SEASONABLE SPORTS

Greymouth Evening Star, 19 December 1934, Page 12

SEASONABLE SPORTS

TENNIS. PLAY AND PLAYERS. The first of the annual inter-club matches between Grey and Hokitika was played on Saturday, Grey winning the A’s match by 9 sets to 6 sets. In the B match at Hokitika both teams were equal in sets, each winning S. However, Hokitika had a slight advantage in games, thus winning the match. A feature of the A match was the fine display of the Grey men, each ot whom won his singles match. A. K. Smith beat L. Gooch, 9/7, in a match that produced sparkling tennis, both men giving a fine exhibition. M. C. Smith played Larcombe’s fast American twist service with great confidence, and by superior play all round won the match, 9/4. M. C. Smith has returned to his best form, and should give a good account of himself in the forthcoming championships. The match between P. Dougherty and N. Iggo was keenly fought, hard hitting being a feature. Iggo was the mere accurate, winning, 9/7. I'. Curran had a hard tussle with Skelton. . His cut strokes won him many points, and eventually gave him tlie match, 9/8. The Grey ladies won two and lost two singles. All played well against very strong opponents. Miss Costello and Mrs Fuller won their matches, while Miss Tennent and Miss Fuller lost their matches by narrow margins, 4/6 and 5/6 respectively. The doubles matches were evenly divided, and Hokitika won three combined matches to Greymouth’s one.

Schools’ Tournament: The first tennis match between the Reeiton Convent School and the Reefton District High School took place on the Reefton Club’s courts this Week. Convent won by 12 sets 96 games to 9 sets 86 games, after an interesting match, which produced a surprisingly high standard of tennis. The interest and spirit displayed by the schools was commendable, and it appears certain that the fixture will be made an annual one. With a keen organiser at the head of affairs something similar might be done in Greyniputh. Footfault Proposal Timely: Jack Crawford, writing in the “Sydney Referee” on the new footfault rule proposal, says:—The question of a new footfault rule being made to prevent players from gaining an unfair advantage by breaking the present rule has been discussed, and I have given much thought to the proposal that a new service line be made about six inches or one foot beyond the present service line. I am not in favour of the rash changing of rules in any game, but believe something •should bo done to prevent the tremendous amount of foot-faulting which goes on at the moment. The idea of the line seems to be a good one, but a foot-fault judge would still be necessary, as one foot must be behind this line when the ball is struck. Of course, some will disagree with this suggestion, as they claim, especially the players who are of small build, that their service will be badly affected. “It is difficult fur me to serve

a good ball as the rule stands, and my service will be terrible if I have to stand back six inches or a foot,” said cue international player of small stature to me.

The player who rushes the net after every serve would also bo penalised, and the one who serves fairly unde: the existing rule wants to know why he should be made .to serve from farther back. Very few of the fair sex toot-fault, and many of them prefer to serve about a foot behind the present line. Those who feel certain that their service is going to suffer on account of the new rule should remember that their opponents will not be able t get as many cannon-ball services in as before, and what they lose v, hen delivering will be gained when receiving. I believe the only people who would be affected by this new line arc the people who foot-lault continually—and get away with it. And they are the ones who should be affected.

The new rule would certainly help to prevent the ' many heated discussions which follow the toot-faulting, and sometimes the failure to footfault, certain players. Another way cut of the difficulty would be to give the judge more power. At the moment the player, in most cases, is given the benefit of the doubt. If the foot-fault judge was instructed to call the moment he thought the player was gaining an unfair advantage over his opponent, the rule would be broken less. As it is now, some judges are very lenient with certain players, and hard upon others. It is bad luck for one to be beaten by a player who is continually breaking the rule and not being called, then to see that player defeated next round by someone not as good as you are, . simply because the foot-fault umpire has prevented him from serving the way he was allowed to against you. i have seen many instances of this.

Yes, I am confident no harm could come to the game if this new service line was used. At least one would feel that he was playing under equal conditions with bis opponent.

Perry Tells Why: Of course I am foolish. Everyone says that,” said Fred Perry on the eve of his departure from America for Australia, when told of Vines’ remark that he was foolish not to accept the Hollywood offer of £5OOO to make pictures of tennis methods. “What would they say,” he continued, “if I turned professional, with England still holding the Davis Cup? No, I cannot let my country down.” Perry (according to the English Press) added that if he were an American he would have turned professional long ago.

CRICKET. NOTES AND COMMENTS. As a result of last Sunday’s matches the West Coast Cricket Association's senior competition is at a most interesting stage, six of the ten competing teams being within a margin of five points. United head the list with 15 points, followed by Cobden A and Marist A with 12 points each, and Cobdon B, Marist B and Runanga with 10 points each. United still look win

ners of the competition, though they are not in an unbeatable position. Last Sunday’s fixtures saw United, Marist A and Marist B secure three points each, United over Camerons, who are probably the weakest side, Marist B over Brunner, and Marist A at the expense of Kumara, who suffered their first outright defeat of the season. The feature of the day was tho performance of Cobden B in holding Cobden A to a creditable draw, thus bearing out'the predictions of many, competent judges that Cobden B would prove a bugbear to some of the stronger teams. Grounds were in splendid order, fast and hard, but most of the wickets would have played much easier with a. little water. The No. 1. wicket at the Recreation Ground was quite lively at times, and caused many of the batsmen worries.

The senior Saturday competition was inaugurated on Saturday last, and saw Cobden and Technical Old Boys obtain first innings victories over United and Marist, respectively. Hat Trick:

The youthful Marist B bowler, H. Greenwood is having a most successful season, and was again among the wickets on Sunday at Taylorville. In the first innings he bagged 6 for 31, and,' in tlie second, secured 5 for 25, including, the hat trick. His three wickets with successive balls came at an opportune time for his side, for things were not going too brightly. Greenwood’s three wickets at that stage entirely changed the complexion of the game, and paved the way for his team’s victory.

Lesson for Cross-batters: The success of Anderson, a Brunner player, who is purely a hitter, should bo a lesson to all would-be hitters to hit straight instead of “around the corner.” Anderson scored 29 not out in the first innings against Marist on Sunday, and 18 in the second, and practically all his runs came from straight hits, including a couple of glorious sixers. The main trouble, with most of the tail-end batsmen! about the Coast is that when they hit, they will hit, or try to hit, over square leg instead of over the bowlei', mid-off, or mid-on, according to where the ball pitches. The margin for error, when hitting across the ball is so small, that it is small wonder so many of our hitters seldom get more than two or three runs.

Has Ability: Probably the most impressive of the Brunner batsmen on Sunday was H. Hunt. In Brunner’s second innings he hit up 30 by good cricket, and as he has a good eye, and hits hard, he looks a likely improver if he would only take the trouble to study his game more. Has Ability, but ::

S. Kennedy, the Runanga fastbowler, and a former representative, has plenty of pace, and enthusiasm, but does not bowl nearly as well as he should. His action is against his bowling a consistent length; for he drops his left shoulder and his head far too much, thus tending to drop the ball short. If he would concentrate on correcting this fault, and perhaps slowing up a little, he would lie a much better bowler. Stars Shine:

Stars looked to have a two-point win Well in keeping on Sunday, when they had six Runanga wickets down for only 14 runs, after scoring 90 themselves, hul, from then on, their stocks

slumped, and a partnership by Williams (61) and Smithson (26) gradually knocked Stars’ hopes, and resulted in Runanga taking a lead of 49 runs on the first innings. R. Spaan, who secured remarkable figures earlier in the season against Brunner, finished with seven wickets for 43 for Stars, after having 6 for 20 at one stage. The Star captain obviously made a mistake in bowling B. Spaan 100 much. He had 2 for 14 at one time, and his final figures were 2 for 56. off ten overs. Attractive Batsman: J. Williams, the left-hander. who hit up 61 not out. for Runanga on Sunday, and lifted them out of a seemingly hopeless position, is an attractive batsmen. He uses his feet well, and is particularly strong on the leg side, but would do well to cultivate his off side play, as it seems that a bowler concentrating on his off stump, or ■'.hereabouts, could cramp his style, and keep him very quiet. Williams is also a, useful bowler, but wastes valuable energy by taking a run to the wicket, that would satisfy a veritable Larwood. Celebrating: D. Knapp and A. Vaughan celebrated their retrain from a most successful visit to Nelson, by scoring 62 (retired) and 87 (not out) respectively, for Cobden A against Cobden B on Sunday. Both batted with inspiring confidence, and they should make many more scores now they have gained this very essential quality in a batsman’s make-up. Both boys’ styles are moulded on a. solid defence, and their new-found confidence will quickly develop a large range of scoring shots.

Patient Innings: A. Walton played a very patient innings for 43 not out against Cobden A last Sunday, and with C. Dewar, Coom and Clark, proved a hard nut to crack. Walton has always proved a most difficult man to get rid of, and when occasion demands he can lay the wood on hard.

Promising Bowler: J. Guy is showing premise as a slow bowler for Cobden A. He turns the ball well both ways and commands a fair length. On Saturday last he secured. 4 wickets for 30 runs, and on Sunday, 3 for 36. off 15 overs. Bowling Well:

J. Mathews, the Marist A bowler, again produced the goods on Sunday, when, against Kumara, he bagged 6 wickets for 44, and 6 for 17. The opposition was not the strongest, but Mathews bowled particularly well. Ho was accurate all day, and made the bull whip off the wicket on occasions with more than usual fire. Mathews is now bowling far less loose ones than in former seasons, and his persistency in fighting the batsman makes him a most dangerous bowler to face. He swung the new bail very deceptively on Sunday last.

Splendid ’Keeping: N. Bayley was in his best form with the gloves for Marist A on Sunday, and gave his best exhibition this season. All his work was neat and clean, and ono stumping in the second innings was brilliant. On his day, Bayley can bo brilliant, but that day is not every day. Kumara Bowling: The Kumara bowling, outside Greatbatch and Dalkie, is weak, and even these two cracked up badly on Sunday. Both bowled well for a

time, but probably through lack of condition, neither lasted well. Of course, they received a. severe pasting, but that is no excuse for bowling halfpitchers. It should be a spur to abowler to pitch them up. Dalkie was tho more consistent.

Congratulations Tech.! The congratulations of all cricketers will bo extended to the Technical School first XL, for their outstanding display in Nelson. They were not opposed to the Nelson College firsts, but a score of 311 for two wickets is one of which any team might be proud. D. Knapp 156 and Vaughan 105 not out were the shining lights, but the whole eleven created an excellent impression in Nelson, where they have an eye for a good cricketer, and a match against the Nelson first eleven should be the objective next scasor.

Hard Hitting: The highest score of last week-end was compbed by A. Lindbom, of Techfinical Old Boys, who scored 89. Lindbom has a good eye, and watches every ball carefully. Though his cricket is far from correct, he hits hard, in typical left-hander style, and is a. difficult raan.ro dislodge. It is a, pity he has not turned out in the Sunday competition.