CRICKET COMPARISONS

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 136, 13 June 1927, Page 9

CRICKET COMPARISONS

(To the Editor.)

Sir,— ''O wad some power the giftie gie us To see ourscls as ithers see usT It wad frae niony a blunder free us. An' foolish notion."

The shade of Bums must have had many a chuckle over the knocks dealt out since the above lines were written "En Zed" felt the full force of the moral as he scanned the letter from Batsman-Bowler" on Saturday evening. Thank you! kind friend for the lesson in humility; no doubt Messrs. Arstroiig, Trumble, Ransford, and Co also will feel sufficiently small when they learn that their opinions are only so much "blether." Cricket is usually synonymous with magnanimity, but it was over the odds to rub salt into the wound caused by such an unfavourable comparison of the quality.of the touring JSfew Zealand team with that of the London, Lancashire League and Yorkshire Council Clubs. "Bats-man-Bowler" is quite modest in sayin<* that he played in good cricket at. Home and abroad. "We shall take his word for that. Somehow, I thought there 'was a sting in the tail of his letter. Of course he might not have meant sport. If he did, he is peculiarly ignorant of England's poor record* during the past few years in cricket, Rugby, Soccer, and athletics. Robert Burns dealt a heavy blow at self esteemothers besides New Zealauders want chastising occasionally.—l am, etc., "EN ZED."

(To th« Editor.)

.Sir, —"Batsman-Bowler" must be au authority on cricket or he could surely not have had the confidence to so sign his letter as published. Such qualified authority makes one rather afraid to dare express the opinions of an enthusiast, who has followod and seen most of the Test cricket played during the last twenty-five years. However, having seen 75 per cent.' of the Test matches played in Australia during the abave period, much Baglish.

cricket, anfl aU Plnnket BbMd BMtehet i played in the North Island otf this woaderful country during my two years* sojourn here, besides having played much pennant cricket ia Australia, I feel obliged to differ from your correspondent'a rather sweeping p.ritiwsm, particularly the last phrase of his letter. In fact, being a newcomer to tlu ß country, as I feel your correspondent js also, I much regret such last phrase, which, however, is bo irrelevant, me -.New Zealand team, has proved al ready that the tail-end counties cannot afford to treat them lightly, and, after all, it is the results that count, Besides doing the above, they have made excellent games with quite strong teams; and I venture the hope that resultant on their being together as a team for another month or two they may even snrprise some of the leading counties whose equals nobody seems to have as yet represented the present touring team to be. If "Batsman BowlerV'last comment, "the ma S of things ,»i. as I hope, only intended to refer to "sporting things,^' mieht I mention the All Blacks, the late Anthony Wilding,, and Bandolph Bose—l am,etc., " WOULD-BE WICKETKEEPER 13 (li June.

Aew Zealand cricket is defended by another correspondent ("V. Harris ") who pomts out that players in this' If£ L °Se Eng]and- Opportunities fov thorough practice are far greatwhP?P li ]? gland thaa ** K«w - Zealand where, the correspondent suggests the afraid to go into some of the practice net, on account of the danger detent' L An- esee lent example of the conSl^'S « England was provided by the photograph of the New Zealanders practising at Lord's, puT hshed in "The Post" on Saturday The correspondent supports Mr. Brice in his e7a r r P Y t, ati lig 1 that the NeW Ze^eiß are out for knowledge ana experipiessed by "Batsman-Bowler" which of y ea f s nghsh eleven over a long period