AUSTRALIAN CRICKETERS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVII, 11 April 1928, Page 6

AUSTRALIAN CRICKETERS.

A FAREWELL FUNCTION. VALUE OF VISITS STRESSED. [by telegraph—PßESS ASSOCIATION.! WELLINGTON, April JO. This afternoon the Prime Minister presented the Australian cricketers with album s containingviews of scenic beauties of New Zealand. After expressing the hope that t'he team had enjoyed its stay in New Zealand, Mr. Coates said he need hardly say that Australians, and especially Australian cricketers, were very welcome in New Zealand.

New Zealand sportsmen owed a lot to Australian cricketers, and the value <>l: I heir support. in assisting New Zealand to a place in the cricketing world could not be overstressed. The visit had not only given pleasure to New Zealanders, but it had been'an illustration of how the game should be played. It should be an incentive to the Dominion’s younger players to reach a standard where it would take the best of Australians to beat them. Mr. Coates referred to the beneficial effect of such visits in bringing the two countries even closer together than they were at present, and >he sexpressed the hope that a regular interchange of visits by cricket teams would be the outcome. In returning thanks on behalf of the j team, the manager, Mr. Bull, paid a | tribute to the hospitality of the New' Zealanders. The players had enjoyed every minute of their tour, he said. In regard to future tours, ho stated it was his intention, as a member of the Australian Board of Control, to endeavour to bring about, a regular interchange of visits, his suggestion being. Ihat Australian 1 teams should visit; the Do minion every two or three years and that a New Zealand side should go to Australia every five or six years. He hoped the time would shortly come when New Zealanders would be fighting as hard against the Australians in cricket as Australians were fighting lagainst the Dominion in football. The captain of the team', 'Mr.. V. Bic.hardson, also spoke in eulogistic terms of the hospitality shown during the tour.