O’REILLY ATTACKS SELECTORS Omission Of Davies, Sheahan Condemned

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31320, 16 March 1967, Page 19

O’REILLY ATTACKS SELECTORS Omission Of Davies, Sheahan Condemned

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) SYDNEY. Australia’s omission of G. R. Davies from the first test and A. P. Sheahan from the second in the current series against New Zealand has been bitterly condemned by the former test player, W. J. O’Reilly, writing in the Sydney “Sun-Herald”.

He says selectors have refused to recognise talented youth and claims that this was one of the reasons for the current slump in Australian cricket. O’Reilly writes: Cricket’s balance-sheet at the close of its 1966-67 Australian season is embarrassingly discouraging, apart, of course, from the rich vein of pay-dirt discovered by Bob Simpson's team on the Witwatersrand.

Highly unsuccessful ventures overseas in South Africa and New Zealand have shown up, with frightening clarity, the tottery state of the game In this country, long regarded as its second home.

No Excuses If it were possible to pass these recent defeats off as the ordinary fortunes of war, likely to be encountered by any Australian team on tour, our digestive systems would oot suffer in the least.

If only one could conjure up an excuse, as easily as one did when lan Johnson’s team was soundly beaten in England in 1956, the pill would lose its bitterness.

But South Africa had no Jim Laker bowling on wickets that had been woefully underprepared. It could be a little comforting to remember that two outstanding batsmen, Graeme

Pollock and Denis Lindsay, scored so many of the winning runs. That should provide some slight smother. But ordinary horsesense persuades us not to mention umpiring. Game Is Sick The right thing then, I suppose, is to admit that our game is sick and that it needs some immediate and affectionately expert attention in its administration field to help it recover. Here is a chance for them at last to prove that the game is greater than the player. Let them take a look at the team battling its way in New Zealand at this present moment. i Beaten in the first “test” and struggling all the way in the second, the selectors over there thought fit to drop Geoff Davies from the first and Paul Sheahan from the second. Davies is the outstanding junior player in the country. As a batsman and slow legbreak bowler he is already firmly established. Sheahan looks certain to be playing his way into a permanent place in the national side, with outstanding batting performances for Victoria. Youth Neglected Let them find one, just one, sane reason for the omission of either of them. Why have selectors throughout all phases of the game been so reluctant to recognise talented youth, preferring men already bound for the slag heap? But this is just one of the patently obvious reasons for the slump. There are many more.

Compare grade cricket grounds of the present era with those of 20 years ago. Rugged fielding areas and pitifully prepared pitches are so common now that they no longer bear critical comment.

What has happened to the weekly net practices at suburban grounds? Where are the practice wickets? Who is it, please guess, who has sat comfortably through these changes with a Nelson eye? What effort has been made to organise the highly populated far western suburbs, where our great metropolis has sprawled its way to the foot of the Blue Mountains?

Why do inner suburbs populated mainly by newcomers to the country—people who have learned nothing yet about our game—still have grade cricket status when most of the schools in their areas find it much more important to teach the new language than a new game? What effort has been made by any cricket organisations other than the association itself, to form a licensed club and thereby provide funds for the expansion of suburban cricket? Sunday Cricket What is the official attitude to Sunday cricket? Does the executive propose to follow England’s example and arrange part of next season’s programme on Sundays? How are primary schools being encouraged in their important job of teaching the game?

Does anyone ever inquire whether the P.S.A.A.A. cricket competition thrives as vigorously now as it did back in the twenties and thirties?

Do the teachers* colleges get any real help in encouraging students to cultivate a love for the game?

As for those club members who do not recognise the dangers which confront the game now, I suggest that they handle their voting franchise at their next annual meeting with all the jealous care needed to set up a strong, virile committee.

That is the only way they can help to revitalise our game quickly.