SPORT IN BRITAIN

Evening Star, Issue 21822, 11 September 1934, Page 4

SPORT IN BRITAIN

(From Our English Coiiiiespondext,]

LONDON, August 2. LAWN TENNIS. As Mr Dwight Davis sat watching the enthralling play in tho challenge round of the Davis Cup competition at Wimbledon lie must have reflected happily on the impetus his gift had meant to tho game, not only in the United States and Great Britain, but, one may say, all over the world. When the trophy was presented in 1906 neither Mr Davis nor anybody else imagined that well within thirty years players would light for its possession from every quarter ol tho globe. To make the gift was an inspiration for which lawn tennis enthusiasts, whether champions or rabbits. can never be sufficiently grateful. To look round at the 17,000 spectators who crowded into tho centre court at Wimbledon on Tuesday afternoon to watch the match between Fred. Perry and Frank Shields, which was to settle the destination of the cup for the next twelve months, gave one a feeling of satisfaction that so many could be got together to see what high-brow cynics would have called a “ mere game.” But what a game. Perry having beaten S. B. Wood by 3 sets to 2, and H. W. Austin having, it must be confessed, somewhat unexpectedly overthrown Shields in three straight sets on Saturday afternoon, America found herself right “ up against it.” As anticipated, she bore away the doubles, G. I*. Hughes and H. G. N. Lee failing after a gallant fight against G. M. Lott and L. 11, Stoeffen by 3 sets to 1. So that when Perry and Shields stepped on to the court Groat Britain required but one more match to repeat her successes of 1906 (at Wimbledon), 1913 (Melbourne), and 1933 (Paris). It is not using the language of hyperbole to say that none of those present can ever have seen a more deterhiined fight. Shields showed far better form than he had done against Austin: and Perry was, well, just Perry. Much brilliant tennis was seen, and, if the play did not always touch the same high note, who could be surprised, for the match ran on for nearly two and a-half hours in boiling heat, and both men had to draw on almost the last ounce of their reserve of stamina. One can discount the tales that went round afterwards as to Perry’s suffering from a strained back. The injury must have been trifling indeed for him to have gone through the gruelling exertion. When the players started on that vital fourth, set, .with Perry leading 2 to 1, Shields showed that he was not to be disposed of without the hardest of fights! As fortune fluctuated until the games stood at ,13 all) the most hardened of us almost .shook with excitement. Still, admirers of the champion, looking at his calm, confident play, , always felt that his superior steadiness and self-reliance would give him the ultimate victory, though that did not prevent us, as patriotic Englishmen, from leaping to our feet when he ran out a winner by 15 to 13. After that Austin’s match with Wood came as an anti-climax. Depressed, perhaps, by his countryman’s defeat, Wood was scarcely the Wood we know. AH the game Austin deserves. the utmost credit for his brace of wins, and wo must not allow his triumphs to bo overshadowed by the more spectacular: success of his ally. Nor must one fail to pay a high tribute to the sportsmanship of the conquered. Deeply disappointed as they must have been, they were splendid in the manner in which they accepted defeat. We take off our hats to a band of happy sportsmen. ATHLETICS. As, owing to this being Empire Games year, Great" Britain will not be represented in the European Games next month her athletes will have had few opportunities of meeting Continental rivals. On August 12 a small team, will visit Amsterdam, where, among other events, W. R. Bonthrou, L. Boccali, J. E. Lovelock, and J. F. Comes may meet at 1,500 metres. At Colombes last week-end Great Britain gained her third- successive victory and her ninth in the whole series of eleven encounters with France. It was tho track men who made the 66} points to 53J points triumph possible, and our men filled the first three places in the 200, 400, and 800 metres races, and supplied the winner in the 100 metres, I, metres, hurdles, and relay. On tho track Great Britain registered 54J points to France’s 12; in the field she had 12 to France’s 41}, her only success coming in the high jump. , Australia and New Zealand may have an opportunity of seeing some of the winners next spring, for the Amateur A.thletic Association are taking steps to respond to an invitation which has been received for four of our leading athletes to visit the Antipodes. CRICKET. When test matches momentarily retire from tho stage we concentrate our interest on the county championships, and with the Australians playing two holiday fixtures against Durham ami Scotland, and no doubt enjoying them immensely, we are able to follow the fortunes of Sussex in her gallant attempt to become champions for tho first time since there lias been a recognised coinpetition. At the moment tho Southrons are faltering slightly. So far they have escaped defeat throughout the season, but during the past week they have “lost on the first innings ” ‘to both Kent and Warwickshire, and so have netted only sis points out of a possible thirty, which leaves them still at the head of the table with a percentage of 63.33. Sussex have eleven wins to their - credit, and so have Lancashire, though the three defeats the northerners have sustained have reduced their percentage to 59.13. Victories over Gloucester and Leicester since last Friday have made a big difference to the Lancastrians’ outlook, and they are hopeful of overhauling Sussex during this, the closing month of the season. Yorkshire, who stand third, defeated Worcester readily enough without Sutcliffe, Mitchell, Verity, and Leylaud (playing at Lord’s), but even with these four stalwarts back in tho side they had. to be content with a draw , against Notts after compelling the latter to follow on. It is a great honour for Derbyshire, one of the “ little ” counties, to fill fourth position. Rain robbed them of a victory over Surrey, and they made no mistake in beating Hampshire by ten wickets. It was a pity the interest aroused by tho test matches detracted from the eagerness usually shown to watch Gentlemen v. Players, for in the long scries there can have been fewer better games than that played at Lord’s last week. After an oven first knock— Players 203, Gentlemen 277—Patsy Hcndren, who captained the professionals, took a sporting chance when, ho declared his side’s second venture at 245 for five. Tho Gentlemen had only 140 minutes to make the 232 runs. R. E. S. Wyatt 104 not out and C. F. Walters 79 rose nobly to the occasion and actually hit up ICO in eighty minutes in tljfiir opening partnership.

After that it was plain sailing, and the Gentlemen won by seven wickets — a most notable triumph. FOOTBALL. ■ Association football will soon be with us. Already the staffs of the professional clubs have reported for training, and here and there one sees enthusiastic amateurs indulging in a “ kick about ” in anticipation of the season. The League champions, Arsenal, mean to make a great effort at a tim'd consecutive success, and to that end have secured the services of G'lasgow Rangers’s international forward, Dr Marshall, who, \ despite his nine years of first-class football,, may bo expected to render invaluable help. 'Tottenham Hotspur do not intend that their North London rivals shall take all the limelight, and are in process of erecting a costly stand which will accommodate many thousands of spectators and bring the holding capacity of the ground up to 78,000. ROWING. A very well-known hurdler failed to appear in the amateur championships, the reason being that after tho entries closed ho found his entry form in his pocket, he having forgotten to post it. His non-appearance in the big event of the year did not prevent his being chosen to represent England in the Empire Games on his general form. A somewhat similar mishap attended the holder of the Wingfield Sculls, L. F. Southwood, who did not submit his entry because he thought that, as holder, he would automatically bo entitled t to compete, as, indeed, he would have been in certain pastimes. The committee later said Southwood might scull, but ho stood down. There were only two starters for the sculls, which are contested over tho historic Putney to Mortlake course. Appropriately enough, the honour went to a member of this year’s winning Cambridge crew, C. R. Buckle, who, despite the head wind and choppy water, showed, extremely good form against his rival, F. G. Coles. RACING. Goodwood was as glorious as ever when the meeting opened with sunshine and a popular winner of that important sprint handicap, the Stewards’ Cup. The top-weight, Coroado, was well backed and started favourite, but he' never showed prominently, and it was left to W. J. Leach’s Figaro, Bst 51b, to fight it out with Alluvial and Freemore, eacli of whom carried Bst 131 b. W. Leach, "who trained the colt himself, was a jockey until three of four years ago. The hard going is still causing cautious owners to withdraw their horses,' and some of the races at Goodwood have been “ thin ” indeed. Recent thunderstorms have made little or no difference to the state of the turf, and those responsible for valuable bloodstock are, like nearly everybody else in longing for steady rain. BOXING.

Open-air boxing continues to appeal, and there must have been quite 15,000 spectators at Liverpool to watch the fight between Ned Tarleton and Seaman Watson for the feather-weight championship of Britain. "It was a fluctuating contest, neither man asking for or giving quarter. Boxing the final rounds at a terrific speed in an effort to knock his opponent out, Tarleton all but succeeded in his object. Watson managed, however, to stay the fifteen rounds, at the end of which Tarleton -was adjudged the winner, thus regaining the title he lost to Watin the spring of 1933. '