The Ultimate Honour.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19111, 21 September 1927, Page 8

The Ultimate Honour.

If our cricketers return from England without a trace of that distressing complaint which is believed on occasions to affect the fit of hats, as we all hope and believe they will, they will have added another leaf to their crown of laurel. Everybody of consequence in the cricket world at Home seems to be conspiring to test their power of resistance to this disease. On the field and off they are declared to be the best of fellows. Next time they come to England they must play Test matches. They are, bar the Australian Elevens, the best batting side that has visited England; and so on. Indeed, in one critic's judgment, 'they are as good as the Australian team of 1878, which may or may not be a distinction. Mr Warner, lio mean judge, says of Dacre that he combines the charms of Trumper and Hobbs, which is like saying of a poet that he is a Shelley and a Milton in one. And now the ultimate compliment has been paid to Roger Blunt of including him in " Wisden's" chosen fiye cricketers of the year. Only those who have penetrated to the heart of cricket's mysteries know what a compliment this is. "Wisden" is the cricketer's Bible, a book which combines statistical authenticity with literary charm. To this last court of appeal all disputes may be referred, and a lazy evening by the fireside may be spent pleasantly with only old volumes of " Wisden " for company. No game lends itself to the computation of records and reminiscences so much as cricket, and in the periodical recording of cricket " Wisden " is supreme. To have one's portrait and an account of one's career in " Wisden" is in a sense the highest honour that can be paid a player, for after all there are eleven men in an English or an Australian side, but only five players of the year in an issue of "Wisden." We are sure Blunt will be congratulated as heartily by his comrades as by the New Zealand public, who will all agree that his record with both bat and ball makes him the finest all-round player New Zealand has produced. But the real point is that his portrait in " Wisden " is a sign to all the world that New Zealand cricket has really arrived.