Miss Blackler a legend among women cricketers

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31862, 14 December 1968, Page 11

Miss Blackler a legend among women cricketers

“TET me put It this way. I like sport—but I have a certain love for some sports more than others,” said Miss P. Blackler, an outstanding sportswoman who has become almost a legend amongst women cricketers in this country over the past three decades. Although Miss Blackler also represented Canterbury at hockey—from 1939 until 1956—and table tennis and has played inter-elub badminton, her devotion to cricket has been the greatest feature of her sporting career.

She first played the sport in 1932 in the senior grade —following many afterschool matches against boys from her area—and admits to having a “natural love for the game” that has never diminished. The length of Miss Blackler’s representative career—--33 seasons froih 1935 until 1967—is a record that may be claimed by very few sportsmen or women. In 1938 Miss Blackler was selected to tour Australia with the first New Zealand touring team and she has played in every test in which the country has been involved, her other tours

being to England (1954 and 1966) and to Australia in 1958. She has not Ignored the administrative side of the sport and has been a member of the national selection committee in most seasons since 1958. On a provincial level she has served on the Canterbury Women’s Cricket Association for 17 years as secretary, treasurer, executive member or direct delegate to the New Zealand council, a record that led to a most deserved life membership. Miss Blackler expects the

English team which will tour New Zealand early next year to be “quite strong” although she expects the New Zealand team to perform very well. “If the selected team puts its mind to the job New Zealand could win its first test. There are some outstanding players in New Zealand at this time,” Miss Bladder said. “The aim of the tour is to add strength to cricket in this country and to promote it as a summer sport for girls,” she said. Miss Bladder said that she was disappointed that women’s cricket was not

played in local schools as it was in Auckland, Wellington and Dunedin. Girls in Christchurch play during the week but not on a Saturday competitive basis under the direction of the provincial body. It was therefore more pleasing that the Ashburton sub-association had been able to introduce the sport to schools in the town and now had 66 players, compared with between 90 and 100 in Christchurch, a figure that had remained stable for some time. The future of women’s cricket in New Zealand was “very bright,” Miss Blackler said. There were about 1200 players throughout the country, the majority in the North Island. A tour of Australia in 1971 has been proposed as a means of raising further interest. However, a girl wishing to play cricket needed a love of the game because of the length of time required to complete a match. That disadvantage was also applicable to men’s cricket and only a person with great application would be prepared to devote so mucfh time to it. Miss Blackler said.