SPORTS JOTTINGS

Manawatu Times, Volume 61, Issue 288, 5 December 1936, Page 10

SPORTS JOTTINGS

ITEMS FROM THE SCRAP-BOOK White of Red Cricket Balls? At a jubilee luncheon in celebration of the jubilee of the Warwickshire County Cricket Club, Lord Cobham, of the M.C.C. said Australian crowds were better informed than those of England because the Press were kept well informed by the captain and the players. Greater consideration should be given to the public by the reduction of intervals. He also thought the use of a white ball instead of a red one would be an improvement. * & Helen Takes to Golf. Mrs. Helen Wills Moody, who gaw up championship tenhis to design dresses for a living and to paint, has taken up golf, according to a San Francisco message, to the London Daily Telegraph. She is taking lessons at the Burlinghame Country Club, where the professional, Harold Simpson, says that she has “the strength, the muscular co-ordination, and the temperament to become a real star.’' ❖ ❖ -TGolf’s Royal Chief. That the Duke of Kent is to be offered the captaincy of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club at St. Andrews for next year is suggested by the Evening Standard. He will succeed Sir John Simon, who recently played himself in as captain for the current year. Both the King and the Duke of York have captained the club, undergoing the time-honoured early morning ordeal of driving off the first ball of the medal competition in front of a large and critical crowd.

Holing in One Deliberately. Poul Winslow, of Del Monte, California, was about to play off the seventh tee at the Cypress Point Golf course, when his companion said to him:

“Winslow, didn’t you make a hole in one on this hole a year ago to-day?" “Yes, I did,” replied Winslow. “Show the boys how you did it,” said the other. Winslow slammed the . ball, and, amid a silence that could be felt, says a British United Press message to the London Evening News, legitimately marked “1” on his card. « 4 d-

Ncw Zealand League Players. Rochdale Hornets recently signed E. T. Hall and Charles Blacklaws, New Zealand forwards, who were placed on the transfer list b.y the St. Helens Club. The number of Colonial players in English clubs implies that the English Rugby. League is not producing as many of the best stamp of players as is necessary to maintain an attractive playing strength in some of the clubs. The taking of D. Brown by Warrington, and the probable loss of R. McKinnon to another English club, is a policy that if continued much longer, will impose such a handicap on Australia in Tests against England that public interest in the Commonwealth will wane.

Fourth Stump Suggested. Herbert Sutcliffe, in Sheffield a little while back, said that “the new lbw rule had succeeded in its objective—the discouragement of leg-side bowling, but it had also discouraged the out-swinger type of attack and the leg-break bowler. He suggested the addition of a fourth stump, which, he advocated some years ago, would have been better for bowlers/ It would also have been better for batsmen. The now rule had caused batsmen to dispense with one of the game's grandest strokes —the shot through the covers. He said that 75 per cent, of first-class batsmen would have preferred to defend four stumps, ❖ 4Dutch Girl’s Records. Miss Mastenbroek, the 17-year-oiu Dutch girl who won two Olympic titles in Berlin and is the holder of several world records, beat the British record for the 150 yards back-stroke at Birmingham recently. Her time of lmin. 51 2-ssec. was 2 3-ssec. better than the previous figures established by Miss Phyllis Harding in July, 1933. Miss Mastenbroek broke a second British record when she covered the 300 yards free-style in 2min. 41 l-ssec. The previous best was 3min. 59 2-ssec. by Miss Joyce Cooper, now Mrs. Badcock, in April, 1931. Miss Mastenbroek swam against the British Olympic representative, Miss G. Mo" com, and beat her by 26sec.

11. Cotton Back to England,

Henry Cotton, former op< golf champion, who has for some -ears been attached to the Waterl Club at Brussels, is to return o England in the New Year. He will play as a free lance professional pending any club appointment he might accept. Cotton told a newspaper man that he has advised his club in Belgium that he will not renew his contract with them when it expires on December 31 next. He is also making plans for a trip to America. “I have only just decided to finish with my club at Brussels,” he said. “I have been on the Continent for a long time now, and I shall be sorry to leave Brussels, but it is time I came back to England.”

“Farmer” Gotch Hated to Tram. It takes all kinds of men and all kinds of nervous systems to make up a world. They used to tell a story of Frank Gotcn and his hatred for training. It was more than a dislike for routine. It became an obsession with him. One day his trainer found him at the side of the road, • crying as though his heart would break. Fearing that something serious had happened, white-faced and scared to death, the trainer ran over to him. “What’s the matter, Frank?” he cried. “What’s the matter?” Gotch sheepishly arose. “This darned training just gets on my nerves,” he said and started off to finish his five-mile run. Funny, isn't it? The big lowa farmer could stand all sorts of punishment on the mat, but training routine was something else again. Yet he stuck it out.