SPORTING MEMORIES

North Canterbury Gazette, Volume 7, Issue 1, 14 May 1937, Page 3

SPORTING MEMORIES

Mr W. E. Barton Looks Back CRICKETER'S REMINISCENCES Mr W. E. Barton, of Rangiora, recently returned to a familiar scene in the North Island, and was prompted to jemember. Here is the result as set down by a newspaper reporter:— Over the long span of sixty years Mr W. E. Barton, of Dilworth Avenue, Remuera, looked back to recall notable figures of other days in the field of sport, and names that are not known to the present generation. One of the greatest all-round athletes of his day, Mr Barton is perhaps best known to an older generation as one of the greatest cricketers New Zealand has known and so good that in 1884 he was invited to join the Australian Eleven to tour England, the invitation being unique as far as any New Zealand batsman was concerned. Mr Barton played in the historic cricket match on the Wanganui racecourse when a Wanganui XXII. de•feated an Australian XI. by 10 wickets, the only occasion on which an Australian XI. has been defeated in New Zealand. On a very bumpy wicket Australia were all out for 49 runs, the only batsman to reach double figures being Spofforth. Spofforth and Palmer then dismissed Wanganui for 43 runs. The Australian reply was 83 runs, and Wanganui then got the necessary runs to win with 10 of their wickets in hand. Mr Barton, with 44 runs, got the top score of the game. Wanganui Wicket It was after that historic match that the Australian captain said somewhat drily: “If Wanganui went on tour and took their wicket with them they would win a lot of matches.” After being the mainstay of Wanganui cricket for several years Mr Barton came to Auckland, where in five seasons he scored in all matches over 4000 runs. He toured New Zealand with the Auckland representative side in 1882 and 1884, and was first choice for Auckland in all the home representative matches. He took an active part in cricket for over 40 years, and played- his last match at Rangiora. Mr. Barton said that when he was invited to join the Australian XI. in 1884 to go to England, he was ready to go, but it was found that he had been born in England, and a doubt was then raised about his qualification. Mr Barton was English by birth, his father being Mr Henry Barton, of Hadlow, Kent. Mr Barton was educated at Cranleigh School, and there his cricket was moulded by Jupp and Street, two of the leading English professionals of their day. Mr Barton recalled the stern orthodoxy that was insisted upon, and the horrified way that the professionals looked when one of their pupils executed a pull or a hook instead of playing the particular ball on the off. He played for Surrey Colts against All England in 1875, when he got 24 runs against some of the best professional bowling in England at that time. In 1877 he came to New Zealand in the ship St. Leonard, and went to live at Wanganui. In a survey through the years Mr Barton considers that New Zealand cricket has improved. He pointed out that there was a great difference in the wickets, and the old-time players had often to play on very rough grounds. The all-round batting of today was better, as in the old teams there was usually a long tail, and a man who got five runs thought that he was lucky. Eight at Once In Auckland cricket of the ’eighties Mr Barton was a contemporary of wellremembered players like Yates and Arneil. On one occasion, on the Auckland Domain, Kallender, who was the big hitter of his day, got well on to a ball, and Mr Barton, who was his partner, helped to run an eight. All hits in Auckland cricket at that time had to be run out. Who was the best bowler of bis memory? The answer was Spofforth, the great Australian, who had every bowling gift, but Mr Barton had also the highest praise for another Australian of that time, Palmer, who was also a great bowler. The fastest bowler of his memory was Ernest Jones, the Australian, who startled Auckland batsmen in the early ’nineties, and he had a good word for Neill, the old Auckland representative slow Mfhom many people regard as the best bowler that Auckland cricket has known. The best innings that he ever saw played was one by Victor Trumper at. Christ-

church, when an Australian team was touring New Zealand. Mr Barton was a spectator at the recent match at Eden Park when the M.C.C. team played a combined Auck-land-Wellington team. He had a feeling of some disappointment that there was an absence of proper footwork and placing, and too often the ball outside the off-stump was left alone and not attacked. “In my day,” he said, “we went for the off ball every time.” He was not surprised that England lost the Test rubber in Australia. In Other Sports And then to other sports Mr Barton continued his reminiscences. He captained the Wanganui Rugby team, and he played for the old Gordon Rugby team in Auckland when players like Whiteside and Madigan were in their prime. In the years 1882 to 1888 he was the Auckland tennis champion on five occasions, and he has to-day at his home at Remuera the oldest tennis cup presented in New Zealand, given by Dr Anderson, of Wanganui. In the latter year he won the high jump championship in Auckland, and through busy years he has found time to take part in bowls, golf, rowing, and hunting, while he has some memories of partridge and pheasant shooting in the south of England. Mr Barton visited England in 1912 and 1927, and, as he puts it himself, he haunted Lord’s and the Oval, but he found time to visit many of the places which he had known in his youth. Now at the age of 78 years Mr Barton looks back over a very eventful life on the field of sport, and the remarkable part about it all is the extraordinary number of sports that he has been associated with. As Mr Barton humorously put it, he has played everything bar basketball, lacrosse, and polo. A wealth of flowers surround Mr Barton’s home. Gardening is now his favourite occupation, and he still plays one game, and plays it well. That is, chess.