Cricket Youth WEEKLY REVIEW

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31224, 23 November 1966, Page 8

Cricket Youth WEEKLY REVIEW

Imitation by schoolboys of their heroes is one of the sincerest expressions of admiration. R. C. Motz, who last week conducted his first primary school coaching sessions of the season, at Hagley Oval, did his best to correct the square-on or “two-eyed” stance typical of Ken Barrington and straighten the bent back and jutting elbow that are liable to appear in a boy who has a particular fondness for Keith Thomson.

The faults were as diverse as Motz’s own cricketing talents, but after his final session of the week on Thursday, the Canterbury and New Zealand representative was able to generalise on what he had seen in the nets from the 56 primary and intermediate school boys under his charge. Some 75 per cent of the boys, he said, had a faulty batting grip and/or stance and there was a general lack of appreciation that cricket, for all but the close-in fieldsmen, is a side-on game. “Move that right foot back,” and “Get that left shoulder facing the bowler,” were instructions issued to batsmen and repeated frequently. The most common fault in the grip was a gap, sometimes of considerable distance, between the hands with the consequence of too much “bottom hand” going into the shot.

Usually, after they had found out for themselves, boys favouring the square-on stance were warned of the inherent danger when a backswing is directed to third slip and the bat is swung forward across the line of flight. Because the coaching groups are small, each boy is fully occupied and Motz is able to concentrate on coaching. The remark to an overenthusiastic bowler, “Don’t bowl till he’s ready; it’s an easy way to get wickets, I know, but it’s not the right way,” was a gentle and isolated reprimand. Motz found fewer faults with the bowlers. His main insistence was that they bowl a good length and a reasonable direction. Few Spinners Only about 10 of the 56 boys bowl, or attempt to bowl, spin. The reason for this, Motz feels, is the fullsized sjoz ball that is used in primary schools and in the Saturday morning competitions. Most boys are unable to secure an adequate grip of it so that spinning, let alone spinning on a good length, is extremely difficult. Motz advocated use of the 4}oz ball or, preferably, the soz ball as used by women, in primary school cricket. Cathedral Grammar School was the only primary school he knew of where a ball smaller than standard size was in use. The president of the Canterbury Cricket Association’s junior advisory board, which runs the Saturday morning cricket competitions (Mr C. R. Seager), said there was no firm ruling as to the size of ball used. Most clubs handed down balls that had been used by the senior sides and these, after a polishing, usually gave three or four weeks’ service.

It was still too early, Motz said, to assess the true ability of the coaching squad or to compare it with the previous squads he had coached. The correctness in technique seemed to depend largely on what school a boy came from, he said. Intermediate school boys had fewer batting faults than primary school boys. The only drawback to the site of the nets at Hagley Oval is the hedge behind them, beyond which is knee-high grass when South Hagley is not in use in the summer. This serves as an excellent buffer to any ball that eludes the nets, but on Thursday evening a group of boys searched in vain for a lost ball. A row of nets occupied by the primary school, under-14 and under-15 coaching groups are backed by the vegetation which, it is estimated, swallows up between £lO and £l5 worth of balls each season. The C.C.A. has wisely invested in a cyclone net barrier which is due to arrive soon. Interruptions Last season the Saturday morning primary school competitions were not interrupted by rain, and there was only one morning when teams played through drizzle. This season has been altogether different. Opening day was set back by rain and there have since been two wash-outs. The first day for the most recent round of matches was lost and the second day—November 12—produced confusion as to whether games were to be reduced to one day’s duration. They were to remain as two-day games, but the fact had escaped several match supervisors. Playing to the requirements of a one-day match, the West-University C grade captain, Graham Lynch, strained for an outright win at Burnside Park. He took four for 7 in the Burnside total of 40, then forced the pace with a dashing 40 out of 77 before declaring with 25 minutes left for play. At a second attempt, Burnside offered sterner resistance and finished the morning at 30 for five. The match could have been continued at a more leisurely pace last Saturday, but the weather and the round were, it seems, incompatible. At all events, the administrators have decided on making a new draw. ' S.I. Tournament

Four more Saturdays are scheduled before the completion of the 1966 half of the

season on December 17. There will be no further competitions until the second or third Saturday in February. The selectors may ask for a trial match to be played within the next fortnight for assistance in selecting the 12 Canterbury players to attend the South Island primary school tournament in the last week of January. The tournament will be held at Gore if there are eight or fewer teams; at Gore and Invercargill if there are more than eight entries. Team entries and lists of players are to be with the Gore sub-association by December 14.

Enthusiast His three older brothers are agreed that he is the cricketing fanatic of the family and their claim is well supported by the 13-year-old Sydenham all-rounder, Ivan Thomson. If a concentration of cricket was the guarantee of success, Ivan could expect to join his brothers, Keith and Bill, in the pennant holding Sydenham senior side before many more seasons have passed. As it is, he is almost certain to play for the team, and a second representative “cap” at the South Island primary school tournament is well within his scope. i Ivan, obviously, is a very fit and avid cricketer. Administrators who recently voiced concern at the lack of match play being offered primary school boys would be gladdened by the self-deter-mined programme that Ivan and a few others of his ilk work to during a week. On Monday Ivan practises with his Christchurch South Intermediate School team. Tuesday’s inter-school match is followed by practice with the Sydenham club. Each Wednesday he receives coaching from Motz at Hagley Park. On Thursday there are two more practice sessions: at school and Sydenham Park. Friday is a well-earned rest day; the quiet before the “storm.” The object of all the exercise is service for Sydenham. On Saturday morning he plays in the club's A grade team, then, without changing from his whites, he takes part in the third grade B competition.

Curiously, his greatest successes have come in the latter competition in which he plays predominantly against cricketers older than himself. His scores in this grade are 7, 39, 21, 41, 10 and 11. Ivan shares the Thomson partiality for hard hitting and the innings of 41, scored against Marist A at Sydenham Park, included a six into Brougham street. His top score in the Saturday morning competition was 26 against Riccarton in the first game. He had only moderate success with his pace bowling in the mornings, found that “too many snicks were going through the slips,” and decided to change to off spin.

Bad Fielding Hagley Old Boys and Old Collegians were both below strength, a fact that was evidenced in the batting, when they met during the previous round in a B grade match at Ensors Road. Only three of the Old Collegians team broke their duck in the first innings of 30. Ross Calder with accurate medium-pace bowling was the bete noir and his 5 for 5 on top of his previous week’s success stamped him as a player with ability above the average. Included in Hagley’s total of 53 was a solid knock of 23 by Gary Falloon. A disappointing feature of the match was the lack of understanding between batsmeq and it was through luck, not management, that more run-outs were not recorded. It

was noticeable, and in some instances explanatory of the run-out situation, that fielders, once placed in position, became statuesque. The fault is by no means unknown in the higher grades, but the practice of moving in with the bowler would later become as automatic as crouching in the slip positions if insisted on by the coaches of primary school teams. Closed Membership The Saturday morning competitions are awaited with varying degrees of impatience. To an advanced degree were they awaited by an 11-year-old New Brighton boy who plays in the D grade. The Old Collegians delegate to the J.A.B. (Mr K. D. Wright) was suitably impressed when told recently by a bleary-eyed father that the lad was up at 6 am., all prepared for the morning’s cricket at 9.30. Mr Wright, in a different vein, said—and it was his own view, he emphasised—that he was not all in favour of the closed membership system which prevents primary school players from remaining with a club in their late teen and adult years unless they are former pupils of the school concerned.

For the Saturday morning competitions, Old Collegians draw on players from the four schools around Elmwood Park. These are Heaton Intermediate, which supplies about 75 per cent, of the club’s primary players; and Elmwood and Waimairi primary schools.

“I think it a pity that the club is not open to these talented young cricketers when their schooling is finished,” Mr Wright said. “Those remaining in the district might like to remain with the club. People often make a little more effort to play and are won over to other sports less easily if the ground closest to them is the headquarters of the club they wish to play for.”