THE SPORTING WORLD

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 4 May 1938, Page 11

THE SPORTING WORLD

Variety of Pars from Here and There By"ERA"

i Lofty Blomfield for Nelson I The opening of the local wrestling . season will be 19th May. when Lofty Blomfield will appear. His opponent j has not been announced. Nelson wrest- [ ling patrons will be pleased to see their ! old favourite in action and whoever is i Lofty's opponent a good bout must rej suit. Wisden’s Cricketers’ A itianaek. Wisden's Cricketers’ Almanack for 1938 makes the following reierencc to the tour of the 1937 New Zealand ! team: * "It would be mere pretence to state : that the New Zealanders fulfilled ex- ’ pectations. The team certainly had a ! better playing record than that of the 1931 side, but for the representatives of ! a Dominion which. Tor the first time, i had been allotted three Test matches ! here against the full strength of Eng- : land, the standard of play in many ! matches was. frankly, disappointing . . "One is led to the conclusion that those who picked the team chose bowlers on the assumption that the English season—so far as weather was concern-ed--would be the average one and that slow wickets would be the rule rather than the exception. Another fast bowl- i er might have transformed a struggling side into a really formidable team, but no one. of course, could have antici pated so many hard wickets. At the same time. "Wisden's” deals with contributory causes to the unsat- I isfactorv form and comments favourably on the brave showing put up by the New Zealanders in each of their representatives games, and their success in holding England to a draw both at Lord's and at the Oval, ttough a glorious opportunity was allowed to slip by bad catching at Old Traflord. "Had Cowie been an Australian, he might have been termed a wonder of the age.’’ adds the editor "Page handled his bowling and conducted the general duties of captaincy in a manner that never warranted criticism . . The batting of the youngsters. Wallace and Donnelly, was of a class above that of their colleagues.” Aussie Heavy-weight Title. Ambrose Palmer caused a sensation \ list month at the Sydney Sports Ground ! by knocking out Ron Richards in the thirteenth round, in a contest for the | heavy-weight championship of Austra- 1 lia. Richards was down three times before he took the final count. The crowd | of 10.000 was stunned at the sudden! and unexpected turn of events. j Palmer had taken a severe battering j to the head from an attack which Rich- I ards never let up. and he was compell- j ea many times to retreat in order to j avoid punishment. The first knock-down was followed \ by an amazed roar from the crowd. 1 Richards fell for six from a short left to the chin. He rose, and fought back savagely ' until Palmer sent him down again for | "six” with a right to the jaw Richards rose a third time, with his ! defence wide open. Palmer chipped ! him with a left to the nose, and Rich- ! ards again fell. He remained sitting on , the canvas until the referee. Joe Wallis. ! counted him out. As far as the fight went .Richards was ahead on points, although Palmer ( was making up the headway in the last 1 few rounds. Palmer showed easily his 1 best form since his "comeback.” His defence, which was based on speed and sound technique, caused many of Richard's blows to be caught up on the gloves. Palmer weighed 12.7. and Richards 11.12. The first round was not long in progress before Palmer was bleeding from wounds over both eyes and a cut at the side of his nose. Richards caught him with a smashing right hand to the jaw. which seemed to flatten his face. But Palmer stiffened his defence in the second round, and allowed Richards to : make the fight. Richards landed a snappy left hook to : the jaw, but towards the close of the : round Palmer took the lead off his op 1 I ponent and showed more confidence. J Palmer continued to hold Richards off with his left, but in the fifth round 1 was shakenu by a terrific right to the ! side of the head. The force of the blow : catapulted Palmer back several feel ; to the ropes. I Richards rushed Palmer in the sixth | round. He had Palmer sparring for i position, but not until a few seconds j belore the bell did he break through ; with a short left hook to the jaw, shakj ing Palmer off his balance. , The betting bad taken a decided | turn, and Richards in the eighth was a j 2 to 1 on favourite. In the ninth and i tenth rounds he firmed still more in the i betting, and by the twelfth round ! was 10 to 1 on. [ In the twelfth round Palmer began to take the lead off Richards, and scored ! with a number of snappy left hooks to I the jaw. Then a sudden change came . over the fight. Richards fell to the [ floor for “six” with a right to the jaw. and he took the full count with a left to the nose. The crowd was stunned by this extraordinary ending. They could scarcely realise the position.

Rugby in the Schools An interesting statement, which shows! 71.863 boys 10 years and over in; schools throughout the Dominion play | football has been released by Mr G. j A. Maddison. chairman of the New Zea- ; land Rugby Football Council's committee to report on the game in schools. : The figures show 52.670 boys in prim- ; ary schools. 2304 in intermediate schools ; and 16.889 in post-primary schools. The distribution of the primary, school boys in the various districts is: I

Don Bradman's Records. By scoring 25S runs against Worcestershire. Don Bradman, the Australian cricketing captain, registered his third successive double century against this county in the opening match of the Australian team's tour of England. j I Don Bradman was born in 1908. He 1 has played in 23 Test matches against j England, scoring a total of 3406 runs, j (eluding 12 centuries, at an average of j •63 runs an innings. Altogether, in i Test matches he lias scored 4659 ! • ins, including IS centuries, at an av- ] urnsie of 117.00 runs an innings. Here are a few of his records in 1 Test cricket: (1) Most hundreds: (2) I most double hundreds (10): (3) four j hundreds in a series twic#; (4) him- ; dreds in four consecutive Test matches ' twice: (5) three double hundreds in ■, a series: (6) two centuries over 300; : (7) most runs in a series (971): (8) ] most runs in England Australia J matches in England; (9) most runs in i Test, cricket bv an Australian; (10) : 1000 runs in his first seven Test i matches. Barnes Unlucky As cabled recently, S. G. Barnes, a member of the Australian cricket team, has injured his left wrist and will not be available for 6 or 8 weeks. He is mentioned in the "Sporting Life.” Lon- ! don. under the caption c*. “Barnes Ail- | other Bradman?’’:— ' "Sidney Barnes, the 20-year-old New 1 South Wales batsman. who is the ! youngest member of Australia’s Test ! team which is to visit England, looks j like becoming another Bradman, i "He was in brilliant form for the ! touring team against Tasmania at Launceston yesterday, when he scored 55 ! not out in his first innirigs, and 80 not j out in the second. j "During his second innings, Barnes j had the satisfaction of passing his 1000 ; runs for the season—a feat which only ! Don Bradman had previously accom- ' plished this season. "Barnes has so far scored 1004 runs 1 at an average of 71.77 per innings, a ! really magnificent achievement in his I first full season of first-class cricket.” ! Popular Selectors. , F. W. ("Freddie”) Lucas is Auckj land’s new Rugby selector. Lucas is re- ■ garded as one of the best three-quar- : ters New Zealand has produced. He . represented Auckland 51 times between , 1920 and 1930. He captained Ponsonby 1 Club fifteen and the Auckland repre- ;! sentatives for several seasons. . "Freddie” toured Great Britain and ! South Africa with the 1924 and 1928 [ All Blacks respectively and represent--1! ed New Zealand in the Dominion in j matches against New South Wales teams in 1923 and 1925. and against the British team in 1930. His clever move with Mark Nicholls at Eden Park from 1 which a try was scored by Lucas 1 against the British team will always be remembered. Lucas should prove a popular selector this season in the Queen City and he should turn out a good Auckland team as far as team | play is concerned. Lucas intends selecti mg a team of colts and coaching it per- . sonally. this, of course, in addition to his task of picking his representative side. Wellington will probably have the services of Mark Nicholls again this season. Last year this Wellington selector was engaged as a member of the New Zealand selection committee and Messrs A. Donald and F. D. Kilby j gave Nicholls assistance in choosing the Wellington side. After experimenting for a time with 1 the two selector system and then with the one selector the Canterbury Rugby Union has gone back to the three selector method. The officials who will choose the red and black side this season are: Messrs H. O. Jefcoate (of the High School Old Boys Club). N. B. ! Carnegie (MerivaleL and V. Craw (Canterbury sub-union). These men should be able to cover the whole field ’ thoroughly, but the old danger of compromise selection—almost inevitable 1 wit h a committee—may crop up as it 1 did before. Norman Carnegie, a famous wing-forward in his day. represented Canterbury on thirty occasions between 1912 and 1922. Harold Jefcoate was a provincial five-eighth of class in 1923. and Mr Craw won his way as a hefty country forward into several trials, so the experience is there. ; 1 i M! I! I! I! I! 11111 lllllllllillHllllllllllirriTTTTTfiTiiimMiiiirfihiiMiii.ii.n

Primary Intermediate Auckland 15.532 1.632 Taranaki 2.568 — Wanganui .... 3.832 202 JIawkes Bay .... 3.694 200 Wellington 6.881 342 Nelson 1.887 — Canterbury .... 8.794 8.346 Otago 4.430 182 Southland 3.337 —