THE WORLD OF SPORT

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 99, 10 December 1928, Page 2

THE WORLD OF SPORT

YOTKS FI?Oil EVERYWHERE. ITEMS OF INTEREST. The result of the first cricket test lias stirred up the poets. This is from the Auckland “Sun":

Sixty-six!-' Ye Gods! Sixty-six! Horrors, isn’t this the devil of a fix! What! of' Ryder, Kippax, Ponsford,

Kelleway— They Jipve failed —and they must get

; to H— away. Eight dismissed for sixty-six, What a crew of derelicts; These batsmen whom we thought could never fail! But its evidently true That Australia’s kangaroo. Is all Tail. y x x This is how its appears to a poet in the Christchurch Star. The Lion scalded the Kangaroo 'And chewed its feeble tail! So now, to-day, Australia through One hears a doleful wail. The Lion, with the aid of White, The Kangaroo did lam And knocked jt out!—clean out of sight a truly mighty slam! Like a good Old English Gentleman A relic of Ye Olden Time! XX X X After the decisive defeat of the Australian test team at Brisbane, new blood is bound to be included in the side for the next' test. Three possibilities are R. H. Bettington a triple Blue at Oxford, and now back in Sydney. O. E. Ncthling, the Queenslander; and H. Bbeling, Victoria’s fast bowler. XX X X Rather foolishly, Clem Hill wrote on Tuesday that Percy Chapman had done wrong in not making Australia follow on. The result' of the jmatch knocks the bottom out fetainu match knocks the bottom out of that .view, particularly as Australia, having fourth use of a wearing wicket, .could make only G 6. What a howl •there w'ould 'have been in Street had Chapman made a mess of things after such a handsome start, A captain’s job is to strive for victory wisely. If he fails to consolidate ground already won, he’s an ass. XX X X The result of the first test indicates a decided superiority of the ! English team over the Australians, [•who made a very poor showing, even after allowance is made for the fact | that the home side was unfortunate Ijn losing the services of Gregory and Kelleway. On only seven occasions in the history of test cricket (have the Australians been dismissed

for a smaller total than they compiled in their second innings this week. Their smallest scores have been -_63 on the Oval in 1882, 42 at Sydney in 1887-88. 60 at Lords in 1888, 44 on the Oval in 1896, 53 at Lords in 1896, 36 at Birmingham in 102 and 65 on the Oval in 1912. The result can only he described as a 'triumph for the Englishmen, and the Australian selectors will douhtess do some hard thinking in an effort to improve on their selection foi the remaining matches. The small shores recorded were 'pro-, bjably made) under! adverse condi-l tions, but there was no such excuse for the ipoor shewing at Brisbane. However, the Australians may yet put up a .good fight for the ashes, for it cannot he believed from Hie tform displayed in this match was anything like their true form. X XX X Tyldesley, Ernest, is a younger 'brother cf the famous "J. T." who .made a great name for himself as ’batsman for England and his County (Lancashire), says the New Zeaalnd Free Lance. Although Ernest has an extensive variety of strokes be has not the charm ct his older brother and h e is not a specially good field. He is a clever batsman and has made 55 “centuries.” He played for England in 1821 and 1926 and gave a classic second half performance in the Test match against the West Indies. He went with the M.C.C. team to the '■ West (Indies and met with an accident, hut h e had a magnificent record as a jmember of the MTG.C. team in South . Africa where he finished up a Test record with the highest aggregate and an average of 65 runs. Tyldes-

ley has definitely played himself into England’s team.' He was horn ■February sth, 1899, and is 29 years of age. 'v *.jmM X X X X Croquet, once regarded as an exciting recreation ter tame curates and middle-aged spinsters, has changed (says the Sydney Bulletin). Iconoclasts have succeeded in lessening the width of the hoops, so that the ■ball has only a fractional margin of space over Ithat necessary to get through. The call for increased skill has revived the popularity of the old pastime, and sports dealers mention that there is a brisk demand i for sets. Another revival is arch-

ary, a craze of early Vleloria.ll days, when many a village in England had its club.

xx x x Some remarkable details have been given of the earnings in Australia of wrestlers and boxers who have fought their battles at the stadiums of Sydney and Melbourne. During the hearing of a libel action brought against' Victorian Newspapers, Ltd., by the Greek wrestler, John L. Kilonis, Kilonis admitted that his earnings for the two seasons he had appeared before the Australian, public amounted to £5654. Astonishing as these figures are, they pale into insignificance compared with the income for a corresponding period of Ted Thye known as the “Big Boss” L.mong the wrestling fraternity. From June to November, 1927, Thye’s percentage of the gate money he assisted to draw was more than £SOOO, and during the season just ended his banking account has been swelled by the addition of £4OOO in percentages. xx x x Who remembers the first match be-

tween Eleven of All England and Twenty-two of New South Wales, which took place on Wednesday, January 29, 1862, in the Sydney Domain? “From ten o’clock in the morning,” says a report of the match, ‘-‘a continuous stream of people poured from the city into the Domain. Many brought tents and camp stools, while booths and stalls, befiagged and decorated with the colours of the contesting teams, had been put up for the sale of refreshments.” The match lasted three days, All England winning by 49 runs. xxx L. C. M’Lachlau, son of the late Lachie M’Lachlan, a great all-round athlete, is performing well in Dunedin, the opinion being expressed that he has but to maintain present form to he a solid contender for New Zealand honours. Referring to young M’Lachlan, a Dunedin writer says: “When it comes to writing of middle-distance events at, the present time, it seems necessary to repeat on each successive occasion the doings of L. C. M’Lachlin, who has won the last three middle-distance handicaps in which he has taken part, despite the fact that he has been giving away big starts.” Giving

away starts up to 70 yards, M’Lachlan at a reent meeting won an SBO yards handicap in 2min 0 l-ssec. It is claimed it was the fastest halfmile run on the Dunedin Caledonian Ground for something like twenty years. Had M’Lachlan been pushed along the straight it is considered ; he would have bettered 2rain. XXX “Service," in the New Zealand Referee, recently wrote as follows regarding the New Zealand champion,

now a professional: “Watch Ollivier play. The whole essence cl his game is variation. He never gives the opponent the chance t'o play the stroke he likes. It is a belief of Ollivier’s that scarcely one player in 100 can deal properly with a ball dropped short. Consequently, Ollivier has mastered the art of varying his length unexpectedly, alternating deeji drives with delicately-placed short balls. Times without number I have seen Ollivier catch the same opponent in the same way simply by the unexpectedness with which he plays his short shots at sharp angles. The opponent comes running from the hack line and tries ito drive the ball as from the back line. It can’t be done. Ollivier’s advice is

to play a shrt ball quietly deep to the baseline by driving from corner to corner and then catching him on the wrong foot by putting the ball twice in the same place, or else compelling him to suddenly change and come in to the net. One never sees Ollivier trying to knock the cover off a ball. More often than not he makes the opponent beat himself jHe plays with his brains.” XXX, There are few better sportsmen than Frank Grose, the New Zealand track champion cyclist, who has given the Otago Centre a practical demonstration 6f his desire ,to help the sport along. He competed at Dunedin recently, despite the fact that he had had little time for training

on the track after a hard road season, and now comes word that he has notified the Otago Centre that h e does not desire the trophy order he won on that occasion. This is typical of Grose, who is always out 1 help the sport along, and is probably the most popular amateur rider in New Zealand at the present time. 1