N.Z. Cricket Team

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 110, 3 February 1931, Page 7

N.Z. Cricket Team

Sir, —As an old representative cricketer and footballer, I should like ,to ask the selectors of the New Zealand team why has McGirr been dropped? It cannot be urged that his battiug has fallen off, for I find on reference to the batting and bowling averages printed in yesterday’s “Dominion” that in battiug in Plunket Shield matches, with the sole exception of Weir, of Auckland, he is pre-eminent, having the splendid average of 64.66; while in bowling, where, I consider, he was not made enough use of, he has the useful average of 24.66 per wicket. Judging from his performances in senior cricket also he lias maintained his reputation for consistent batting. It seems to me that he is the ideal cricketer to impress the crowds who will gather on the cricket fields of England—just the man who can stand in the breach when things are not going well with the team on the field of play, not troubled with nerves, bold, resolute, and forcible. In the late Shield matches he scored two centuries and over, and missed a third by 9 runs. Can Mr. Brice, our Wellington selector, inform us the reason for McGirr’s omission? It seems incomprehensible to many good judges of the game. As there is some talk of sending another player, bringing the number up to tit tee'n, would it not be possible to include McGirr, who, 1 am sure, would be a great asset to the team. —J am. etc..

ASTONISHED. Wellington, January 30.