REPRESENTATIVE CRICKET TEAM.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13612, 22 December 1909, Page 9

REPRESENTATIVE CRICKET TEAM.

TO THE EDITOR OF "THE PBESS." Sir,—l think that the selector, is perfectly right in selecting the members of the team, he thinks most likely to win. tlit match, irrespective of who they are, or vrhero they come from. As an old supporter of the game, I feel pretty confident if wo cannot win by our bowling we cannot by our batting, and for this reason I should liko to see Thomas selected. Several of our team are inclined to lift the ball too much; let us , hope they will keep it down in tho present match, as this is about t'ho oidy chance they have of making a good score against Otago's bowling this year.—Yours, etc., OLD IDENTITY. TO THE EDITOR OF "THE PREM." Sir,—l do not care to criticise the selection of a team in public print, but I considter that on this occasion the methods of the selector in selecting tho interprovincial team call for severe censure. We do expect the selector to choose his team from among the players of Canterbury, but, instead of doing so, we find he has chosen one T. Carlton, an Australasian, and a newcomer to the Dominion, -Who arrived, lam told, on Anniversary Day. Hβ niav be a second Trunijpter for all I know, and "well vrorth his place in the team, but. is it right ond fair that players like Hayes, Addison, and Bruges, who have practised* hard, ami excelled in endeavouring to gain the greatest honours that the province can offer them, should, at the last moment, bo supplanted by a neweomtT and an untried player from Australia. Carlton lies not even ever performed before a Christchurch audience except in a picnic match between right and left-handers, held' on Anniversary Day, whereas the players I have mentioned have borne the heat and burden of the day, and have fully justified us in believing that they -were worth a place in the team. This wretched spirit of win-at-all-costs seems to have crept into the selector's methods, and true sport and the encouragement of young and deserving cricketers in our own province seem to have been put aside to make room for it. I object to the team as chosen being coiled a representative team, and I trust the Association will take the matter up and ask T. Carltcn to stand down. Yours etc., CRICKETER.