SUNDAY PLAY PROBLEM Touring Team Delayed

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31343, 13 April 1967, Page 15

SUNDAY PLAY PROBLEM Touring Team Delayed

{By

R. T. BRITTENDEN

The selection of the 13-man New Zealand cricket team for its tour of Australia later this year has been delayed by negotiations over the itinerary.

Three strong candidates for the team— V. Pollard, B. W. Yuile, and B. A. G. Murray—may not be willing to play on Sunnays, and the third day of the match with Queensland is set down for a Sunday.

All three have said, on previous occasions that they prefer not to play on Sundays because of their religious beliefs.

Both Pollard and Yuile played in India on Sundays during the 1965 tour, but the situation .hen was different in that Sunday is not a holy day in India. The New Zealand selection panel has made no approach to these players to state their views. The selectors’ task is to choose a team and any other developments would be between the players and the New Zealand Cricket Council. The selectors are believed

to have asked for 14 players to have been included in the side, and had that policy been implemented, the Sunday at Brisbane would have presented a lesser problem. If the Australian authorities are unwilling to change the itinerary, the touring team could have only 10 players available for the Queensland match.

The council has asked the Australian Board of Control to delete a one-day game against Victoria Country on November 29 so that the Queensland game could be started on November 30 a day earlier than at present scheduled. It may well be, however, that Queensland will wish to retain the Sunday in its match with the New Zealanders, to improve its prospects of a gate which would meet costs.

Until the decision on the itinerary is made, the New Zealand selection committee will not have its final meeting to name the touring players.