SPORTS AND PASTIMES.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLVI, Issue 10704, 30 March 1926, Page 3

SPORTS AND PASTIMES.

&2ICK-Y. ASKBURTCN HOLIDAY .TEAM. The following team will represent Asiibarton in the matches with Iticcarton cm Friday arid Saturday, April 2 and 3, and Sydenham on Easter Monday/, 1 both games to be played on . the Oval, starting at 1 p.m:—G. Harper, B. MeSherry, C. Brady, W. Brady, H. Miilichamp, K. Shrimpton, M. Christie, I. Bolton, A. Todd, C. G. Andrews, and W. O’Grady. ■„ Emergencies: A. Gourley, 11. Knight, H. Lennon. FIELD OF SPORT. NOTES AND COMMENTS. (By “Onlooker.”) It is reported that A. McCormack, the “crack” local forward, will don the Linwocd jersey in Christchurch this season. The newly formed Hampstead Club should be a welcome addition to the local Rugby competition this year, and with the aid of the old Celtic first grade players, a good senior team should take the field. , “What’s in a name” does not seem to apply to the Ashburton-Tinwald , combined clubs, and the choice of a suitable name seems to bo difficult. One suggestion put forward _ incorporates the two teams —it is Ashtin. The following are the batting averages of the Ashburton Junior cricket team, winners of Junior Competition:— Name. Inn’s. Not out. Runs Av.g.

Bowlingi Analysis.

Bad place-kicking continues to be a blot on Rugby football, even of the highest class (said an English paper last month). More than one team on Saturday lost the match because no one was capable of guiding the ball between the posts, even from a. position right in front of goal. Rugby players know full well that place-kicking can win matches as surely as tries, and yet so few care to cultivate it. Successful place-kicking is npt dependent upon certain rare, natural gifts—gifts physical and mental—as are some ,of the Rugby aids. There is such a. thing as improvement by practice.

That Charlie Purdy should be able to defeat light-weight champion Les Murray in Dunedin on January 30 by a decisive margin and yet fail to get the verdict in Wellington when he met the Southerner on March 15 in a contest for the title, is not such a matter for surprise as that the newspaper critics and a large section of the crowd should be so unanimous in their disagreement with the decision of the judges (says the Auckland “ Star”). Purdy is displeased, and not without cause, while Murray, though glad enough to retain the coveted distinction of champion, can have little real satisfaction with the result. Indeed, no one will feel sure that the champion’s crown is reposing on the head of the better man till the pair have contested the title, in some other centre.

They can arrange things'in French military circles, apparently, just as well as thev can in England, if one js to judge by the luck of Lacoste, the Wimbledon champion, who lias just been given a job as aide-de-camp to a stair general in Paris during the eighteen months lie now has to serve as a eonscript in the French Army. A staff job in Paris, driving your chief about in his limousine, gives ample opportunity of indulging m your favourite pastime —which in Lacoste’s case, of course, is lawn tennis. And so Rene, whose father is Paris manager of thoHispanoSuiza office, will net he condemned to the wilds of Morocco, but will he able to serve the prescribed eighteen months’ military duty in pleasant suiroundings, with a fugitive visit to the Riviera thrown in by way of a break, when Paris is lawn tennis-less.

When the last mail _ left London (February 6), tlie athletics season had. opened at Oxford and Cambridge Universities, and, though the majority ot the performances were of an ordinary character, here and there something good was done, especially good coneidering the time of the year, tlie state of the tracks and the fact that tlie competitors were short of condition. At Oxford, in an intercollege cup competition, A. E. Porritt, representing Magdalen College, w r as a triple winner, scoring in the lOOvds (10 2-ssec), the 220yds hurdles (29 3-ssec) and tlie long jutno (19ft. Bin.). A day or two later R. Ti. Hyatt, an American Rhodes scholar, at another intercollege meetin won five events, 100yds (10 3-ssec), pole vault (9ft. Oin.), putting £be shot (41ft. Sin 1 .), long jump (22ft-. 4m.), and high jump (sft. Sin.) At the OxfordCambridge sports on March 19, Hyatt 1 won the pole vault with 12ft. 4in., a I univeristy record.

Todd, A. ... 12 1 418 •38 Lane, B. 13 - — 471 36.2 Bolton, I. 9 1 289 36.1 Garter, S. .. . 5 . 2 65 21.6 Rapley, W. ... 11 — 166 15.1 Laingj R. Stephens, G.... 11 10 3 1 121 108 15.1 12 Andrews, 0.... 6 — 75 12.5 Turner, G. ... 5 3 12 6 Brophy, E. ... 9 — 37 4.1 Pritchard, J. 8 . 3 15 3 Thornton, C. 4 1 4 1.3

0. M. It. W. Av. A. Todd ... 67 15 192 35 5.4 I. Bolton ... 27 6 95 12 7.9 G. Stephens 97 14 296 37 8.0 B. Lane 83 10 450 45 10.0 W Rapley... 15 2 86 8 10.7 E. Brophv ... 8 — 44 4 11.0 J. Pritchard 19 3 78 6 13.0 C. Andrews 20 2 102 2 51.0 s. Carter ... 10 1 56 — 56.0