M.C.C. TOUR

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 94, 22 April 1935, Page 8

M.C.C. TOUR

TEAM FOR NEW ZEALAND

MATCHES IN AUSTRALIA

It is expected that at the half-yearly meeting of the New Zealand Cricket Council this week more light will be thrown on the coming tour of New Zealand by an M.C.C. team. The council has been in touch with the Australian Board of Control regarding the tour in the hope of completing arrangements for the team-to play in: Australia on its way to New Zealand, a procedure which, no doubt,.would be very helpful, as it was in the case of Harold Gilligan's team, in the matter of financing the tour. The board, in turn, has referred the matter to the State cricket associations. On its way to New Zealand in the 1929-30 season Gilligan's M.C.C. team played five matches in Australia, and through the generosity of the Australian authorities, the New, Zealand Council profited from them to the extent of £2456 13s 2d, a sum which enabled the council, after refunding £1600 to the M.C.C. as profes-^ sionals' expenses, to show a net profit of £12 12s lid on the tour. Next season's undertaking will grobably present a heavier burden financially, and support from Australia will be extremely valuable. At a recent meeting of the Victorian Cricket Association a letter was read from the New Zealand Cricket Council stating that negotiations had been completed for a visit to New Zealand by a team similar in calibre to Gilligan's team of 1929-30. The council was agreeable to the team travelling through Australia and playing the different State teams. It realised that an Australian team would be in South Africa at the time, and that on that account the financial success of the matches would be problematical. It wished, therefore, to ascertain the views of. the Board of Control on'the matter. To that letter the board had appended a footnote asking that members bring the subject before the respective associations and report to the board: It was indicated also that 75 per cent, of the "gates" at matches played in Australia by Harold Gilligan's team on its way to New Zealand had been contributed towards the cost of the tour, th 6 financing of which was handled by the New Zealand Cricket Council. The chairman of the Victorian Association (Mr. W. Is. Kelly) expressed the opinion that any match against a firstclass English team was a drawing card. The executive committee, however, feared that a match next season with the M.C.C. team on its way to New Zealand would adversely affect the Sheffield Shield matches, but as it wished to help New Zealand cricket it recommended that the match be played. He moved accordingly, on the understanding that the proportion's of the profits be two-thirds, to New Zealand and one-third to Victoria. It was decided to approve of the match, and, on the amendment of Dr. R. L. Morton, it was agreed that the full 75 per cent, of the profits be given to New Zealand. A motion by Mr. A. E. Liddicut that the match be approved only if it did not interfere with the pennant programme lapsed for, want of a seconder.