"WICKED SHAME."

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18548, 25 November 1925, Page 9

"WICKED SHAME."

ENGLISH CRICKETERS INDIGNANT.

ALLEGATIONS OF INTEMPERANCE. (BT CABLE— PEESS J.SSOCIATIOK— COPTWGHT. ■. (AUSTRALIA* AXD XJS. CABLE ASSOCIATION'.; LONDON, November 23. Members of the English cricket team which visited Australia are indignant at statements made by Mr Lewis, the football manager, who is a prohibitionist, to the effect that he had heard.. while in Australia, that the cricketers might have done better had they been teetotallers. J. W. Hearno declares that ho saw nothing wrong while in Australia, nor anything likely to bo detrimental to cricket form. They were most keen on putting np the best show to regain the ashes. There was no intemperance either on tho steamer or in Australia!. P. G. H. Fonder declined to treat the allegation seriously. He said anyone could say the same sort of thing. If a man had a touch of liquor a prohibitionist immediately said it was drink. J. "W. H. T. Douglas, in an indignant denial, declared that the allegation was scurrilous and a wicked 6hame. The team were extraordinarily steady and played the game both on and off the field. Though Strudwick and Hobbs were the only teetotallers, Lewis owed the entiro team an apology. A. E. 11. Gilligan said: "I .regard the statement as a. slur on Mr H. C. Toone (manager) and myself. If there had been drinking it would have been our duty to deal sternly with tho offenders. Tho statement is grossly wrong. It is tho first indication ever received of any complaints. Such nonsense makes me angry." J. B. Hobbs joins in the condemnation. He asks why should Tate and Sutcliffe, who are not teetotallers, have performed bettor than he, who is a teetotaller.