CRICKET

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 16, 16 December 1932, Page 16

CRICKET

PLAYERS OF EARLY DAYS. Writing in the Sydney Morning Her. aid, “70 not out” recalls some of the famous cricketers of the early days. Nothing impressed my mind during a long experience of cricket—botii watching and playing—than the wonderful Spoffortii-Boyle-Murdoch-Black-ham-Bannerman combinations of '7B and ’BO, and I never expect to see better nor more exciting cricket! (he states). White my firm impression is that we never have exhibited a higher standard—high though the .Australian standard has - frequently been-—since those brilliant days. But the conditions were vastly different from these days. There were four balls to the over, which meant that a fast bowler lasted longer than now-a-days, and Spofforth rarely bowled more than one, sometimes two, of his “cannon-balls” in an over, while Boyle kept up a deadly accurate length at the other end. I have seen some wonders behind the wicket, but old-timers agree with me that we never saw anything better than Blackham. If you were not bored by a “stonewaller” you had the prince of them in one of the Bannermans, and the two Bannermans, as opening partners, were sufficient generally to cause despair to the other side. Then there was a very real advantage in winning the toss, for the wickets were by no means so good after a da.y or two of play as they are now. Boundary hits had also to be run out, and the outfield could rarely compare well with present-day conditions. Yet, what a wonderful combination of fieldsmen was that of the early Australian teams! A GOLDEN AGE. Turner, Eerris, Trumble and S. E. Gregory created a formidable portion of the next surjrrising combination; but the most astounding aggregation of talent was displayed by the 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th teams, the first three captained by Darling, the 13th by M. A. Noble. Darling, Hill, Noble, Trumper, Armstrong, Howell —not to mention the aforesaid Trumble and Gregory with J. J. Kelly behind the wickets 1 The “boys” of 30 years ago raVed over these liqroes, (and have been extolling them ever since. Now, what of the other side ? England is three games in arrears over the wlioie series, but it must not be forgotten that w© have not had it all our own way, and we cannot deny that England has produced her giants—plenty of them —though sensations like Trumper and Bradman have been peculiarly Australian. For what reason we can only guess, but it is possible that solidity, rather than brilliance typifies the English, as compared with the Australian cricketer. What a test match wo should see were it possible to call up the old giants on both sides at their best, and pit them against each other on a perfect wicket under present-day conditions 1 Take, say, seven all-rounders on each side, as the nucleus of each team. Eor England, W. G. Grace, W. Barnes, G. A. Lohmann, A. G. Steel, W. Bates, It. Peel and W. It. Rhodes. Eor Australia, M. A. Noble, G. Giffen, W. W. Armstrong, H. Trumble, G. H. S. Trott, J. W. Gregory and G. C. Macartney. England would have an illustrious reserve of batsmen to choose from —- for instance, A. Shrewsbury, C. B. Fry, J. T. Brown, T. Hayward, K. S. Ranjitsinhji, It. E. Foster, A. C. Maclaren, A. E. Stoddart, and F. S. Jackson. But look at the list of some of our own, of the calibre of V. T. Trumper, J. Darling, Clem Hill, H. H. Massie, H. Moses, P. S. McDonnell, W. L. Murdoch, S. E. Gregory. W. Bardsley, and F. A. Iredale. Add to the English attack W. Attewell, T. Richardson, and S. F. Barnes, and to the Australian H. F. Boyle, F. R. Spofforth, a.nd C. T. B. Turner. With A. G. Steel as captain for England and M. A. Noble for Australia, a team picked for each side from such talent would give us a real thrill, would it not? SATURDAY’S FIXTURES. Saturday oricket fixtures are:— Senior. —Old Boys (in) v. United, No. 2 wicket; High School (m) v. Palmerston, No, 1 wickot. Junior, —Palmerston (m) v. Unemployed A, Torraoe End No. 1; City Council (m) v. High Sohool, Terraco End No. 2; Old Boys (m) v. Unemployed B, Sportsground No. 4; Kia Toa (m) v, Y.M.C.A., Sportsground No. 3, Thirds.—Albion (m) v, Kia Ora, High School ground; Gordon (m) v, Phoenix, Sportsground No. 5; Y.M.C.A. a bye. United seniors.—Cutler (2), Jewitt, McLaren, Millen, Mitchell, Olliver, Penman, Penny, Sandman, Woodham, Holdron. Unemployed Sports.—A team ; Webby, Mortenson, W, Fenton, C. Fenton, Bulford, Robb, Mayo, Attwood, Archinall, Munro, Holden; Coules (12th man), B team: Bowles, Cox, Leng, Hansen, Weston, Smith, T. Richardson, T. Bennett, Orr, Worsfold, Nelson; Redwood (12th man). Palmerston Juniors. —Davis, Ilodren, Findlay, Gray, Childs, Lovell, Elloy, Dodds, Madgwick, Roberts, Quigan, MoGregor, Barclay, Kelly.