NEW ZEALAND CRICKETERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20841, 7 April 1931, Page 8

NEW ZEALAND CRICKETERS.

The first harbinger of the New Zealand touring cricket team, Mr. H. D. Swan, arrived in England, gives a good report of the players who are soon to follow him. It can be taken for granted that this tour will awaken much more interestthan the one which preceded it, be cause of the success of that predecessor. The cricketing public of England was ready to welcome the earlier tourists: there was amplf evidence before the visit ended that they had not disappointed their hosts. The welcome this time will be even readier, but it will be accompanied by certain definite expectations. It is of some importance that these should not be disappointed, and there is no reason to fear they will be. The youth of the team, a subject of comment at the time of selection, and now emphasised by Mr. Swan, is one of the guarantees that the reputation made on many playing fields during the last tour will be maintained. The visit of the New Zealand team is not an occasion equal to that made by an Australian touring side when it descends on England. There is missing all the tremendous intensity that accompanies a test scries. The New Zealanders arc expected to play bright, free cricket, to introduce into their games something of the spirit of a holiday match while still doing their best to win, and to improve their standard because of their widening experience. They are not expected to put a Bradman into the field or to create new records. If they do thoso things expected of them, if . they help to make cricket less of a serious business and to reinstate it as a recreation, they will do something for the game internationally as well as absorbing and bringing home the educative experience of the tour. And all that, to many cricket lovers, is just as important as winning test matches.