FIFTH TEAM

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27447, 21 July 1950, Page 8

FIFTH TEAM

Plunket Shield Series

MINOR ASSOCIATIONS

Proposal For Dominion Council

PA CHRISTCHURCH, July 20. The proposal of the Management Committee of the New Zealand Cricket Council for a fifth Plunket Shield district in the North Island was approved in modified form at the halfyearly meeting of delegates to the council this evening. The scheme, which wiU need to be ratified at the annual meeting of the council, was put forward by the Management Committee and discussed at length today at the biennial conference of delegates and passed without discussion. This evening a final proposal in the form of a recommendation from the biennial conference was moved by Mr W. A. Hadlee (Buller). The main difference between his motion and the Management Committee’s scheme was that Hutt Valley was deleted from the associations included in the group, and Nelson and Marlborough were added. The scheme will be given a two-year trial. Mr Hadlee’s motion was that It be recommended to the Management Committee that a fifth team, consisting of Hawke’s Bay, Southern Hawke’s Bay, Wanganui, Taranaki, Wairarapa, Manawatu, Rangitikei, Nelson and Marlborough, be entered in the Plunket Shield contest for the next two seasons. There would be provision for Poverty Bay to enter the group if it wanted to. The new team would play threeday matches in the meantime, and finance was to be the responsibility of the associations compris-

ing the group. Mr Hadlee originally proposed that Poverty Bay should be included in the group, but he agreed to amend his motion when the Poverty Bay delegate, Mr J. A. Crawford-Smith, said his association had not considered the possibility. Mr W. Barratt (Marlborough) asked for his contrary vote to be recorded. An amendment by Mr J. A. Ongley (Manawatu) that Hutt Valley be included in the group and Poverty Bay excluded, was lost.

Practically the only direct opposition to the proposal for a fifth team came from a Wellington delegate, Mr H. Duncan. Mr Duncan considered the scheme would be a financial “flop,” and that the standard of Hawke Cup cricket would also be lowered. Of the other major associations, Canterbury delegates were not committed to expressing iny official view, while Mr L. B. Schnauer (Auckland) said the scheme would provide more representative cricket, but the disadvantages included finance and the question of extra leave for players. Mr W. S. Armitage lOtago) said: “We shall welcome an extra team if the schedule of matches can be so worked that we have two at home and two away each year, and that now and then our players have the privilege of spending Christmas with their families.”

Mr Hadlee considered that the standard of New Zealand cricket could be improved by giving the minor unions a chance of playing against major union cricketers.