SPORT IN BRITAIN

Evening Star, Issue 22686, 28 June 1937, Page 7

SPORT IN BRITAIN

[From Our Correspondent.], LONDON, May G. • 'athletics. After his recent slight breakdown in training, which kept him out of the indoor championships, _ A. G. K. Brown announced his intention of giving | up sprinting altogether. The decision is a wise one. Few sprinters, once they have- experienced a in , the muscle at the back of the thigh, can be sure that it will not go again, and the mishap all too frequently comes, at a ■ time when-the sprinter has most at stake. There was,, for instance, the case of that brilliant Scottish .runner, Dr F. P. Reid, who . travelled 13,000 miles with the British Olympic team of 1932 and ran 30yds. Brown is a wonderful sprinter—he shares with Eric Liddell the British -record of 9.7 sec for 100yds—but it.is at a quarter-mile that ho has-gained greatest distinction. G. L. Rampling’s British best of 48sec, which was'made at the Empire Games in 1934, seems within Brown’s compass whenever he has conditions in his favour. ■ His .more immediate objective is the 300yds record , held by another old- Cambridge University athlete, G. M. Butler, who at Stamford Bridge in 1936 ran the distance in 30.6sec.' On May, 17 Brown ‘ will attempt to set up new figures in. a specially-framed handicap. Two of the runners,. all of whom will be in receipt of starts from Brown, will -be W. Roberts, who until beaten by Brown in the quarter-mile championship last July was , considered by many good judges the better men, and our sprint champion, A.. W. Sweeney. Although the latter has accomplished many fine performances at 220yds, his form at 300yds. is more or less an unknown quantity, and one doubts his ability to stay the distance. However, he, Roberts, and others may be depended upon to bring the best out of the would-be record-breaker. billiards. If it had not been for Joe Davis’s flashes of brilliance one might have called the final for the United Kingdom billiards championship a dull affair. Nobody expected that Tom Newman would prove capable of giving hjs younger opponent a close game. It is true that in-several of the 24 sessions over which the deciding match extends Newman scored more than his- rival, and had three breaks of more than /00. Davis, on the other hand, had three four-figure breaks and just missed a fourth. He - got right, away in the first week and established so clear a lead that Newman’s task always looked hopeless; the final score was 21,833 to 17,458 in the Chesterfield player’s favour. Nothing short of_ a match between Davis and Walter Lindrum will satisfy those who want to see the Englishman get his revenge for the defeat which the Australian inflicted upon him when they last met for the championship..

BOXING. Peter Kane has gone a step further towards the crown of his ambitions—the fly-weight championship. Quite correctly the Board of Control decided that before the wonderful little man from Golborne, Liverpool, could go into the ring against the holder, Benny Lynch, lie must dispose of other contenders in eliminating bouts. A week ago only two of these stood in his way. Now they are reduced to one, for pitted against Phil. Milligan 'lane showed himself the better tactician, the more skilful boxer, and, the harder puncher ; —in a word, the complete master of his art. Only Jim Warnock, the Irishman, now stands between Kane and Lynch, The Scot has put up some fine fights in reaching his present high honour. He will need to show superlative form to conquer the ,19-yea-r-old boy from Lancashire. Milligan never looked like doing it, for, although the fight went 11; rounds, when Milligan’s seconds threw in the towel, it was thoroughly one-sided from the start.The big crowd at the Albert Hall for the match between English and Irish amateurs was as keenly enthusiastic as any of the big gatherings that have . been seen there for professional bouts. There was much fine boxing, carried out with a vim and wholeheartedness that did one good to see. Perhaps it was just as well that the contest, for eight , first strings and six second strings on each side, resulted in a- tie, for in nearly every bout the result was'as close as could be wished, and the referee’s verdict decided the issue on no fewer than six occasions. CRICKET. One sympathises with the New Zealand cricketers on having missed the Cup Final, next to the Derby the most spectacular and, one might say, popular of British sporting events. They must console themselves with watching the King’s Coronation, at which they will be privileged spectators. But the young and enthusiastic team from the Dominion are not here on a sight-seeing expedition. Cricket and, above all, the winning of a test match in England for the first time, is their mission. Within the short space of three hours of their arrival in London they were at net practice. On the match pitch an interesting match between M.C.C. and Yorkshire was in progress. Yet one or two of our leading cricketers stole away to the nets to watch M. L. Pago and his 14 companions having a “ kndek-up.” Only five of them have been to this country' before, but from what was seen of the_ old hands and the newcomers at practice it may safely be assumed that they will come through the long campaign, which starts with a match against Surrey at the Oval next Saturday, with every credit. We are launched on the county cricket campaign, and, judging by the early evidence, it is going to be bright and interesting. Three matches ended yesterday, and although one of them, Lancashire v. Derbyshire, was drawn, there was, as the descriptive writers say', “ not a dull moment throughout.” That Lancashire did hot lose against the new champions was in a great measure due to a great innings by that gallant little left-hander, Paynter, who hit up 150 in the County Palatine’s

second innings after Derbyshire had made their opponents follow on. There was excellent all-round batting in the champion’s total _ of 427, the tourist Worthington coming out top with 103 and that humorist of the cricket field, Tom Mitchell, astonishing himself and everybody else by hitting up 57. Until Tuesday Glamorgan had never beaten Kent, but they did so in no- halfhearted fashion. Dyson’s 104 out of a total 451 was made before lunch on the opening day, and so ranked as the first century of the season. This fine bai> ting was backed up by great work in the field. E. C. Jones took eight wickets for 80 and scored 61 runs in capital style. Amongst other things, he captured the wicket twice of the great Kentish batsman Woolley. Kent lost by no less than an innings and 152 runs. Sussex were almost as emphatic in their triumph over Worcester, the latter, going down by eight wickets. James Lahgridge had one wonderful spell of howling, when he took five wickets for 14 runs. Yorkshire can be depended upon for a titanic effort to recover the county championship. The fact that they lost to M.C.C. for the first time since 1907 is no indication that they will not succeed in their object. They certainly went down fighting in true Yorkshire style. M.C.C. had made 339 (R. W. V. Robbins was top scorer with 72) and 276 declared. A comparatively poor show by Yorkshire in their first innings, when they were put out for 210, left them to face a huge total in the fourth innings. The absence of their fellowcountryman, Bill Bowes, who has water on the knee, and upon whose services the M.C.C. have first claim, eased the situation somewhat, ■ Hutton in making 150 showed all the skill which has caused him to be described, as Yorkshire’s other Sutcliffe, and Maurice Leyland was his old self in putting together 69. Well as Yorkshire strove, the bowling of the Essex amateur J. W. L. Stephenson settled the issue, and M.C.C. won by 20 runs, a truly interesting game. Oxford have a grand bat in M. R. Barton. Gloucestershire’s bowling is by no means weak, but Barton hit rip 192 in great style. On the other hand, the two men in whom the county place most reliance, Barnett and Hammond, failed with the bat, except that in his second knock the great

Walter scored 59. So Barton’s contribution went far towards the eight wickets victory secured by the university. SOCCER. One football final.is very like another. There is the customary scramble for tickets of admission to a ground which holds 93,000 spectators when at least three times as many would like to be present. Partisans wear the colours of their 1 favourites, ring bells and make other outrageous noises, and everybody is out to -take part in what has come to be regarded as a great Soccer festival. Two records -were made last Saturday afternoon. Sunderland won the Cup for the first time after nearly 50 years’ . endeavour, and a Queen presented the cup to the captain of the conquerors. We go to Wembley expecting to bo disappointed in the standard of tho . play, and for the first '45 minutes we were. The nervous tension of such an ordeal plays havoc with the players, and most of the_ 22 in Saturday’s game were wild and aimless. It wag a different story in the second half. Just, as they had done against Millwall. in the semi-final Sunderland fell a goal behind, and if Preston. North End had taken all their chances the difference might have been greater. , After . crossing over, however, ;the men .from the Far North were' a different team. They showed the skill which niade them league champions in 1935-6, and had brought them out of several tight corners in the current cup campaign. Once they had drawn level we felt the issue was sealed. Until the final whistle it was nearly all. Sunderland, and the three goals scored did not exaggerate their superiority. Thus Sunderland followed Arsenal as champions of the league on© season and winners of the cup the next; . - . • . . Arsenal did' not have one of their best seasons. Thanks to the fine show of Charlton Athletic tbe_ older club had to be, content with third position in the league, and. the club, management will , have to do some hkrd thinking_ if Arsenal are . to be, restored to the pinnacle they have occupied in football. As for Charlton it has been a remarkable achievement to work their way from tbe third division to second place in the first in two seasons. They have been called a lucky team, but something more than luck is necessary to produce such a fine record. Everybody sympathises, with Sheffield , Wednesday over their relegation in company with Manchester United. Two years ago they were winners of the cup. Leicester City and Blackpool have well earned their return to the_ upper circle and tho second division will benefit by the inclusion of two such smart teams as Luton and Stockport County. RUGBY. Rugby football .finished a fortnight ago, but the climax of the professional game will not b© reached until Saturday, when. Widnes and Keighley meet in the final cup-tie. The Rugby League championship has gone to Lancashire through Salford, and it looks as if the more experienced side, Widnes, would bring the cup to the County Palantine also. George Nepia, who began his English career-with Streatham and has recently transferred his affections to th© Yorkshire club, Halifax, has returned: to his homo in New_ Zealand. Tho famous Maori full-badk is a popular figure in the field, and everybody hopes that he will return to the Old Country in the autumn, although Nepia has not made up his mind on the matter. GOLF. Sauntou golf course has many peculiarities, and the skill of the contestants for the English amateur

championship was tested to th© utmost. One by one tho fancied candidates fell by th© way until the final was left to bo fought out by two- old “ Blues,” L. G. Crawley, of Cambridge, and J. J. F. Penuink, of Oxford. Crawley is 33, his young rival 24, and as a past winner the former, by far the more experienced golfer, was ©xpected to regain tho title. His defeat by such a substantial margin as 6 and 5 over a 36-holo course came as a great surprise. ' This was Pennink’s _ first success in a national competition. His previous best performance was to win the West of England championship in 1935. Ho owed his victory over Crawley to the magnificence of his short game, marked by a delicacy of touch which was delightful to see. As for Crawley, disappointment is hardly the word to apply to his feelings with regard tohis own play. Knowing Crawley’s record as a cricketer and golfer one would scarcely have described him as temperamental, but ho said after his defeat that match play tried his nerves too highly, and that he would not compete again in a championship of this kind after the decision of the British amateur championship, though, as the open was decided on stroke play, he intended to take part in it. LAWN TENNIS, The hard court championships at Bournemouth did nothing to solve the difficulties of our Davis Cup selectors in finding a singles partner for H. W. Austin. The latter did all that was expected of him in winning the final against H. G. N. Lee without losing a set. In getting so far Leo did, however, show himself the second best singles qilayer at the meeting, and it is, perhaps, to bo regretted that Lee finds himself owing to the claims of business, unable to devote the time to tho intensive practice necessary for a Davis Cup player. As a doubles player F. H. D. Wilde was most impressive. In company, with C. E. Hare ho carried off tho championship,, beating the title holders, G. P. Hughes and C. R. D. Tuckey by 3 sets to 1. Miss Whitmarsh was Wilde’s partner in the mixed doubles, in the final of which they beat R. A. Shayes and Miss J. Saunders by 2 sets to love. A remarkable feature of this championship tournament was the fact that all five titles changed hands. Indeed, except for H. W. Austin none of tho successful competitors had previously won a hard court championship. . x