"A BETTER 'OLE"

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 75, 26 September 1944, Page 3

"A BETTER 'OLE"

LOCAL CRICKET SEARCH

STANDARD OF'PLAY

A proposal by Mr. J. Reid for the introduction of a special senior competition was discussed at some length at the annual meeting of the Wellington Cricket Association last night, as it had been at the annual meetings of senior clubs when .the details were given there by the sponsor. Club cricket as club cricket was good enough, said Mr. Reid, but when Wellington cricket came to be measured up with that of other provinces through the representative teams it was found that it stood deplorably low. It had to be improved. There were various ideas of how that should be done, said Mr. Reid. A reduction in the number of teams was all right if made voluntary and not compulsory; it was not satisfactory to drop some of the teams, and he questioned whether that would strengthen the senior competition, as if players were loyal -to their clubs they would go down with' them. If players were looking for their own advancement it would become impossible for derated teams to recover their status. His scheme was for a competition between four teams, specially selected on a district basis, and he contended that it would offer inducement to the players to advance to the top. It would mean sacrifice, and it would be made in the wider interests of cricket. The scheme was regarded by Mr. J. B. Watson as a genuine endeavour to overcome a weakness that had become apparent in Wellington cricket during the past few years. Mr. A. Ronaldson looked upon the scheme as one purely and simply for the improvement of representative cricket. He and various other speakers thought that the attempt at advancement should cover a much wider field, with special attention to the • younger players. Mr. T. Mullan thought that there should be a concentration on building up the improvement by developing the boys, as he felt that the ordinary club matches should be good enough for. qualifying for the representative teams. There was the fact also that each centre had its lean years. "A SECONDARY MATTER." The representative team, though important, was a secondary matter, said Mr. E, J. Aim in urging that there was no cause for panic. There were various factors to be considered in looking for means of improving cricket, were the wickets as good as they should be? Were the representative practices conducted properly? Those and other matters could be surveyed. "You will never get firstclass cricket until you get first-class practice wickets," said Mr. W. Hammond in suggesting that the clubs should get to it and see that the practice wickets were right. From the discussion it seemed, said Mr. W. P. Walker, that the clubs were not prepared to make the sacrifice as mentioned by Mr. Reid. In those circumstances the introduction of the scheme would only cause chaos. Another serious objection to it was the expense that would be entailed in providing material (not an easy problem these days) for the teams. The major cause of the decline, in the opinion of Mr. H. W. Osborn, was the deplorablp state of the practice wickets. The scheme was regarded by him as an h,onest endeavour to improve the standard of cricket, but it was by way of an expedient rather than- a remedy. Assistance should be 'given to tuition in the schools and, he suggested, there should be better supervision of cricket practices generally. Mr. J. D. Howitt (chairman of the management committee) thought that the time had come when more sacrifice should be made in the interests of the boys. Delegates expressed keen appreciation of Mr. Reid's endeavours to find a solution of the problem, but to many of them it had disadvantages. Mr. Reid agreed that if "a better 'ole" could be found he would go right into it. "

The motion, was lost on the voices,