CRICKET

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 11, 14 January 1933, Page 18

CRICKET

ByZ"Not Out" MORE NEW TALENT

WELLINGTON'S REPRESENTATIVES

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

.Although Wellington is out of the running for possession of the Plunket Shield, interest in the performance of the local representatives is still maintained; in fact, there has been a considerable amount of discussion on the question of team changes. Wellington's final; Shield engagement is with Auckland, and the match is to be played at Auckland commencing next Friday. The Wellington selectors have.made several changes in the team, and in doing so they have taken the wise course of giving some more of the promising younger players the opportunity of gaining experience in what is regarded as big cricket. It cannot be said that Wellington's strongest team is'going North. While there is satisfaction in the fact that some more of the young players are getting their chance, it is to be regretted that such a reliable and solid opening batsman as Foley has not been included in the side. There is no doubt that Dempster's performance has been affected to some extent by the fact that he has been without such an experienced batsman to partner him in giving the side a start. Tindill's selection is overdue. This bright young left-hander, whatever he does at Auckland, should, make good in big cricket. The same is to be said of other young players who are being given their chance this season, and there are plenty of others to follow. For the future, Wellington should look to these young players, and see that no opportunity is.lost of giving them the encouragement they deserve. The need of a leg-break bowler has been felt this season, and this has brought younc Freeman,.of Nelson College, into the team for Auckland. He has done well as a JSelson representative, but he will -a ;i a,Ce^ d^went opposition at Auckland This will be his big test, and it will be interesting to see whether he is ready- for first-class' cricket. -The string f * ? Ce-a °f aMi«<""H • !^ tr| n| th ' a]id the.inclusion of Newman andvParsloe_ should go a long way toward supplying the want. To some ex?L™ Sld<» is experimental, but it SfrW 6 W°rth wMle■* the process o! bmldmg up a. new side, which Wellington mil need in the near future. Badcock's Injury. F Ti<SA Oth, e ? v tago-Wellington match, •J* Badcock > the Otago captain-coach tf ? 6 writ"-tl£t-he Pwa 3 likely a damaged forefinger. It was suggestnJ? ??* the finS°r *<* the appearanw of having been broken, b£ fnvT™ v ld *# think that there was ™W £ ii ? l n bone ' ana it; now transence had a similar experiC-. There could be; no better illustration th- e ..keenness, of. Eadeoek than f n La X that at has now been tWwr^ aIV he Pla>'ed throughout thefWelhngton and Auckland matches with a broken right forefinger (states the cricket contributor to the "Otago Daily Times"). The injury was received when he.was batting against L. Silver at Logan Park on the Saturday to c team's departure for the North.^ Badcoek then thought that the Singer had only been bruised, but during the match in Wellington a doctor toldi him that it was probably fractured. Badeock was unable to use his forefinger w/either of the Plunket Shield matches --a serious handicap—but he was fortunately able to spin the ball with- his third finger. -It is probable that the injury had something, to do with his early dismissal ia the Auckland match When he hit a ball for four—one of the hardest shots of the match—he jarred his finger badly. Otherwise the ball off which he was caught would probably have been hit much harder.. An examination after the Auckland match showed that the finger was broken, and it: is now ; in splints. Badcoek may not be able to. play for. the next two weeks, but he will be available for the match against Canterbury. Noble's Comment. In expressing his opinions of the play m the second Test match, M. A. Noble, former Australian captain, said Australia had the weakest tail on record Unfortunately the, English bowlers were a menace to every batsman except Bradman, Woodfull, Richardson,' and Fingleton. Although some of Australia's batsmen did not show much fighting spirit, he did not wish' to detract from the merits of the English bowlers, to whom great credit was due for their excellent work. Hammond did a lot of skilful and accurate bowling. The captaincy of Jardine, who handled his bowling well, was commendable, the fieldsmen being astutely placed to give the maximum aid to the . bowlers. It was indeed a remarkable game—one of the most extraordinary, - m its :flucttfations, in the history of Test matches. He was confident the wicket was not responsible at-any time for the poor scoring. A few balls from O 'Reilly and Ironmonger turned a little, and were dangerous, but in the main the ball went straight through. Undoubtedly the bowlers won the game. The advent of O'Reilly in international cricket was cause for gratification. Well as Ironmonger and Wall bowled, it was O'Reilly's consistency, accuracy, and judgment that put Australia in a winning position. Woodfull handled his bowling well, except that he worked O Reilly too long at one period. He placed his field well, and his men rt» sponded to every call with enthusiasm. This victory would imbue the remaiader of the Test matches with enormous interest, but he would not like to forecast which side would win the feries. Test Incidents. ■ Commenting upon the first day's play in the recent cricket Test match between England and Australia, a Melbourne writer stated:—Anninusual proceeding was H. Larwood's retirement from the field on four occasions on account of a defect in one of his boots. Altogether, he was off the field of play for about an hour, while efforts werebeing made to repair the damaged boot, his place being taken on each occasion by E. Paynter, the twelfth man. Larwood was subjected to much banter and hooting by a section of the crowd, while others derived much amusement from the antics of the fast bowler. Another incident that was exceedingly humorous occurred shortly'after the game had started. After two overs had been bowled a. defect was found in the ball and the umpires left the arena to get a suitable one to replace it. A delay of nine minutes occurred, and when the umpires returned with a new ball the two captains, to tfie intense amusement of the crowd, indulged in a game of "tip and catch" to make the ball as much as possible like the one discarded, a most unique proceeding in a serious Test match. Chapman's Feelings. Answering a. radio telephone call by the " ; Daily Telegraph" (Sydney), the former captain.of England, Percy Chapman, speaking from England on the

second Test result, said: "It's a great win for you. Everybody here is delighted at your magnificent record. "I still think that England has the better side," he declared, when asked for his view about the winning of the rubber. He left it at that. "My first words when I heard the news were, 'Good God!'" Chapman added. "It was 4.30 a.m. to-day, and a cold morning too. The 'Daily Mail' rang me up at my home in Surrey— though I play for Kent I live in, Sur- ; rey—and told me that England was' all out for 139. I had been sleeping soundly till the telephone bell rang, •but I slept no more. And, like many, others, I was too excited to eat much breakfast. "Everybody hero is exceedingly pleased at Bradman's success. We were all excessively sorry at his bad luck earlier. Please congratulate Woodfull and the other Australians for me, and tell Woodfull that I wish that I could congratulate him. in person. Tell him that there is tremendous excitement here, and that everybody is glad that he has done so magnificently." Then Chapman's purely cricketing instincts got the better of him. "What was the wicket really like?" he asked. When assured that it was really not so bad—at least in patches—he said, "Well, well!" Fingleton's Views. "It can be:done" was the inscription on a lapel badge that an Australian admirer sent in to each member, of our team when things were looking very black—and jt was done (writes Jack Fingleton, of the Australian Eleven^ in. commenting on the second Test). No one but the members of the team will ever know what an uphill battle this has been. "Probably nover before in' Australian cricket history h»B there been such a campaign by ignorant critics to make our - officials and players panicky. But we have the laugh on them. Our victory was not accepted in our dressing-room, in a boasting spirit, but we did, and pardonably, gloat in . our victory over many of the critics. I say emphatically that it was ourbowlers, and. not the wicket, that caused the English rout. "We all think' that Bill O'Eeilly is an out-and-out champion, and I have a sneaking suspicion that there are a few of the M.C.C. men who will bear with /us in that contention. Never were there three more hearty and ringing, cheers than those which we gave when Vie. Richardson gave the call, "Three cheers, chaps, for good "old Woody."- , N.Z. Ladies' Championship. . The, Wanganui Carnival Committee has decided to inaugurate a New Zealand ladies' cricket championship, matches to be played from 20th to the 25th February. A valuable shield has been donated by Mr. M. Mosdable, of Auckland, to be known as the "Amalgamated Theatres Ladies' Cricket Shield."- The competition will be open to any town, city, or district representative team. Trades teams will not be eligible under their firms' names, but may be entered as representing their district. Further particulars may be obtained/from the secretary of the Wanganui Carnival Committee' Notes. . It was a pity the Hutt-Petoue match could not have lasted long enough for a decision" one. way or-the other on the first innings, as there was much speculation, as to whether Hutt could maintain- their unbeaten record when opposed to Dempster, Allcott, ana company. In Petone V reply to Hutt's 292 three wickets had been lost and Dempster: was just getting under way. Beferring to a report that an offer of a position had been made to him by a Sydney boot firm, and that he might settle in Australia, Maurice Tate, the Sussex bowler, said that although certain conversations had taken place, he did not regard them in the light of a definite offer. Tate said that only a few months' ago he entered irito ai reaewal. of his contract to play for Sussex, and that contract still had about two years and a half to run. Headed ''Bare Specimen, "a recent "Daily Mail"-cartoon by, Tom Webster depicts ■ a colossal pigeon-toed, cross-eyed duck in an Australian cap being dragged ■ across the Melbourne Museum stage by a gloomily-attired undertaker. The .exhibit is labelled, "No, 3' Pair . Dinkum." A horrorstricken. Australian mother in the foreground drops a boomerang and clutches the_ hand of her .startled offspring, exclaiming: "Come along, little one; donftrstay to.look at this exhibit. It's Bradman's duck!" :'•' It was'a .coincidence that Bradman's 103 (not out) in the second innings of the Melbourne Test represented his average score for Tests with England. According to a cabled report from England: the Football Association secretary (Sir Frederick Wall) told:the "Daily Mail" that he regarded Bradman's score as one of the finest achievements in cricket history. It was a magnificent performance in. view of the worry and anxiety. He would like Bradman to know that 'some people in: England unconnected with cricket can appreciate his triumph. " over most unusual difficulties. Speaking of. the second Test at Melbourne, W. M. Woodfull, the Australian captain, told how he had been subjected to cries from the barrackersi to change the bowling during Wyatt's and-Allen's dogged stand. It was a spin bowler's wicket, however, and he felt that he bad to pin his faith on that type of bowling. It bore fruit. ■ The Melbourne Cricket Club initiated a shilling fund for. the purpose of presenting Mrs. Bradman with a memento of her husband's performance in the second innings of the Melbourne Test. Withm a few days the amount of the contributions reached £120. ' A Dunedin message states that Dickinson, who was not: available for Otago's. Plunket Shield match with Wellington and who was afterwards dropped from the team against Auckland, has been chosen for practice in view, of the match with Canterbury It is stated that he will probably replace Elmes. • . ■ Matheson, who is on holiday in Dunedin, will' leave in time to take his place in the Auckland team' against Wellington. Mercantile League. The intergrade Mercantile League matches on Monday week promise to be full of interest, particularly that between the A and B grades. The defeat of the A's last year has given the B grade players plenty of confidence, and the A'a are determined to avenge last year's defeat. Many of the more prominent players who were not available for the game with Wanganui will be, taking part, and the general allround form displayed in the match on the 23rd should be even better than that shown at the Basin Eeserve over the New Year. Although the selectors are bound to choose what they consider the best possible team in each case, it would be a popular move if eleven players other than those engaged in the Wanganui match were chosen for this occasion. One or two who are practically certainties for the main games could very easily bo omitted without any reflection on their capabilities, and a good opportunity would be afforded for trying out some new blood. The transfer of Mr. H. J. Lawrence to Whangarei has left a gap that it will be hard to fill, and although numerous successors are offering, the committee have wisely placed the matter in the hands of Mr. G. Mann, whose allround business knowledge and keenness in cricketing affairs mako him well fitted for the part. Mr. Mann will act until the annual meeting in September, when a new secretary can be ofßeially appointed if necessary.