ATHLETIC SPORTS GAMES AND PLAYERS

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27612, 19 March 1955, Page 9

ATHLETIC SPORTS GAMES AND PLAYERS

[By

MILES]

Rugby Jottings Ewan Hern, Old Boys and Cantci-’ bury front-ranker, has returned to Christchurch after spending the last six months in the Marlborough district. He does not expect to commence training for some weeks yet. i The Old Boys scrum will be rein- I forced with the inclusion of Doug.l Hern, who did not play last year, i Albion will play its annual match 1 against the Southern (Dunedin"* ,Club at Lancaster Park at Easter. Merivale will play Alambra at Dunedin. Defections from Marist this year will include P. J. Creedy, J. J. Small and J. Purdie. Creedy’s place behind the scrum may be taken by W. Col-: lins, while J. Longley may find a place in the forwards. E. Heenan, who has played for West Coast, Canterbury, and South Canterbury, is now living in Christchurch. His Rugby plans are still undecided. Other West Coast players reported to be joining Christchurch clubs include a representative halfback, A. Caldwell, K. Brown, full-back, and Hullett, a forward. The French Rugby Federation has been invited by the New Zealand Rugby Union to make a 10-match tour of New Zealand in 1957, including three or four tests. No French Rugby team has ever visited New Zealand. Olympic Cycling Official Dismissed The Australian Cycling Union at its annual conference last week dismissed the Victorian president, Mr C. J. Gray as the Olympic Games cycling arena manager. The conference passed a motion of no confidence in Mr Gray by 10 votes to 1. The motion of noconfidence was moved as the result of remarks made by Mr Gray the previous week. At that conference he “shocked” delegates when he told them that £20,000 had been wasted over the cycling track for the cycling events. He added that professionals had bedh called into discussions on plans for the cycling track. The conference dismissed Mr Gray after two sessions of heated debate. It was claimed that Mr Gray had not kept the delegates informed of the progress being made for the cycling events at ’ the games. Another motion that Mr Gray should be removed from his position of cycling delegate on the Olympic Games Federation was ruled out of order and withdrawn. Mr Gray’s place as arena manager has been taken by Mr E. Dedman. Former Hurdles Champion Now at Oamaru

Cyril Brad well, New Zealand hurdles champion in 1938 and for six years Canterbury’s champion hurdler, has taken up a position at the Waitaki Boys’ High School. Mr Bradwell has recently returned to New Zealand after spending three years and a half with the British Colonial Educational Service’s Secondary School and Teachers’ Training College, Kisii, Kenya. He hopes to assist in the coaching of North Otago athletes. During his period of service in Kenya Mr Bradwell took an active interest in amateur athletics and had a hand in the training of Nyandika, who ran third to Chataway and Green when they broke the then three mile world record. Nyandika covered the distance in well under 14 minutes. To illustrate his point Mr Bradwell said that Nyandika had never done better than 14min 30sec in the three miles before coaching started. He had little idea of the proper methods of training and lacked competitive running. When he went to England with the Empire Games team m 1954 he surprised everyone by running third in the race in which the world record was bettered by Chataway. Rugby Colts’ Tour Doubtful

Unless the N.Z.R.U. and the Ceylon Rugby Union can reach an agreement on the proposed dates for the New Zealand colts team’s tour of Ceylon this season it may not take place. Ceylon has requested a change in dates and this has created transportation problems. The Ceylon union has notified the New Zealand union that an All-India tournament between six teams has been arranged to take place from September 25 to October 1. The N.Z.R.U. has made provisional bookings and the Ceylon union’s request for an alteration in dates to fit in the All-India tournament is not satisfactory to New Zealand. The union has investigated sailings and there is no other ship suitable. It was decided to write to the Ceylon union advising them of the situation. At the beginning of the three weeks’ tour the team will play matches at Melbourne, Adelaide (floodlit) and Perth, en route. Prominent Bowler Dead

Mr Walter Charles. Franks, one of the Dominion’s outstanding bowlers died at his home at • Mt. Eden, this week. He was 64. He started playing bowls at Stratford in 1919 and two years later won his first championship, the Marlborough pair's. He went to the Wairarapa district, where he won the Christmas fours and became the Wairarapa singles and pairs champion of champions on six occasions. Moving to Auckland, Mr Franks joined the Balmoral Bowling Club. During his 20 years’ membership he won many championships, including the Easter fours tournament in 1940 and 1947, the Christmas fours in 1935-36, 1947-48 and again in 1951-52. He won the Dominion singles championship in 1939-40 and the same year skipped the winning rink, being the only player to win both titles the same year. After his Christmas fours win in 1952, Mr Franks was awarded the coveted gold star for five centre wins. This was the last time he played' in official tournaments. Boys’ Cricket Competitions

Seventy-eight teams from 13 schools and one club in Christchurch took part in the Canterbury Boys’ Cricket Association’s competitions in the 1954-55' season; Twelve rounds were played and the winners and runners-up in each grade were as follows:—Under 16: section 1, Boys’ High School 65, Christ’s College 53; section 2, Papanui High School 42 (Boys’ High School age concession team, containing over-age players, 54). Under 15: section 1. Christ’s College A 52, St. Bede’s College 39; section 2, Boys’ High School 414, St. Andrew's College 41; section 3, Boys’ High School 51, West Christchurch 424. Under 14: section 1, Xavier College 61, Christ’s College 46: section 2, Papanui High School 61, Medbury School 531; section 3, Xavier College 53, St. Bede’s A 50a; section 4, Medbury 54, Boys’ High School 50. Popularity of Swimming The Wharenui Amateur Swimming Club’s carnival last Saturday gave an indication of the number of young swimmers taking part in the sport. Entries for the events were as follows:—2s yards schoolboys: 38, schoolgirls: 35; 50 yards freestyle (A grade)24; B grade: 77; 100 yards breaststroke: 19; backstroke: 11; 220 yards freestyle: 19; three lengths medley: 23; Bishop dive: 8; as well as 19 relay teams. Handicaps for nearly every competitor were published in a wellcompiled programme—a full-time job for any person. M.C.C. Team The captain of the touring M.C.C. team, Len Hutton, became the first member of the team to score 1000 runs in first-class matches on tour during the first test at Dunedin. However, P. B. H. May, who will lead the team at Wellington today, needs only 15 runs to reach four figures, and M. C Cowdrey’s total stands at 949. The leading wicket-takers are F. H. Tyson 60, B. Statham 47, J. H. Wardle 46. P. J. Loader 40, T. E. Bailey 35, and R. Appleyard 28. University Tourney The 1955 New Zealand University summer sports tournament will be held in Auckland on Easter Saturday and Monday, April 9 and 11. Dating from 1902, the tournaments have featured some great names in Dominion sporting history and this year the general level of performances is expected to be higher than ever. The four colleges, Auckland, Victoria, Canterbury and Otago, will be fielding full-scale teams for the eight-event i programme. The sports to be featured are athletics, swimming, boxing, outdoor basketball, rowing, tennis,, cricket and shooting.

International Teams Soccer Toui ? One of two international soccer teams may tour New Zealand this season if the New Zealand Football Association can make suitable arrangements in time. The teams in question—the Hong Kong association’s team and a French military team — were discussed at a recent meeting of the association. The French Tahiti and New Caledonia football associations are bringing out a French professional army team direct from France in July. They have advised that the tour could be extended to New Zealand if the association was prepared to pay part of the travelling expenses from France to Noumea and all the travelling expenses between Noumea and New Zealand. The association will offer to pay the general expenses for the team’s New Zealand visit, but has not committed itself on the initial travelling expenses till more particulars of the duration of the proposed tour and the remuneration for the professionals are available. In the meantime the association is exploring the Hong Kong avenue and has invited Mr J. Skinner, the chairman of the Hong Kong Football Association, now visiting Auckland, to discuss the prospects of a tour at a special meeting of the executive on or about March 22. National Marching Championships The champion marching teams of each centre of the New Zealand Marching Association will compete in the New Zealand marching championships to be held at Wanganui this week-end. Eighteen teams will be taking part. The present champions, Grenadiers (Whangarei) have disbanded so will not be defending their title. Teams likely to do well are Vanguards (Inglewood), the North Island champion team. Regalettes (Invercargill), South Island champions, Whipsters (Canterbury), Scottish Hussars (Auckland), Barclay Motors (Hawke s Bay), Sargettes (Wellington) and Aorangi (Oamaru). A special panel of judges headed by the Dominion chief judge (Mr R. H. Hill) will judge the contests. The chief judge of the North Island (Mr R. O’Brien) and the chief judge of the South Island (Mr L. B. Swan) are the other members of the panel. For this national contest the Wellington Marching Association is making available the silk Union Jack which was recently presented to it by the Royal Society of St. George. The escort to the “colours” will be Sargettes, Wellington’s team. Happy Hunting Ground Making his one-hundredth first-class appearance, B. Sutcliffe scored 109 of • the 228 runs New Zealand made off the bat in the first test at Dunedin. Sutcliffe now needs only 102 runs to become the first New Zealander to score 10,000 runs in first-class matches. He has made his 9898 runs in 175 innings, with 10 not out, 30 centuries, and 43 half-centuries. More than a quarter of his runs have been made i at Carisbrook, where he has an avert age of better than 70. In matches i there he has been out 33 times for [ 2675 runs, with a triple century, a ■ double century, eight centuries, and > eight half-centuries. Sutcliffe has I scored more than 30 runs 26 times ’ in 39 innings, and has been out for j under double figures only three times. j Not So Confident

With the Olympic Games only a season away, Australian writers, are more conservative than usual in assessing the chances of their leading athletes at the festival. Performance, generally, at the national championships in Adelaide were far from encouraging. Only three-miler D. McMillan, distance man D. Stephens, and high-jumper C. Porter— are considered good enough to be among place-getters. McMillan won his mile in 4min 7sec; Stephens his six-mile in 30min 19.4 sec; and Porter cleared 6ft 4in in winning the high-jump. Stroke Diagrams for Boys For some years now, members of the Boys’ High School First XI have been handed a stroke diagram at the conclusion of their innings in some matches. Such a diagram has proved in the past of value to youthful cricketers, who can see at a glance their weaknesses and strength around the wicket. This system could also be well applied to the bowlers, with diagrams showing the scoring strokes made off their bowling. As well as being an aid to the bowler such diagrams would also aid a captain in field placings. Easy as That A golf professional, employed by a big department store to give lessons, was approached by two women. “Do you wish to learn to play golf, madam?” he asked one. “Oh, no,” she said, "it’s my friend who wants to learn. I learned yesterday.” McCanlis Scoring The McCanlis system of keeping a cricket scorebook has not been widely adopted in New Zealand, but it offers some interesting additions to the story the scorebook usually tells. With this system, each ball bowled by each bowler is shown against the batsman who faced -it, and at the end of an innings it is possible to assess a batsman’s scoring speed by runs made against balls received, much more satisfactorily than by minutes. As a fair sample, there were the Innings of Graveney and Cowdrey in the Dunedin test. Graveney made 41 runs in 82 minutes, Cowdrey 42 in 86 minutes, near enough to similar speed. But Graveney received only 81 balls to Cowdrey’s 97, and had a considerably better scoring rate. This system also shows which bowlers the batsmen scored from freely; Graveney*! 12 balls from Blair gave him 17 runs, but he did not score at all off his 12 from Cave. Similarly, Reid’s preference for the slower bowlers in his second innings is clearly shown. From Statham, Tyson, and Bailey he received 36 balls for three runs; from Wardle and Appleyard 46 balls for 25 runs. . Mac Gibbon’s superiority over May in this test is measured not only by the fact that he bowled him twice, but by the meagre two runs May : scored from the 33 balls Mac Gibbon I bowled him. Half-mile Champion

Athletic officials in Australia expect the national 880-yards and mile champion, D. McMillan, to go very close to winning the 800-metres at the next Olympic Games. He is a much-im-proved runner from the man who was in New Zealand in 1950 for the Empire and Canterbury Centennial Games and subsequently had a season abroad. He made a great impression with his lmin 51.9 sec performance in winning the Australian 880-yards title. The final was held in a high wind, with many of the gusts being recorded at 50 m.p.h. It is expected that in calm conditions McMillan could return lmin 50sec. J. H. Borland J. H. Borland, former New Zealand high jump champion and resident record holder, is still a useful allrounder. Competing for the Gore club in the Southland championships, Borland earned 25 points with wins in the high jumn, seconds in the pole vault and 440 yards hurdles, and a third in the javelin throw. Lapping Stock Car Races An electric computer will in future count the number of laps completed by competitors in Sydney stock car races. The promoting body, Empire Speedways, obtained the computer because of disputes about placings. In Australia’s first stock car championship last month only the first placing was announced because officials in the confusion of crashes lost count of the laps covered by the cars. Two spotters will call th;) numbers of the cars as they pass the judges’ box and the laps will be recorded on the computer. Olympic Games Prospect South Africa has a woman highi jumper who might reasonably be ex- ■ pected to do well next year in i Olympic competition. She is Hermina 'Geyser, who recently pleared 9ft 9fn ! using the old scissors stvle.