A MOMENTOUS SUMMER

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 99, 23 October 1936, Page 8

A MOMENTOUS SUMMER

Cricket chimes with summer as surely as the hum of the bee, but it is a special, cricket summer in these parts when the Englishmen come to Australia. Even at this distance the cricket fan at once warms up, awaits breathlessly the first meeting, of Hammond and Grimmett, and proceeds to deliver his inevitable armchair opinions. Some of flic most delightful games are played from an easy chair, and—most important! —at that game the athlete does not burn himself out. With a thrill which does not quite amount to palpitation of the heart, the fan notes the arrival of the invaders on the rim of the continent at Fremantle. He observes that the veteran Grimmett, the youth Badcock, and the experienced but still young McCabe, with their cohort, are gathered for defence at the gates of Australia, like Horatius at the bridge. In imagination he hears each stroke of Hammond's century—or, if he listens to broadcasts, he hears a good substitute for strokes. And presently he will be tracing the course of the invaders on then* way to Perth. War starts in earnest at Adelaide, which owes its place on the map to George Giffen, Clem Hill, and Joe Darling. One of the outstanding merits of the thrill derived by the New Zealand fan, in years when the Englishmen come to Australia, is that he gets it for nothing, or next to nothing. He need not go to Australia to see a match, for the Test matches are fought as much off the field as on it; and the fan forms a more satisfying idea of just how McCabe caught and bowled Worthington if he works it out in his imagination than if he sees the feat from a bad angle in the rear of a grandstand. Seeing is not always understanding; and understanding may be incompatible with seeing. Should the fan have the disposition of a Sydney barracker, He will be better off in his armchair than on the Sports Ground —better off from his own standpoint and everybody else's. Of course, this summer's cricket has hardly been sampled yet. "Just wait till Bradman enters!" To the reputation of sure-fire fieldsman and attacking batsman he now adds that of wizard captain, in evidence of which the "Sydney Morning Herald" quotes the trapping by Bradman and Ward of the astute McCabe on October 12: Before Ward began".his second over, Bradman called him into consultation. A fieldsman was transferred from the leg-side to the off/where a ring of six men was completed. McCabe calmly watched the plotting and outwitted it for that over. Bradman maintained the same field for the next over, and McCabe fell to a catch at cover-point. The strategy had succeeded. On the same authority, Bradman as a captain holds complete physical and moral control. Changes bowlers opportunely; "inspires his men by his own keenness"; is "supreme in the battle of wits." He seeks wickets as keenly as he seeks runs. He closes gaps in the field. And, if opportunities do not arise, he conscripts them. What more can any fan want?