ENGLISH SPORTING LETTER

Taranaki Daily News, 5 July 1930, Page 31 (Supplement)

ENGLISH SPORTING LETTER

AUSTRALIAN CRICKETERS. FORM IN THE EARLY MATCHES. (Special to News). London, May 15. When the Australians arrived we were told that Jackson would prove to be the Trumpcr of the teain. This young batsman, who has shown wonderful brilliance on many occasions, has not yet quite settled down to his best game. The varying pace with which the ball has come off the pitch has seemed to trouble him. On the other hand, Donald Bradman has played superbly, and it is- suggested that he may even prove superior to Trumper. It is a hasty estimate, of course, and I am afraid we are all too ready to forget the giants of the past. But Bradman already has a superb record. In two matches, with only one innings in each, he is within hail of the five hundred mark. Can he set up a record for Australia by obtaining a thousand runs in May? Only four men in the history of the game have accomplished this wonderful feat, and one of them, Tom Hayward, opened his account before April was out. The others' were W. G. Grace in 1595, when he was forty-six vears of age, Wally Hammond in 1927, and Charles Hallows in the following summer. But Bradman has not come over to set up records of this sort. He is here to help to win the Tests, and, as a wise captain, there is no fear of Woodfull overworking him. The Australians have a long and hard tour, and it will be necessary to protect all the men against staleness. Woodfull, for instance, made a century, and immediaterly stood out of the next match. Richardson, too, was given a rest after making a hundred against Leicestershire. There is no doubt that Bradman will be just us carefully nursed, and in the circumstances be may not get the necessary opportunities to reach his thousand be-f-r-e the end of May. Another member of. the Australian team lias won great distinction. This is Clarence Grimmett, the bowler, who in the first innings of the match with Yorkshire, at Sheffield, took all ten wickets. It was an extraordinary performance, especially as the pitch did out help him a great deal owing to the slowness with which the ball turned. Ho deceived the batsmen by subtle changes of flight and pace, and also by an occasional wrong ’un. The opening Yorkshire batsmen, • Sutcliffe and Holmes, played him confidently enough, and they put on fifty-nine. Sutcliffe was in for two hours to make sixty-nine, but five wickets fell for twelve, and the whole side were out for 155. It was a startling collapse. Grimmett had only thirty-seven runs hit off him. He is the third Australian to capture all the wickets of an innings in this country, this feat having previously been performed by George Griffin g,nd Arthur Mailey. Grimmett received a great ovation, and ran to the pavilion ahead of the other members of the side with the ball in his possession. It is to be suitably inscribed, and presented to him by the Yorkshire authorities.

Whilst the Australians are carrying all before them, it is pleasing that the English batsmen are also getting a lot of rurfs. A. P. F. Chapma'n scored sixty in his first match, and he has only to show reasonable batting form to bo sure of being appointed captain. The doubt about the English team concerns • the bowlers. The great hope is that Larwood will find his best form.

ENGLISH SOCCER TEAM. A CONTINENTAL CHALLENGE. Association football has made . remarkable headway on the Continent. British supremacy is even challenged. Indeed, last year the Spanish team defeated an English side, but there were ■circumstances which contributed to the reverse, men having to be played out of their proper positions. This year the Football Association decided to send a •representative side to play Germany and Austria, and they chose the eleven' men who had defeated Scotland. The first match took place in Berlin, and it aroused extraordinary enthusiasm. Over sixty thousand people were present, and, before play began, they stood bareheaded and sang the British National Anthem. Unfortunately, the match was marred by a very serious accident to Marsden, the Sheffield Wednesday left half back, who collided with a colleague, and fractured his skull. This happened in the first few minutes, and, though he remained on the field, he was. dazed, and did not seem to know all that he was doing. In the dressing-room at half-time ho collapsed and was hurried to hospital, when an X-ray examination showed that his head had been slightly fractured. His condition was thought to be critical, and a message was sent to his wife, who flew to Berlin. Happily, however, he improved, and when' the English team left for Vienna to play the Austrians it was expected that he will be able to return home in about a fortnight. In the circumstances Jack and his men were seriously handicapped, and they did well to draw the match at three goals all. They led by two to one at the interval, but were a goal down twenty minutes from the end. However, they made a great rally with their impaired strength, and pulled the match out of the lire.

BOXING AND BOXERS. AMONG THE middle-weights. All has gone and is going well (writes Eugene Coni) with the strikingly different boxers who are to fake the ring at Olympia under the auspices of the National Sporting Club next Thursday night. The fights will not, of course, represent the N.S.C.’s greatest venture-, but these days, since the result of each contest may go far to re-shape boxing in the matter of our championships,.they will offer to tire public a series of events of first-class importance. They tell of the biggest programme which Mr. Lionel Bettir/son has . built up since w© saw on one and- the same night three title fights at West Kensington more than a year ago. Boxing that is ir.uclf out of the ordinary costs a small fortune to stage, but wisely the N. 5.0., though not bulging with riches,. is determined to play : the part-of pro-, motcr-in-chic'f. • If fimihdal 16. achieved next' Thursday;’ there''Ar every

reason to expect that there will be other momentous happenings arranged by the old club. In fact, we are already promised a visit from Dave Shade, as near to being middle-weight champion of the world as makes little matter. Ho is, as I have already announced, to meet the winner of the Harvey-McCall bout. The popular impression in London and the south generally is that Harvey will beat McCall; and I think that such a belief is well founded, though it would never do for either Harvey or his supporters to take tiie defeat of the Scot for granted. It is some considerable time since I ran the rule over McCall, and I am prepared to see him much improved—more of a fighter than when I last saw him. He is very clever, and it will be a tremendous disappointment to me if McCall does not put up more than a game fight. There has been not a little speculation as to how Harvey will seek victory. My view is that, if he depends entirely upon his boxing skill, he will find it hard to win by more than a small margin of points. If Harvey is to be the more seriously regarded as a contender for the world’s middle-weight title, he will have to win by a knock-out. He will profit little or nothing by playing for safety. My personal opinion of Harvey is that he lias yet to reveal his real fighting self. With his. splendid reach and obvious hitting power, he should convince us that he is more of a fighter as distinct from a clever boxer than he has so far done. Only once, so far- as I can recollect, has he really let himself go. That was when he knocked out Frank Moody at the Crystal Palace, and even then he was not entirely convincing, for he was up against an opponent who had not been trained. Yoh will remember that Moody took the ring at a few days’ notice to serve as deputy for Jack Hood, who had had the misfortune to damage his hand. I have long felt that, if Harvey had always gone all out from the first bell, he would not only be our champion, but would have come to be recognised as the nearest approach to Mickey Walker. Be that as it may, he had now a golden opportunity to dispel any doubt there might be as to his capacity, for the reason that in McCall he will have as ,an opponent one whose ability is of a high order, McCall will perhaps give Harvey a great deal more than he bargained He will certainly take the ring rich in the support of his countrymen. I have the highest iiopes of the contest proving to be easily the best since the matches between Harvey and Hood. - SCOTT’S LUCK. Phil Scott may well lament his luck. But though he will probably not be in a condition to fight before midsummer, he is bound to be interested in the result of the bout between Charlie Smith and Donald Shortland. For, as you know, he will be invited to meet the winner for the championship. It would be tremendously interesting to know how Scott feels about these two young fellows.

CUBTOUS COINCIDENCE. AMERICAN GOLFER'S FATE. Seven years ago Dr. 0. F. Willing, an American dentist, came to England as a member of the Walker Cup team, ami, prior to the match, took part in the Royal St. George’s Cup competition, which is the amateur’s chief stroke-play event of the season. At the end of "thirty-six holes he tied with his fellow countryman, Francis Ouimet, only to be beaten in the play-off. " Dr. Willing is here again, and he‘has missed the St. George’s Cup again in similar circumstances. He finished at the head of the field, level with the young British amaeur, Rex Hartley, and, when he played off over eighteen holes was beaten by the rather wide margin of six strokes, his score being eighty-five to seventy-five. In tho event proper he had returned seventy-five and seventy-three. Willing is a most unimpressive golfer with a short and laboured swing. Indeed, his play suggests that he has attained the front rank only by downright hard work. He takes the utmost pains over each shot, as though he is afraid that he may make a mess of it, but he keeps on down the middle, and is exceedingly difficult. to beat The cup was played for over the Sandwich links, where the Walker Cup match is to be decided and, though only four of the American team took part, it was a sort of dress rehearsal for the international contest. In this the weather conditions may be the deciding factor. The Americans like neither the cold nor calie wind, and it was notable that they lost four or five strokes on the round when the breeze freshened in the afternoon. Some of them were affected to an even greater extent. For instance, the six-foot’ baby of the side, Don Moe, led rhe field with seventy-one in the morning, and took eighty-seven in the afternoon. This breakdown started at the fourth hole, where, greatly, daring, he attempted a shot of two hundred yards out of a bunker with an iron, and took four to get out of the hazard. Bobbie Jones was absent. So, too, was the British champion, Cyril Tolley, who since his return from New York has been in Paris. There has also been a big professional tournament at Southport, where three hundred players competed. In order to accommodate them all, as many as four courses had to be used. The first prize or £3OOO was won by Archibald Compston, who played the seventy-two holes . in tho remarkable score of 285. He had also rounds of seventy-two and seventythree in tho qualifying competition, giving him an average of 71 2/3 strokes for six rounds. Nothing better lias been done in British golf. He finished at the ’lead of the field, four strokes in front of Harry Cotton ami the young American professional, Horton Smith, who has como over with Leo Diegel to compete for the championship. I am not with those who doubt whether Scott is especially keen about his title. I would go so far as to declare one of Scott’s regrets is that, since lie captured the championship, there has been no Britisher seriously to challenge his position. Scott, of course, before he concerns himself about Smith and Shprtland will, if he holds to his present intention, prepare, so soon as he is fit and well again, for a fight with Stribling. I am not positive, however,, that Scott and the American will meet even in June or July, if at all. Everything must depend on Scott’s physical condition. If he does not recover from the effects of his ailment soon, the probability is that Stribling will be- eager to fry other fish. Certain it is that Stribling will not remain inactive for long., .He ,willonly- return to London if he has.- the ‘ positive assurance that. Sco.ttMs- -ready and eager : -.to. fight/biin* •- ■ I-.-hopeutliat- da-

the next few days we shall not only hear that Scott is himself again, but that he is ready to tackle any proposition. I sincerely trust that there is not an atom of truth in the suggestion that Scott, after his bitter experience at Miami, has sickened of fighting. I do not mind his not meeting Stribling, but I do want to see him against either Charlie Smith or Shortland, or any other weight who would fight for the title in the keeping of Scott. I have, like many of you, almost despaired of seeing a light between big fellows really worth the while. DISAPPOINTING HEAVIES. Terribly disappointed was I’with the last evening devoted to the heavy battalions. I do not expect Smith or Shortland to produce anything like a classic, but I shall be disposed to throw the lot overboard if they add to the number of fiascos which we have for too long suffered. Smith seems to be much improved since he went to America, but if Shortland has thrived on his training, as is said, he has an excellent chance of being first in the running for a tilt at the British title. Ono may rest assured that Willie Smith, the South African, who is quartered at Shoeburyness, hiucli favoured by Carpentier, is as good as he was when he was last here, and upset the apple cart by defeating Teddy Baldock. Still it is unlikely that he will find himself to be of a much higher class than Dick Corbett, who, in my opinion, is the best bantam we have. I should certainly favour his chances in a Lout at Sst Gibs against Baldock. Several of us journeyed from London to see Johnny Cuthbert at work in his own gymnasium at .Sheffield. He is brimful of confidence, as always, and I doubt whether there is a fitter man to bo found anywhere. There have been few, if any, more serious-minded champions than Cuthbert. He has missed few opportunities of making hay when the sun has shone. With him it has always been the more fights the better. He" has no false notions about Dem Volante. The fight between the two should fill Olympia all by itself. Mr. Lionel - Bettinson could have made, no better match, for there is- scarce a pin to choose between Cuthbert and Volante. That, at least, is my opinion.-