LOST CRICKETERS

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 262, 4 November 1932, Page 6

LOST CRICKETERS

The pithiest comment on the enticement of New Zealand cricketers to England was that of Arthur Mailey. Robbing us of Daere was like taking sweets from a baby. It is largely because we are still short of the manhood stago of the game that regret is so keen at the departure of other New Zealand cricketers for England, and there will be widespread sympathy for the points of view expressed by two of the most authoritative and most trusted governors of the game, Messrs. D. Reese and A. T. Donnelly. It is hard to see, however, what step the authorities can wisely take beyond what they have taken already. Talent will flow towards demand, whether it is in cricket or scholarship, and the lament that bright young men leave New Zealand is not confined to games. A fence cannot be erected round the country. The Cricket Council is thoroughly justified in requiring touring players to promise not to return to England within a certain period, and for any breach of this agreement—as has already been done—a penalty can be imposed. To discontinue English tours or extend the interval between them would be to take too seriously the defection of players who have been enticed away, and might injure the game.