CRICKET TOURS

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 63, 11 September 1924, Page 14

CRICKET TOURS

VISIT FROM WEST INDIES

NEGOTIATIONS IN PROGRESS.

Regarding the announcement made some time ago that the New- Zealand Council was moving to secure a visit from a team representing, tho West Indies, advice has come to hand that the matter has been taken up enthusiastically in the West Indies. Provided that the financial arrangements are satisfactory, ...there is every prospect 'of. the leading cricketers of the West Indies coming to New Zealand. It is espect- , cd. that H. B. ;G. Austin, also well known in England,' will lead the side, and that he will be assisted bysHarrigan as vice-captain. Possibly as many las 18 players may mako the trip, and, according to present information, the team will spend twelve or fourteen \veeks: in tho Dominion. H. B. G. Austin has. the matter in hand, and he has been in negotiation with -the New Zealand Cricket Council. ■'.'•■; , • Reports regarding the proposed tour havo reached England, and upon these "The ■Gentleman in Black" makes the following comment in the "Athletic . ■News"':—"lt .'.is evident that, perhaps as a. result of the good form shown by. their team in England last year, the West Indies hope, to tour New Zealand at no far-distant date. This would be quite an innovation, and a most interesting one. Reports concerning, the ■ project have reached me from both New ' Zealand 'and the West Indies, and although l.liey aro far from agreeing on many points— correspondence was in progress between. Uie two colonies at tliß time—it is certain that the scheme j is being taken up with enthusiasm in jboth centres. ,

"From Trinidad I hear. it..is likely that Jamaica will not be represented, the team being drawn chiefly from Barbados, Demerara, and Trinidad,1 with one "-or" two. men—possibly St. Glair, of St. Lucia, and Hughes, o£ Grenada— from the Windward Islands. From the same source I hear of expenses being guaranteed from the tirno the side reaches Panama; but perhaps this was a ease of the wish being father of the thought, for I hear definitely from Christ-church (N.Z.) that the New. Zealand Council's - nndertaking is for 50 per cent, of the gross takings. <■ , "Doubtless i New -Zealand cricket has improved of late years, chiefly through the Visits of strong- Australian teams, but the arrival' of; a side from the West Indies should furnish oven more interesting cricket, because of more closely contested games. As the proposed trip .will break new ground entirely, it is no easy matter to forecast what the results of the tour will be. Much, of. course, will depend on the conditions "of weather and wicket experienced, and for tho sake of all concernedl it is to be hoped that both will be as perfect ;ik possible. If pressed for an opinion, I should feel inclined to buck the West Indies (if well represented) aeainst -a New Zealand sido. but I do not think the margin in their favour would be very pronounced. ■J'Sonie lime ago there was talk of a New Zealand team coming to England in 1925,.but.apparently the scheme-has been postponed. Had' it been decided to ■■ persevere with the idea, we should assuredly have heard' officially, of the matter'eve. this., if only so that the fixtures could have been arranged. So presumably, like Uie proposed Australian trip to India., tho lour will not take place as early as. jvag qiiginjilly, intoaded.'i ■