A LOP-SIDED GAME

Evening Star, Issue 19175, 16 February 1926, Page 2

A LOP-SIDED GAME

IDOLS AND EVILS [By Donald Macdonald in the ‘Argus.’] So much is being written on the social and domestic side of cricket to the theme “ Sweethearts and Wives ” that one feels he should almost apologise for a reference to the game itself. What .1 wish to talk about at the moment is tiie lop-sided character of cricket today—and of Australian cricket more particularly, as demonstrated in a comparison between its batting and its bowling. It still takes three things at least to make a game of cricket—batting, bowling, and fielding, and one oi them has taken posession of it, not so much in running riot—which, on the spectacular side, would bo at least a forgivable sin—as in an attitude of grim, unswerving patience and method which is as successful as it is uninteresting. Looking back upon the chief events of the season, as far as it has gone, we find monumental scores and a pre'cession of hundreds which have become rather less a distinction than they used to be, and rather more a commonplace—something which, in a sense, might he considered almost a calamity. Is there not some risk of our being dazzled by these batting .achievements into a false sense of security, especially when you note that catches missed are in proportion to hundreds made, and that the howler suffers in both ways? The fact is, that with the conversion of the turf into concrete, the bat has complete command of the game, and only on occasions, when rain soaks through its overcoat, docs the wicket offer any other prospect to this gene-A-on of bowlers than chronic heartbreak. At one time it used to crumble a bit on the fourth day, but they have overcome it, out of consideration for the pampered darlings of the game, few or whom happen to be Joe Darlings. Cricket is no longer a battle with a reasonable time limit—rather a campaign, in which you sometimes .win by force, sometimes by attrition. THE UNBROKEN WICKET.

Tho problem,of Australian cricket at the moment is not run-maTdug,.but getting the other fellows out, for. something short of 400, which, in the light of this season’s events, would be a very fair achievement. South Australia itia'e 4(32 in their first innings, and lost ujo game easily, even if there was ; rent in the rainproof. The inference seems to be that of the kind that gets oatsmen in and not nearly enough of TT,e kind that gets them out. If tho next series of test matches wore to bo played upon Australian reinforced concrete, with a week or two set apart for •'■u-T, game, it Avon Id not matter greatly. TTal 'grimness, the unswerving will to wTh even il it takes the better part ot a fortnight, winch > Englishmen are pleased to consider a phase of our character and our cricket might still pull us through—if there were no rain. It has been suggested that we might seek a lemedy in making the wicket not quite so’good, but unhappily, that is a condition upon which there can neither he definition nor agreement. The batsmen will, as always in the past, dominate the situation, and cnlorce tho principle that what is good enough for them is good enough for the game especially as the cash returns of £5,000 fm the two holiday games indicates that it is also good enough for those who keep the game going as a sound commercial concern. Cricket is popular. Yet I fear that should it “ flop ” again, as it has done, before the recovery there will be long suffering. THE NATURAL BOWLER. The obvious fact is that to restore the balance in this very good and popular game of cricket we must discover more bowlers. If they are not to bo discovered ready made we should have better means of discovering the crude natural article, and afterwards polishing it to as great a perfection as it may achieve. The natural diamond has no'sparkle— tho lapidary brings _ that out. It is a curious contradiction in tho processes of cricket that, while a batsman is given years to complete his art, a howler is 'expected to spring full-armed into the lists ns a readymade and heaven-horn destroyer, although everything that rule and usage can devise is there to baulk and thwart him. I have no hesitation in saying that in the Goulbourn Valley at the present time is one of the best natural bowlers T have seen for years. He is now upon the point of retirement, but with hotter moans of discovery and development he would have been for years m the first flight and one of the best bowlers in the land. There are probably others, but they do not grow on every bush or live in every street, either in (own nr country, and, while we. are banking and investing thousands of pounds from cricket, there is neither money nor machinery for the discovery of the very factor which cricket most urgently needs. It may be said that Country Week at least gives the country cricketer his opportunity, but that is true only with an important reservation. Short of the positive genius, who occurs only once or so in a generation, it helps to discover only natural capacity, not finished effect, because (he conditions under which if is created and the conditions under which tho managers of cricket think it should be instantly proved are two different things altogether. It may he said that a special quest for new howlers is erfraordinary and unusual,_ but it was just bv such an extraordinary search for athletic skill and then the machinery to develop it to perfection that the'Americans won complete ascendancy in the Olympic Games. If anyone maintains that batting has not been systematised and nursed almost to perfection as far as the making of runs as a. first purpose is concerned, while bowling in the same period has been left to come or go as it pleases, he must have missed the obvious drift of tho game in the last few years. If the managers of the game are in some measure to olanie for it the public are, perhaps, more to blame, because they have set un tho bat as a sort of jossj to bo worshipped for success and flogged for failure. For the achievement of 100 runs—or, say, 200 now—they will have the ground ringing again with their cheers, while tho bowler who takes five or sis wickets receives a mildly encouraging pat on the hack for tho far greater thing which he has accomplished. Tho explanation of it, as I have suggested before, lies mainly in the fact that you may see not only what the batsman does, but exactly' how he does it, for in execution every art is revealed, while only three men in perhaps 30.000 —the two umpires and the wicketkeeper—can see all that a bowler is doing. Batting is the real spectacle, bowling only tho sideshow. ILLUSTRATION AND APPLICATION. The illustration of it all at tho_ moment, and tho application of pointed importance, are the selection of the Australian team for England. One wonders whether at the end tho selectors will just go with the crowd and complete tlie side by the addition of more plavers who can bat well and bowl occasionally, or boldly ignore special pleaders'and personal harrackors in going for that which tho side most urgently needs —the further fortification of its bowling. Hero two men stand out—neither,"it must bo admitted, very conspicuously, as having the best claims; yet 1 hardly expect to see either Scott or Blackie considered. They will possibly cling to the obsession that the jack of all trades is reallv master of all, and fortify their strength instead of their weakness. In that event the outlook will be interesting, although still all speculation. In the event of a wet season some of _ our length bowlers of the second division

may be able to get an English side out cheaply, yet not quite as cheaply as they may get us out, because they are equipped for that special condition, and from experience better able to take advantage of it without giving much away in experiments. A dry summer would perhaps better serve the unquestionable batting ,strength of the Australian side, with its special equipment in what may be fairly called trick bowling, though should the Englishmen adopt tile same wearing-down policy ns we do there limy be a great many drawn games. Should that occur—-and it is by no means unlikely—it will .be_ but one more demonstration that cricket has become a lop-sided game, especially with a side which has a few good fieldsmen, many who may be regarded as moderate, and rather too maiiv who are proving themselves weak. If the bowler seldom has our cheers let us be fair and offer him our sympathy. He needs it.