleman long dead in Flanders, who played for « little country club in New Zealand and the fact that he had represented a great public school in his day did not detract from the pleasure he bad in playing for a scratch team on a ground that was only a paddock. The spirit of the game was upon him He did not deplore th« fact that nino members of the tea® smote the ball or went out. Not at all. His was the spirit that would help on? cricket along. He would be joyful about the skill displayed and the strategy 0 f the captains and for the higher standard he would have looked at the intent faces of the boys around the ground. However, taken by and large, the old brigade is still the backbone of cricket and even in the absence of Jessups they had their thrill on Tuesday. Long did the game hang in the balance and in theii! hearts was all that is implied by "thq breathless hush" of Newbolt.

But the thrill extended far beyond thd ground. The city was on tip-toe, nrf bo much because there was at stake s year's possession of a shield, but became the struggle was keen and long in donbtj because the situation went to the heart of the sporting instinct. Telephone "io. formation," wireless and notice boards supplied the information and everywhere cricket was the topic. And from all thil interest the cricket spirit will expand Intelligent Appreciation.

It is significant that the great stonewall of two dogged batsmen did not arouse the crowd at the ground to demonstrations of impatience. Naturally the crowd likes sparkling displays of batsmanship and swift run-getting—par-ticularly that part of the crowd which does not fully understand the gamebut at the time it knew the right gama was being played, and it even found an occasion for applause in a maiden over*

"But," remarked someone, "wouldn't there have been a rumpus if the visiting team had been responsible for the stonewall ? " Question. One takes the liberty of suggesting that such an effort by s pair of Wellington batsmen would also have been appreciated, even if most of the people had been silent supporters of the bowlers. After all, what does S little barracking amount to? How manyl people raise their voices in a barrack? A dozen voices, following a lead, may consider it a pleasant thing to ridicule art appeal for Ibw, but what of thS vast majority which sits in silence escepS when some player of either side, performs an outstanding feat? Any New Zealand crowd is a sporting crowd, and the critics who uses the "one-eyed" argument i< generally much more "one-eyed" himself* Youth Forges On.

Let us leave the minority which si" vises the wicket-kaeper to borrow a neß and is not quite aware why a bowler and an umpire should have different opinion! about an lbw, and come back to the spirit! of the grand old game in which New Zea« land, one of these days, will meet heij sister across the Tasman on equal terms. Youth is forging on, and every repre* sentative match helps to fire the boys with enthusiasm for cricket. Watch the crowd of white-shirted, freckled-faced boys of ardent gaze, who line the pickets when a team appears ? Hero-worshippers, of course, but' they are also worshipping at the shrine of cricket. They seek auto* graphs, and they are in the second heaven of happiness if their own particular herq should drop them a word. After the game ended one observed two small boys gravely discussing the game. One was making some notes and he was heard to say: "If Bowley had been associated a bit longer wrW —" Cricket is getting into their blood. The coaching doubtless has something to do with it. And the coaching of juveniles will go a long way. There is no need for lament because "gates" are not always as big as th«y might be. And there is no reason for comparing a cricket "gate" with a football "gate." Football benefits because ol the lack of counter-attractions—the beaches, for instance, and the call of the open road to motorists. The progress o cricket may be slow, but one is convinced that it is sure, and some mighty players are in the making. , "Oh yes," says the critic, but tM selectors . . . ." . , . Well, if there is anything m tna® argument, may we not suggest also that there are some wonderful selectors in tue making also.