CRICKET.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14930, 1 March 1912, Page 7

CRICKET.

r <m NO PLAY IN FIFTH TEST. By Telegraph.— Association.—Copyright, (Received February 29. 9.35 p.m.) Sydney," February 29. The rain continued all day, and further play in the fifth test match was impossible. AN INDEPENDENT TEAM. I i BOARD STRONGLY ATTACKED. Sydney, February 29. The press continues to be inundated with criticisms of the action of the B6*ard of Control with regard to the chosen team for England. Many critics are strongly pessimistic, and some are of-opinion that the M.C.C. will not accept a team which, it is claimed, does not represent Australia. Hill has expressed a hope that the selec- | ted team will do well. The Sydney Morning Herald says that (here is no valid reason why the team should not do quite well in England, for .it is obviously full of possibilities. At all events, it can do no worse than our seasoned representatives did this season against Young England. M. A. Noble, in an interview, said that : the Board of Control had adopted unjust ' and dishonest methods to evade the rules, and take away the only privilege that was left to players. The constitution distinctly gave the players the right to appoint a i manager, subject to ratification by the Board. He did not object to the principle ■ under which the Board was constituted, ; but strongly opposed its present personnel. In Melbourne the feeling is so high that 1 the Lord Mayor, by requisition, has called j a public meeting to protest against the , Board's decision, and secure an expression of opinion on the proposal to send a team to England outside the Board. ' It is stated that Hill has wired offering to act with Trumper and Armstrong in 1 picking an independent team, and that Hill has received assurances that funds will be forthcoming. • -I The Melbourne newspapers are strongly 1 antagonistic to the Board. The Age says "* that the Board has no right to compromise 1 Australia by sending a scratch team. It i suggests that no team,be sent this year. i A proposal is afoot to send the recalci- < trant six by private subscriptions, and i meanwhile to continue negotiation's for settlement. < THE CRICKET SQUABBLE. ; [FROM OtR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] , Sydney, February 26. There is something approaching comic opera in the Australian cricket crisis. Australians take their cricket, as they take all their pleasures, very seriously, and it is < perhaps difficult for New Zealanders to i understand the excitement which the , cricket squabble, extending over the hist , few weeks, has occasioned in the Commonwcalth. The triangular series of test. I cricket —between Erjgland, Australia, and South Africa,is about to be- ( gin, and it was very desirable, that the < team to go to England this year should y he the very best Australia could put into I the field. There has been too much £ cliqueism in regard to these cricket teams j in the past, and with a chivalry born of , this cliqueism the noble six (Hill, Trumper, Armstrong, Hansford, Cotter, and Carter) * resolved to stand by Mr. Laver, even to C the point of refusing to go Home without him. The Board of Control is a properly ] constituted body, appointed to control { Australian cricket, and throughout has * had the support of th© Sydney news- C papers. On the other hand, the Melbourne c papers take their stand by the players i and against the Board. It was hoped J that some way out of the difficulty would r be found, but none has come. When Lord 8 Chelmsford (Governor of New South i Wales) and Mr. P. F. Warner (captain of * the English cricketers) saw fit to inter- ~ vene and call the six players together ; and give them some homely advice on the S subject of patriotism, and" need for sinking personal feelings for the sake of up holding the honour, of their country on the cricket field, it can be seen how* this tiling had gripped the community. And * still the deadlock remains. * ?