A CRICKET PROBLEM.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 234, 4 October 1927, Page 15

A CRICKET PROBLEM.

HOURS OF MATCH PLAY.

HAS AN ERROR BEEN MADE?

NEED FOR DISCUSSION,

(By ACTAEON.)

Ono feature of cricket prospects in Auckland that appears to have slipped past club delegates at the annual meeting, without due discussion, is the proposal of the A.C.A. executive to extend the playing time of senior and second grade matches on Saturdays by an hour. The operation of the Summertime Bill will give an extra hour of daylight, and the executive has commandeered this hoyjr instanter for match play. Did the committee give this proposal full consideration in the light of recent tendencies in the game, and of modern experience?

A universal demand for brighter cricket is unquestionably the feature of the game in modern years. The opportunity Zealand has of rehabilitating cricket with the public by the breezy style of. play which has given the New Zen land team a place apart from other visiting teams in England, is the outstanding feature of our first venture in Britain. Surely these are factors which are entitled to consideration in planning the local cricket programme. Will the decision to extend the matches another hour tend to make the cricket brighter, and to rehabilitate the game with the public ?

English Experience. It to be remembered that New Zealand is not by any means a pioneer in applying the operation of daylight saving to crickct. In English League cricket several years ago, an attempt was made to lengthen the hours of match play, when the daylight saving measure became law, and after a trial of playing to 7.30 p.m., and in somes cases to 8.30 p.m., a reversion was made to the original time of 6 p.m. In county cricket the playing time was extended to 6.45 p.m., and it has gradually been brought back to 8 p.m. for the first two days, and fi-30 p.m. on the third day, with a provision for extension to 6 p.m. on application by either side, if the umpire decides there is a probability of a decision being reached by an extra halfhour's play. That was the experience of a country which is the home of cricket, and where there is daylight for crickct to 9.30 p.m. (summer time). J'robiibly an examination of loenl conditions may explain this tenderer in J'llf'lillKl In vim, ten (1,,, ./ I' 1 ; ' . TV. \ I \ ■

consider —the player, the public, and the standard of play. Will the extra hour's play on Saturdays bring any benefit in respect to any of these factors. Three Big Factors. Certainly if the player be an enthusiast (and it is the enthusiast who has established and kept the game going through many hard years), he will be pleased to play on to 7.30 p.m. But, the enthusiast is the person who is always with the executive, if not of it. The aim of the management is to get into the game and to stimulate the player who has everything but enthusiasm to recommend him. His interest is luke warm to begin with. Jle has other interests. Will he be thrilled to responsive enthusiasm when he learns that play is extended to 7.30 p.m., that he will have five and a-half hour's of continuous effort in a Saturday match before getting away to enjoy the comforts of the cold tea left by the rest of a family that has departed for the pictures or the beach, and to find that it is then too late to join his family or his friends in a Saturday evening's entertainment? It is not an alluring prospect.

Then there is the attitude of the public. It is an open secret that the Auckland public's interest in cricket has to be stimulated and titillated. Through public interest the problem of provoking general keeness and interest in cricket among the many young men who now find other interests is expected to be solved. The advertisement of the New Zealand cricket team's deeds abroad has awakened at least a mild all-round public interest in the game, and it is for the controllers of the game to keep and increase this interest. Enthusiasts again, of course, would rearrange their Saturday evening meal and entertainment arrangements for the purpose of watching cricket till 7.30 p.m. But how many of the newly caught public would do so? It is extremely doubtful if their interests could be held in a two-days' match for any longer than 6 p.m. (summer time) on the first day of play.

As for the standard of play, is that going to be improved by the extra two hours per match? Judged bv English critics, the New Zealand cricket team is stated to have played ideal cricket in the main, with occasional lapses to the tameness that is declared to be the curse of the county game in England. Surely this judgment sets the aim for New Zealand—to cut out the occasional lapses. It is hard to feel convinced that by giving the players each match two hours longer in which to reach the objective they had attained previously in that hiuch shorter time is going to make our players more aggressive. It looks rather like putting a premium on slow cricket.

The Real Gain. Frankly, I feel that the great gift of the daylight Mving scheme to the cricketer is the extra hour's practice he run pet daily from Monday to Friday, n:< lii>i\c. He comes to the match field on ' ' v afternoon a trained man in

the cricket 6ense, with muscles toned and co-ordinated, and in physical con- j dition, to give himself whole-heartedly j to the game, and to achieve more in j four hours' play that he was able to; do in four and a-half hours last season, j The enthusiasts among such players will j thus be able to do themselves justice, to thrill real cricket lovers, and to strike | a spark of fire in the breasts of com- [ rades who are not so keen, and of spectators who had merely tolerated the game. Thus the game automatically takes on a sparkle that is contagious, and uplifts the play, the player, and the public. I fear that to extend the play to five and a-half hours' continuous effort (remembering that it is club play, and lacks the exotic stimulant of provincial rivalry), would spoil the glad effect. There is a danger that when 6 p.m. comes round, the natural reactions of fatigue would tell their tale on such enthusiasts as are the life of the game, and that one would soon get a picture of wearied players, bored public, and piffling play. The fine propaganda of the first four hours is then all gone by the board—or bored. Consequently, I feel that match play from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., under the new conditions, would do cricket an immense amount of good, and that to extend the playing time beyond 6 p.m. would do it harm. The executive has no need to make haste in its decision, for the matches will not start for a week or two, but the point is one which might well be considered when members are discussing the question of one-day matches. _ .