THE FIELD OF SPORT

Evening Star, Issue 23745, 28 November 1940, Page 12

THE FIELD OF SPORT

[By Hooker.]

TOPICAL NEWS AND NOTES

Fine All-rounders. Stan. M’Cabe, Australian international cricketer, is at present shining as a billiards player, and apparently is far superior to the ordinary run of amateurs. M’Cabe is one of those fortunate men who can excel at any game. He is a fine golfer and, in fact, a grand all-round sportsman. Some are built that way. Vic. Richardson was a case in point. Lindsay Hassett excelled at cricket, football, golf, and tennis; Bill O’Reilly held the Dunn Shield hop, step, and jump record; Alan Kippax plays golf and tennis splendidly; Bradman is a star in any game, including billiards, and there are many others. Several have represented their State in cricket and football, although this seems to be more prevalent in the southern States. New Zealand Reps. On Service. ,On leave in Dunedin last week were two former New Zealand representative sportsmen who recently passed out of the Army School of Instruction, Trentham, and are now gazetted second lieutenants. They are D. A. R. Moloney, ex-Wellington and Otago representative cricketer, who has captained both Otago and New Zealand, and C. K. Saxton, who has represented Otago and Southland at cricket, and has played representative football for Otago, South Canterbury, Southland, and Canterbury, as well as winning All Black honours, Saxton skippered the Southland side in its successful defence of the Ranfurly Shield in 1939. F. W. Lucas Again. The reappearance of the agile Fred Lucas in Auckland interclub tennis (now playing for West End) is of interest (says the ‘ New Zealand Observer ’). Had he taken on tennis in his ’teens, and concentrated on it to the exclusion of other sports, Lucas would have been a potential national champion, as be has all requirements natural speed and fitness, an eye like a hawk, and the instinctive flair for ball games which makes the champion. But tennis in his young days was secondary to Rugby football. He played in summer for Kemuera, and gave glimpses of what a magnificent player he might have been, but golf, swimming, yachting, basketball, and latterly, surfing at Piha, all fhared his attention Now just on 40, he is still a “ ball of muscle ” in the true sense of the term, and his tennis does not appear to have deteriorated. The years when he might have developed championship form, however, are the years that the locust has eaten.

Davis Cup Finance. In the list of Miscellaneous charges against Australia’s share of the 1939 Davis Cup gate money ■were:—(l) a charge of 390'dollars (£94 Australian), to the Philadelphia Police Pensioners’ Fund; (2) a payment to high school boys hired to walk, barefooted, over the courts in search ot weeds. Delegates to the meeting of the Lawn Tennis Association of Australia in Sydney the other day protested against the charges. The chairman, Sir Norman Brookes, said it would be wise to accept the American statement of charges with the best grace possible since Australia probably would not be defending the cup for some time. The Davis Cup Committee, however, will discuss the allotment of charges against gate money. Dominion Bowls Carnival. New Zealand’s annual bowls carnival will be opened in Christchurch in the second week in the new year. , The last occasion on which the tournament "was held in Christchurch was in 1936, and in the ordinary course of events, would have been held again in that city in January of this year, but Christchurch exchanged dates with Wellington to enable the carnival to be held in the latter city in Centennial year. New Auckland Selector. Replacing. Hugh Duncan as sole selector for the Auckland Cricket Association is the Auckland and former New Zealand representative, H. M. Matheson. He has all the attributes for his new job, ripe experience and judgment. Like Lamasou, of Wellington, Matheson may be placed in the somewhat embarrassing position of having to select himself. As the University captain in the northern competition this summer, he has performed well- Not the least meritorious of Matheson’s sporting efforts is his record of having scored over a thousand runs and taken over 100 wickets in Pluhket Shield matches. Matheson is well known in Otago sporting circles, for he had part of a season here with the Dunedin Cricket Club, and represented Otago at Rugby on seven occasions in the 1928 season. Bowlers Run Up Useful Tallies. On tlioir batting form this summer both J. Cowie, of Auckland, and T. L. Pritchard, of tho Manawatu, crack New Zealand fast bowlers, will have to be lifted considerably m the Auckland and Wellington hatting orders respectively when they participate in interprovincial matches again, says a Wellington writer. Cowie, after several Saturdays of exceptionally fine bowling in the Auckland competition, made a vigorous 82 against Eden. Pritchard has been scoring consistently since the season opened. In Plunket Shield matches Pritchard, on one or two occasions, has shown capacity as a batsman, but his ability in this direction has been largely overlooked because of his, usually outstanding success with the ball. Cowie, generally pretty low in the Auckland batting order, has scored runs quickly down in the tail ©very now and then.

Golfing Sensation. J, Holden's recent defeat of John Hornabrook in the final of the North Taranaki championship has provided the sensation of the golf year, says a writer in the * Sports Post.’ Holden, a most promising youngster, romped home 2 up. Hornabrook, the New Zealand open and amateur titleholder, recently transferred to Taranaki from Masterton. He was making his first appearance in open company in New Plymouth. Hornabrook, since his change, has had few opportunities for practice. Even so, his de* feat was surprising. The New Zealand champion was not timing his shots well, and tended to smother his wood seconds. His iron play from the fairways was not accurate. But it was weak approaches at the second, seventh, and eighteenth holes that probably made the difference between a win and the defeat. Holden shot a 74; Hornabrook did a 77. More will be beard of Holden in national golf. Given experience at New Zealand championship gatherings, he should be among the top-liners. Another Armstrong? The United States has another coloured fistic star who is already being mentioned by some ring experts as likely to follow in the wake of Henry Armstrong, who at one time held three ©titles —feather, light, and welter-weight championships of the world. The latest sensation is a negro fighter, one Chalky Wright. He has yet to win a title, but authoritative writers in ‘ The Ring* leading boxing publication, reckon he would have no difficulty in turning the trick either in the feather-weight or light-weight divisions. He is a natural feather-weight, but has even gone into the middle-weight sion to seek opponents. He went 12 rounds with Henry Armstrong, and the latter has interested himself in Wright, who is likely to be given more opportunities in the future than he has had so far.