New Zealand Cricketers

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 186, 4 May 1937, Page 14

New Zealand Cricketers

Survey Of Prospects On English Fields

(By THE WATCHMAN.)

rpO-MORROW, the third New Zealand cricket team to visit England will open its tour with a one-dny practice match against the Maori Cricket Club, at Worcester Park. The Maori Cricket Club is run by the New Zealand Shipping Company, and its members are New Zealanders living in England, reinforced by players who have visited New Zealand and thus qualified, for club cricket purposes, as Maoris. In 1931. for instance. A. A. 11. Gilligan, E. W. Dawson and others of the 1929-30 English team in New Zealand played against New Zealand for the Maori Cricket Club. First Real Trial of Strength.

The match will not be taken very seriously by either side. but. it will provide useful batting, bowling and fielding practice for the tourists against some goodclass opponents. The first real test of the team, however, will begin next Saturday, when the New Zealanders will make the first of their three appearances at the famous Oval, meeting Surrey. Given fine weather they will enjoy this game on a wicket renowned for its excellence against opponents famous for their sporting play. Disciples of brighter play are the cricketers of Surrey, who last season scored at a faster rate than the batsmen of any county in England. E. R. T. Holmes, captain of the English team which visited New Zealand in 1935-36, is generally credited with making the Surrey dressingroom “the brightest place in all England.” His breezy personality has communicated itself to the men under his command, and infected their play on the field as well as their behaviour off it. Under him, the county plays sporting cricket, and last year was the only side to exceed the fifth century four times, beside compiling the highest aggregate of the year. L. B. Fishlock, a member of the English team in Australia and New Zealand last season, was the leading batsman, scoring brightly as well as heavily. He aggregated 1995 runs at 53.91 for the county, and 2129 at 53.22 in all firstclass matches. Fishlock is a left-hander with a sound defence and strong driving powers. It is written of him that last year he went “right through the season with unerring skill,” a statement which makes the more remarkable his comparative failure in Australia. Six Surrey batsmen topped four figures last year. Errol Holmes was in his best form, making 1.554 runs at 40.89. figures which gained him a place, in the team to visit Australia and New Zealand, of which he would probably have been vicecaptain, but he had to decline the invitation through pressure of business interests in London. It is said that he may not play very often this season. It is known however, that he is keen to meet the New Zealanders. Andrew Sandham, one of the great opening batsmen of county cricket, for many years standing in the same relation to Jack Hobbs as Percy Holmes did to Herbert Sutcliffe in Yorkshire, made over 1500 runs at over 33 an innings, and T. H. Barling, reputedly one of the best drives in England, compiled over 1600 at 36 an innings. R. J. Gregory, a batsman who favours on-side strokes, being particularly strong on the hook and adept at the glide, also recorded over .1300, and H. S. Squires, a professional, who has a very strong off-drive, topped 1200. Even W. Brooks, the wicketkeeper, and E. A. Watts, one of the stock bowlers, were not to be despised as batsmen, as the former made over 400 and the latter over 700. Brooks has been described by a brother professional as having “eight edges to his bat,” his scoring methods being summed up by a more orthodox critic as “making runs with a diverting disregard for orthodoxy.”

A Good Fielding Side. The Surrey fielding, especially the ground work, is considered the best in England. In this the captain, himself an

inspiration at mid-off or at backward point, was assisted by the fortuitous circumstance that nearly all the players who were not regular bowlers and thus did not have to field near the wicket, were fast runners and fine throwers in the outfield. A Good Fast Bowler.

Surrey’s bowling, if the truth be told, is not strong, but it has a most dangerous spearhead—A. R. Gover. Last season this lion-hearted fast bowler achieved a remarkable record—he took over 200 wickets in first-class matches in the season, a performance last recorded by an even-more-famous Surrey fast bowler. Tom Richardson, in 1897. He took the wicket which completed the second century of victims at Scarborough in festival week, and it is whispered that there was a very happy little ceremony in celebration in the pavilion later, cut short only by the necessity of the players getting back to London. Gover is a great trier under any conditions, with good control of length and direction. The Oval wicket is notorious for the way it favours the batsmen, and that he should perform his great feat when bowling mainly on this batsmen’s ground, is a great tribute to both his ability and his perseverance. Gover. it is interesting to note, has a style condemned by all authorities on fast bowling. Not only does he take an abnormally long run, but he also delivers the ball full-faced and square-shouldered to the batsmen. Whatever his methods, however, there can be no doubt of his speed and his capacity to make the ball swing.

Last year the attack depended mainly on his steadiness and deadliness. No other bowler took half as many wickets. Ernie Watts, with his fast-medium deliveries, secured 88 at a cost of 23 runs each, and F. R. Brown, the amateur slow bowler who visited New Zealand with D. R. Jardine’s team, captured 60 at 28 runs each. The only other bowler to secure even a moderate “bag” was T. Daley, a young slow bowler, who dismissed 43 batsmen at a cost of 24 runs each. Daley, however, impressed discerning observers. He imparts considerable spin to the ball and varies his deliveries cleverly. P. F. Warner remarked signficantly at the end of the season : “It will be interesting to watch his development next year.”

The “Game of Centuries.” High scoring would not be surprising in the match with Surrey. If the wicket is not perfect is will be surprising. When New Zealand played the county in 1927 the match became known as “the game of centuries.” New’ Zealand batted first, scoring 313, a typically graceful and forceful innings of 103 being played by Jack Mills (Auckland). Roger Blunt scored 66 and JI. L. Page 54. The New Zealanders then had the experience of bonding and fielding to the great Jack Hobbs in his best form, for he made 146 in two and a half hours toward a score of 377, his display being described as the most correct and pleasing exhibition of batsmanship the tourists saw in England. New Zealand, in the second innings, scored 371. a workmanlike display being given by O. 8. Dempster, who made 101 at more than a run a minute. He and M. L. Page who scored 68, put on 145 together in 75 minutes. Surrey, needing 308 to win with 190 minutes to play, attempted to get the runs, but lost eight wickets in scoring 284, toward which Andy Ducat, a fine professional batsman who has now retired, contributed 100. The feature of the last innings, however, from the point of view of the New Zealanders, was that the great Jack Hobbs was caught by W. E. Merritt off 11. JI. McGirr for a “duck.” Herb. JlcGirr, now coaching at Nelson College, has many fine cricket feats to his credit, but one he will probably remember longer than many others is how he got England’s master batsman for nought at the Oval.