IMPORTED CRICKETERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19827, 23 December 1927, Page 14

IMPORTED CRICKETERS.

WELCOME IN ENGLAND. QUALIFYING OF C. C. DACRE. " Our cricket peoplo always seem to bo in trouble, and the qualifying of C. C. Dacre, of New Zealand, as a player for Gloucestershire is raising quite a little storm," says a writer in an English exchange. " Arthur Mailey, that excellent Australian bcwler, says that it is like taking biscuits from a baby to tako Dacro from so young a cricketing country as Now Zealand, and goes on to declaro that almost every member of an Australian team has been asked to play for English counties.

" I think most of us will bo glad to hear this last bit of news: it does suggest that tho secretaries of our county clubs aro able to recognise cricketers when they seo them in tho field, and that they aro alive to tho fact that attractive cricket, means big gates. " It is not difficult to imagine that the popularity of Hammond's type oE cricket is largely responsible for the offer to Dacre.

" Wo are none of us very firm in our minds about this importation of talented cricketers. Theoretically, wo all regret it. We feel that every ready-made colonial player who comes over here does an Englishman out of a job and we do not like it; but, although we are convinced that Lancashire would be nearer fifth than first in the championship table without Macdonald's assistance, we still turn up on every possible occasion to see him bowl. " This qualification of imported players may be quite wrong and quite indefensible, but if Dacre is going to play for Gloucestershire, I, for one, shall want to see Gloucestershire bat; and if Charles Macartney should choose to play for Rutlandshire, I am sure a good many of us would visit the county ground at Oakham (if there is one). " I know that there are many parochial enthusiasts who consider that first-class cricketers born outside some dozen English counties should be shut out of the game as far and as long as possible, but at the risk of offending them I must say that my belief is that first-class cricket is dependent on the money it earns, and the way to earn that money is to attract that large section of the public who appreciate the more obvious features of the game. " Cricket can just exist at the present moment, through the subscriptions of the people who understand tho game and the pecuniary assistance afforded by an infiuentially-attended winter bazaar. If it is to flourish, it needs a wider appeal. " The truth of this cricket business is very evident, and this statement of Arthur Mailey goes far to prove it. We in England have more money for cricket than the rest of the world put together, and yet we are being starved of cricket. There is no reason why wo should not see moro of colonial cricketers during our summer, and no reason why Englishmen should not play through an Australian season. We should not be very heavy losers if all this qualification business was swept away and some system of seasonal engagements substituted for it. 4< To sum up the whole situation. England pays the best money and wants the best cricket. Wo are all anxious and eafcer to see it provided by Englishmen, but it is up to English players to provide cricket that will leave no loophole for the stranger to creep in to our games because he is so much moro worth watching."