NEW ZEALAND TEAM

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 75, 26 September 1927, Page 10

NEW ZEALAND TEAM

TEEBTJTE TO DACRE

BATSMAN"

("Written for "The Post" j By Colonel Philip Trevor, C.8.E.) ( (Copyright,) ■ - "- LONDON, 15th xVugust. Early last'week on tho contents bill 'Of some'of the' English newspapers was ".New Zealand's Lowest Score." The xeferenco was to the total of 150 made in' their- first innings by the tourists at "Weston-super-Mare against Somerset. Was this not something of a compliment to the New Zealanders? They had Veen playing cricket in this country "for three" months day by day, Sundays excepteJ; in weather which even for our English climate had nearly beaten the record, and yet never before had they been got rid of for less than 150 runs. However, that announcement . was something of an an- , ti-elimax, for in their second innings they were out for 128. The cause of

this second collapse was the slow lefthand bowler, J. C. White, whose analysis'; read:—-Overs 22, maidens 8, runs 28, wickets 8. Now White is not merely the steadiest slow left-hander iv England. On all wickets hp is also the best. Indeed, not until he bowls against good batsmen .on a plumb /wicket do yoji> re-alise-how superior he is to his colleagues. He is tireless, he almost enjoys being hit, and he can bowl hour after hour without showing a trace of either moral or physical weariness. ALLCOTT'S BOWLING. *■ The Weston-super-Mare wicket in this watch was.a slow or a slow medium left-hander's wicket. White had more than suggested, that this was so: C. .W. Alleott proved tho case. Set the task of getting "162 runs to ivin the match the county were all out for 67, the bowling' figures of Allcott being even more startling than those of White: —Overs 5, maidens 3, runs 3, wickets 5. Such a bowling performance in' this country in these days is quite extraordinary. It .was a thousand pities that Allcott was not fit and well and in form at the very beginning, of the His effective services were the more missed, because the two fast-medium lefthanders, M. Henderson and E. H. Ber-. nu,'could not control their length. Tho result was that the brunt .of bowling the -up-and-down ball fell on H. M'G-irr, «» while "the funny stuff" bowlers, W. E. Merritt and E. C. Blunt, had to be used too much. When you are funny too often you cease to be funny at all. Allcott's length is now almost immaculate, and it will not surprise me whenever lie gets a real "sticky dog" to bowl on if he goes through a side. VALUE OF A HITTEE. Anyhow, this was just the kind of victory of which the Now ' Zoalandera stood in need.. It could not bo ascribed to the "brutal strength "of their batting. They broke record in low scoring; yet they won by as many as Oi runs. I now propose to say a word or two anent "brutal strength" in bat--1 ing. The, New Zealanders journeyed on to Cheltenham whero they played Gloucestershire. It is only fair to infer that but for rain on the third and last day of that match they would have won it. On ; this occasion C. C. Dacro was sent in first" with C. S. Dempster. Now Dacre is, of course, one of tho very best'of hitters. For years I have written'urging that one at least of the number one batsmen (in matches played in England at any rate) should be a hitter., * .' It should be, hardly necessary for me to lay" stress on the value of that policy as an arithmetical and a practical one. ■ Even, in good weather in this era of., super cautions batting three days is;.,not generous timo allowance for the finishing of a match. Of course, if your chiof^if not your only, object is not.to.be beaten then collect goose- . gamers galore, and. let them goosegame to their heart's content. But if you sot winning before everything else you must have a hitter for your number* one or number two of the batting list. In the palmy days of Somerset, what Lionel Palairet and "Colonel" Hewitt used to accomplish when they went in together was remarkable. But there is an even more notable instance on record of the value of that policy. It was' a great Australian side for Which Victor Trumper and Duff used to open the batting. It was not merely that, these two men gave Australia an encouraging start in the first hour of the match. That was value of sorts, it is true. The supreme advantage of tho . success of the policy was that it knocked "the best, bowlers opposed to them off their pitch—indeed, off their perch. I have said that Jack White rather enjoys boing hit, but I cannot' name one bowler in thirty who indulges in this kind of ,• enjoyment. Nor .were theie many who did in the TrumpcrDuff days. . Indeed,' except Wilfrid and Tom Bichardson, I can hardly mention one. The case for the number one hitter grows stronger in England this season. Our best bowlers now have no experience at all of being "got at" at once. Having been mauled at' the' start, they practically never get back during the innings. It is to' the huge moral advantage of the policy of initial attack that I pin my faith. We are aptj.to bo over-technical in the making of. our' cricket dispositions. The moral .in my. judgment will always take precedence of the technical, and a cricketer is first a human being and only secondly a cricketer. dacAe's fast scoring. Dacre got at the Gloucestershire bowlers at once and in the first quarter of an hour of the innings he had scored 50 out of C3. Was it a mere accident or ■ incident in the circumstances that his side got 415 for nine wickets? In ray--view it was a nice and an exact illustration of the doctrino of cause and effect. Dacre hit four sixes. I have seen him do the six hit on several occasions.. But Dacre's chief claim on cricket history will not be hi undoubted capacity, to lift, the ball over the ropes. A good many batsmen have done, can do, and will do that. Dacro makes readily and exactly one stroke which I think is quite his own. It is an exceptionally valuable one. What to-day (when batsmen are glued to the crease) is regarded as a goodlength ball I regard as 'being on tho short side. .It is not short enough, to turn and' pull, as, for instance, Hobbs pulls the ball which is first short of a good length. Dacre' deals .with this barl ia.a way;' which'is peculiarly his.

own. He face's the bowler, he does not turn his body, but he forces that ball to the boundary in between forward shortleg and mid-on. It is four every time. What is the result? The wretched bowler -is compelled to pittfh them up, and then, Dacre uses his driving power. The bowler thus is be?voen the devil and the deep sea. P. G. 11. Fender deals with this particular ball in quite another way. lie also faces the bowler, firm footed, when .ho ..makes;'th'e stroke: But he then sends the ball-one side or the other of cover-point. However, as there must needs be more fieldsmen on the off-side than on the. on, Daci'e's is (and nmgt be) the more paying method. -Of'course, Dacre's desire to hit sometimes outruns his discretion —he has just got another hundred by the way —but if he can adjust the differences now existing between his inclinations and his judgment, I think he may rank as the most phenomenal batsman the cricket world has seen since poor Victor Trumper died. s