SPORT IN BRITAIN

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 4329, 31 August 1937, Page 2

SPORT IN BRITAIN

LONDON, July 1. ATHLETICS. 1 Probably the two finest British halfmile runners of all time were Douglas Lowe and Thomas Hampson. Expert are often asked which was the better. The majority give their verdict in fa our of Lowe. Yet the recorded figures are in favour of Hampson At Angeles in 1932 he not only, set up a new Olympic record of Imm 49.8 sec for 800" metres, but thereby fished a new world’s best tance Two vears previously Hampson, with 8 time ot Imm 53 2 s ec beat the English native record for half a mile. Against these achievements must be set the fact that Lowe won the Olymnic 800 metres twice and on slow er tracks than that on which the ?onnger mtn did his great Performance m Oahfornia. Moreover, when Otto ” € ltze won our half-mile championship in 1926, and at the same time set up a new British record of Imin 51.6 sec, Lowe was less than 3yds behind the finish so that the latter’s time must have been faster than Hampson s native reC record went by the board on Saturday last, when a deserving but unlucky runner in A. J. Collyer, Watford, won the Southern. Counties half-mile championship in Imin 53.isec. Collyer outstayed B. F. onlv finalist in the last Olympic 800 metres. The winner, who is 26 years of age, has many excellent performances to his credit, and but for breakin* a bone in the leg when skipping while in training in the early part of last year might well have round a placed our "side at the last Olympiad. We are assured of a very fine race for the amateur half-mile championship in a fortnight s time. M Cabe may be fitter, the holder, J. V Powell, will have recovered from the slight injury which kept him out of the race last week-end, and J. C. Stothard did so well in winning the Scottish championship on Saturday that he may well regain the title he won m 1930. Unfortunately, owing to the umversity trip to the States, A. G. K. Brown will be an absentee, and mil, of course, not defend his right to the qnarter-mile title. This will give W. Roberts an opportunity of asserting himself again. The Manchester runner is again in ereat form, as is demonstrated by the fact that in the course of a visit which an English team paid to Antwerp he ran 400 metres in the relay race inside 47sec. Given a fine afternoon, Roberts may beat the British record of 48sec which Godfrey Rampling made when he won the Empire championship at the White City in 1934. BOXING. Peter Kane, no matter what is asked of him, carries on cheerily with his daily work as a blacksmith, has added another victim to his lengthening list. This time it was Petit Biquet, bantam-weight champion of Belgium, who stood up to the Golborne youngster for nine rounds before retiimg. What should have been a captivating bout between Maurice Strickland and Gunuar Barland was marred by the Finn’s tactics, and the popular New Zealander got the verdict when his rival was disqualified for holding. FIRST CRICKET TEST. The one outstanding fact emerging from the first test match at Lord’s was that England can hardly hope to beat anv touring side on a perfect wicket within three days. We long ago abandoned such an absurdly short limit ot time for the games with Australia. Whv should New Zealand have to be content with so little? At tea time on the very first afternoon it was obvious that the tourists had nothing to play for but a draw, a most unsatisfactory state of affairs to have arisen within a few hours of the start of the game. It is true we saw some very interesting cricket afterwards, but most of us felt nearly all the time what a waste of energy it all was. Not that New Zealand did not have their anxious moments. After that unexpectedly fine bit of work in getting rid of the two new test men, Hutton and Parks, for 0 and 22 respectively, their bowlers toiled for a long time against the incomparable Hammond and Hardstaff, the latter of whom credited himself with his first test century. Once that partnership was broken and the English batsmen, obviously acting orders, went in for making runs quickly, M. L. Page showed such sound tactics" that his opponents had not reached the desired 400 when stumps were drawn for the day. Still it was a pretty formidable score, 424, that our visitors' eventually had to face, and no praise can be too high for Moloney and Roberts for the way in which they rescued their side after more famous players had failed. It looked as if New Zealand were fairly safe when they saved the follow on, but some very spirited batting by Barnett and Robbins again put the men from the Dominion in jeopardy, seeing that they had to bat the second time for upwards of four hours. They deserve the utmost credit for saying the game. For all that, however, it is patent to the most casual observer that English cricket, does not possess a bowler capable of going through a side, as men like Lehmann, Richardson, Lockwood, Peel, Rhodes, and Larwood could and did. Until we produce such a bowler our chances of beating Australia either here or down under are negligible. Notts are the only team in the county championship who can boast an unbroken record. They were hard put to it to preserve a clean sheet against their ancient rivals, Yorkshire. Time was nearly half a century ago when the Tykes were easy prey to their neighbours, who could boast batsmen like Shrewsbury and Gunn and a bowler like Attewell. Since Lord Hawke, as captain, restored the fortunes of Yorkshire the boot has been on the other leg and nowadays Notts seldom win. They met the championship leaders when the latter were without Hutton and Verity, on duty in the test. Yorkshire came from a high-scoring draw with Leicester, who put up a most creditable show. To Yorkshire’s total, 523 for three wickets (Sutcliffe 189. Hutton 153, and Leyland 128). Leicester replied with 458. C. S. Dempster playing one of his best innings for 146, and Watson, a comparative newcomer, 127. After such prolific scoring there never was, of course, any chance of a finish. Yorkshire again made runs freely against Notts, who <5

failed to take the advantage of win-1 ning the toss, Barber’s 115 being the | top score in a total of 379. Notts J strove valiantly to retrieve the posi- i tion, and succeeded, a total of 346 making their opponents’ task of win- t ning hopeless. j Gloucester .undoubtedly felt the loss of the services of Hammond and Barnett, who were at Lord’s, when, after three successive victories, they failed to beat the champions. Apart from that, however, there was no excuse for their collapsing for totals of 105 and , 133, and so losing by an innings and ; 133. Armstrong, who was brought into , the Derbyshire side as a substitute for the injured Mitchell, took seven wickets for 36 runs. Another recruit to the champions’ ranks, of the auspicious name of Rhodes, went in late and notched 46. The decline of Kent coi> tinues to mystify everybody. Their batting has reached an extraordinary low level. They made _ 104 and 144 against Gloucester. Middlesex rated them for even lower scores —86 and 75. Small wonder that in each case the_ hop county suffered defeat by an innings. Kent has one of the most loyal followings in the country, and it must be heart-breaking for the enthusiasts to see their favourites beaten so often and so easily as they have been this season. FOOTBALL. It was only a fortnight ago that oongraulations were extended to Sir Charles Clegg on his eighty-seventh birthday. Now he has joined the great majority. No announcement has been made as to who will succeed him as president of the Football Association, although a hint has been thrown out that the position may be offered to a person of title not hitherto closely associated with the game. Mr William Bickford, of Hampshire, is senior vicepresident, and has presided at most recent meetings of the F.A. Council. GOLF. The Ryder Cup is to return to its resting place in the United States, and nothing remains for the Professional Golfers’ Association but to examine the causes of our overwhelming defeat and to do what they can to prevent a recurrence. The result on the Ainsdale and Southport course was all the more disappointing because most followers of golf believe that our men were good enough to regain the cup. _ We had won it on each of the two previous occasions when it had been played for in this country, and the 10 players selected were, on their reputations at least, the strongest at command. As it turned out, however, the eight who actually played in the singles yesterday were in the opinion of all who watched the rounds not the best that might have been chosen. Alfred Padgham, for instance, is out of luck, out of spirits, and, above all, out of form. By custom he met the American champion Ralph Guldahl, and lost by the deplorable margin of 8 and 7; at the same time one must not belittle Guldahl, He played glorious golf, and would probably have beaten Padgham with the British champion at his best. Henry Cotton played so comfortably that one would much have preferred to have seen him matched with GuldahL He Cox was in such excellent form in the foursomes on Tuesday that a good deal of surprise has been expressed that Charles Whitcomhe, who as captain of the team had the final choice, omitted him from the singles. Perhaps that was because Whitcomhe himself was playing in the foursomes and did not therefore get the opportunity of watching Cox play. _ This raises the important point as to whether England should not follow America’s example and have a nonplaying captain, Walter Hagen’s advice was of inestimable value to his men, though, judging by his facial expression and the way he chewed away his cigarettes, the great American golfer might have been happier playing. Where far more experienced men faded, two assistants, S. L. King and Dai Rees, did nobly. The former in halving his match with the great Denny Shute, probably the finest match player in the game, accomplished a particularly fine performance, while the victory "of the dapper little Welshman over B. Nelson by three and one raised the crowd to such a pitch of excitement that they were not satisfied until thev had seized and carried him shoulder high to the pavilion. A defeat by seven matches to three looks bad, but if the English putting had been as good as the American the result would have been much closer, if indeed, we might not have pulled it off altogether. The torrents of ram might also have affected some plajers more than others, although it did not prevent spectators to the number of 40,000 crowding on the course. WIMBLEDON TENNIS. Wimbledon nears its end, and, despite the turning of Fred Perry to professionals!!!, the tournament lias proved every bit as attractive as in any prevous year. There have been no dramatic surprises, the players having run true to form throughout. I rom a 'British point of view, the results make our chance of retaining the Davis Cup pretty hopeless, although the form of C. E. Hare, who got as far as the fourth round in the men’s sing es. looked good enough to suggest that he will be our second choice. Only one British plaver, H. W. Austin, found his wav into the semi-final, America having "two, Donald Budge and Frank Palmer, the fourth being the popular German. Gottfried von Gramm. Parker’s taking of the first set from Ins compatriot, Budge, at 6 to 1 created something of a sensation, and his form in that particular set was calculated to give the favourite furiously to think. Budge gradually found his game, and, as he improved. Parker became a little less accurate, though he never ceased his efforts to resist Budge’s thunderous attacks. As for the match between Austin and von Cramm, that remarkable third set, running to 14 to 12 in Austin’s favour, will long live in the memory of those privileged to watch it. By his" grit, determination, and stamina Austin for ever broke the legend that he cannot “ stay.” To pull the set out of the fire as he did was a great achievement, and although his loss of the fourth set by 6 to 1 came as an anti-climax, our number one richly deI served the ovation he got from the crowd. Budge will start favourite against von Crannn in the final to-morrow. We shall see a new holder of the women s title also. Frau Sperling, beaten by Miss Alice Marble, and Signorita Lizana, who failed to beat that gallant French player, Mclme Mathieu, have both gone out. The signorita wept when she found her 18 months’ stay

on this side of the Atlantic and a long preparation had gone for _ nought. It was certainly a trying experience for the young Chilean, whose only fault seems to he that she does not concentrate on the court with the same grim determination as do her opponents. The final on Saturday lies between Miss Dorothy Round and Miss J. Jedzrejovvska. [Budge and Miss Round won the finals.]