CRICKET AND ITS PLAYERS

Dominion, Volume 26, Issue 103, 25 January 1933, Page 13

CRICKET AND ITS PLAYERS

Body-line Bowling: Arguments For & Against

COMMENTS ON PLUNKET SHIELD GAMES

(Notes by

"Burwood.”)

The controversy concerning the Eng-1 lish bowlers’ tactics in employing what has been described as “body-line” bowling continues to rage with unabated vigour, and it is difficult to recall a subject which has stirred up such a hornet’s nest in tlie past. Wherever cricketers forgather the debate is renewed, some holding that bowling at the batsman is not only unsportsmanlike but dangerous, and others maintaining that batsmen must stand up today and deal with fast bowlers as they have had to be dealt with throughout the history of the game. Australian Views. “It is known definitely,” states the Melbourne “Herald,” "that members of the Australian cricket team hold strong views about the body-bowling tactics of two of the English bowlers. They say that balls bowled at the body with a leg field such as the Englishmen set are unplayable. They are not afraid of injury, but they are afraid that such tactics will kill the game. "As exploited by Larwood in Sydney, the ball bowled to rise high at the body was unplayable. For most of his time at the crease, Larwood had only two fieldsmen on the off. The other seven were ranged around the batsman’s legs in such a way that a catch was inevitable if the batsmen attempted to play strokes against the rising deliveries. "Five of these men formed a ring of infieldsmen, and behind that cordon were two others to make it suicide to hook the ball high and hard. “If body bowling is not dropped voluntarily, there seems only one way to kill it —Australia will be forced to the distasteful. course of employing similar methods to force a mutual agreement to a truce.” Hugh Trumble’s Plan. Hugh Trumble, the famous Australian eleven player, now secretary of the Melbourne Cricket Club, puts the other side of the question in the Melbourne "Sporting Globe.” "Everyone admits,” he says, “that when fast bowlers carrying out a leg-theory attack, such as the Englishmen employ, are fresh, and bowling with venom, it is impossible to move on the leg side with safety. A ball rising chest or head high, with a ring of fieldsmen clustered round the batsman’s legs, is one of the hardest in the game to play. The only safe plan is to leave such balls strictly alone, and wait for the bowlers to tire themselves out. "The policy of our batsmen should be to. make no effort to play any of the legtheory deliveries except those that they are forced to play in defence of their wickets. Let every bumping bail pass. While they are doing this the bowlers are. tiring themselves—and they will tire more quickly than will the batsmen. The longer this goes on the more tired the bowlers will become. Then, when the bowlers have lost some of their sting, as they must do, will be time to try to score.”

Mr. Trumble considers it disastrous to try to score from this leg-theory bowling while the bowlers are fresh. The batsmen must wait their time, take no risks, arid not try to score until the bowlers have spent themselves with their early efforts.- A fast bowler, he says, is usually 25 pet cent, less dangerous bn his second appearance at the crease, and then is the time to think of trying to score front him, especially when opposed to an attack of the kind that the Englishmen have adoptcd. Another old international said: “It is all nonsense for people to say that the batsmen should be able to score freely off such bowling; it simply can’t be done. The batsmari who tries to do so will soon be in the pavilion. The only thing to do is to protect yourself as best you can, make no attempt to score except from, the balls that are absolutely safe, and wait for the bowlers to change their tactics. That is my advice to the Australian batsmen,” Up to the Umpires. . . Tom Duhrobbin, editor of the Sydney “Daily'.Telegraph,” cabling to the "Sunday Graphic,” London, had the following to say:— ... "As for the criticisms that have been levelled against Larwood, 1 think the average Australian is irritated by them. They urge that all fast bowlers try to get the best out of their speed. Gregory always did, and no one complained then. They feel that it is up to the. umpires, and so far no umpire has even hinted that Larwood’s tactics are against the rule or the spirit of the game. • , "Finally, it is my considered belie! that whatever the outcome of the rubber, the English team will leave behind them a fine impression as good sportsmen and good “mixers” —and that’s worth coming any distance for!” Clem Hill, one-time Australian Eleven captain, commenting on the first Test in the same journal, said: "I should like to say this about Larwood’s performance. 1 cannot emphasise too strongly that, it was one of the finest fast-bowling exhibi- . tions that have been seen for many years.”

Dignified Reproof. The cricketing, world was greatly surprised when it was announced that the Australian Board of Control had cabled a protest to the Marylebone . Club concerning the tactics of the English fast bowlers. This was simply looking for a reproof, and it came promptly yesterday in the following dignified reply: “We, the Marylebone Cricket Club, deplore your cable and deprecate your opinion that there has been unSportsman like play. We- have the fullest confidence in the captain, the team, and the managers, and are convinced that they would do nothing to infringe the laws of cricket and the spirit of the game. M e

have no evidence that our confidence has been misplaced. Much as we regret the accidents to Woodfull and Oldfield, we understand that in neither case was the bowler to blame. "If the board wishes to propose a new law or rule, it shall receive our careful consideration in due course. We hope the situation is not now as serious as your cable appears to indicate, but it it is such as to jeopardise the good, reintions of English and Australian cricketers and you consider it desirable to cancel the remainder of the programme, .we would consent with great reluctance.

Something Like Form. Something like cricket was seen in the Plunket Shield match between Auckland and Wellington at Eden Bark, Auckland, last week-end. Th? northerners batted first, and ran up the solid total of 366. J. E. Mills (73) and A. J. Postles (102) gave the northerners a splendid start by putting on 146 for the first wicket. . Whitelaw, Vivian, Dacre, and M eir ah scored well, but Freeman, the Nelson College googly bowler, went through, the remainder of the side, and the last five men only managed to scrape together 7 runs as their joint effort. rni Mills is a great opening batsman, lhe merit about his play is that he is not afraid to go for the bowling from the word “play.” No one who saw his great stand with Dempster in the second Test match at Wellington against Gilligan’s English team in January, IJ3I, will forget the masterly manner m which he hooked Nicholls’s fast rearing deliveries over the square-leg boundary time and again. In that innings,. Mills and Dempster put on 276 for the first wicket, Mills scoring 117 and Dempster lob. New Zealand players, too, give Mills the credit for the splendid showing the Dominion players made at Lord s in IJol by going for the bowling resolutely from the word “go.” A New Star. . It must have been very gratifying to the Wellington selectors that Freeman, the Nelson College lad, so signally justified their judgment in giving him a place in the team as a slow bowler. This Nelson College lad proved himself the liest bowler on the Wellington side m Auckland s first innings. In nineteen overs, he captured four wickets for 85 runs, his victims including Dacre, Bush, Pearson and Matheson. ' . , , , T That other great Nelson bowler, J. Newman, put up a wonderful bowling performance in this innings by sending down 4S overs, 22 of which were maidens, for 105. runs and four wickets. The lefthander clean bowled Mills, and had n.eir, Vivian, and Garrard caught off his swinging deliveries. It is not too much to say that Newman is as fine a left-handed bowler as the Dominion has produced, and why he was not included in the New Zealand teams for England in 1927 and 1931 passes all understanding. The two Nelson bowlers captured eight wickets in Auckland’s first innings, the remaining pair being bagged by E. D. Blundell at a cost of 101 runs off 31. overs. C. Parsloe, the fast bowler, had the misfortune to injure a thumb while playing, and this hindered his work with the hall. Nevertheless, he bowled very steadily in sending down 23 overs for 57 runs. A Gifted Stripling. E. W. Tindill, the youthful . Midland left-hander, covered himself with glory by making a century in his' first Plunket Shield match. Though Cameron failed to score, Dempster and Tindill made a spirited stand for the second wicket. Dempster fell l.b.w. to Garrard after scoring 48, but Tindill carried on to reach 102. The Midland colt was at the wickets for just on five hours,. and the Auckland public took him to their hearts. Here was another instance , where youth justified the confidence reposed in it. A Captain’s Part. K. C. James, leading the Wellington eleven for the first time, played a captain’s part in hitting up lOS. Some captains feel the weight of responsibility so heavily that it affects their batting; others again rise to the occasion by giving the men under them an inspiring example. James apparently comes under the latter category, as he certainly waved his sword most valiantly in the van nt Auckland. James without question has been the most consistent batsman on the Wellington representative side this season. M. A. O'Brien (Hawke’s Bay), J. R. Lamason, and C. Parsloe all ran into the twenties, and Wellington eventually headed the Auckland total by 31 runs. It was. a fine performance following the weak batting displays against Otago and Canterbury. .. A Good All-Rounder. D. R. Garrard proved in this match that he is as able an all-round player as Auckland possesses. He only scored 2 in Auckland’s first innings, but he captured five wickets for 69 in Wellington’s first knock, and hit/up'ss in Auckland’s second innings. Garrard first won his New Zealand cap in the 1922-23 season, when he played in the first Test match against A. C. MacLaren’s English team at the Basin Reserve. He scored 47 and 19 not out. and took one wicket for 53 runs. He played in all three Test matches of that series, scoring 6 and 1 in the second at Christchurch. and 19 and 12 in the. third at Wellington. He took one wicket for 45 and none for 22 in , the second Test, and none for 32 in the third. Sound Batting. Auckland batted very soundly in their sefond innings on Monday, finishing up the day with 286 for nine wickets. The'colt, P. E. Whitelaw. hit up 81 in finished style, Garrard reached 55. Pear- . son 49, and Bush 36. Newman and Freeman, as in the first innings, each secured four wickets. A Good Fight. Wellington did well to be beaten by Auckland by only 43 runs. M. A. O’Brien, the youthful Hawkes Bay batsman, showed that he is an outstanding run-getter, by hitting up 01 in Wellington’s second innings. ,T. R. Lamason passed the half-century, and Dempster reached 40. Garrard was again the most successful bowler for Auckland, who won the match by their spirited batting in the second innings. As predicted in this column, the Wellington team went down fighting, and had the spin of the coin favoured them, the result might have been the other way. A Great Stand. It was a great stand winch A. P. Monteath (1S1) and A. M. Ilollings (148) made for Wellington against Midland on the Hutt ground on Saturday, when thev put on 305 for the fifth wicket, atid established a record for this wicket for the Wellington club. Monteath, who is an ex-Christ College player, was lucky, as he was dropped by Jack in the slips off O’Neill whpn in the twenties. Nevertheless, he played an outstanding innings, hitting two sixes and twenty-five fours. Ilollings also had the luck with him, as he was dropped when 17. lie hit one six and eighteen fours, and gave a masterly display. „ , •i r The record score for the fifth, wicket in senior championship matches. in Wellington was put up by J. S. Hiddleston and W. G. Wagstaffe. who hit up 307 for the North Club against Petone in the 191 S-10 season. Maurice Tate’s Bowling. A correspondent wants to know whether Maurice Ttate can be classed as a genuine spin bowler. Tate could better be described as. a fast-medium right-hand bowler, with great pace off the pitch.