OTAGO CRICKET.

Evening Star, Issue 22773, 7 October 1937, Page 10

OTAGO CRICKET.

■Among i the matters discussed at the meeting of the General Committee of the : Otago Cricket Association were two, which have been, the subject of much comment among players and followers of the great summer pastime. One of these concerns .the idea of instituting one-day matches in the local competition; the other centres on the all-important question of arranging for - adequate coaching facilities. The association has already come to a decision on the one-day games issue, and it. will be generally agreed that in rejecting the proposal it has decided wisely. Tbe precedent .of English League (professional) cricket is not apposite to the’situation in New Zealand, where fewer players than may be imagined are. able to take advantage of the • forty-hour week to the extent of being free all day on Saturdays. A suitable light for cricket, moreover, is not so lengthily preserved here as in England, whose fuller benefit from summer , evening, light is made . still more so by reason of artificial daylight saving of a whole hour’s duration.* It was shown by'a speaker at the meeting of the General Committee that, one-day cricket would not tend to brighten our game. On , the contrary, there are, so many obvious disadvantages that they hardly need reiteration. The qualities of brighter cricket, which seem to be the motive behind these recurring appeals for innovations, will have to cpme from the players themselves, encouraged by good wickets and sound coaches. In respect to grounds, it is pleasing to note from an authoritative source that Logan Park, where so many wickets are located, has never looked better at the start of the summer season. For the fostering of stylish batting and confident fielding it is important that pitches and outfields alike, for all grades, should be kept at a high standard.

The association has still to arrive at a decision over its coaching arrangements. Were its funds in the healthy condition which is no more than the due of a sports body that deserves every success, it would be an easy task to make arrangements for adequate coaching. Unfortunately it is true, as a prominent member of the association remarked, that finance has to be handled carefully. It is evident from the discussion, however, that most of the members are determined not to allow the useful groundwork put in by F. T. Badcock to be wasted. It is realised that some system of coaching will,have to be maintained, and, if only as a temporary measure to tide the organisation over a difficult period, the suggestion that £SO or so should be spent on two local coaches, one for the north end and the other for the south end, has a great deal to commend it. If, from the monetary point of view, Otago cricket is not very well provided for, it is distinctly rich in players who may be deemed to have reached the veteran stage, but who still take an active interest in the game. Many of them, indeed, are the products of ono of the brightest coaching eras experienced in Dunedin, for who does not remember Jack Crawford’s colts? It goes without saying that two suitable men could be found to build up team work and instil into the young idea the principles of correct and attractive cricket. Taking a longer view, members no doubt realise that a return to the professional all-rounder coach will have to be made at the earliest possible moment, which means just as soon as funds permit. It has been suggested that in the course of time the Otago Cricket Association and the Otago Football Association might choose to pool their coaching resources and share the expense of bringing a “ double ” out from Home. It is true that many first-class cricketers in the Old Country, are also talented Soccer

players, and from our point of view the completion of arrangements for engaging this type of all-rounder should be met with satisfaction. Whether an Englishman would be content to break home ties during both the cricket and football seasons might be another matter. Probably the remuneration would have to be large enough to serve as an enticement. Still, a feeler as regards, say, a three-year engagement for a suitable man could be sent out with some prospects of success