CRICKET

Southland Times, Issue 22158, 28 October 1933, Page 14

CRICKET

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

(By

“Straight Bat.”)

Local cricketers were again unfortunate in the weather conditions last Saturday, unseasonable squalls making the commencement of play right out cf the question. It is an ill wind that blows nobody any good, however, and the extra weex occasioned by the postponement would give turf wickets a fair chance to set. In marked contrast to Saturday s weather the conditions on Monday were a delight, and the various country games were got off without a hitch ot any kind. According to reports Driscoll’s Eleven had a great outing ut Tapanui where they met the local representatives. The they met the local representatives. The game was very keenly contested and an exciting finish resulted in the visitors winning with very little to spare. The hospitality of the Tapanui-ites could not have been bettered. All the team speak highly of the attention to the commissariat. The Tapanui ladies excelled themselves. It is understood that the fixture is likely to be an annual home and home game so that an invitation to visit Invercargill will be extended to the Tapanui team very soon. At Heriot too the visiting Invercargill Wanderers had a real day in their game with the Edievale side. Here again the weather and hospitality were exemplary and a very enjoyable game resulted. The Wanderers had their colours struck for once, but they hope to get revenge next time.

Mart Lilley, who represented Southland on odd occasions a few seasons ago, is about to get his flannels out again. The S.C.A. granted him a regrade to juniors on Monday night. I am not so sure that Lilley would not still be good enough to earn for himself a place in the Appleby senior eleven again. Now that the S.C.A. has fixed a date for the annual Eastern—Town matches the selectors will require to exercise their minds about the prospective Southland representatives. For the Eastern —Town game they will have to rely largely upon the form of last year. The Australian cricket team which is to visit England next year and which is to consist of 15 players will be chosen in Melbourne on February 1. The Australian Board of Cricket Control will be meeting at that time, and the list of the team will be submitted to it. After his good scores in three innings—s 7, 78, 87 not out —for the East Lancashire Club of the Lancashire Cricket League, I. B. Cromb made only 13 runs in two innings. C. F. Root, the former Worcestershire bowler, got him leg before for eight runs, and in the next match an amateur bowler dismissed him leg before for five. However, Cromb followed with an innings of 74 against Accrington. In these three matches Cromb took only six wickets out of 21 that fell in the opposing team’s innings. Emphasizing that the spirit of the game of cricket must be adhered to in all games played under its auspices, the Transvaal Cricket Board of Control has passed a resolution deprecating the deliberate use of what has now become known as body-line bowling. Players responsible for “unsportsmanlike play” and the use of bowling which is “dangerous to batsmen” will be severely dealt with by the board. This ruling does not necessarily reflect opinion all over South Africa concerning the use of body-line bowling. The Transvaal is, however, one of the most powerful provinces affiliated to the South African Cricket Association.

New Zealand will want its full strength against the Kangaroos this season, says a Wellington writer. Every man on the Australian side will be on his mettle to win a place in the tour to England next year, so there will be nothing in the nature of holiday cricket. It can be taken for granted, too, that the wonder batsman, Don Bradman, will be all out to regain his world’s Test individual score record, which Hammond, the great Gloustershire batsman, stole from him when he hit up 336 not out against New Zealand in the second Test match at Auckland last season. Now, when Bradman gets going all a poor captain can do is to place his men on the boundary and wait patiently until the wonder batsman makes a faulty stroke. Our bowlers this season will not be able to hobble Bradman as Larwood and Voce did in Australia last season, and if they are not allowed to bowl leg-theory there is no saying to what heights Bradman’s scores in New Zealand may soar. This will be Don Bradman’s first appearance on New Zealand playing fields and his batting will certainly be one of the highlights of the new season. Who can forget the enormous crowd which assembled at the Basin Reserve in September last just to get a glimpse of this amazing boy from Bowral, who had smashed all batting records to smithereens in the Tests in England in 1930?

Writing in the Sydney Daily Telegraph Arthur Mailey says that there seems to be a feeling in some quarters that bowling at the batsman is contrary to the spirit of cricket. “This is not so,” he declares. “Bowling at the man by an extremely fast bowler is probably dangerous, but the general principle of this form of attack is quite in keeping with the best traditions of the game. For instance, a medium or med-ium-fast off-break bowler is expected to bowl at the man—so much so that if he does not he has little or no chance of being successful on a sticky wicket. If a bowler of this description bowls over the wicket, the batsman (if he is a class batsman) deliberately walks in front of the wicket to protect it, knowing that in nine out of ten cases if he misses the ball he will not be given out l.b.w. The bowler then changes his tactics and bowls round the wicket to prevent the batsman standing in front of his wicket. Very often the bowler tries to kick the ball up in the direction of the batsman’s body for the purpose of having it played to the cordon of leg-fieldsmen. This is allowed—in fact, it is considered sound tactics—and even the batsman enjoys the battle. It is to be hoped that the Board of Control will not be stampeded into objecting to bowling at the batsman as a general principle. It might have a case against a very fast bowler, but if the objection is directed at fast bowlers only, we are acknowledging our objection to pace and not to the principle of bowling at the man.” The most intriguing rumour heard this season is that there is a possibility that T. C. Lowry may cancel his announced retirement from the game and again lead Wellington and New Zealand, observes “Burwood,” a Wellington writer. Strangely enough this rumour comes from England in a letter received by Mr A. T. Donnelly, chairman of the New Zealand Cricket Council, from a member of the English team which visited the Dominion in the 1930-31 season. Let us hope that the rumour proves to be wellfounded. It is little short of a tragedy that such a fine cricketer as Tom Lowry should be lost to the game at the very zenith of his powers. Lowry’s trouble has been due to the fact that it has been impossible for him to get sufficient practice on his sheep station to get into form, but a week or two at city nets should enable him to get his eye in. It would mean much to New Zealand if Tom Lowry came back in the game to lead the wearers ,of the silver fem against the Australians in the Test matches this season.

M. Henderson, fast left-handed bowler, who represented New Zealand in 1927 will make a re-appearance in Wellington cricket after a spell of a season. Henderson will play for Institute in the Wellington competition. Institute

will appreciate his services as its side was decidedly weak for senior grade last season. There was a time when Institute was a crack side. Those were the days when the club had Dempster, Foley, Henderson and Lambert. H. Fisher, the Yorkshire left-handed bowler, who did well in his few games in 1932 and who played for Verity s old club Middleton in 1933, has been engaged by Bacup for 1934. E. Macdonald, the ex-Australian, has been Bacup’s professional for the past couple of seasons. When the last mail left Accrington, Haslingden and Rishton were still uncertain about professionals for next season, although it has been announced that G. Headley, the West Indian, will play for Haslingden next year. Fairfax has resigned from Accrington whilst Rishton is vacant because of Bill Merritt’s shift to Blackburn. , . . , . Sydney cricket opened with baa wickets and on the opening Saturday only two games were played, these being St. George against Manly, and Paddington against Randwick. On the following Monday which was set apart for whole-day matches as a second round, only two games were played and the rest were abandoned. Scoring was very low in all games. On the opening day Paddington made 95 and Randwick 14 for three. On the Monday Waverley met North Sydney, the latter were sent in and made 93 for nine declared, Bradman 19, A. Lewis taking 5 for 49 and Bierschank 3 for 24. Waverley made only 43 for nine in reply. O’Reilly took six for 18 and Hill three for 18. Glebe 5 for 68 defeated Balmain 67.

W. J. O’Reilly, in his first three games for North Sydney has taken 20 wick-Fleetwood-Smith has left St. Kilda and is playing for the Melbourne Cricket Club this season. Keith Rigg is also playing for the Melbourne Club. W. Ponsford, 137 not out, and Keith Rigg, 100 not out, put up an unfinished 238 for the first wicket on the opening day in Melbourne when meeting Nortcote. Woodful was very uncomfortable when batting for Carlton against South Melbourne. Laurie Nash, the South fast bowler, hit Woodful a nasty blow which winded the Australian captain, who only made .15. Ernest Jones, the great Australian fast bowler, is to have a benefit tendered to him this season. The South Australia v. N.S.W. game is the one chosen for the benefit and it is hoped that the fast bowler, will receive a bumper gate. Jones is reputed to be the fastest of all Australian fast bowlers.

Don Blackie and Bert Ironmonger are also to have a benefit match this season. It will be a combined testimonial and the old bowlers should be well recouped for all their labour in

Victoria. . S. J. McCabe batted very’ nicely for Mosman against Glebe whilst scoring 68 in which his off-drives were predominant. McCabe is captain now of Mosman. When Bradman scored 127 for North Sydney against Western Suburbs he hit two sixes and fourteen fours. Most of his scoring strokes were drives and pulls. Victoria Junior Cricket Union is comprised of 45 associations with 1146 clubs. k , , H. Theak, the St. George fast bowler, unwound some fine bowling against Manly who were all disposed of for 66. Theak got rid of C. Hayman, G. Austin and W. Vaughan without scoring in his opening over.

GREAT FAST BOWLER POSITION OF LARWOOD. SPLENDID TEST RECORD. It is doubtful whether Harold Larwood, the great fast bowler of Nottinghamshire and hero of England’s mighty success in Australia last winter, will ever bown fast again, says an English writer. This is the price that Larwood has had to pay for all the wonderful things he did for England—his left foot is battered and broken from the pounding and hammering it received on the cement-like Australian wickets. The injured foot, which brought him home before his colleagues, is no better today than it was when the accident happened. Nor does it seem that it will every fully recover. Larwood has been to surgeons and specialists. They tell him that two small bones are broken, but the great tragedy is that the joint of the big toe is gone. “They tell me,” said Larwood, that time and rest may put things right. When I asked outright, ‘What chance is there of complete recovery?’ I could get no answer. It has been suggested that the two small bones should be taken away, but no one knows what the result would be, and the joint cannot be replaced with a new one. “All I wanted was a chance to bowl in England as I did in Australia,” he said. “Then my own people could have passed judgment on my methods.. I am afraid, however, that something like a miracle will have to happen if I am to do that.” There is only one satisfactory thing to tell. Larwood may never again bowl fast, but he will bowl again for Nottinghamshire, and perhaps for England. He can spin the ball. He can make it turn both ways, and it may well be that he will prove a _ dangerous medium-paced bowler. And it must not be forgotten that he is a brilliant bat. Larwood’s success in Australia last winter is strikingly emphasized by his test match analysis. He bowled 220 overs in test matches —49 more than his companion fast bowler, G. O. Allen —and his 33 wickets cost less than 20 runs each. His batting was also very useful. In seven innings he had an average of 24 runs, his highest score being 98 in the first England innings of the fifth test.

Of his 33 test victims 17 were clean bowled. He twice hit Bradman’s wicket and twice the Australian superbatsman was caught off his bowling. Larwood, who has appeared, in 15 tests altogether, first played for England in the Lord’s and Oval matches of 1926, when the Ashes were regained. He accompanied A. P. F. Chapman’s team to Australia in 1928, and played for England again in three tests in 1930.