THE CRICKET SEASON.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 241, 11 October 1929, Page 14

THE CRICKET SEASON.

.SUPERLATIVE ATTRACTIONS. VISIT OF ENGLISH TEAM. FINALITY IN CLUB GAMES. The cricket season, which will open this month, is bright with the promise of good things for-tlie Auckland devotee. Club matches will hold a' triple interest in the first appearance locally of A. F. Wensley, the Sussex professional, as coach and player, in the progress of youngsters and maintained or waning form of veterans out to qualify for representative honours, and in sorting out players of the advanced seedling stage who may blossom next season in time to grace the 1931 team for England. Room here for wide speculations, deep contemplation, and keen controversy such as delight the hearts of followers of cricket. Then will come two of the six Plunket Shield matches at Eden Park to try out judgments and theories on the quality of the home players in comparison with the best- of Canterbury and Otago. This will be followed by the testing of Aucklanders against some of England's best in the Auckland v. M.C.C. match, and then will come the game of the season in the third Test match betw r een the M.C.C. team and New Zealand. Altogether the 1929-30 cricket programme contains unprecedented elements for the entertainment of cricket followers. Further, it is built on dramatic lines, with progressive attractions leading up to the climax of the third Test, which should ensure the game unprecedented public interest. The big matches of the local season are:— Date unfixed. —Auckland v. Canterbury, at Eden Park. Date unfixed. —Auckland v. Otago, at Eden Park. February 4-S—M.C.C. !v. Waikato, at Hamilton. February 7-10.—M.C.C. v. Auckland, at Eden Park. February 14-17.—M.C.C. v. N.Z., at Eden Park. •' The Fly In The Ointment. Now for the bump; the club games. How is the management going to arrive at finality? Counting in the last Saturday of October, there will be 28 Saturdays up to the end.of April, and four of these will be required for rep. matches, and the games against the. Englishmen. That leaves 24 Saturdays, at most, available foi'club games. Even .pre-supposing a drought season, without a postponement on account of rain,-there is scope for only twelve matches for each team, .■jtt/.two Satxirdays for'each Itiatch. With eight teams in the senior grade, fourteen Saturdays go to the round. Problem, get finality of at least two rounds in ' 24 Saturdays (or 12 series of four matches), where ordinarily 28 Saturdays (or 14 series of matches) are required. There are several possibilities. One may joint the Optimists' Club, leave the luck of the weather right out of calculations, and literally add two Saturdays by the expedient of a series of one-day matches on January 29, a Wednesday and a holiday. Or,' granted 28 more or less consecutive fine week-ends, play on

till sundown-on May 10, 1930 —again two more Saturdays. Or. knock out the three lowest clubs at the end of the first round (after fourteen Saturdays' play), and let the others fight it out for eight more Saturdays. Or, divide the clubs into two sections at the end of the first round (14 Saturdays), and play in each section a knock-out round and a play-off between the winners (six Saturdays extra). Or, decide to play to a certain date, say April 12 (the season finished last year on April 6), with the foreknowledge that the team then with the highest points should be the champion team. Or, cut down the number of teams to six. A solution is simple, as may be gathered from the above suggestions, but the solution which ensures justice both to the players and to club play, the backbone of the game, is by no means an easy decision to arrive at. Of course, there are Draconians who would have one-day matches and three rounds, and still others who would cui the teams down to four superlative sides and play three rounds. But they would hardly find support in the practical politics of the game.

. TEAMS FOR TO-MORROW.

F. J. FAWCETT, LTD. The F. J. Fawcett team, to play Point Chevalier at Point Chevalier to-morrow is as follows: E. Fnwcett, A. Axon, E. Kow.e, \V. Fnllon, W. Madigan, D. Peebles, I. McIntosh (2), D. Mathieson, R. Kilgour, B. Kea, A. Bell, E. Jenkins, J. Ekeen, K. Blow, Ij. Robinson. Meet at Reservoir at 1.45 p.m. lIOWICK V. WHITFORD. The Howick team to play Whitford, at Whitford, to-morrow, is as follows: — Warin (captain), Haslip, Philips, Cooper, Gleeson, Fitzpatrick, Kyd, Chandler,'Litten, Johnson.