CRICKET NOTES

Northern Advocate, 14 November 1929, Page 7

CRICKET NOTES

(“By Beep/leld.”) Ever since stumps .were first pitched in Whangarei the question of grounds has -been a most vital one. There is no doubt that the progress of the game has been retarded to a large extent owing to the unfavourable conditions under which it has perforce been played. To prosper, cricket, quite as much as any other scientific outdoor sport, calls for -good, reliable playing surfaces.

The Whangarei Association now has a ground of its own at the Reclamation, where already a very considerable sum has /been spent in draining and levelling. Unfortunately the old bugbear of finance is encountered at every turn, and now that at last cricket has got a home in Whangarei the finance necessary for putting in the furnishings and laying a costly carpet (so to speak) is lacking. WHAT IS WICKET TO BE? The visions of a green sward studded with daisies will ever appeal to cricketers, but those who have recently visited the still somewhat swampy Reclamation will admit that this prospect of well established turf is yet only a vision. The soi) is too friable for natural turf at present, and three alternatives for solving the difficulty now present themselves.—(l;) The importation of turf from (say) Port Albert. (2) The playing of matches on matting over chipped soil. (3) Laying concrete wickets.

The first suggestion entails an early and heavy expense and a great deal of subsequent labour'. The -only satisfactory way to maintain turf wickets is to employ a groundsman, and considering the present state of the Association finances tfiis, of course, Is out of the question. Tfien again, the Reclamation at times is subject to flooding, and no grass will satisfactorily withstand. saltry inundations.

Chipped wickets, have been the bane, pf Whangsrei cricket for many seasons. They have proved unsatisfactory; everywhere they have been tried, and „to be anything like a true wicket require careful preparation before use. A CONCRETE PROPOSAL. This brings us to t]he third suggestion, that of paying a permanent concrete yieket, The Management Committee at its meeting this week very wisely decided to fully inyestigat|:'the laying of concrete, yhich has already been successfully. odppted as the playing wicket for all other associations in the North. Where finance and other conditions do not favour turf, concrete has been proved tfle saviour pf the cricket standard, in the same way, as asphalt and eomyete have piade gp.od tennis possible under similar eircupistanecs.

In Australia, even in the cities, by. far tJie cricket is cre.te /pitches, apd tjie permanent material is now coming intp vogue in England as the following extract from the “Cricketer Spring Annual ’ ’ 1929, will show; —

■“Experiments have recently been carried out with concrete, and it has been found that, provided it is given a good foundation and finished to a tine surface, a fast true pitch is provided. It would, naturally, be feared that a fast 'bowler .with a high delivery would get up dangerously on such a pitch, that no ball would stand the wear and tear of concrete, and that it would be impossible for the bowler to get the ball to ‘do anything.’ Experience has proved that this is not the case, and it is found that oven a fast bowler with a high delivery cannot make a ball get up more than 2ft Gin to 3ft. The wear and tear of the ball, again, is not appreciably greater than on a hare surface. The ball comes off the wicket fast and, with a slight turn which a bowler can give, batsmen caw get as good practice as they want. “Two of these concrete practice pitches were laid last summer in Battersea Park and have proved so far quite successful. Players on concrete pitches should wear rubber-soled shoes. The success of concrete pitches, both for practice and match playgrounds, suggests that they might even be introduced for match wickets on grass fields where local conditions render it impossible to provide good grass wic : kets.

“Although on many county grounds x-especially the Oval —grass can hardly be reckoned as a very important ingredient of the wicket, the innovation of introducing concrete into match pricket may meet with some opposition. This should, however, disappear when it is realised that the pitch provided by this means is one on which the game can be learned and played with confidence.”

WHAT “PLUM” WARNER THINKS,

Pelham Warner, the editor of “The Cricketer,” adds the following footnote:

“I have had the pleasure of batting on concrete pitches in Battersea Park, and it would bo difficult to imagine a better wicket. As X ventured to remark at the time, it was as good as anything I had seen in Australia.”

Anyone who lias played at Portland, and later on one of the alleged matting-dust wickets in Whangafei, will ibear “Plum" out in Ids assertion that concrete is most Satisfjaetoty.