Famous batsman gripped by inertia—and loves it

Press, 27 December 1979, Page 16

Famous batsman gripped by inertia—and loves it

Seasoned cricket observers regard the great New Zealand batsman, Len Fitter, as having achieved the apotheosis of his career with his refusal to play for the Southern Hemisphere in the one-day match against the Northern Hemisphere. They recall the first signs of promise shown by Fitter while at school in Dunedin, when, despite an enormous natural aptitude for the game, he refused to play for the school’s first eleven. This brought him to the attention of the Otago cricket authorities, and it was his refusal to play for Otago which first made the nation as a whole aware of this gem in its cricketing diadem. Naturally, other districts were interested in Fitter, and he established a New Zealand record, which he still holds, by refusing, in successive seasons, to play for Northern Districts,

Central Districts. Auckland, Wellington and Canterbury. He did, in fact, play for Otago for one season and, with characteristic brilliance, added a new dimension to the Shell Series competition, by refusing to bring his team out on to the field for any of its second innings.

Fitter determined to make a professional career out of refusing to play cricket, and became the first of the many subsequent New Zealand cricketers to establish a commanding position in English county cricket. Because of English rules, he was actually forced to play for a county, Lea-and-Perrin-shire, but he turned this situation to his own advantage by becoming the first county batsman since the immortal Clarrie Nett to refuse to score a thousand runs before the end of May.

Then came an episode in Fitter’s career which has puzzled many cricket writers. He actually did play for New Zealand. Fitter is at a loss to explain the matter himself. "I can't account for it,” he says. "Sure I was under a lot of pressure at the time, and I was tired. But you get used to that sort of thing when you’ve refused to play as much cricket as I have. I can only surmise that I must have let my concentration lapse for a second, and the next thing I knew I was in the side.” However, Fitter was soon back in form. The next year he refused to play for New Zealand unless he was made Gov-ernor-General, a request W'hich the New Zealand Cricket Council tried, without success, to satisfy. The next year his refusal to play for New Zealand was on the grounds

that since his career was based in England it would be disloyal to play for

New Zealand against England during the Queen’s Jubilee Year. And his most recent refusal was on the ground that New Zealand was just a tin-pot outfit anyhow-. These successes have now been capped with the refusal to play for the Southern Hemisphere.

Is this the end of the Len Fitter story? Not according to Len himself. “I am keeping myself match-fit.” he says, “so that if I am ever called upon to play for the Solar System against Alpha Centauri I shall be ready to refuse.” ’