POSSIBILITY OF CURTAILMENT?

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 100, 30 April 1938, Page 23

POSSIBILITY OF CURTAILMENT?

NEW ZEALAND MENTIONED

A suggestion that there should be fewer visits to England by overseas teams is made by Sir Pelham Warner in his editorial notes in the spring issue of "The Cricketer." "The Test matches have in a sense 'killed' county cricket, just as county cricket in the past 'killed the All-England XI and the United All-England XI, who travelled from Cornwall to Scotland playing local XVIIIs and XXIIs," he writes.

"The matches between England and Australia in England grow yearly in public favour. In 1921, £15,795 was distributed from the profits. In 1934, this figure had risen to £44,394. The position* is curious. The Tests 'kill' the interest in county cricket, and yet they provide the life blood of the counties. The Tests have obviously come to stay. The whole world is interested in them, and the high standard of skill and the tense atmosphere attract the crowd in tens of thousands; indeed, our grounds are not big enough to accommodate all who would wish to see the play.

"And yet Test match cricket is in danger of being overdone, and we would suggest a curtailment of the visits, not of Australia and South Africa, but of India, the West Indies, and New Zealand. The last season of purely inter-county cricket was as far back as 1925; the next will be in 1941."

Elsewhere in the issue reference is made to the retirement from cricket at the age of 56 of S. G. Smith, the West Indies, Northamptonshire, and New Zealand player. It is recalled that he and T. C. Lowry made their debut for Auckland in the same match in 1918. Smith scored 83 not out and took four wickets for 75 and Lowry scored 28 and 10.

A note is also included on the engagement by Northamptonshire of the Canterbury all-rounder, F. P. O'Brien, who will be qualified to play in county matches in July. "O'Brien should be an acquisition to Northamptonshire, as he is a forcing batsman with a wide range of strokes, a very useful medium pace change bowler, and a splendid fieldsman," it is stated.