TEST CRICKET

New Zealand Times, Volume LI, Issue 12021, 26 December 1924, Page 10

TEST CRICKET

ENOLAND’S 810 FOX ASHES FAMOUS TEST CRICKETER'S OUTSPOKEN VIEWS. . "IF FORTUNE SMILES .** "How do Infancy the English erjehat team ia Australia will do—will it cover itself with glory by winning the, rubber in the Tests there: will it. manage to bring Rack 'The Ashes' to .England; will it win for. Old Country the first r*ctory. aTainst Australia since Auguet. 1912? "I hsve been asked to <rive 'Weekly Press' tChristchurch) readers my 'eply to the*»a aue!?tiona, ao here goes/* writes Cecil Parkin (Lancashire), one of ' England's greatest cricketers, who has'had a big Test match expreience. "As 1 it is inofe than twelve years since we contrived toT)eat Australia at cricket, everybody must admit that a -win for us is about due. "But can the eleven now touring 'down under* bring about this desirable »'6neiimmation? That is the crucial point. LOOK AT THE LISTS. "To be Suite r candid, I must say at once that I doubt very much if it'can. "And I doubt still more its ability to win,“the rubber and bring back ‘The Aahes/* Tod' will hear folk say here and there—And; of course, the powers that be will say the same—that the ; present team, is a far better team than went cut in 1920, and of which I had the honour to be a member. But I beg ; leave to question that. "took at* the lists of players, and say if you candidly believe that the seventeen chosen for the present tour make up a more'formidable lot than that captained by--Mr 3>buglas, in IB2o—which -included, besides the captain. Mr P.. G. H. Fender,. Mr t. R., Wilson, . Hobbs, Strudwicki Makepeace. Hendren, Woollej. Rupsell, Rhodee, Bolphin. Rowell- Waddington, Hearne, Hitch, and myself—taking ;mti> account'that these men were all then four years younger and, in their prime as players. ... ' whßn evertthing WENT WRONG. "Toil must - remember that our eleven in 1920 had rank bad luck to contend with Tight frbm. tne start. ; . • "We had/to stay aboard in\ quarantine ©n arriving At Perth, just when we were fed-Mp with the sea and needing a change. We required energetic and active cricxet lor a titae if we were to be fully ready for the, coming Tests. , "Again, several of our team suffered muoh from ill-health or injurief. You may recall that Rearne was hardly .more than a whilst Waddihgton and. others, got, nurt in ways them from gmng their - ‘ Moreover, the weather was, terrifically hot, and the pitches abnormally hard, evep for Australia. ' , .- ■ .. "All-our meo felt the etram. of. these things generally, and the oricket, sequence, suffered also. I am; not' pleading- these things as' excuses '’for..our falinre' to win.,the tests; lam .stating them to show that Fate was against us as it had etldom btftn against other teams. ■ "If the ptaaent British players run up against -such a wretched combination' of bad lUok, then Heaven help them ! ■, "Bnt I einoercly trust they will not. For, even at the best, they; will have nil their work cut oiit, and need All thrir powers' to combat Australia s highly efficient and very strong Teams* : . ; "For out there;?'as a .rule,'.all the cirground" and; fcrave] atw < iii" : f avpUK bf the hom* Team, and atfaifist thA British on©. Lctmre explain TY* TWmAT%THB ESf^MTi'" V’ “In>EnglaAd, when an Australian team cornea, the distances which'.it; h»a.: to travel to play its various games are ,practicilly iegj&ible compared with .those wmoh. a British,, eleven must. undertake in..'Australia. . > . r"Theri- you go thousands djf miles-where you. woiild go hundreds Hi. England. Agqin, England’s hottest day only conics np to ‘moderatg- vtsather* at Syfe^i-Melbonme. and Adelaide. ■ ; ' "So English bricketers, particularly if out for the first Kme. find the heat very trying indeed, and'seldom do themseltes full justice till they become’.- acclimatised. Whioli, .in some cases, js, not until about the time they are due to retuiji. "Moreover, you can have no- conception of b-iw hard an Australian piteh.can. be. Wo have nothing At all resembling, it on onr grounds in England, even- in the driest and. warmest summer. '_

"With the- pitch like rock,':, the ball comes along in a way to disconcert British batsmeni just as our wet turf wickets this yefir upset the South. African touriets, who, had had no experience of that kind in their own land. "Then, also, the glare of; the bright run ‘down, under’ ft very trying to Britiish players. More than one good; man has been, made almost powerless by that glare in his eyes. Ana he may have to stand, undervit for a period of five days at a stretch. ' "Now,, the seven .or eight, new. men with the present team have all these difficulties and troubles to overcome ere they can, play tho sort of cricket • they can show you 1 so often and so well in England. "If they- can surmount those' drawbacks quickly, if Fortune is very kind.to them, then well and good—they may have some sort' of a chahbe.' though l am hot enthusiastic about teir prospects.. . "Bot. rf things go otherwise.. then—well,' 'The Ashes’ will not yet- come back! "However; sTet us all hone For tube will be kind to them If ....