GAMES AND PLAYERS

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27303, 20 March 1954, Page 9

GAMES AND PLAYERS

ATHLETIC SPORTS

(By

MILES]

N.Z. versus the Rest The team to play the touring New Zealand cricket team at Lancaster Park next Saturday and on the following Monday and Tuesday is unfortunately weakened by the absence of P. W. Arnold the leading batsman in Plunket Shield Cricket this season. Arnold was to have left for England to continue an engagement with Northamptonshire. Some surprise is felt at the inclusion of S. C. Guillen, particularly as E. C. Petrie (Auckland) has been included as wicketkeeper. Guillen’s capabilities as a first-class batsman are not in question, nor is his capacity to please spectators. But his Value to New Zealand cricket is limited by his association with the West Indies as a test match player. A batsman who is qualified to 'play for New Zealand, might have benefited from experience in this match. Similarly, there are reasons to regret that the young Auckland fast bowler, D. B. Clarke, (who surely deserves encouragement), has not been given the chance to show his wares in this company. Both S. N. McGregor and P. Z. Harris look a little fortunate to be preferred ahead of J. B. Morris (Auckland), a most improved player this season, and it is difficult to see why E. Meuli (Central Districts), who narrowly missed selection for the touring team, has been overlooked. Though selection reflects on the lack of younger spin bowlers in New Zealand cricket at present, J. B. Burtt’s form during the present season has unquestionably earned him his place. However, the touring team’s richness in left-hand batsmen may make Burtt’s task a hard one. The match should prove a big attraction, and the best possible way of welcoming the tourists home. The Lancaster Park crowd will ho doubt give a special welcome to the Canterbury captain (J. G. Leggat) whose belated inclusion in the touring team has added so much to its strength. ’Twas Ever Thiis

Many who speak of the continuing decline of the standard of Rugby football and the lack of toughness in the players may take some consolation from an extract from W. G. Garrard’s “Fifty Years History of the Canterbury Rugby Union.” The following is taken from a report of the year 1882: “A writer deplores the fact of the small number of old players taking part in the game this season. ... A number of new clubs are now playing but they are mostly composed of small boys who want encouragement. Never since the game has been played in the province has so little interest been shown, and gradually but surely the game is losing its grip on the public and -players. It would seem as though the young men are becoming effeminate, preferring ease and indolence and clean attire to the great benefits to be derived from a good game of football.” Dealing with the Clubs a writer of the day says:— “The Christchurch Club is going back fast. The Ravens Club is in a deplorable condition. If what we are informed is correct footballers would be benefited if the CIO were to wind up. Only half a dozen turn up to play. The East Chrstchurch Club has so far made satisfactory progress, but there is a lack of enthusiasm necessary to successful club results.” Bowler Repeats Rare Feat

For a bowler to take four wickets with successive balls is a rare enough occurrence even in lower-grade cricket; a 15-year-old, not content with performing the feat once, did it last Saturday in a Boys’ Association match—fur the second time in consecutive matches. The bowler was J. Adams, who captains the Christchurch Boys’ High School under 16 team in the second section of the grade. A slow left-arm bowler, Adams took his first “hat trick plus” against St. Bede’s College the previous Saturday. His analysis for the innings was five wickets for 2 runs. Five St./.Andrew’s College batsmen fell to his bowlingoff which 1 run was scored—when he took four wickets with four balls last Saturday, but Adams’s average for the match suffered when he took seven for 28 in the second innings. In three games this term Adams has taken 26 wickets for 75 runs. Walter Mead Dead

One of the best slow-medium, rightarm bowlers in England of 50 and 60 years ago, Walter Mead, the Essex player, died yesterday, aged 85. In each of 10 seasons he took 100 firstclass wickets and on two occasions—one against the 1893 Australian team in England—he took 17 wickets in a match. He was credited with being the first man to. bowl—though inadvertently—the ball later practised by Bosanquet c and, now known as the “wrong-’un.” Tightening the Rules

England’s cricket legislators have tightened qualification rules for overseas players wishing to play county cricket says a London message to the “Sydney Morning Herald.” It will now take three years for them to qualify for a county from the time their nomination is accepted by the M.C.C., and they will not be allowed to play any cricket outside the county which engages them. This may well mean the gradual elimination of overseas players in English county cricket, because very few counties would be prepared to pay and wait for three years for a new man. The change will not affect any contracts now in existence. To encourage more old cricketers to become first-class umpires, improvements have been made in the terms of employment which will mean an increase of £ 150 a year in their incomes. Their basic pay will be £5 a week throughout the year, plus a fee of £5 for each match. For the next two years at least the new ball rule will revert to 200 runs instead of 65 overs. Earry Brown v. Dawson

If Barry Brown is tough on the chin he is going to give Freddie Dawson a whale of a fight at Sydney Sports Ground on March 24, writes “Sydneysider” in the Melbourne “Sporting Globe.” Early workouts since Brown's arrival in Sydney from Wellington have indicated he will worry Dawson with his bustling tactics. Barry is as strong as a bull, and bustles to close quarters all the time. He is a southpaw, with a very good variety of punches, and he appears to be tirelesk But —and it is a big but when the opponent is Freddie Dawson— Brown is careless with his defence, and carries his hands low. His chin is frequently left unguarded, and Dawson is going to have no trouble in landing punches there if he retains any of his old speed. The Ben Franklin Mile

The Benjamin Franklin mile, the American event in which the New Zealand champion, M. Halberg, has been invited to compete on April 24, is the main track race at the Penn relays, a meeting held annually by the University of Pennsylvania. This year’s will be the sixtieth contest. The meeting will be held outdoors on the famous Franklin Field at Philadelphia, where Halberg would have his first experience of running on a cinder surface. The race was won last year by L. Taeux, of Colombus, Ohio in 4min lOsec. In the previous year the winner was D. Johannson, of Purdue University, who returned 4min 18.2 sec. Halberg recently ran a mile in Auckland in 4min 4.4 sec.

Bendigo Thousand Frank Brown, a 6ft lin St. Kilda manufacturer’s representative, won the 1954 Bendigo Thousand last Monday. Starting from 10> yards, Browp, an 8-1 outsider, beat the 2-1 on favourite Reg Gough (11 yards) by inches m a fighting finish. It was the biggest upset in the history of the classic, according to a Melbourne writer. After appearing in 30 finals in 10 years as a professional it was Brown’s first victory. His stable took £lBOO from the ring but this was the bookmakers’ best result since the “Thousand” started in 1947.

Arranging The Terms Dr. J. J. McGirr, manager of world bantam-weight champion Jimmy Carruthers, told the “Sydney Morning Herald,” that the French and European champion Robert Cohen would have to come to Australia and fight at a challenger’s terms for a chance for the world title. Dr. McGirr said: “As the matter stands, Cohen can take a challenger’s terms of £l5OO with the option of 12& per cent, of the gate. That is what Jimmy accepted to win the title from Vic Toweel. I think that Stadiums Ltd. might be prevailed upon to change its policy and stage an outdoor fight if Cohen will fight Carruthers in Australia. I have seen newsreels of the recent Cohen-Kelly bout, and Cohen, with his size might be a better opponent for Carruthers than Gault. I would expect Cohen to last at least six rounds. He would have to agree to a referee and judges , on the lines of the Gault-Carruthers bout last year." Dr. McGirr said Carruthers, by defending his title against Songkitrqt at Bangkok, was proving that he was not a stay-at-home champion. “I can assure Cohen,” he said, “that we can arrange a promotor and venue in Australia to accommodate him if he really wants to meet the champion. I am more than anxious for Carruthers to defend his title against Cohen, and I think the fight could take place in the late spring or early summer of this year. However, if Cohen’s bgckers are prepared to guarantee Carruthers £20,000 sterling, free of tax, then we would be prepared to go overseas and defend the title.” One Of the figures quoted as a demand by Cohen to fight Carruthers for the title was £20,000. Keen Interest Shown A charge of lack of interest in administration cannot be laid against members of the management committee of the Canterbury Rugby Union, for of 27 meetings held last year the president, Mr W. C. Dailey, was nrpspnt paeh time. Messrs H. C.

A charge of lack of interest in administration cannot be laid against members of the management committee of the Canterbury Rugby Union, for of 27 meetings held last year the president, Mr W. C. Dailey, was present each time. Messrs H. C. Blazey, J. O. Hattersley, W. H. Lodge, and J. S. Storey each missed' one meeting while 17 had records of attendance at 22 meetings or more. This record is eclipsed by members of the Junior Advisory Board, for out of 14 meetings' held last year eight had a full attendance. One member attended 13 and others up to 12. When Mr Dailey acted as chairman at this week’s meeting, he congratulated members on their regular attendance in the interests of the game of Rugby football, possibly forgetting for the moment his own good reqord. Was It Like This?

Rugby in the 70’s was essentially a man’s game, and short of downright sparring and wrestling must have the nearest approach to a sturdy pitched battle. as any other English, sport, wrote W? G. Garrard in “History of the Canterbury Rugby Football Union.” In an article on “Football under Rugby Rules” in 1875 it is said “The rough work of the football field with its rallies and charges and scrummages, made the player quick of eye, swift of foot, sure of tread, prompt to take in at one short, sharp glance the size and strength of his opponent to forecast the chapces of the coming crash and to decide then and there how the foe is to be met—whether to be rushed at chest to chest and knee to knee, or whether to be foiled by some adroit trick of battle ... no man should play it who could not take a good hearty kick on the shin without malice and return it, when he got the chance, without vindictiveness. If a man could not good naturedly put up with a tumble that would leave him for four or five minutes black in the face and gasping for breath, or if he objected to a kick across the shin that fairly started a thin crimson stream down the White flannels then perhaps he had much better stay at home and devote his energies to croquet or similar gentle crafts.” Back to League Football He’s the fastest sprinter in the world —-but after the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games Hector Hogan intends to return to his first love—Rugby League, writes Ben Kerville in a Melbourne paper. Hogan equalled American Mel Patton’s 100 yards world record of 9.3 at Sydney Sports Ground recently —an a mazing feat. Fair-skinped, 22-year-old Hogan couldn’t guess whether there is any chance of beating these figures. You never know what your time will be, but I’ll be trying,” he said modestly. Asked the prescription for his great improvement, Hee replied: “It’s easy. I just do as I’m told.” He pointed out that the former national 100 metres record-holder Graham McLachlan, did all the planning. All he had to worry about was the actual running. Hogan is a most promising Rugby League footballer and is keen to get back in the game after another two years of running. He could be a sensation as a winger. Negative Rugby The future of Rugby as the national sport is in the melting pot, according to Mr J. H. Davey, president of the northern division of the Taranaki Rugby Referees’ Association. He said in his report to ‘ the association’s annual meeting that he was gravely perturbed at the negative type of Rugby being played not only in Taranaki but jn most other parts of New Zealand. The present tour of the All Blacks had done nothing to remove this shadow that was being dast over the game. Full of Confidence Mr Tasman Taylor, chairman of the Wellington Boxing Association, says there is no chance of Brown not winning his fight against Dawson, writes “Sydneysider” in the Melbourne “Sporting Globe.” “We have never seen the best of this boy. He is by far the greatest boxer New Zealand has produced.” said Mr Taylor. “Fve known him since he was a kid and I’ve been delighted by his progress. He has never been given full credit for his wins in New Zealand. Until he fought Dreyer and ’won the Empire title there was always an alibi for his victims. It is good to know that Dawson is fit and well and that there will be no excuses when Barry beats him.” said Mr Taylor. League Gates Limited

A limit of 53,500 tickets will be sold for each of the two Rugby League tests between Australia and England at the Sydney Cricket Ground this winter. In each of the tests, 35,000 people will be allowed on “The Hill” and 18,500 in the grandstands apart from those reserved for Sydney Cricket Ground Trust members. The safety limit for the crowd at the Australia v. England tests at the S.C.G. on June 12. and July 17, is 67,009. This is the same limit applied during the third test between England and France at the S.C.G. on July 21, 1951.