GENERAL SPORTS NEWS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21115, 24 February 1932, Page 14

GENERAL SPORTS NEWS.

MERRITT LEAVES TO-MORROW.

GIRLS SHINE AT CRICKET.

RANFURLY SHIELD CHALLENGE

W. Ferguson, the well-known scorer, who has toured with Australian, English and New Zealand cricket teams, is on tour with tho Springbok team which is at present playing the Auckland team.

fn a letter received from King Elliot, from Vancouver, the Auckland wrestler states that ho has been meeting with great, success in his matches in Canada and the United States. He now weighs 14st. 81b. and so is in tho heavy-weight class. Elliot expects to return to New Zealand in June.

W. E. Merntt, the Canterbury and NewZealand cricketer, will leave Christchurch to-morrow evening to catch the Remuera, which leaves Wellington for England on Saturday. He will arrive in London on April 3 and his engagement with the Rishton Club in the Lancashire League is to start on April 23.

Captain E. W. Ballantine, the wellknown English sportiug journalist, who is accompanying the South African cricket team, paid a great tribute to T. C. Lowry as a captain. "There is no one in England to compare with him." said the visitor, who added that Lowry'\s leadership of both flic New Zealand teams at Home was wonderful.

(.Jolt is being given up by thousands of players in England for reasons of economy. Entrance fees to many clubs in the north are being cut by half, while others—among them St Annes Old Links Club in Lancashire—have suspended them. Annual subscriptions arc also being reduced. In the south the position is not so serious.

A prominent Christchurch sportsman in the person of Mr. 11. C. Harrison died recently. He was for 30 years secretary of the Canterbury Sports Protection Association and for a similar term secretary of the Sydenham Rugby Club. He was a member of the Canterbury Rugby Union for several yours and also a prominent referee.

Three members of the South African team, A. J. Bell, C. L. Vincent, S. H. Curnow and the manager, Mr. J. H. Tandy, left Auckland yesterday afternoon for Rotorua. They will catch the train at Frankton to-morrow night and proceed with the team to Christchurch, where the (irst test match starts on Saturday. Cell is at present suffering from an injured foot.

English League football referees have been subjected to a good deal of criticism during the past season. The main ground of complaint was lack of uniformity in the interpretation of rules and from the point of view of the management committee, what to 1110 referees would be regarded as tho more serious, failure to conform with the official instructions relative 1o .scrummage infringements and the play-flic-bull rule.

The game of bowls, in its relation to industrv, is .one of t lie most prominent tonus of sport in I lie Commonwealth, says an Australian critic:. In Now South Wales alone it is estimated that there arc 8000 players, 40C0 in the metropolitan area, and as many in the country. Their howls alone cost 180,000, while the annual expenditure on clothes runs into figure* approximating a quarter of a million sterling. L. Blown, the ox-Aucklamler, scored the only try for the York Rugby League (,'lul.i against Swintou on .January 7. Recognised as one of the most, powerful Hubs iu England, Swinton by its defeat, lost, a leading position in the English Rugby League championship. Brown's try was scored late in the second half, when Ihe Aueklander got across by showing a brilliant burst of speed for 25yds. lie was given a great reception by a large ci'oacl. Interested spectators at the match be. tween South Africa and Auckland yesterday were Messrs. T. H. Bales, of New Plymouth, president of the. New Zealand Cricket Council. W 11. Winsor and E. It. Caygill, of Christchurch, members of the management committee of the council, and E. C. Beale. an ex-member of the management committee of the Auckland Cricket Association. Mr. Beale, who was formerly one of the three Auckland selectors, has recently returned from a tour of England. Referring- to the style adopted by the Springboks during their tour of Great Britain, an English critic savs:—Players as well as spectators will prefer the New Zealand method of regarding the ball in hand as an advantage never to be thrown away by touch-kicking, except when defensive tactics were necessary, and al ways to be used for starting passing movements among the backs, with the forwards joining in as the attack developed, j There is no swimmer in Victoria posses- ] sing greater possibilities than Alan Craw- I ford, who secured the junior title when] he won the 200 yards event at the City j Baths, Melbourne, recently. Previously, ! Crawford had won the 100 yards in lm. i 2 l-55., and the 330 vaicls in 4m. 355. His time for the 200 yards, 2m. 245. broke the existing Victorian record by 3 l-ss. Crawford, who is only 14 years of age, is ! a member of the Y.M.C.A. Swimming! Club, and has had the inestimable advantage of coaching by Frank Beaurepaire. !

Two very fine performances were registered by j.'irls when playing in cricket compelilions in ("lirisfciiiircli recently. M. Norman, a member of Rallantyne's first eleven, scored 121 against Spreydon out of a total of 177 for nine wickets. She hit 19 boundaries. In addition, she captured the bowling honours, taking five wickets lor 26 runs. E. Jones, playing for the Technical second eleven against Rallantyne's second eleven, made 90 out of 187 for elehl. wickets and took five wickets for 9 runs

The manager of Madison .S<|urrr (>ardm, Now York. is still angling for Jack Dcmpsnv, certain that (hp mpi'G appearance of Dempspy in a ring would pack flic house at pood prirps; not withstanding that Dempspy has done nothing of any conRpqnpncc in the ring for about five vpnrs. •So Dempspy is offered n choice of Lonchran. Kisko. Heency and Uzcudun , for Miami (his month, with a meet inn with Jai-k Sharkey in New York in May—if he conies through at Miami. Then it would be a step to Schmeling in September. J lie members of the Australian ladies' tennis team left Wellington for home last Friday. Only one member of the team went av.av undefeated in singles, save by a team mate. Miss N. Hall did not lose a match to a New Zealauder. Mrs. M Molesworth lost to Miss D. Nicholls. Miss J. Hartigan to Miss Marjorip Mac-farlnne and Mrs. H. M. Dykes, and Miss U. Valkenbnrg to Mrs. Dykes and Miss NiHtolls. Miss Hall was, however, beaten -only by Mrs. Molesworth. 9—7. 6—3. in the semifinal of the New Zealand singles championship.

I'lie South Canterbury Rugby Union is first in the field with a challenge for the Ranfurly Shield. A letter from South Canterbury was received by th 6 Canterbury Union at its meteing last week advising that it had written on February 5 entering the challenge with the New Zealand Union,. The promptitude of the challenge led Mr. S. F. Wilson to remark that South Canterbury probably meant the Plunket Shield. "Refer it to the Cricket Association" and "We will have to flood the ground" were other inter jections. It. was tacitly agreed that it was yet too early to fix a date for the match.