CRICKET SUPREMACY.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 248, 18 October 1924, Page 39 (Supplement)

CRICKET SUPREMACY.

r AUCKLAND'S RACK-SLIDING. WELLINGTON IN THE LEAD. THE CALL FOR SPECIAL EFFORT. The annual meeting ~f the New Zealand Cncket Council will be held at Chnstchurch next Friday, and the report which is to be presented on that occasion provides food for deep thought by the rriekoters of Canterbury and Auck and. Before the war, Canterbury was looked as the home of cricket in .New Zealand, and that province and Auckland were tho strongholds of the pamc iv the Dominion. But things have changed most radii-ally in recent years, and the cricket supremacy undoubtedly lies with Wellingtou. Outside of the fact that Wellington has ■Ron and retained Ihe Plunket Shield there is the position that the cricket spirit has reached the Wellingtou pubuc, who patronise and support the frame with enthusiasm. A strikingly vivid illustration of how cricket hae made progress among the public in Wellington as compared" with other centres is provided by tho table of profits from the matches played in each centre last year by Macartney's team from New South Wales. In Wellington the match showed a profit of £398, in Wanganui, £33, in Dunediu, £82, in Oamaru, £66, in Christchureh. £6.i, and m Auckland, £57. The management of the game may make a difference of a tew pounds in the takings, bi 1 what a commentary on public indifference to the game when a small country town like Oamnru can draw a comparatively larger crowd to an important match than can be supplied by Christchureh (the home of the game)," and Auckland (tho largest city ot" the Dominion). Auckland and Oamaru. Wellington shows a profit of £308 and Auckland of £57, and yet a cry goes up every now and again from certain quarters demanding that Auckland in its gTeatness should have as large a proportion of test cricket matches as Wellington. Auckland is not at all likely to be listened to in future, when test match fixtures are being discussed, until it caii show that big cricket matches are appreciated by the Auckland public. So far as the public lack of interest in cricket in this city is concerned, there are a number of contributing factors. One of the chief of them is that the effort on the ptrt of those interested in, and controlling the game, has more or less unconsciously relaxed in late years. Years ago, when Canterbury was the great cricket centre, Auckland made strong and continued efforts to foster the game locally. The coaching of Relf and others were obtained by means of sustained effort, which eventually brought Auckland into the limelight. But since the war there has been a relaxation, which has resulted in lost ground. Wickets have deteriorated, young players have not been brought along and encouraged, and there has been a tendency to wait for something to turn up, with the result that the game has lost the attention of the public. Our House in Order. The time has arrived for cricketers in Auckland to put their house in order. It was self-denial and regular effort on the part of player-enthusiasts that gave up beautiful wickets like we had on the Domain, and players of the calibre of Oliff, Kerr, Hemus, Brook-Smith, Sale and Cummings ten years ago; and it was such wickets and such players that held the intereet of the public. Those wickets have gone, and it is waste effort under the changed conditions to try and get the city council to recreate them. Those players also have had their day. Much has been done with Eden Park, but not as much as could have been done had the old steady effort been adhered to. Thanks to enthusiasts who have stood to the game, Eden Park has been entertained, but now is the time for all cricketers to rally to the effort to have arrangements, which have been hanging fire for two years between the Cricket Association and the Rugby Union, brought to a finality in the interest of both cricket and football. During those two years Eden Park has been neither a first-class football ground nor a firstclass cricket ground; and it has all the elements to make it an ideal playground for both games. From what has been said of the negotiations there is reason to believe that a substantial sum of money will be available at once for the improvement of the ground when the compact has been made. The cricket situation is euch that finality is vital, in order that both conditions of play and finance may be put on such a footing as will encourage and produce players and justify the management in confidently EeekiDg the patronage of the public.