NEW ZEALAND BOYS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 199, 23 August 1935, Page 14

NEW ZEALAND BOYS.

APTITUDE FOR SPORT. VIEWS OF CRICKET COACH. "He always played with a straight hat," was a sporting tribute paid to Mr. S. P. Jones at a farewell function at the Auckland Grammar School yesterday, and appreciation was expressed of his long- service as clerk at the school. The headmaster, Mr. H. J. Mahon, reminded his audience that Mr. Jones

was once a world-famous cricketer. He was a member of the 18S2 Australian eleven, and a member of the first team in history to defeat England at the Oval. Mr. Jones said that he came to Auckland in 1904. He was induced by Mr. D. Hay, who was at that time prominent in the administration of Auckland cricket, to go and see Mr. J. W. Tibbs, the headmaster of the Auckland Grammar School at that time. "He asked me if I was an said Mr. Jones, "and I said that I was born in Sydney." Mr. Tibbs' reply was: "I would not have thought it." (Laughter.) Mr. Jones said that he had never been able to unravel that mystery, but he accepted it as a tribute to Kis English looks. Mr. Jones spoke of coaching boys at cricket. He said that the boy had to supply three-parts of the ability. The boy had to give that much be/ore a coach could help him. Some boys who had passed through his hands in Auckland, would, had they been in Sydney or Melbourne, hava reached the highest rank in cricket. He had coached boys a t cricket in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, and he was satisfied that the young New Zealander had just as much aptitude for sport—and that applied to t ~ nresent-day boys as well.