BEGINNING OF CRICKET SEASON

Southland Times, Issue 23335, 20 October 1937, Page 14

BEGINNING OF CRICKET SEASON

Practice Matches By Mixed Teams

(By

NOT OUT)

Except for practice matches by mixed teams of seniors and juniors there is yet little activity in Invercargill cricket. The weather has been ideal and if the early promise of a good summer is fulfilled, players should have ample opportunity of improving their form as the season progresses. Most of the teams are up to their full strength and some interesting competitions should result. High School Old Boys has some promising juniors who stand a reasonable chance of being promoted to senior grade should they maintain their form.

Keen interest and varied comments have been aroused by the selection of a correspondent in Queensland of two teams chosen from cricketers of all time to represent Australia, writes J Worrall in The Australasian. I was asked to comment on the teams as chosen. The first thing that strikes me is the omissions, which included such great players as Syd. Gregory, four Bills (W. L. Murdoch, W. O’Reilly. W. M. Woodfull, W. H. Ponsford), and Clarrie Grimmett —Syd. Gregory and Victor Trumper were the two Australian best batsmen on all classes of wickets, with Joe Darling and Reg. Duff well in the running; and second, that the first eleven did not contain the names of Don Bradman, Victor Trumper, Clem Hill, Joe Darling, Jack Blackham, and F. R. Spofforth. One can understand moderns preferring Bert Oldfield to Jack Blackham with the gloves, as they had never seen the master. Oldfield is a more reliable batsman than the old prince of wicket-keepers, and is in his class as a ’keeper, though there was something about the old champion that must give him pride of place. Clem Hill and Joe Darling were the two best lefthanders Australia has seen, with Spofforth the best all-round bowler the world has known. Bradman and Trumper should be the two first men chosen, but perhaps my correspondent has divided the teams up on purpose, so as to make a game of it.

No. 1 team has one fast bowler in Jack Gregory, a googly in “Ranji” Hordern, four great slow bowlers, different in style, method, and action, in George Giffen, Alf. Noble. Harry Trott and Warwick Armstrong, three great captains in Armstrong, Trott, and Noble; a sticky wicket artist in Hugh Trumble, one left-hand batsman in Jack Gregory, and with practically every man a batsman. It is well supplied in the slips and behind the wicket generally, but weak in the outfield, though its class of bowling would require strength there. A. E Trott at his best was worth a place in any team as an all-rounder, though McCabe is a great batsman and a good all-round cricketer. George Giffen was not an opening batsman, though I know of no reason why he should not have been a success in that position. However, I would prefer Alf. Noble for the job, and have Albert Trott in the team in place of Kelleway. It is a fine side, and could not be otherwise with picked men, though lacking in opening batsmen. A SECOND TEAM Joe Darling is the obvious choice as captain in team No. 2. Yet Bradman is going to make a name for himself in that position. It has three great lefthand batsmen in Darling, Hill and Bardsley, our best fast bowler in Ernest Jones, a googly in Arthur Mailey, the best wicket-keeper that ever saw the light of day in Jack Blackham, and the two best stickywicket bowlers that ever lived in F. R. Spofforth and Charlie Turner, “the Demon” and “the Terror” respectively, and a rare all-rounder in Jack Ryder, another man that made a name for himself as captain. Apart from class, the side does not possess such collective strength with the bat as team No. 1, though what an array of talent it possesses in Trumper, Bradman, Hill, Darling and Bardsley. When “best” teams are chosen for competition purposes the idea generally is that the match is to be played on a true pitch. But if the teams chosen were to meet on a bowler’s wicket the batsmen in the first team would be set a merry tune by Spofforth and Turner, as there is not a really sticky-wicket batsman in the bunch, though on a good wicket I am inclined to think that the odds would be in its favour.

DOMINION TEAM IN ENGLAND

ENCOURAGING FORM OF YOUNG PLAYER

(By W. H. BICKLEY) LONDON, September 28. Having played only four innings in Plunket Shield cricket last season, W.

N. Carson was young in cricket experience when. he was chosen as one ot those to tour England, although he had played in second-class matches for Poverty Bay, for which province he scored 119 against Taranaki in 1933-34. Despite his youth, however, there were ■ high expectations of him, because in two of his four innings in Plunket Shield matches he scored 290 against Otago and 194 against Wellington. Nor can it be said that he failed on the tour, for he scored 627 runs in first-class ijiatches at an average of 19. This m itself is no mean performance by a young player on his first tour of England. Moreover, many of his innings were highly creditable to himself and distinctly valuable to his side. His 85 against Surrey probably saved New Zealand from the indignity of being behind on the first innings of the team’s first match in England, ter when he went to the wickets five men were out for 94. His 86 in the second innings against Northants was a big factor in the tourists being able to reach a position at which the innings could be declared closed with a prospect of forcing an outright win. A score ot 37 against Worcester was worth more than it seemed on paper, because it was made when most of the batsmen were failing, and similarly there was more value than met the eye in innings ot 11 and 20 against Derbyshire. A score ot 22 against Middlesex also had hidden merit for, on a wicket giving the bowlers assistance, he was the only player of the last nine who was able to reach double figures, the innings folding up after W. A. Hadlee had made 64 and H. G. Vivian 73. x* j j He was stood down agamst Notts, did not play in the first Test, had only one innings against Norfolk and was dismissed cheaply by very fine fastmedium bowling in both innings against Somerset. It is very difficult for a batsman to maintain form on a tour when he is missing some of the matches. and not having the best of luck in others and it is to the left-hander s credit that he stuck to his task well enough to make 40 against Durham, 47 against Warwickshire, 20 and 54 not out against Sir Julien Cahns XI, m strength if not in rating, a first-class side, and 54 against Hampshire. It soon became evident that he was not enjoying the good fortune of others, and so he tended to be in and out. of the side from match to match, making it very difficult for him to attain and maintain form. Moreover, the shrewd professional ■ bowlers of the counties, played on his fondness for “chasing a ball outside the off stump as well as his eagerness to punish a ball the least short on the leg stump. POSSIBILITIES FOR AUSTRALIA It may easily happen that he will be a heavy scorer on the faster wickets of Australia and he will certainly again enjoy successes in New Zealand. Even on his record in England, however, he has not disgraced his home town of Gisborne or betrayed those earnest admirers who wished him high success simply because he came from one of the minor association districts of New Zealand. That there was a place for him in the side is unquestionable, for he was always likely to make runs and he was useful as a bowler and fieldsman. At first it was intended to develop him as a leg-break bowler, but later he was allowed to use his natural style of semi-round-arm fast-medium attack. With this he actually achieved second place in the first-class bowling averages, taking 14 wickets at 22 runs each. At times he was really fast. Against Minor Counties, for instance, he struck the wickets at such pace that a bail flew nearly a chain and a-half. His best bowling performances were against Glamorgan, when he took two for 10, and against Minor Counties, when his figures were four for 20. Had he bowled more he might have batted better. Always a player who believed in perfect physical fitness, he was not assisted in keeping down his weight by the fact that he was omitted from the team so often and so could not secure regular exercise easily. This, however, did not interfere with his efficiency in the field. There he was a fast runner and a very safe catch. Some of his catches on the boundary were among the best on the tour. Fourteen were taken by him in first-class matches, his best gpme being against Minor Counties. In that match he made four, two by the sight screen and two in the slips. He will return to New Zealand a better player than he left and one who should be prominent for many years in matches for the Plunket Shield. H. G. Vivien, Auckland’s captain, has great faith in his future and it is a help to a young player to be under an encouraging captain.

All hammer-throwing records were broken by Dr P. O’Callaghan, the Irish Olympic representative at the Cork county championships in Ireland last August. He threw the 161 b hammer 196 ft, which is 6ft 5-Jin better than the world record made by P. Ryan, of the United States, in 1913.