PAPUANS TAKE TO CRICKET.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 7025, 13 January 1910, Page 6

PAPUANS TAKE TO CRICKET.

Major Boyd, in tho “Brisbane Courier/' describes his tour through Papua, and deals with the wonderful hold that cricket has over the young Papuans.' He says: “IVe had some trouble in getting tho earners, as all tho villagers, including the Samoan missionary*, were engaged in playing cricket. Tho craze for cricket seems to have spread from village to village all over civilised Papua. Wherever we entered a village wo invariably found a cricket match in progress. The singular feature about the play was that young natives who could not speak English had most of the English terms used in the game by heart. Thus one would liear ‘Play!* 'Run!* 'Stop!' TTow’s dat, umpire?* '■'Out!* .1 must say that many of them handled a bat well and gracefully. The bowling was good and very swift, and as for the fielding it was quite up to the average. The worst of this cricket mania, my guide told me, was that if carriers were wanted and they were playing a match, no inducement would make them move until the game was over. It was becoming, ho said, tho curse of New Guinea.”