DOMINION CRICKETERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19731, 2 September 1927, Page 8

DOMINION CRICKETERS.

EAST OF ENGLAND MATCH* ; "A PRETTY EA3Y || NEXT VISIT POSSIBILITIES. THE TEST MATCH QUESTION. :;| BY COLONEL PHILIP TREVOR. It was a pretty easy victory that the - New Zealand cricketers gained at Wis-beach-a matter ol eight wicketsagainst the East of England. Many are the attempts that have been made to make cricket flourish in the East of England, or, rather, I should say to revive „ it there. A very long time ago—nearly a hundred- years—Noriolk ranked supremely high in the cricket -world, and it is indeed on record that on one occasion a S "Grand Match" arranged between Norj folk and England was won by the county I a nd not by the country. Then came i what are still knojvc as the "hungry forties/' which hit the agricultural coun- ! ties in the East of our land harder than any other counties. The grim straggle ; for existence put the playing of games > out of the question. As a game cricket still flourishes less in Norfolk and in Suffolk than it does in other counties. For all that the side which the New Zealanders defeated at Wisbeach had some pretty good players in it, notably C. H. Titchmarsh, W. E. Hazleton, "Nipper" Holloway, and the Cambridge Blue, L. G. Irvine. It is said that Titchmarsh, now distinctly a veteran, has in all matches made more runs than any batsman who has ever lived, with the exception of W. G. Grace. It is difficult to check a statement of that kind, but I should think in this case the statement i 3 j true. The match demands only a passing, notice. But what happened in it emphasises the contention I have already made, namely, that these tourists are much too good for any second-class side. Claim to Test Match Honours. As I write the New Zealandere are taking a well-earned mid-tour rest. It is an opportune moment, therefore, for me to discuss a matter which is to become one of substantial importance, namely, the claims New Zealand has to be honoured by the inclusion in their | programme of Test matches at their next I visit. Next season the West Indians will : be in this county, and it has been arranged that they are to play Test matches—for the first time. Now I have seen all the overseas teams which have come ,to this country - perform—the Australians, the South Africans, the New Zealanders, the ' Parsees, also the Philadelphians—and I say advisedly that only Australia has sent here a side better in batting than the present New Zealand side. Never in this country has South Africa put into the field a real strong batting side. South Africa, indeed, has only produced two outstanding batsmen, namely Aubrej Faulkner and H. W. Taylor, and the former, now resident in England, is earning as great a reputation as a teacher of the game as he holds as a player of it. . . I There have only been three great South ! African bowlers—the fast bowler, J. J. Kotze, and the googlie merchants, Aubrey Faulkner and Ernie Yogler. " Gordon White, apart from his batting, -strengthened the 1907 team because his real good googlie—when he got it a length—was the best googli? that could be bowled, and Reggie Schwarz also strengthened that but in a peculiar and an almost non-understandable way. Reggie absolutely could not bowl a leg-breaking ball. He bowled the off-breaker with a leg break action and, marvellous to relate, month after month our batsmen when they got to the wicket batted as if he could bowl one and continued to 9 look out for the leg breaker. Reggie was j accorded the rank of googlie bowler much j to his own amusement. West ladies and Australia. v The side the West Indians sent on the occasion of their last visit here was easily the best the West Indies have ever produced. It was a.capital fielding side and it contained two rery good bowlers, and two, if not three, other men in it were good bowlers. But in it there was only one real batsman—G. Challoiier, who was then in the late thirties. For more than thirty years Australia has sent over here some rare good batting sides—sides that have been almost without t=>il. But neither South Africa nor the West Indies has ever had a side which has been anything like as strong in batting as that which New Zealand has sent here this summer. I am sure New Zealand has distinct claims on test match honours on the occasion of the next visit of a New Zealand team to this country. Nor can it fairly be retorted: "New Zealand has no great bowler." Some weeks ago I committed myself to the statement that at the moment there was no great bowler in the world. I note with natural satisfaction that so great an authority as Warwick Armstrong agrees with me. Armstrong in his own person linked together two generations of Australians and he knew at first hand two generations of English and South African cricketers. New Zealand is not to be disqualified therefore on the ground of lack of bowling, while fielding, as I have poirted out. is a matter of practice and '!etenn'uai tion. Incidentally South Africa has never had a really great fielding side. Capacity oi Fast Scoring. And I make another claim on behalf of New Zealand batting—an important one, namely, the capacity of the side—the whole side practically—to score fast. We shall never be converted in this country either to the doctrine or to the practice of the unlimited time match. And with our unsettled and changeable weather the capacity to score fast is the matchwinning capacity. My advice then to New Zealand cricketers, if I may offer it, is this: "Stick : to your present batting policy. Go on improving your fielding and make yoiir most promising bowlers Concentrate on length. When you come here again, ; if you have length bowlers and improved fieldsmen, we shall be 'up against* it'in the Test matches that I hope to see played. And if meanwhile you can unearth a real fast bowler and a cougle who can make the good length ball do - 'furtny' things, I see no reason why your people should not do here what the Australians have done so often. And if they || do it is all for the good of the Empire," g