MACLAREN ON ENGLISH CRICKET.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 292, 8 December 1900, Page 4 (Supplement)

MACLAREN ON ENGLISH CRICKET.

Mr A. C. Maclaren, in the Newcastle "Weekly Chronicle" speaks out on the subject" of English cricket. He says: "Tn my opinion English cricket to-day is very much below its usual standard of excellence, while the cricket of Austral hi is better than ever—there is the whole thing in a nutshell. We think we know all about cricket in England, and that there is little for us to learn. 'Speak for yourself,' my best friend will ver,y likely remark. Put eleven Australians iv the -field against the pick of England, and it is 'all York to a china orange.' as the punters say, on Australia as far as a knowledge of

the game is concerned Are the Australian sides selected in the same manner as those in England? No. And do they suffer on that account? No, certainly not, in my opinion. Have they a jockey club of cricket? No, and they are none the Avorse oil: for that. Cricket in Australia is practically governed by those playing the game to-day, the three veterans of the side selecting those whom they consider likely to justify their selection, and very few mistakes are made in consequence. Surely this method is in front of ours; for the players themselves must be (ho best judges as to who should and who should not play. I, therefore, hope that in England the time is not far distant when three players certain of their place 'in every match will bo. invited to the meeting held fpr the purpose of selecting the team, and that the selection committee will be guided to a. great extent by the views of the three, player... We all make mistakes, but the Australians to-day, as a whole, make fewer mistakes than any team I have ever played against. The. manner in which the fieldsmen are placed at times for myself in county cricket is ludicrous, to say Hie least, and half the bat-smen to-day in England who make a century can hardly be, said to make their run-—.hey are really presented with the same, or, more strictly speaking, with half of them. Not so against Australia; for if a, man scores his century ag-aanst the colonies he has fetched his runs, and every four is worth four. They field a deal better 1 han dooureourty or England elevens; they lick in. hollow in returning the bait to the wickets; their bowlers stick to their guns out and out longer than do those who bowl for our counties, the majority of whom turn it up far too soon, and too often think they arc collared when such is not (he case.

The A ustralhins know how to place their men, how to bowl, and bow to bat; they don't believe in chucking their wickets away; they have to be bowled out neck and crop, and are not to be got rid of in attempting to force a good length ball for four. On bard wickets they will always, either !n Australia or ct home, be bad to beat, but when the.*- is rain about, then nothing will make me believe that, with equal hits, they ought ever to beat us. Tlie Australians to-day does not know what, an easy slow wicket is; he imagines that because there is wet about the wicket cms. play difficulty."