GRADING OF TEAMS

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 96, 20 October 1931, Page 13

GRADING OF TEAMS

CRICKET CLUB'S COMPLAINT

MARIST AND COLLEGE

When classifying the entriea received tor this season's club championship competitions, the Wellington Cricket Association's Management Committee decided to place Wellington College in the second grade and include the Marist first eleven in the next grnde. A deputation from the Marist Club. Messrs. M. J. Crombie, W. IT. Cudby, and W. Vaney, approached the committee last evening to protest against this decision, but after considering a numbet oi proposed solutions to.the difficulty, the committee decided to adhere to its original decision. The deputation also had a request to make with regard to practice -wickets at the Basin Reserve. Speaking for the deputation, Mr. M. J. Crombie said that two years ago the Marist Club won the junior B and junior C competitions, and, as a result, the teams were promoted. Last year the club had {earns in the junior A, B, and C grades. The performances, he thought, fully justified the promotion. Although finishing eighth, the junior A team had done well nga.inst the leading teams, and had finish ed above two of the teams that had been kept in the grade. The prospects were that the team would be stronger this year than last. He felt that it would be ad mit'ted that it was o serious matter to demote a team unless its form justified the step. With regard to the- college team, he doubted whether it would prove strong enough for the grade. Both in football and cricket it had been apparent m re<ent years that the standard of play in the highest junior grades had risen above the school teams' capabilities. The effect of the committee's decision had been to l»»t the Marist Club's second eleven down two grades, and the third eleven down one grade ; Mr. Crombie also referred to the fact that Marist had been deprived of a practice wicket at the Basin Reserve, although he admitted that that did not seem to lie the mult of the committee. BOYS ENCOURAGED. Supporting the previous speaker, Mr. Cudby drew attention to the part the Marist Club played in fostering cricket among boys. It was one of the few clubs to enter teams in the Boys' Association. Replying to the deputation, the chairman. Mr. P. B. Broad, said that the posi tion ■in regard, to the practice wickets was that some months ago two wickets had been laid down in Oamaru soil as an experiment, and these would not be available until the middle of December, when they would be used by the representative players. In the meantime two of the regular wickets had to be kept for the. coach, but an effort was being made, to have two additional wickets prepared, and it was hoped that these would soon be at the disposal of the Marist and Railway Clubs. . . ■ In regard to the deputation's main complaint, he said that Wellington College was regarded as the chief source of the local cricketers of the future, and'it would have to: be fostered in every possible way. If Marist were promoted to the second grade, another team would also have to be put up, making 12 teams in the grade. Next year's committee might decide to revert to 10 teams, and then the lowest two would have to go down. Mr. L. J. Brabin' considered that the time had arrived for the right to play in the second grade to be decided according to the success of the" teams. The present trouble had occurred each year for the past three years, and was likely to continue in the future if the matter were not dealt with effectively. As chairman ot the Junior Championship Committee, Mr. Brabin said, after the deputation had withdrawn, that if 12 • teams were allowed in the second grade there would bo sufficient playing Saturdays to enable all the clubs to meet one another. He recommended that both Hospital and Marist should bo raised to the second gr.ide and the clubs advised that the two lowe&t teams of the four from other thansenior clubs—Wellington College, Hospital, Mfu'ist, and Karori—should go down at the end of this season.

Air. E. C. Wiren considered that the time had come when the number of teatqs. in the junior as well as in the senior grade would have to be restricted. •■■•_•-•' A motion by Mr. J. S. Hanna that; the second grade should be the junior A: grade of last year was" lost, and on the motion of Mr. R. A. Whyte it was decided to adhere to the committee's original decision to replace Marist by Wellington College in the second grade.