TEST PLAYERS IN THE MAKING

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 6 February 1928, Page 2

TEST PLAYERS IN THE MAKING

POWERFUL AUSTRALIAN XI TO TOUR NEW ZEALAND

PERSONNEL OF THE TEAM. The cabled announcement last week that all the Australian cricketers Selected to lour .New Zealand this season have signified their willingness to make the trip, is gooil news to Zealand followers of cricket. It means that an aggregation of talent, representing one of the most powerful sides in the woj'ld will be seen in action on the playing fields of Maoriland next month.

The party, which will leave, for New Zealand on 9th February, will therefore be as follows: W. M. Woodfnll, W. H. IV/nsford, D. M. Blackie, 11. (I. Morton (Vie.}, V. Y. Richardson, K, Schneider, W. Alexander, C. V. Grinimeft, (S.A.), A. F. Kippax, A. Jackson, R. McNamee, and W. A. Oldlield (N.S.W.), ft. M. Oxenham (Q.y. No greater tribute to the ability of the team need be. given than to say that in Australia it is regarded as the nucleus of the team which will strive to wrest the Ashes from England in Australia next .season.

STARS OF THE SIDE Captained by Vio Richardson, dashing hat and prince of fieldsmen, the ride includes such brilliant players as W. Ponsford, whose record-shattering performances with the bat will live for all timo in the history of cricket • "Bill" Wootjiull, the Victorian schoolmaster, who has brought the art of rungetting down to a mathematical formula; Alan , Kippax, of. the flfAving bat, whose vivid personality at the wickets oftimes recalls the immortal Trnniper himself; "Clarrie" Grimmett, the ex-Wellingtonian, whose spectacular successes in the last test series with his insidious slows, is still fresh in the memory; and behind the sticks, the incomparable Oldfield, without a peer as a keeper in. present-day cricket. Prominent newcomers to'international rank are Morton, looked on as' Gregory's successor in the gentle art of unleashing forked lightning at the batsmen ; W. Alexander, the South Australian colt, who shot like a meteor into big cricket last season; A. Jackson, the. 19-year-old Sydney batsman, whose career has been equally brilliant; Don Blackie, so long neglected as a bowler, and now coming into his own; Roy McNamee, a devastating force on a wicket that is wearing or is affected by rain; Karl Schneider, claimed by his admirers to be Warren Bardsley's successor as a left-handed batsman; and R. Oxenham, the unspectacular but none the less capable Queenslander.