E. H. M. Richards Still Makes His Presence Felt

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30481, 1 July 1964, Page 13

E. H. M. Richards Still Makes His Presence Felt

TjEEDS on the golf course and the cricket field in recent months have proved that E. H. M. Richards is still a force in Canterbury sport; the legend that surrounds the big, bluff allrounder continues to grow. Richards, who is known universally as Toby—he is scarcely ever referred to by his Christian names of Eric Henry Malcolm—possesses boundless energy. Without it he would be unable to continue his sporting interests and still farm his Hororata property. Toby Richards is a big man and seemingly everything he does in sport is big —his hitting in cricket, his driving in golf, his kicking in Rugby, his scoring in rifle shooting. His sporting career is crammed with examples. In the Malvern cricket subassociation, where he is renowned as a “king hitter,” he came close to dropping a ball on the railway line with a mighty blow from the Sheffield ground in the 1955-56 season; on another occassion he hit a six into the sea at Akaroa. In 1956 he scored a century in 26min and his record score off one over is 36.

One of his most notable kicks in Rugby ocurred in a Canterbury v. Wellington match at Lancaster Park in 1948. At that time, D. B. Clarke was three years away from his first class Rugby so Richards’s effort in kicking a penalty goal from his 10yd mark created a minor sensation. So powerful was the kick that the ball landed on the full in the old memhers’ stand. Since his schooldays at Christ’s College—where he was a member of the Ist XV and the Ist Xl—Richards has followed a diverse sporting path. He has skied as a member of the Windwhistle club, skated at Lake Ida, played many a robust game of ice hockey and has proved a competent performer at tennis, badminton and miniature rifle shooting.

He has had a long and noteworthy career as an allrounder in sub-association cricket, has represented Canterbury at golf several times, ineluding two Frey-

berg Rose Bowl contests, and was a regular member of the Canterbury Rugby team in 1948. A centre threequarter, he was fifth among the individual points scorers for the season with 47 points in eight games and he played in two of the All Black trials to pick the team for South Africa. As a golfer he has played in Woodward Cup contests for Russley for eight years and has had several tournament successes. On his home course at Hororata he is an awesome figure. On April 5 this year he reduced his two-year-old course record of 68 by a stroke and three weeks later whittled it down to 64. Richards still hits sixes and still drives a golf ball vast distances but these days it is his endurance that makes the biggest impact Calling on his great reserves of stamina, he bowled throughout an innings of 333 by Darfield in a Malvern

cricket match last summer to take 6 for 134. For the first 10 overs he maintained a brisk attack, then switched to slow off-breaks and changed up to fast-medium towards the finish. By the end of the season he had emerged as the best allrounder in the sub-associ-ation, with 39 wickets at an average of 14.1 and 376 runs at 47. The Freyberg Rose Bowl contest at Palmerston North in May provided another test of Richards* power of endurance. He went into the series soon after the completion of a heavy spell of crutching on his property but he played strongly and well until the last afternoon, when deprived of his lunch, he faded and was beaten. Richards will never relate any of these stories, for his vitality and versatility are matched by his modesty. He .is generous in his praise of an Opponent, whether winning or losing, reserved about his own prowess and full of encouragement for young players. Sport could do with many more of his kind.