A SPORTING WORLD

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 26 August 1939, Page 11

A SPORTING WORLD

Various Pars from Here and There {

BY "ERA”

-anfurly Shield Statistics The following is an up-to-date record j -*f victories in Ranfurly Shield matches: j Hawkes Bay 23 Auckland 26 Wellington 26 Canterbury 23 Otago 15 Southland 12 Wairarapa 11 Taranaki 7 Manawhcnua 3 , Disallowed 1 Total 152 Wickets to Blame The former Australian international cricketer. Alan Kippax. blames deterioration of wickets into "hfrd mud” for slow and unentertaining cricket. “The main conversation in cricketing circles is the supposed brightening of cricket, alteration of rules, and so on.” he said. : ‘‘l am firm in the belief that there ' is nothing wrong • ith the rules of! cricket. It is in the hand: of the players themselves, maybe with the help of the selectors, and no legislation will i brighten it up.” Number Them Numbers on the backs of cricketers are advocated by John Macadam in the j London “Daily Express.” He was com- ! menting on the M.C.C.'s decision to in- j stall a scoring board with the numbers ; of the players before the start of the ; first West Indies test. “Why don't they do the job properly and put the numbers on the one place where they are really wanted.” Macadam asks. “At present there is far too much guessing among round-the-ropes spectators as to the identity of players.”

Ex-World Champion for New Zealand u The former world feather-weight boxing champion, Freddie miller, who lost ; his title to Pete Sarron in 1937, is < contemplating a world tour, embracing i New Zealand, Australia and South jt Africa. Although he is only 28 years ; of age. Miller has been fighting as a,i professional for 12 years, winning the ■ world title by defeating Tommy Paul h in 1933 In 1936 Miller fought in South I Africa, knocking out Willie Smith and | ! Phil Zwich and defeating Sarron. His j title was put up in his second match j 1 with Sarron Miller losing in 12 rounds 1 at Johannesburg. Wrestling Differs in Some Countries Wrestling as carried on in other countries was described by Paul Boesch (the American wrestler who recently met Lofty Blomfield in Nelson) in an j address given to a club in Christchurch. As most wrestlers in New Zealand ; came from the United States, wrest- | j ling here was similar to that in j America, although not quite as rough, said Mr Boesch. In Japan jiu jitsu j ! was a national form of sport, although ! 1 the Japanese had learnt the art from I 1 the Chinese army during previous i conflicts. Another type of wrestling | existed in India where the rajahs took I ■ a great interest in the sport. Here I | mud wrestling was favoured because ! the ground formed the cheapest ' j medium for softening the fall. Finnish ; wrestlers used harnesses around their | hips in their particular form of the ' sport. Modern wrestling was developed I frem the Greek and Roman types, he said, and changes made now all came , from the wrestling public. The greati est change was the introduction of the , flying tackle and this brought in men j from footbail and other sports.

tonkins a Good Boxer According to Johnny Foster, the Canidition welter-weight boxer who re•ently fought Lcs Adams in Nelson, the nost promising professional boxer in he Dominion to-day is Stan Jenkins, of j Dunedin. 'He definitely has brains in j he ring and knows how to use them.' j : aid Foster “1 gained a knock-out dc- v hsion over him only because he was a ! .« jit ’green,’ but if he is properly nursed 1 le should develop into a good fighter.” Used Hitler’s Bedroom “Herr Hitler stayed here a fortnight igo. This was his bedrom,” So James 1 Allen, £10,775 centre half and captain : of Aston Villa, was told as he was ushered into his apartments recently at a luxury hotel at Baden-Baden, Germany, writes an English sports critic. It’s the German way of doing things now money—football gates included — cannot come out of the. country. British teams are given luxury tips—swell liners, swell hotels, everything firstclass. All expenses paid. But no share of the gates their games attract. The 7/ilia players also came away with a £45 camera apiece. The German Football Association spent £SOOO on the Villa’s three weeks’ tour. Long Golf Match If this is not a world's record, then the Golfing Annual does not know its business, remarks an Australian writer. i Long years ago the then Queensland ! Governor. Lord Lamington, left behind Fim as the Brisbane Golf Club a cur for annual foursomes play. Pairs qualify by stroke round for subsequent match play. It so happened this year that the council secretary, T. B. Hunter, and W. F. R. Boyce tied for last place with Drs. J. H and H. Crawford, and had to replay. Since then the competitors have had six extra rounds of the course at foursomes play before the medical men earned the right to enter the match play series. Can anyone beat that? Seven rounds, or 126 holes of medal play, to settle what was only meant to be an 18-hole argument! The pairs tied in the original play and then tied five more times before the doctors won by an odd stroke. Needless to add. the match-play of the Lamington Cup was held up a week or two. Two Centuries in a Test When G. Headley, the Black Brad man, hit a century in both innings of the opening Test at Lord’s, it was not only the first occasion that such a feat was performed at the headquarters of cricket, but actually the second such effort by the West Indian. Playing at Georgetown (British Guiana) in 1930 he scored 114 and 112, and in the same series hi also ran up 176 at Barbados and 223 at Kingston (Jamaica). He was not the first player to twice make separate hundreds in a Test, as H. Sutcliffe did so for against Australia at Melbourne in 1924-25, and against the Springboks at the Oval in 1929. The only other men to compile a century in each innings of a Test were: E-rdsley, for Australia v. England at the Oval in 1909; A. C. Russell, for England v. South Africa at Durban in the 1922-23 season; W. R. Hammond, for England v. Australia at Adelaide in 1927-29; and E. Paynt.m, for England v. South Africa at Johannesburg at Christmas, 1938. New Book on Laws of Cricket The sixteenth edition of “The Laws of Cricket.” issued by the Marylebone Cricket Club—paramount cricket body of the world —presents all the laws of the game brought up to date. The booklet is a valuable guide to clubs, officials, umpires, players, curators and all cricket enthusiasts. For every conceivable problem that might arise on the cricket field in any part of the world there is a ready answer. In addition to the laws, there are n< tes for scorers and umpires, regulations for drying wickets in England, and a wealth of information on other aspects of the game. In a preface, the secretary of Marylebone Cricket Club (LieutenantColonel Rait Kerr) says that, since its formation in 1787, the M.C.C. has been recognised as the sole authority for drawing up the code of laws and ail subsequent alterations. The first M.C.C. code was adopted in 1788, and remain, ed in force until May, 1835, when a new set of laws was framed. The laws were first numbered in 1828. The 1835 code stood until 1884, when the present one was adopted at a special meeting of the M.C.C. Since then various interpretations and rulings have been made. Batting Risks may be Increased Preparing for the new season, several of the State cricket associations in Australia are considering the advisability of a drastic change in the Ibw law This is to the effect that a batsman, ir certain cases, should be given odt Ibw from a ball pitched outside the leg stump, as well as from one pitched outside the off stump. i The law, as amended three years age to cover the off-side delivery, provides ;• at present that a batsman may be giver | out leg-before-wicket "If with any par j of his person (except his hand) whief ! is between wicket and wicket lie inter j cepts a ball which in the opinion o I the umpire at the bowler’s wicket shal [ have been pitched in a straight lint | from the bowler’s wicket to the striker’; | wicket, or shall have been pitched oi j the ofT-side of the striker’s v/icket ant I would have hit it.” | Read “leg-side” for “off-side” in tin | last clause and some idea of the pro I posed addition can be gained. ! The main argument advanced is thal | though a batsman must put his fee | somewhere he should not be alio wet | to use his pads as a weaoon of defence | even on the leg-side, but should cinplo, j his bat to hit the ball, either in attac ! or defence S Reports indicate that, while there i | no chance of the Australian Board c | Control adopting the experiment thi $ season, one or two States may see f authority to try it out in club fixture; ( The result will be awaited with interes J Record Putt j It is a well-known fact that on som I courses certain holes have a hoodo I over players Such a player is J. I ! Coleman, a member of the Barrab { Club, New South Wales. Being unabl I to keep out of trouble at the second, j distance of 220 yards, he was at a lo? ! to know how to overcome the difficult; j Finally he used his putter off the te j and he holed in one! This is regarde | by his friends as being the world's rc j! cord putt.

Perpetrated and^ illustrated by Ken Alexander Thought for the week: The world was made in six days. It can be unmade in six minutes. PROGRESS! + * ■* * The world is all at sea and the sharks are waiting to be in at the kill. * * •¥• * The inter-gnashnal snithuation may be summed up in the following addled adages:— Necessity is the mother of Invention:—Hitler. Right is Smite: —Hitler cum Mussolini. All is not told that jitters:—The CenAn army marches on someone else’s stomach: —The Dictators. Every crowd has a sniveller whining:—The World. Never put off to borrow what can be dunned to-day:—All Governments. Shove makes the world go round:— Business. Bluff and the world bluffs with you. squeak and you squeak alone:—All of us. Second thoughts are always bust:— Diplomacy. * V * * i It appears that Hitler must now use his arms to save his face. The wedding march of the nations is "Here comes the slide.” If war comes it will be “the war of the ruses.” Peace has hung a notice on the door “Apply at the munition factory.”

Japan is said to be feeling the pinch Evidently “the yen is mightier than th< sword." * * * * This is a humane age. To-day, all conquests are made for the good of the conquered and to save the conquerers from being conquered. The idea seems to be, “conk or be conked.” * * # # The Abyssinians were killed for their own good. The Czechs were forced to accept German protection at the point of the bayonet. Germany’s brotherly love was forced down Austria's throat with a rifle butt. Albania was deemed , by the affectionate Italians to be in-! capable of living without the loving , care of Fascism. Were Caesar and , Alexander in their day more brutal — J or just plain honest? ¥ When we were young we did perceive ) , A quality of make-believe When father, taking off his shoes, Said, “This hurts me far more than Somehow it failed to ring quite true Especially when we felt the shoe. And ever since we’ve sensed a schism . In all such brands of altruism. We’d rather live without such fuss Than have dictators weep for us. ¥ If Germany ever attacks England it probably will be to save her from the 1 I.R.A. or from an invasion of Scots financiers. A conscience is a dreadful thing i when it is in Nazsty mood. ¥ Returning to our own shores, we find ' a moaning at the bar in opposition to those splendid lines, “let there be no moaning at the bar when I put out 10 , spree.” Governments may increase the cost of living and the cost of dying. They may go the whole hog, except the hogs- i head. But actually, it is the publicans j who are so wanting in public spirit. 1 Surely they should know that what goes down with cake and cabbages can't go down with beer. The cry of the masses is “hands off the handle.” * * * * Let those who hold their freedom dear Protect their beer. No tyrant’s head shall ever rear To threaten beer. Bread, yes; and other things, we fear — ! But never beer! The honest working man’s quiet cheer Is beer. So patriots who hold it dear Protect your beer! We say to profit-seeking vandals, “Hands off the handles!” 1 We fear that beer has gone to the publicans’ heads. Now they have been hoist by their own tankard. The waterside workers have boycotted beer. ! There is a quiet heroism in their action which cannot but fill thinking peo-

John Bull's tight little island wil soon be airtight. Seventy-six per cent, of America’; population recognises that “hand; across the seas” is preferable to ‘"‘hand: that cross and seize.’’ Give us this way our daily dread. Russia seems now to be out of th< wooed. Hitler doesn’t care a Continental. Germany and Italy have an Axis h grind. The watch on the Rhine is a squash ticker. Hitler is playing a hating game. Every day and in every way we ar getting bitterer and bitterer and bitter er:—Coue, up to date. Germany’s national pastime is called Der Tag. England’s is “I spy.” War solves nothing except peace. The cables are beginning to clank again. It is said that Germany expects a bomb-per harvest. * * * * We are told that diplomacy has never been busier. Let’s hope that a passage of notes will result in a satisfactory harmony—an international anthem. In the meantime the public is like the j three monkeys—hear all. see all, know j nothing. Perhaps it would be well if we were j like the oldest inhabitant of Whittle-[ cum-Pudden who was approached by a 1 visitor in 1918. Said the visitor, “Well, we’ve won the war, Grandad.” “Well, well; we’ve beat they Boers, done we?” answered the old man. “No, no,” said the visitors. “We’ve beaten the Germans.” “Garsh!” wheezed grandad. “Won’t Queen Victoria be glad!” An old story but worth repeating as ’ an instance of the blissfulness of ig--1 norance. ¥ 1 If Germany and Russia have a pact; ■ and Germany and Japan have a pact; ■ how do Russia and Japan stand? Can ' their be solved pactfully?

Wc have not actually seen a water sider in the act of •'turning one down. It must be a dreadful spectacle. * * * The tramway men also threaten t cut off the fuel supply. Thank goodness trams run by elec tricity. But all is not lost. (The Price Inves ligation Tribunal is to sit on beer t decide whether fivepenny handles ar worth sixpence. A pleasant job, indeer We fear that, if they apply for an of ficial taster, someone will get killed i: the rush. A silence lies upon the bar, No happy cry or quiet “hurrah.” No clinking coin or merry bouts Of “shouts.”