A Notebook of Sport

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22894, 15 December 1939, Page 7

A Notebook of Sport

Eleven Picking; representative teams is at * e *ent a popular pastime with cricket Rhusiasts, and it will not be long gore the sole Canterbury selector M. L. Page) announces his side y. the first game of the season, pnst Otago at Christmas. He has tow of good batting talent, although ™ form ,of some who should be cerWues lor selection has not so far Wired real confidence in their ability Jnse to a big occasion. The bowl-. Should be well varied, and the H®,will be strong in all-rounders, S* there is a marked paucity of firststock bowlers in club cricket W season. A likely team is as folJ ; L. Kerr, W. A. Hadlee, R. E. W. McD. Anderson, M. P. pWelly. I, B. Cromb, F. P. O’Brien, j W. Roberts, H. Davis, E. Mulcock, "C. Harbidge. and L. A. Butterfield r * Nee (twelfth man). /snterbory Sprinters .Saice the successes of J. B. Mac Far and W. J. Fitzsimmons a few !~rs ago Canterbury has failed to much impression in sprint at the national athletic chain-

_ This season several proare coming forward, but Uv . otherwise has been poor. S', occasionally has the 100 yards less than 11 seconds. Even allowances for the easterlies at fcn • t . he times recorded have tinti*. , un impressive. There are an thi'jko if they did harder work “tey do would be capable of tak-

ing a fairly prominent part in national events.. ' Possibly more will be seen of them , after Christmas, but meanwhile the field is left largely to the younger runners. Of thfise two of the most interesting to watch at recent meetings have been R. Christiansen and C. R. Bailey, of the Technical Club. Both, if they continue to give attention to sprinting,‘should do well. One of the many promising young runners brought forward this season by the Old Boys Club is A. R. Mummery, who won the' 100 yards handicap in convincing style on Wednesday evening. Presbyterian is to have the services of G. C. Gordon, Canterbury representative over a number of seaso-.s. Gordon ought to be able to win the Canterbury title again this year. Tennis Youngsters Advance One of the most satisfactory features of the lawn tennis, season in Christchurch this season has been the success of young players in ranking list matches. Many gaps have been left in the. last few years by players who have retired from ranking list play after long and valued service to the game, and although this weakened the ranking lists for a time, they are now being built up again to a standard very/ close to that of the best years of the past. Among the men who have shown a marked advance this season are C. F. Penfold, M. J. Corich, S. Watson, and R. T. Dowker. Penfold is wonderfully steady from the back of the court arid a sound volleyer, but his game needs more aggressiveness. Corich has the aggressiveness behind his forehand drive, but he lacks the confidence to press home an attack from the net. Watson is one of the “steady” school, but Dowker, with his complete stroke equipment, excellent physique and temperament, gives promise of more rapid development. On the women’s list Miss K. Armstrong alone of the top players, has 5 shown improvement so early in the season, but on the lower rungs of the ladder Misses J. Peake, D. Elsom, F. Fleetwood, L,. Manning, C. Chester, Y. Raaff, and J. Pitcaithly have provided many pleasing matches. Half-mile Champion The Empire half-mile champion, V~ P. Boot, who formerly ran for Canterbury and is now stationed in Wellington, has been in Christchurch this week. It was hoped that he would run at Rugby Park on; Wednesday evening, but he was unable to do so.. Boot is doing well in training, finding the air in Wellington and the opportunities for walking and training generally very good. He has run Imiri 58sec for the half-mile in the early stages of his preparation. His departure will leave a gap in the Canterbury team this season which it will not be easy to fill. The scratch maxi here now. is T. D.- Blewett, young University runner, who did well last season but is not yet in racing from. D. Shaw, the junior champion, has already expended plenty of energy in inter-club events. Another junior who has just entered competitive ranks and for whom there may be an interesting future on the track, is ,R. A. Chapman, who has won very’ easily both of the half-mile handicaps in which he has started. On Wedensday

evening his time was Imin 54 4-ssec, starting from 75 yards. He won as he pleased. Representative Possibility Of those picked for cricket practices for coming Plunket Shield matches few have shown more consistent form with the bat than V. James, the East Christchurch captain and. wicketkeeper. In a low-scoring match against Old Collegians he opened the season with nine, but -since then he has not made less than 20 in any Innings. His consistent form is well illustrated by his scores to: date this season: 9 24, 37, 73 not out, 53, and 90. These give him a total of 286 at an average of 57.2 a distinct contrast to his last year’s figures of 288 runs at ah average of 19.20. He has all the strokes of a good batsman, but a tendency to remain op the defensive rather than use his feet to get out and attack the bowling is a fault. As a wicketkeeper he is quite useful in club games, but he has a long .way to go before he reaches the standard of R. C. Webb, last year’s keeper, a remark that applies to nearly all in the competition. However, his batting may gain him a place in the representative team.