CRICKET

Greymouth Evening Star, 16 March 1934, Page 12

CRICKET

TASMANIA V. TOURISTS.

[BY CABLE—PBESS ASSN.—COPYBIGHT.]

HOBART, March 15.

The Australian cricketers commenced their second match against Tasmania to-day, at Hobart, in chi , boisterous, threatening weather. The attendance was three thousand. Tas mania won the toss, and elected to bat. Light rain fell after lunch, but the wicket was not affected, and i played well throughout. O Reilly and Grimmett were omitted from the Australian side. Play ceased at five thirty on account of failing light. Scores: — TASMANIA—First Innings.

C. Badcock, c Chipperfield, b Fleet-wood-Smith R. Morrisby, st. • Oldfield, b Fleet-wood-Smith R. Ferrall, c Ebeling, b Wall .. lb R. Thomas, c Oldfield, b Wall .. 53 D. Green, c Chipperfield, b Wall b J. Rothwell, c McCabe, b Darling 47 S. Putman, b Wall .. .. - - 21 C. Jeffrey, not out 10 Extras 1°

Total for 7 wickets .. .. 230 * Bowling: Wall four for 66, Ebeling none for 43, Fleetwood-Smith two for 71, Darling one for 15, Chipperfield none for 25.

JARDINE AND FIRST TEST. •

LONDON, March 6.

The “Daily Telegraph” states: “Jardine’s resignation from the Surrey captaincy raises the question whether he will be available to lead England against the Australians. As he is going to Muttra (United Provinces) on a shooting trip, he cannot, in any case, be available for the* first test. Wyatt is his most likely successor. “Another vital decision to be made is who is to form the selection committee for the tests. Lord Hawke, who is ill, is sailing for South Africa on Saturday, and will not be back before the middle ,of May. Mr P. F. Warner is barred because he is a journalist and will be describing the tests.”

W. A. OLDFIELD.

VETERAN OF THE ELEVEN.

On the eve of the departure of the eighteenth Australian Eleven, our chosen representatives at function after function have listened to adulatory remarks of their prowess and prospects. The team leaders, as well as those who have still to experience their test baptism, have been showered with wishes from a gushing fountain of na-, tional sincerity. To one, however, probably the most modest man of the hide, the tributes have been comparatively scarce. Unwittingly • so, perllaps; nevertheless, W. A. Oldfield’s worth to the side has been astonishingly under-emphasised. The dictum that nd one is indispensable applies to cricket, as well as to war, and love and Commerce. Yet, at the risk of being ridiculed, it was my expressed opinion at. the outset of the present season, when the public was puzzled about the future of more than one of our great players, that the greatest loss Australian cricket could suffer would ftpretirement or absence of Bert Oldfield

(writes A. R. B. Palmer, in the “Sydney Morning Herald.”) It is unfortunate but true, that bowlers do not share the glamour which bathes the century-maker. In this glorious game of King of the Turf Castle the fieldsman receives even less. (Just as in the’open warfare of Rugby the man who touches down gains, because of his spectacular run, more mention in every despatch than 'the genius who, three passes back, made the try possible.) The pages of cricket history prove this. Yet we keep on looking for' bowlers and fieldsmen, Getting a side out is a problem as vital as, and, to some lovers of the game, more intriguing than, that of the making of runs. In the charts of instruction the bowler is always No. 1 and the keeper No. 2. It is significant that since the tests began 5G years, ago Australia has relied almost completely on our famous men to hold the responsible position of No. 2 in her outcricket. They are Blackham, Kelly, Carter, and Oldfield. A summary of their deeds is most illuminating. The following test figures are authentic, the results of research by Mr. R. H. Campbell, Australia’s greatest cricket statistician: —

Oldfield’s value could be further proved by an analysis of those *65 dismissals. He has helped our bowlers to get rid of England’s most renowned post-war, match-winning batsmen. Hobbs, Woolley, Sutcliffe, Hammond, Hendren, Chapman, and Jardine make ah imposing array. On 35 occasions they have been Oldfield’s victims. This is how they have fallen to the veteran of the 1934 tourists:—Hobbs, st. 3, ct. 6; Woolley, st. 3; Sutcliffe, st. 1, ct. 4; Hammond, ct. 3; Hendren, ct. 3; Chapman, st. 2, ct, 5; Jardine, ct. 5. Grimmett owes 14 of his test wickets to Oldfield’s efficiency, Mailey 11, Wall 9, Gregory and Fairfax each 4, and Hendry and Kelleway each 3. Figures are bewildering. They can be made to confuse perception.•. It is with no intention of disfavourable comparison that the above statistics have been quoted. Our generation cannot calculate its due to the late J. McCarthy Blackham, the Colossus of our* early eight tours of England between 1878 and 1893—then the visits were biennial.

Staunch Jim Kelly, contemporary of Harry Trott, Turner, Trumble, Noble, Jack Saunders, Ernest Jones, and Tibby Cotter in his youth, took our bowlers into what is still called the Golden Age. He, like Hanson Carter, rightly regarded as the wizard stumper, second keeper in 1902 and never more superb than in England in 1921, still level in admiration of their successor’s work, though both may be a triffe caustic in their thoughts of our standard in other departments. Oldfield is now making his fourth trip as a member of the Australian Eleven. Previously he had toured the English counties with the A.1.F., that band of players whose refreshing influence on the game cannot be measured merely by their having cast into the test arena Jack Gregory, Pellew, Johnny Taylor, and a general in Collins, who saw the latent artistry of our present custodian of the stumps. Oldfield has been the sport of our selection committees. It is forgotten ‘that in the 1928-29 season, against Chapman’s team, this saver of sundries had' to dwell on top of the stumps day after torrid day through England’s protracted innings, from

half-way through the first test, without the relief which a fast bowler brings to the man wearing gloves. In these days of indifferent returns it is forgotten that Oldfield has made the poor fieldsmen look first-class because of his neatness in disguising misdirection, faulty judgment of distance, and immature zeal for the “flashy” throw. But those who discern the receptivity of his hands, the sixth sense which enables him to take those incomparable leg-side catches, his perpetual placidity in apparent victory and in adversity, realise how deep has been the study of the sphere in which he is now supreme. Of all the specialists in a side the wicket-keeper is most essential. The runs he makes must continue to be a welcome asset. Oldfield must be classed as an all-rounder. That he is not a tail-ender has been proved time and again when Australia needed a stand. Because of the difference in pitches, and the methods of play, the statistics in the following table are included only to show Oldfield’s worth in the batting list of our Eleven: —

Some of Blackham’s averages in those early days of quick wickets and small scores stamped him as part of Australia’s batting backbone. Oldfield’s test average of over 27 cannot be rated as other than amazing over the last 14 years against the bowlers England has produced. One of Oldfield’s qualities is upassertiveness. Though he has handled teams —even the State side—with distinction, he is not even a member of the touring selection committee. Yet it is safe to say that the ripe judgment and the cool balance of this loyalist, who is now only 36 years of age, will be of inestimable assistance to the Eleven. .

Blackham Mchs. 35 Ct. 35 St. 24 Ttl. 59 'Kelly 33 39 16 55 Carter 21 35 17 52 Oldfield 28 44 21 65

Inn. U.S. N.O. Kuns. Av. Blackham .. 62 74 11 800 15.68 Kelly Carter 35 46x72 17 4 613 776 17.51 25.03 Oldfield .. '15 65 11 929 27.32