APPROACH OF CRICKET

Hawera Star, Volume LIII, 30 September 1933, Page 8

APPROACH OF CRICKET

PREPARATIONS FOR SEASON SOUTH TARANAKI ACTIVITIES ENGLISH SEASON ENDING The' 'distance between England and New Zealand 1 is- nowhere stressed more than when one interested in sportis 1 sees the close of summer games in England and their opening in’ this Dominion. That is happening juat at the present time in cricket and it draws special attention to both. The season has been. remarkably good in England and,, though the touring team brought back the Ashes, the effort and the means taken to secure the trophy caruised much acute controversy. The publication ox the itinerary of the Australian team in' England next year has been made with little co.mWent on the controversial matters that raged, in’ Australia and England SQtnies months ago, and arrangements are mad® almost as though no such trouble ever arose. The'Tests will be played julst as before and at the same centres- The time limit is fixed at four days for alt fiests except the ftfft, destination of the Ashes is involved. it seems almost a pity that the question of this mythical trophy is involved in the tour, hut there it is, and apparent! v it will continue to be the centre and ■head of the contest'between England and her Dominion overseas. Cricket is just beginning in Australia and before many weeks are oyer the difficult question of the serection or the Australian-' team will occupy the minds of the _ selectors aind «± tne cricketing public. LOCAL PREPARATIONS All the clubs in South Taranaki have had their annual meetings or are jus-t on the point of doing so. . In Hawera the clubs are making preparations fo-r an early start fotr the season. The recent heavy rains will be most useful, especially on -the _ Park wickets, where the ground has seriously .suffered from the- dry sped coming just after the somewhat severe handling tne turf received at the hands of hockey. If wOrk is put in on the ground fanny soon it will quickly respond 1 and be ready for play quickly. The Stratford Club’s committee deplore the poorness of their practice wickets last season and urge an endeavour to mend .this condition. Actually good practice wiokets are essential as good match wickets are. It is good to know that Opunake, once the home of many goo d play ers, have decided to. enter a senior team, the .president of the dub stating that in his opinion the failure to enter one last year was largely responsible for a lean seoson. He stated that but little interest was taken' in junior cricket by players or by the public. East year Opunake sent teams to- Mama.ia, Hawera arid Stratford, but Mainaia alone returned the visit. NORTHERN COMPETITION The prospects in the North Country competition are said to be very good, Tite association- is in a sotund .financial position and, as usual, has a number of keen and enthusiastic supporters and an ample supply of players. The season will be opened next week and com petition matches will -commence the fo,llowing week. Unpunetuality o,n the part of teams has been the, subject of comment on many occasions, and at is of to find a reference t'o this on 1882, inthe form of a. letter from Manaia on October 11-just as the season was commencing—when cricket was a very etronmspart in the district. It behoves now that the seasomis just about to commence to resolve that they will all individually endeavour to avoid the fault of being la'te for matches. The afternoon is short enough an all conscience for matches and -every minute is of importance, especially at -the b 6 of New Plymouth and formerly of Manaia, has been playS? for some years with the Western Park Club up north and given usMul service. He was .made a lif e member of the club last year and as now patron aaSO * ENGLISH RESULTS. Yorkshire seeured a notable triumph ia the county competition, gaming a larger .percentage of win’s than- had over been previously achieved. She proved herself easily -the outstanding county in all round excellence. Lust season was very prolific in run netting by the leading'batsmen and the dgures are abnormally high. Hammond, of Gloucestershire, easily heads -the aggregate with the wonderful figures o± 3325 (67.81 per innings). Hendren and tmesboth topped 3000, with good averages,, and Mead, Wyatt, Mitchell, Leyland Walters and- Sutcliffe were all well"over 2000. 'Sutcliffe’s figure's, however, are a -good’ deal short of his past season. Hobbs did not play regularly but he stands third! in the averages. Ames apparently found, in Australia when out with the English Eleven, that the fast wickets did not suit him or that he could not adopt himself to the changed conditions. In any eaise he did mot show much of the form which has made his batting quite a feature of his plav. He had mad-e many centuries in the previous season, and since he returned to England he has made, more than ever with several double centuries. One of these was fo-r Players against Gentlemen, -the latter being a very strong amateur team. It is extraordinary that Freeman, such a wonder bowler in County games, has rarely done much in international fixtures. He .secured over 300 wickets last season and 'has nearly always headed the aggregate. Verity, Macaulay, Goddard, Bowes and Mitchell are also bowlers who in English cricket have always secured good figures, but they have done little when they have played ini bigger cricket. There are, however, several bothers who. seem’ to do best when in the best company. Sam Staples, of Notts, who was out with Chapman’s -team four, years ago, but was unable to play because of an accident, been showing good bowl-

ing form this season. Playing for Eastern Counties against the West Indies' ho took six wickets for 101, out of a total of 383. NEWS AND NOTES. “The thing to-day is to hasten up cricket and -speed it along, not to slow it down,” said Mr W. L. Iving at • a conference between the Canterbury Cricket Association and the .sub-asso-ciations. Mr King’s remark was provoked by a suggestion that the Town versus Country game should be extended to two days. In 1883 an English team came to New Zealand, after the Australian tour, and a Wellington critic suggested that it was farcical to -expect any “Colonial” -eighteen, or twenty-two even, to do much good against such strong opponents. He suggested as a much better means of -getting value from the tour and making more interest for spectators would be to. select ten of the best in Wellington and make up two teams by the addition of -six Englishmen in each. This, however, was not adopted and it was regretted -that so few of the men chosen to play took the trouble to attend practice. The results of the matches played will be well known to all who- follow the progress of -the game. “C-ricbet is a game, -not one of the important things of life. It never begat a saint or a sage l , produced a world crisis, or wrote a page of history. Let it remain a pastime, a thing to. beguile the littl'e leisure that mankind can still filch from the ant-heap life! Better to scatter the Ashes of Empire cricket to the wind than alternately devote three months to cricket and six to fruitless and acidulous post m'o-rtems.” —“Evening News” of London.