THE ENGLISH CRICKETEKS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7257, 19 November 1901, Page 2

THE ENGLISH CRICKETEKS.

We are very pleased to observe that the New Zealand Cricket Council is taking steps to persuade Mir Maclaren. to bring -hfe team of cricketers to this colony after th« conclusion of its Australian, tour. It is no* likely that the Council will be successful. Mr Macliareni has inibunatied aJmudy that the time at the disposal of himself said his men will not permit of their visiting this colony, aad we doubt if the Council wdll be able to induce him t*> alter bos mind. At the same time, we are satisfied that it has done right to try. Visits from foreign teams are calculated to confer the greatest possible benefit upon New Zealand cricket and New Zealand cricketers in general'. It encourages- the latter in their endeavours to improve themselves, and by doing this raises the standard of the former. For proof of this contention our readers have eniy to visit on© «f our cricket grounds either immediately bef ape or directly after tiie vqstiit of a foreign team. If he does, he will notice thab the game is being pursued with a degree of energy and eagerness WhoMy wanting on ordilnairy oocatAona. If Ms visL'b happens to be paid after the departure of the visitors he will observe also a marked improvement in the style and methods of many of the local players, and in various other ways ha will >be madfe to realise, that the latter ' have derived benefit" from the object-lesson afforded them by am exhibition of first-class cricket. Unfortunately, the visits of foreign teams to New Zealand are rare occurrences, and the lessons to be derived from them, are, few and far between. That neither comes more often is not the fault either of the cricket authorities or of^the cricketers, but rather we think, of the public themselves. If the latter displayed a little more interest in the game, the inducements for foreign teams to visit New Zealand would be correspondingly greater. And yet, perhaps, there is something to be said on tbe other side. The public can generally be trusted to patronise a eporfc which really interests them, and if the support which they give to cricket is less hearty than the cricketers themselves would like it to be, it- may be assumed, not unfairly, that the fault in a measure lies with, the manner in which the gam© is played! amid) conducted here.