N.Z. Girl Cricketer In Unusual Charity Match At Sydney

Southland Times, Issue 23989, 2 December 1939, Page 16

N.Z. Girl Cricketer In Unusual Charity Match At Sydney

Miss P. Vosper, the New Zealand girl cricketer, had the honour of being chosen for the women’s team which lately played a match in Sydney agamst a team of men internationals. This unusual match was staged to augment the Lord Mayor’s Patriotic Fund, and attracted a good crowd to the North Sydney Oval. . „ There was a good deal of chipping before the match, the men pretending to be most worried about their sartorial appearance for the great day, some suggesting that perhaps a little starch should be added to the cuffs of their trousers! Arthur Mailey suggested that Stan McCabe should have his hair (“both of them”, he added) “permed” for the occasion. He himself was very worried about the match. “One cannot bowl a vicious leg-break which crashes into the tender shins of a female, and bully the umpire into giving the lady out lbw,” he said. "And when batting against the weaker sex, is it gallant to crash a full toss to the boundary? These problems are disturbing, but not insurmountable.” On the great day, the men proved that they were not insurmountable by playing against the women with the greatest chivalry. With the aid of an ingenious operator who had obviously forgotten his school-day lessons in arithmetic, they even allowed the score board to show that they had won. It was a god match, for all the picnic atmosphere—or perhaps, because of it, and the women did very well to knock up 184 for eight wickets in reply to the men’s innings of 208. Miss Vosper has been in Sydney for about a year, studying at the Australian College of Physical Education (more commonly known as the Swords Club), where she is training to be a sports mistress. She is staying at the College hostel, and is finding her course of the greatest interest. The majority of games mistresses in leading Australian schools have been trained at this college, says a Sydney correspondent. Miss Vosper played her first cricket match in Sydney at fhe beginning of October, in the opening round of the women’s grade matches, when she scored a magnificent 136 not out for the Eastern Suburbs, partnered during her strike by Pat Holmes, who made 115. Miss Holmes is one of the Australian players who toured England in 1937, when she scored 200 not out against the West of England, the highest official score made by an Australian woman cricketer in a first-class match. ATTRACTIVE INNINGS Miss Vosper’s fine innings attracted attention t to her excellent foot, work and her powerful hitting, and it was this performance of hers that won her a place in the women’s team to play the men internationals. She was the only player on the field who has not represented either New South Wales or Australia—so it was something of an

honour for her to be singled out. Miss Vosper fielded excellently in the out-field, saving many boundary hits, and putting in a lot of hard work. Mrs Peden, the Australian captain, was very pleased with her exhibition, and she also added a valuable 14 to the score. The women players were all very nervous; that is not to be wond-

ered at, for the men’s side was one that, would terrify any ordinary men’s team. Their names alone would be enough to scare many cricketers,, for they included C. G. Macartney, A. Mailey, Stan McCabe, J. H. Fingleton, A. F. Kippax, J. H. Human, W. O’Reilly, and S. G. Barnes.

When batting, the girls were given plenty of encouragement by the men. “We’ll tell 'you when to pick the wrong ’uns,”’ said the men in slips to the batswomen.

After all their anxious moments, the men cut a fine figure satorially, but even so the honours in that direction must go to the women. With the exception of Pat Holmes, they all wore knee-length socks with their divided skirts and shirt blouses. Pat Holmes wore stockings, the regulation uniform of the Australian representative team. . The highest scorer of either team was Stan McCabe, who made 39 runs. Top scorer for the women was Miss M. Dive, who scored 35 runs.