Canterbury Basketball Found Maturity Against Queensland

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30826, 11 August 1965, Page 19

Canterbury Basketball Found Maturity Against Queensland

'J’HE convincing, 77-65, win over the touring North Queensland men’s basketball team undoubtedly marked Canterbury’s coming of age in the international field. It was the first time in the history of the sport in the province that its representatives had lowered the colours of a touring team from another country.

That such a fine win had to be gained with the assistance of three invited players, D. Charlett (Nelson), L. Pearson and D. Sharp (both Otago), was regrettable, for while Canterbury might still have won without them, the team cannot be recognised as a true representative side. Charlett, who spent more than lOmin off the court and still netted’ a personal tally of 23 points, was the outstanding player in the game, but Sharp and Pearson were no better than any of the Canterbury players used. In fact, Pearson, normally a prolific scorer, was strangely out of touch and was little more than a passenger. The local players, C. Morris, R. Entwistle, R. Zachariassen, and J. Smith, lost nothing in comparison to the Australian tourists and to have three invited players was obviously too much. If a similar occasion arises in the near future, invitations to outside players should be kept to an absolute minimum or done away with altogether. One could not help feeling that it might have been better for a true Canterbury team to lose narrowly than for an invitation team to win handsomely. Nevertheless, the encounter was a highly successful one and definitely the most entertaining seen in Christchurch for some time.

The tourists proved to be grand sportsmen, in complete contrast to the South Australian team which toured earlier in the season, and they readily accepted all the referees’ rulings. The South Australians were very bad mannered on the court and their general all-round behaviour off the court had much to be desired of it.

It was, then, a welcome relief for officials to find that the North Queensland players were indeed good ambassadors for their country.

Their standard of basketball might not have been as high as that of their fellow countrymen, but it was played in a splendid spirit. They appeared to have great difficulty in scoring from any distance and were never happy unless they were close to the basket, mainly because of a lack of variety in

their shots. In other aspects of play they were very sound and were the complete masters of their opponents in rebound play. The most impressive player in the touring team was the 6ft sin forward, I. Birkett. He was easily the best rebounder on the court, his defence was strong and after a rather slow start, introduced a considerable amount of variety into his play. It was this attitude which enabled him to take the scoring Initiative. At 25, Birkett has five years of state representation behind him and the experience he gained playing against the New Zealand team in Brisbane and Toowoomba in 1962 no doubt stood him in good stead. K. Sugars, who came to this country with by far the most formidable record, was troubled by the sound Canterbury defence. He rarely looked like an Australian individual points scoring record holder, although his elusive speed and exceptional handling ability won him much respect. Other members of the team did nothing to label themselves as outstanding material, however, touring teams in any sport take time to settled down and when North Queensland meets Auckland tomorrow in the final game of its New Zealand tour, it will no doubt give a very good account of itself.