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Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLI, Issue XLI, 15 October 1921, Page 4

Once more the grand old game of England—which is carried on almost wherever the sons of the Empire make their iome—holds sway among large numbers of the young men. Prospects look good in all parts. Manaia report that their ground—they have taken the Domain on lease from the Boardis looking very well and playing also very satisfactorily. Eltham should be on a good wicket this season, for a special effort has been made and a considerable sum secured to Tielp keep the ground in order. The other clubs are also doing their utmost to improve conditions, . ' J Most of the old players are out once more, and there is <* goodly percentage of new men, though whether the standard will be raised much cannot be known until the matches commence. In i any case competition is certain to be j keener than ever. Every encourage- j ment should Lw given to players, j especially the young ones, to practice, and so improve their play. It is to be hoped that the schools competitions will be again put on the tapis and the boys encouraged to do -their best. They are the representatives of the future.. In the course of an amusing, but, in parts, very 'trenchant criticism of the play in the second test match, Arthur Lynch, M.P., writing in an English paper, scarifies some of the players. Inter alia, he says: "Who said depression, paralysis, loss of trade, and national bankruptcy? The game had started, the grounds were packed, so the notice said; thousands of people were waiting outside. It is thrilling, Victor Hugo once remarked, to look at a wall behind which something is happening. And when that something is a test match that will go down in the annals of the race, and the young man feels that, even to his grandchildren's {children he may tell, "I saw Gregory bowl!'' . . . Spofforth, by the way, (was there in the flesh almost unnoticed, j but the name of Spofforth has gone like j a word in the language. There are all j'sorts of things that are right and apI propriate to be said of cricket, but I I will say what I, found. I struck one j patch that made me long for the ex- ! citement of a ploughing match, or e T~en (the discreet emotions of hunt the sli^j tier. Douglas was battina;; and with ! him "Woolley. They batted and batted Iby the hour, and we tried to be imI mensely interested, because that was

"the thing,T> and in sheer exasperation we cheered singles. McDonald ia a fine stock bowler, but his ball is a V.M.C.A. bull; anything; really wicked excluded. And then came the googiy merchant. Mailey has a jolly sort of amble, something of the yoee-ho-hea^je-ho spirit about it, what time his hand and wrist j curl in coiling curves, and then he tosses —toshj .At least, so I thought at firsts I had never seen a bowler deliver a full loss in a big match before. Yes" I once, an Eriglwh cricketer before the days qf Pussyfoot, a lop, bowler, too —after lunch—gaily slung his first ball intb the'festive hands of Jongslip! .;" , . The best stretchof jk& day,, for national health purposes* Was thai partnership of Douglas and ley. One could sit back and, like the good char-lady in church, thinkof "jess nothin 1 at all," Cricket is a great State function and ever blessed; rest cure in a world of strife, .\; The bowling? Yes^the bowling was dinkum, but say that 'Gregory's a Spofforth— don't poke borak 'at,.me! If you missed Spofforth he hit the wicket; ball after ball of Gregory beat the^ batsman—and the stumps, - Yet, as Dr. Johnson-said hurriedly when he praised another^ cat in Hodge's present, "Hodge is a very fine cat." It is interesting to recall that tfie Australian team finished with a record practically equal \o that of Mr. Joe Darling's 1902 team, which won 23 matches. lost two, and drew 14, But Darling's men Had to meet greater players than the present team tackled. But that does not detract front ■ thei. jex^. traordinary merit of the' performances of the men of 1921. "N6t Out," in the Beferee, considers that it is possible the: prfesent team might have gone through undefeated if the whols of the: bowling^nespuices had been exploited witti the two slow left-handers' worked into form.. V However, an unbeaten certificate would, not; hare assisted cricket in England, "and, apart from the msrs *record, it^would; not have been «ny advantageU'fo?AuatraJian cricket in theneir fdittire. The next series of tests in this country^ will see old John Bull with his teeth shut hard, giving our, boys a fight of fights.