THE SOUTHLAND NEWS AND THE INVERCARGILL TWENTY-TWO CRICKETERS.

Southland Times, Issue 3928, 24 January 1881, Page 3

THE SOUTHLAND NEWS AND THE INVERCARGILL TWENTY-TWO CRICKETERS.

♦■ a.a, ; TO THE EDITOR. Sir, — Your evening contemporary, even Avhen partly in the /-right, never treats any subject Avithout making a feAv blunders, • and, the, leading^artitJe of this evening is no exception to., the. rule. I, like many other spectators, a^yas thoroughly disgusted Avith the tame batting and loose fielding of our local- men, but neither of these defects Avas OAving to the causes assigned by the News. It is quite true that our men batted in a funky'style, but that Avas not because, pf tbe swiftness of the Australians''" b'owlihg '"b'r the hardness of th,e ball, inasmuch- as. the. Invercargill team 'were ailaccustomed to piay with the same f kind", of bali,.and LitC ; bovflni?*v -cf "H^do. . j Meh-iitey,.llitclieiLlieariett, nnd Booijauin, j is as 'fast 1 -as :■ that of* the Australians, y3t our cricketers manage often to score fairly off the'fprpier.f. ; cln^my opinion, the real cause of "the poor batting Avas, partly the nervousness arising from a fear that such crack bats as they had the local reputation ;of being should not distinguish themselves, and partly an enoneoiis notion afloat here, that scientific play must necessfirily be very sloav, and that it is a far style of play to -block a ball than to hit it! If oui* players' -Avere to watch either "VV. G. Grace or Murdoch bat, they might find they had a-gr^atdeal t9 learn in this respect. For the loose fielding of our men in the Australian match there Avas an amply sufficient reason in the fact that they practised very seldom beforehand, and Avhen they did, never once in the places they Avere to occupy iv the field . I agree Avith che Neivs that the expenses to the players were made too high, but this had not much to do Avith the result of the ! game, as 19 out of the 22 first chosen ! actually played, and among the three substituted for the absentees one Avas Clayton, Avho made the top score in the match. The alleged disinclination to play outside clubs, anil the large patronage of cricket by the general public here, as alleged by the NeAys, I need scarcely tell a any local cricketers, have not flic slightest foundation in fact, indeed are the reverse of the truth. — I am, &c, One, avho nAssEEN Good Ciuckkt. • Jan. 20th, 1881. ■'■ ;: