RAW MATERIAL

NZ Truth, Issue 1255, 19 December 1929, Page 16

RAW MATERIAL

In Team To Face Gilligan & Co. (From "N.Z. Truth's" Christchurch Rep.) ■ ■-• • Sole Selector H. 8.. Whitta has .■ .. acceded with a Vengeance to the demand to give youth its-chance,in-the side he has selected to repre- . sent Canterbury against Gilligan's tourists. ' • ■ THE Canterbm-y team £oi« the past season or so has been almost completely comprised of boys :svho .have failed, to hold their own against Wellington and Auckland, with their judicious leavening of age and experience. Canterbury's youngsters have proved that they have not the goods to stack against experienced players. The policy that the young players, should prove themselves .as good as the • old ones before they displace them has been completely discarded. In the new side announced this week, Curly Page and Bill Merritt are the only two players with experience In really big cricket, with Hamilton and Talbot well ahead of the others. The side is quite a likely one to make runs but the main problem is how they are going to get the Englishmen out. Outside of Bill Merritt, Reg. Read is the only bowler m Christchurch to-day who is consistently taking wickets, while Crawford, who has also been dropped, would prove an asset to^the side by reason of his all-round skill and playing experience. ' These two .would help Merritt and Page balance the side and prevent the attack' of hysterics which is the Inevitable fate of such a young and inexperienced team. The team will be: M. L. Page, W. Merritt, P. Allen. R. C. Burns, 1. B. Cromb, I. M. Hamilton, S. G. Lester, J. U Powell, >A. W. Roberts, G. Simmonds, and R. O. Talbot. . . [Comment on Saturday's inter-club games m Auckland, and review of Otago team to .tour north appear m column 2, page 17.] ' ,