AUSTRALIAN ELEVEN

Otago Witness, Issue 2856, 9 December 1908, Page 62

AUSTRALIAN ELEVEN

A. POSSIBLE SELECTION. M- A. NOBLE'S OPINION. The selectors will- soon be called uponto choose an Australian Eleven to tour England next season. Compared with those who have to select the English Eleven, they - are (writes the Sydney Telegraph) handicapped, inasmuch as while ir England first class cricket is played nearly every., day, the- first class games played in Australia in a season can be numbered on tne fingers. That is tho reason why a player is hard to displace if once he gets into the team. He has to do something extraordinary to be chosen, and once in he has few opportunities of disclosing whether he should be dropped or not. And similarly others who are knocking at the door have so few knocks that they cannot make themselves heard. Supposing a new player discloses good form in grade cricket. His State already Mas its eleven, and if be happens to ba in New South Wales it usually takes more than a season for a new player, to get into that eleven. Even if he does, he only gets "half a dozen games ir the season in first class cricket, and the odds are against Jhim going higher. . Consequently, if a *cam had to be chosen mow there would on performances be very £ew new men chosen as compared with the last Australian Eleven, and as a matter of fact the composition of the team would be little different to that which last toured England. Taking New Soirch Walet alone, the piavere one would expect to see in the team are'Nohfe, Trumper, Carter, Syd. Gregory, Macartney, and Cotter. From Victoria Armstrong, Saunders, and Ransford would be drawn, Hartigan from Queensland, and O'Connor and Hill from South Australia. Very few cricket followers would suggest the elimination of any of these* players, and yet they are the men who had most to do with the beating of the Englishmen in Arstraiia last season. If 14 men are sent, with Layer as a playing manager, there are only two vacancies, and one of these must be filled by a second wicketkeeper. If the next fcfest 'keeper to Carter was selected Gorry would probably be chosen, but as the second string is only wanted to give the first one a spell when occasion demands, a 'keeper who is also a batsman may be asked to #o, and in these circumstances probably Gehrs would get the trip. That leaves onJy one place to fill, and in filling that the selectors are confrontedl with the problem whether to select a. batsman or a bowler, or a player who plays in both departments of the game. If a. lx>wler, then all the promising batting colts i ill have to further wait their opportunity. Hatsmen of undoubted calibre like E. F. " 'addy, E. L. Wa)ddy, Bardsley, Dolling, Mnyne, and half a dozen others wilfchave to he put aside, yet what has any one of them done to justify any of the old .hands being displaced in tttedr favour? Yet it looks as if they will have to wait, for it cannot be denied that the weakness of the last Ausralian Eleven was in the bowling department. As a batting combination to draw from, Nobley^Trun;per. Carter, Gregory, Macartney, Bansiord, Armstrong, Hill, and Hartigan are all right, but howlers Noble, Cotter, Macartney, Armstrong, Saunders, and O'Connor do not look like <retiing the best' English Eleven out cse&pfy. • If the vacancy is to be filled by a bowler, the views of the last Australian Eleven capla.iA, M. A. Noble, who is recognised as the world's greatest player, are interesting. In a conversation with the Daily Telegraph's cricket reporter, Noble was asked if he thought Emery, the new bowler, who has played in only one »ig fixture — that between the First and Second Elevens of New South Wales— should go to Brisbane next month with the New South Wales Second Eleven, Noble replied : "Go to Brisbane? I certainly think that he should play with the First Eleven against Victoria in Melbourne and South Australia in Adelaide. ' ">I would go further than that," continued Noble. "If I were selector he would go to England with the Australian Eleven. He does not know much now, but he is a sensible youth, and is willing and anxious to learn. I think he can be coached to make a great bowler. an obvious lack of bowling 'strength there 13 a necessity for giving promising material every opportunity, and in Emery the material is there." Adopting Noble's views as to the excellence of Emery's bowling, the team would rterefore bs: — New South Wales— Noble, Trumper, Carter, S. C.agory, Cotter, Macartney, Emery. Queensland — Hartigan. ' Victoria— Ransford, Armstrong, Saunders. South. Australia— C. Hill, O'Connor, Mirs.