OUT DOOR SPORTS AND PASTIMES

Free Lance, Volume XIV, Issue 695, 25 October 1913, Page 19

OUT DOOR SPORTS AND PASTIMES

By Touohline.

""" 'Cricket.'— ; ; The New Zealand Team for Australia. .

MESSES. S. J. Orchard and Dr> Reese (Christchurch),. M. : J.\ Crornbie (Wellington) A. Downes (Dunedin), and Ij. G, Hemus (Auck- ; land) met in Wellington on Tuesday last week to select i the New Zealand team to tour at the end of the' year. I L had intended making some comments onthe selection in my notes last week, but 1 ran up against av brick wall in my search ? after information. ' Early on Wednesday morning I .'"approached Mr, OrdjardL' who'-acttd ! as Chairman of the Setectfon Committee.- He tbld me that the team would not be available for liciitioD -until.after it .bad bteen considered by the Cricket Council at. its meet-, ing on Thurfed&y night.V A / request for a perusal of the' names, giving an assurance that tliey. would not.be used, met' with, a .refusal,; . ; 'j : I accepted Mr; fOrchard's ■announcement with the best grace I could, knowing I did, that it prevented'me making a. reference to it-last week, for the simple, reason that "the matter in these columns has to go to press on. the Wed-, nesday todrning at latest. My'surprise, however; canu be imagined- when I found'- .the team pnblifehed in Wednesday's ''Evening-Post,"-as the result of Association telegram received from Christchurch! Mr. Orchard still being in Wellington. .v. ~i' : '■ ■. - •"* :• - *• ]r.>Tlus. isonly ancrthec. instance o£ the nt) that ha» been often made that th&-Crickbt:Cbuncil 'is run in the inters eßt»:bf • Christchurchund its cricketeia. It jjt was correct that the team should nave /been handed. ; tq the newspapers of Christchurch as soon "a 6 it was received by., the ,Council, surely the Wellington ' newspapers should, have been entitled to the names as soon als they were selected. . Mr/'Orchard will tell me probably thdt he was not responsibly ■ for the action taken in the matter by. the Cricket Council,''but he mnst have had his instructions not to hand the names to any of the Wellington newspapers untirtheyhad . first been perused in Christchurch.. The rope is getting a pretty long .one-, these days, and soon, maybe, it < will be long enough for the'memberfeof the Cricket Council to hang themselves with it. "the, Nominations"for the Team.* ' ' The following were the names of those nominated for places in the team: — .Auckland: L. G. Hemus, L. Taylor, R. Somervell. N. C. Sneddon, F. Horspool. G. Cummings, W. B. Smith, H. Tattersall, A. - Anthony, L". Dacre, and Rountree as wicket-keeper. C. Oliff and E. V. Sale could not make the trip if selected, so that the Auckland Cricket Association could not be considered at all -bashful in the players it imagined good enough for placss in the New Zealand team. Wellington: F. A. Midlane.C. Robinson, C. Grimifiett, and E. Mi Beechev. D. C. Collins was no't nominated, for the reason, probably, that, although he returned from England less "than twelve months ago with a great reputation as a cricketer, he had not played in matches under ; the, Wellington Cricket Association:. -But in -this matter of nominating players Wellington has a) reputation for keeping itself in* the Probably. as the years go by, it will discover .best plan is to too many names, and not only those it isof, opinion are worthy of their places. •"'Canterbury: J. H.' Bennett, W. Hayes, D. Reese. C. Boxshall, R. G. Hickmott, D. Sandman. T. Carlton, and W. : R. Patrick. And all New Zealand representativ.ee, according to one Canterbury write*. Southland: J. A. Doig, J. W. H. Bannerman, and D. C. .Hamilton. Marlborough: R. "Pearpoirit and H. Whittle.

. South Auckland: J. Br Pomeroy. -West Coast: W. Barlow. . Wanganui: H. M. Butterworth an<l R. -W,. Orton. , '.. . Nelson: E. R. Neale, R. S. Mead, and G.-JT. X). Ahcott. V:» > Otago: H. G. Siedeberg, B. Tuckwell, T. McFarlane, R. C. Torrance, and J. W. Condliffe. . . ' • ' • -# The surprise to' me of;§ these *- nonjiriations is. that HawkeV Bayl-flTd not 'forward any. nantes'-VF fiacUSeeir Vold'that" • E. Smyrke was held to be in; Napieroni;the assurance of J. H.' Board, the finest 1 slow, bowler in'.. New. t-lZealand; and I : fully expected to find hife name*iht the list that, was forwarded to me. nr.. > - •* The Selected' Team. "• . .... The thirteen players selected are - as • follp>ra.j—L.' G. -Hemus. Nj-Cs Sneddon,*■li. Taylor, H.' Tattersall/ C.' -Robinson, - D. C. Collins, D. Reese,* W. R.-Patrick, R. G. Hickmott, D. Sandman, C. Box--" shall, J. H. and B. J.. well. I have'no positive authority -for' saying so, but I believe T. Carlton is the fourteenth-playeir, with C.vV; jCfrim- ; mett .as:'th§ emergency bowler if ar-jdow bowler should out. And the- team would not be weakened if :such a thing did happen, for Griipmett .undoubtedly: 13 as well worth his place inr the side'as some. of. those selected, j--qj -v . , C.:j! ». .» - •; ' S6me * ■'. '■ , - - - , The team) is_ a good and representative' one, although it is open to comment in one* or two places. First and foremost, I am decidedly of the opiniop. that C. Boxshall, the Canterbury wicket-keeper, has no earthly right to be in the team, mainly for the reason that he is a long way removed from the top-notch /'keepn er' these days through increasing years and too much embonpoint. A wicketkeeper should be active oiy his pins, and a -man who hasn't seen, hid toes for years" cannot be said to be active. I am told that on the fast wickets of Australia the" ball will rise much. higher, than it'does in New Zealand. It will need to if Box-shall-is to give even, a decent display behind the sticks.. I do not. wish to dive into history, but in the! only, other .NewZealand t^amthat Australia Boxshall. was a passenger, after the first match', owing to arf injury to hi 6 hands, and it seems to me'that he. will be a passenger on this occasionreason. - - ,". 'In' my opinion, T. Condliffe (Otagd), a younger man. whom a trip like this must improve, should have been selected before Boxshall.' "Tommy"' learnt his. cri<> ket at the Mount CookiSchool, arid early showed his. ability as a wicket-keeper, so much so that he, gained, his school;cap| in this and in match in particular gave ,an exhibition that presaged for him a good career. In course of time he worked. his-'way up. to senior status, and-had • just gained the wicket-kieeper's position 1 in the Wellington representative team, as a member of thiei Central Club, when he was transferred to Dunedin. In the Scbtch oity he has_ shown form good enough-' to keep him in the Otago representative team.-and this higher honour of Jbeing a New Zealand representative should have Jbeen paid him.

I cannot imagine why H. Tattersall was selected in front of Condliffe, either. - r lt will be noticed, in the nominations . published above that Rountree was nominated/as the wicket-keeper, by the Auckland Cricket Association. It is a fair assumption, then, that even . inV , Auckland Rountree is considered a better wicket-keeper than Tattersall. But this argument is of ,no avail in face of • the fact-that Tattersall is,an ex-Christ-School boy, and that Hick-' most fand 'he * s were" the 1 opening bat<smen' - f<sr. the" school team wiletr they were felStudents. Canterbury influence '-on the 'Selection Committee was a very - strong one. r - ■ rv - • • , • - _ *■ - The Players, and Something about - them, i. . : .• : - - \L. G. JEfemus has~been brought up in * Auckland cricket, and is one of the finest batsmen 'Now ■ Zealand has producted. 't-i < Cham' r i is- the. most- unassuming ; .4»laye«;;-in, -Dommion, but has done _ niare than any other, with probably the ■ Exception of Albert Relf, the English . f profossional, .towards keeping "the Plunkefc Shield in Auckland tne long time "it .=l': was in the. northern city. All round the J; wjcket.~.Henjus, is A a s ,fin© batsman,, more ;-v especially.on the; dijv© and r the off-shots, although it is remarkable' "that invari- - ably he has failed to reproduce his best .; form". bn (Reserve, either as an. " Auckland or New Zealand; representac \.tiye<7 • r . "y >r •. . S. Reese, who will-captain the team, .is th©, greatest. cricketer New Zealand., has' produced. ' Boih as batsman and „ bowler he has made his mark-on • New Zealand cricket, and is without a doubt the greatest of them all. As a youth of ' seventeen" he gained his place in the last' New ZealanSsteStaJtto tour .Australia, and - no one at that stage denied-him his rigjht .the, team. And : the" "same thing fifteen years later.•Reese* played" in 1 Melbourne; three yeaiß, . .and afterwards gained-a place in tlie EsIsex County team in England/ 'Since his - ; return to . New Zealand in 1907; he Jhds 3one great'service" to Canterbury. bring- - ing that pro.vince into the position of being the foremost in New Zealand from ithe .cricket : standpoint. - As a matter of fact, it is Dan Reese's "fine individual scores- that have made Canterbury's- record against over-sea teams such a good one as'ifc is. A left-hand bowler and batsman, still m the full zenith of his powers, this trip to Australia -should "find Reese holding his own'with some-of the great ones or New_ South Wales and Victoria. The sending- o£. a 1 Dobiiniori 'team to Australia has been one of the things Dan Reese has striven for both in season' And out of season, and now that_ it is being un--dertakehiit' will hot'Be his fault if.it has ; not a successful tour. D. C. Collins first came into the Wellington representative team while still at College, being given a - place, against > Hawke's Bay, before he had played in a senior match—a selection that caufeed a i lot of talk, at the time, but 'which Col- > lins' performances with the bat in the , match under notice' justified. In 1908 , . he went to-England to_ pursue his studies t at Cambridge University, where he was » not long in taking his proper place in cricket. As _a matter of fact, he gained his cricket "blue" in his second year, and before returning to New Zealand also'

' ' ■*- ■- - ■ ' • ■ ■ 'V' gained His "blue" at rowing. He came - back-to, the Empire City just before-tho-end of lalbf season, . .with the record of having scored a double half-oentuiy in his. ' last 'Varsity match against Oxford/and with an average ;of over forty runs for - * the : season in all matches in England" -* that year. D. C. ..Collins is a Welling- - ton boy, and, with what I have written *: - .is within the selectors' knowledge, a JSiewJi Zealand team, would not he: oomplete, r in' my opinion, without him." • "Why he was riot nominated on behalf of Weilington is one of the things-: that'Cannots* be understood. • , , - - ..

N. C. Sneddon and W. R. Patrick have been New Zealand representative players for some years now, and it ife just.' as well for them that their.'opportunity • has come before they started on the down-grade-. As a matter of fact, there were complaints.made" when Patrick was selected as a Canterbury representative last season, but he justified the selectors' confidence )in him. Both these, playeijb have, the temperament necessary for big matches, find thfey : do not worry much if'they are not doing too well,' confident that luck will turn their way, and that the opportunity will\ arise to allow them td show their true form. I put them together, for in describing One you describe the other, as both are fine forcing batsmen when they get into their stride, and can -take a turn at the bowling crease if necessary.

J. H. Bennett'is a medium-fast bowler, who can. keep going all day, if necessary, • but with little variation in his deliyeries. He keeps a fine length," and has put up many good performances. But Bennett is getting along towards the veteran stage these" days, and I am afraid this .tour will find. a weakness m him. In, my opinion,' R. Torrance (Otago); a muph younger bowler with a lot of possibilities, would have "been a better selection than Bennett.- He has a' swerve which ■is very disconcerting -at times to the oppofeing batsmen, a fact we are not likely to forget in Wellington. .

D. Sandman was given to me at one time as the most promising colt in New Zealand, but. I cannot say yet that he. has fulfilled, that promise. He can bowl a huge leg-break, with , an occasional, "googly," but he cannot control his break or his length enough yet to considered a great bowler. What Sand-' .man' wants is a captain 'who will, keep him up to the mark'all the time, for he has possibilities, especially with the "googly," that should be brought" out in the trip now on the eve of being undertaken. Sandman is a dashing batsman and a great field_ at point, but his main claim for inclusion in.-, this team is his bowling.

. R. G. Hickmott had a. great record at school, making a big lot of runs with fine, scoring strokes. This colt is a .hatsman, all right, and' one that .should "do well on the faster wickets in Australia. He is a fine outfield,, and looks for something to do all the time.

L. Taylor is a batsman who has had the benefit of much coaching in Auckland, but he suffers from the tired feeling, so much so that he has rarely impressed me as a great player. But he is a fine batsman all the same, although hife value to 'the side is inclined to be lessened from the fact that he loses in the field too many runs for a first-class player. And, as this has been his experience in New Zealand, what it will be in Australia does riot want a very big imag-/ ination to discover. *

■ C. Robinson is the fast bowler in the team—probably the fastest New Zealand has produced; and I am not forgetting any of the old-timers as I write. He will take a lot of nursing, however, as he is inclined to tire after half-a-dozen overs, but Reese can be' relied upon to make lie best use of him. If Robinson takes it into his head to have a £50, he can make runs quickly, and he will be well advised to hit out, instead of playing the careful game. ' He has' a fine eye, and should develop into an Upham in the slips if persisted with.

B. Tuckwell and C. Boxshall are the only ones in the team who are not New Zealanders, and their places could have been filled easily, in my opinion. The former hails from Victoria, where he had a good career with the St. Kilda Club in Melbourne. Ten years ago he represented Victoria,' but business prevented him paying too much attention to the game there. He arrived in Dunedin about eighteen months ago. and figured with credit in Otago representative cricket last season. He is a' finished bat of- the Australian type, and bowls a fair, slow ball.

H. Tattersall is _a young Aucklander, ■ who learnt his cripket in Christchnrch. He was second only as a batsman to Hickmott when the pair were at the Christchnrch Highi School together. His inclusion in the team is not justified, either as batsman or wicket-keeper. C. Boxshall has been a great wicketkeeper in his day, crediting himself with (some fine performances. Some people have stated that he indulges in* questionable methods behind the wickets, hut I have seen him at work many times, and have never .noticed anything that deserved such a comment. , " # * •» ■ » The Manager of the Team. Sf J. Orchard, known better to his intimates as Sid Orchard, has been appointed manager of the team. This will not be his first visit to Australia, as he trekked thither in 1893 as a member of the New Zealand Representative Rugby Team, for which he aid good service at

....... ( .. ............ ....... ._. .. .full-back.. . The .writer.has: had a long, and personal acquaintance with Sid; Or- \ 1 clwd,' and good; toC. say, '- 'about &hi both'^s : and; aigentle-" man. .. 1.-ana- satisfied v'that :'he 'will do. ;' credit to New,' Zealand and the team in ; ibe position 'oi manager,' and, if x the '.necessity -arises.' -will' be able - to' take" his ' place';on: the -field,: for-he". is..st'ill<fuH of " yigour as a cricketer, iand with his :trfcky ; slo\r«.'or Ihis-lhard.'.hitting, bat is .' : worth-, his ; place -.in jrhost- teams\ in-'. New ZeaiancV:,these idays. though; hardly/a Dominion; Tepresentative. Good luck : ,' to him and the players-under-hjm.l '.'*''

The Seasonable Weather. (?) '

.. Two in succession too wet to , allow of thei: ches being sfai-ted' is .something : so un 7 usual—even, one V hardly knows what to say abotxt it.- : the least eaid'is. probably the easiest - mended. Bufr.it'is hard to bear all'the same. To add to tlie .discomfort of oiir cricketers, even if matches are commenced to-morrow (Saturday) afternoon, there •; will be a further postponement next" week-end, because the Reserve has . been let for a sports meeting. But of such is, the cricket .season .in Wellington made up—full of'difficulties and trials all the way through. » # ■ » ' . • J f' ■ Some- Passing Notes. Sydenham, West Christchureh, and . Riccarfcon defeated St. Albans/ Linwood, and East Christchurch in the first round of championship matches under the Canterbury Cricket Association, the firstnamed being the only one to • secure a three-point win. . 'The Basin Reserve is looking splendid > these days, and Groundsman ' , Saunders has been, getting in 6ome fine - work ,be-

+-tween the. showers. I had a walk over • the wickets last Friday night, and, as far as-.c.ould be judged from looking at them, they were m tip-top order. And may . they'keep is my desire. ; Thexe seems to be no end to the pro--mising "colts" in Canterbury. Woods, - of the Sydenham. Club, has opened the season with a tidy suore of 170 (not out), ; as. many runs as some batsmen make in .a'whole year.' • Wilson, another youth in' the same club; bagged thirteen wickets . loi 45' runs—an auspicious start for the cricket : year "of 1915KL4. ' * iln Auckland, last "year's premiers : (Eden) have quite a large number of new members »this year, and are ex,pect- ' ed; ; to make a big bid for the championship" again. : Ponsonby have also been strengthened, aa hare North Shore, but . Grafton and Parnell will be weak. There will be several new men in the tJniver--sity teanij who are expected "to make a fair showing. . Eight "teams will take . part in the senior championship contest, Waiterriata (winners of the junior pionship last year), and Eden B being the v new ones. . They got a good start in Auckland - last Saturday. L. Dacre opened out with a tally of 145, and Smeeton got 102 (not out). Both of these are "colts," and it is a good sign when the young fellows do big things right- at the beginning of the year. ' A Christchurch paper of last Saturday ' slates: —"It was stated to-day, unofficially, but authoritatively, that the S4». lection Committee is unanimous in desiring Carlton to go to Australia in tha. New-Zealand 7 team, but the financial aspect of the matter has to be considered by- the New Zealand Cricket Council." Just to show,.'apparently, that the Selection Committee .had good grounds for recommending him for a place, .Carlton gathered together 102 "the same after-

noon for East Cliristcliurch against Riocarton, by a first-class'display of batting •' on a heavy, wicket. Y, ■ .