Jim Patterson’s love affair with cricket

Press, 6 September 1980, Page 20

Jim Patterson’s love affair with cricket

By

R. T. BRITTENDEN

Victor Truriiper, Jack . Hobbs,, T>on Bradman: .'some would say, the . three ’ greatest - batsmen, of ? the : century,- Not:- many-. New Zealanders . alive"(today- ■ ■saW any. of them* play. 1 But . Jjnr Patterson .of, Riccarton watched all. three and re* members, them vividly? ■ j . Jt has been a long love affair between Jim Patterson and cricket; it began nearly 80 years ago. He is now 86, and at the tender age of seven he sometimes walked to town, all the way from Linwood, to look at the cricket bats in the shop windows. He became, a very - use,f’il cricketer, playing in the Linwood senior side with such notables as; Arthur Thoma? and Reg Read, and his affection for the game grew although h's” parents knew nothing ai the"’ game and took .little 1 interest in it. : / : -. He • recalls . wryly, that 4 one day, when he , had made 98, he came home and.-longed for some-one to ask how he had got on. No-one did, and he was much too modest to mention this success. - At West Christchurch High School, he played for the. first "team, as a bats/man -.and -Slow left-arm boWler; He. took. all • 10 Christ’s k- College wickets • arid a few-weeks later was delighted; to receive ;.&■ let■ter ..from.?.the headmaster

of. the college. The head, congratulated him on his performance, and enclosed an order for him to buy a cricket bat and charge it : to- the,College: a generous gesture which Mr/,,Patter-soh-cherishes; ' Dan’ - Reese,- ..the great New ’ Zealand all-rounder, became .' his -. particular hero. And he: lived as a boy next to John;Wheatley, a • Victorian .who played for Canterbury’ and was a Canterbury selector. This association strengthened his ties with cricket. The boy Patterson, would travel miles to

watch Reese play, and the habit stayed with him. For 50 years he missed only one or two Plunket Shield matches in Christchurch and in later life regularly went to Dunedin and Wellington to watch Canterbury and New Zealand teams play. He saw the very first < shield match, when Canterbury went down to at Haglev Oval in 1907. He was then in , standard 5. He recalls the tremendous batting of the Sussex professional, A. E. Relf, who scored 157 for . Auckland and . then took most of the wickets. Seventy ago; en-<

thiisiasm among the play* ers- was very high, he says. People like Reese and Sir Arthur Sims would cycle to Lancaster Park or Hagley, practise until dark, and cycle home again day after day. Club attendances were far bigger than they are now. The top players of the day; he recalls, were known to everyone in the town. Now, a. Canterbury or ' New Zealand player would not be known to many. •' In those days, he says, there did not seem to be problems of player behav-

iour. “We were living in.a different world,” he says. “Life was more serious. Money was scarce, and people seemed to concentrate their affection : on cricket” Talking to Jim Patterson is rather like watching a parade of the great players of the past. He remembers “Plum" Warner,“a lovely chap”, and Ces Dacre hitting the Australian fast bowler Everett on to the bank at Lancaster Park. Dacre said after.that Jf . he had missed it ? would -have killed him. . .. „ ■ He saw Trumpet make his 293 against Canterbury

in three hours, slim but immensely strong, playing “every shot under the sun”. . . * Then in 1928-29 Jim Patterson went to Australia, mainly to see . Hobbs bat, He had a letter of introduction. He' not only - met the great man, butaccepted. Hobbs’ invitation to walk through the town to an appointment Hobbs had. . It was like walking on air, he says, "being in .. Hobbs’s company for that half-hour. ' ’ ' ‘ ■ “The Australian crowds absolutely loved Hobbs,” he said..“On the Saturday, of; this Sydney test, it was Hobbs’s birthday and the most- moving thing hap- . pened. There Was a crowd of ‘45,000 and Hobbs was batting at the lunch interval. “During the break, the treat . • Monty ;. Noble ,- rought- Hobbs out, took him by the arm, and? walked him 1 round the ground, saying to .the,-; spectators: *We want/you each to throw in a shill-P ing, no more . bobs, for Hobbs.’ If you had seen the shillings flying out into the arena . . Hobbs ; went as white as a sheet. • He was very upset by . this displav t of affection. It was his birthday.” - ■ The Bradman Pattersdn- ' watth-edx was a T9*year- • old, making his first cen-;.

tury in test cricket, and the noise from the crowd of 50,000 was frightening. This was not a dashing Don Bradman but he played very soundly. . There are so many memories, so many names and performances. However, Jim Patterson does not go to the cricket now,

because his, sight is failing. Even television is of no use to him. g - But when the New Zealanders are in Australia in the coming summer,. there will be at least- one man who will not miss a ball of the radio commentaries. The love affair is as strong as ever.