CRICKET.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17808, 6 July 1923, Page 11

CRICKET.

THE WELLINGTON-CAN-TERBURY QUARREL. MR HEATHCOTE WILLIAMS' VIEWS. TO THE EDITOR OF "THE PESSS.' Sir,—l have read tlr. .judgment of the Management Comniiuee of the New Zealand Cricket Council on the question whether the wicket was watered during the progress of the CanterburyWellington Piunket Shield match, and also the account of the meeting of the .Management Committee of the Wellington Cricket Association, when Mr JJroads report on the finding of the Council's committee was diseusted. Personally 1 was always unuer the impression that i'lunkct shield matches n ere oiayod unuer and m accordance wjtu me -U.C.C. rules, and 1 snouid nave tnougiit it was quite unnecescary lor Mr Coilins to lnne stated to j±r I'atrick, the l.'aut-eroury captain, as he says he did, that "\\e will piay according to the rules of ericiiet." The judgment of tnc committee found, inter alia, that the wicket was rolled in the course of the match otherwise than is r.utnonsed by the M.C.C. rules, but such roiling was in accordance with local custom. 1 think it a pity in the interests of cricket that local custom was relied upon in a Piunket Shield match, especially where one side were visitors, and had not agreed to play according to such local custom. No doubt Messrs Collins and Hiddleston were mistaken in the conclusion they came to that the wicket had been watered, but no one who knows them can doubt that the steps they took were bona fide and with a desire to uphold the best traditions of the game, and to play under the laws of the game. On the other hand, from my own personal knowledge of the committee of the Council, I am satisfied that they did their best to come to a proper conclusion in their investigation, and I regret to see that the Management Committee of the Wellington Cricket Association discussed the- attitude of the Council's committee with a good deal of heat. Sir, my real object in writing this letter is to say that in my opinion this display of feeling between two leading Associations such as Canterbury and Wellington is regrettable, and must stop if the game is to go ahead in New Zealand, and be nlayed in the best sportsmanlike soirit, and I appeal to New Zealand cricketers to come together and act as sportsmen in their rivalry, having one main object in view, and that is the advancement of the game in.New Zealand. If this is not done, and Associations quarrel and show bad feeling, then cricket will suffer, and we shall not raise the game to a sufficiently high standard to enable our men to meet visiting teams on an equal footing. In the particular matter under review I think the Council's rules should he amended before next season, directing that for the future all representative fixtures shall be played under and in accordance with the M.C.C. rules.—Yours, etc., HEATHCOTE WILLIAMS. Hastings, July 3rd, 1923.