AUSTRALIANS PACKING

Taranaki Daily News, 21 August 1930, Page 8

AUSTRALIANS PACKING

RECEIPT OF MANY GIFTS. NEW ZEALANDER ON GRIMMETT, London, Aug. 12. The Australian cricketers are principally concerned with taking back the “ashes” on the Oronsay, but there are elaborate preparations in progress for taking back other things. Practically from the moment the players arrived in England they have received gifts of clothing, cutlery, golf clubs and various novelties in almost every town they visited. Other teams received presents, but probably not on such an extensive scale as Woodfull’s men, who also have had opportunities to purchase clothing, etc., at irresistibly cheap prices at factories and elsewhere, ~ The cricketers have everything from silk underwear to the latest steel-shaft-ed golf clubs, and any player who misses a match generally takes the quickest route to a London hotel, where he has a bout of packing. Half-a-dozen members of the team are arranging an “Innocents Abroad” holiday after the last match. \ One test match umpire has received & letter from New Zealand advising him that there is a certain explanation for Grimmett’s trick bowling. “I suggest,” says the writer, “that Grimmett carries a ball specialty loaded, with lead, which makes possible his tricks. He produces it secretly during tho match, and you should put a special mark on the real ball so that you can examine it when Grimmett is bowling and discover for yourself.” Needless to say the letter will receive as much attention as the ball with which Grimmett bowls, but everybody in cricket, even an umpire, is always happy at having an amusing story to tell.