DROPPING THE PILOT

Taranaki Daily News, 6 September 1930, Page 12 (Supplement)

DROPPING THE PILOT

CHAPMAN’S EXCLUSION. \ ECHO OF MELBOURNE GAMUL Commenting on the dropping of Chapman from the English cricket eleven, that well-known authority, J. Worrall, wrote in the Australasian before the fifth test: — Circumstances have made this fifth and deciding Test of paramount importance, the deposition of Chapman in favour of Wyatt really increasing the interest. The fact of Chapman stepping into the breach and stopping the dry rot that had been eating at the vitals of English cricket established the Bcrkshireman as a hero in the minds of the British public. Before England triumphed in that last match at the Oval in 1926, English cricket was in the doldrums, for of the previous 24 engagements England had been successful only twice, while Australia had won 14 games. The selectors experimented on that occasion in making him captain at 26 years of age, and have adopted the same line now iu placing Wyatt in charge at the age of 29. Carr was dropped rather sensationally before Chapman’s rise to fame, as after winning the toss at Leeds he sent in the Australians, who showed such an appreciation of the courtesy that they amassed a score of 494 runs, Macartney, Woodfull and Arthur Richardson making centuries. The playing of the Oval match to a finish is so foreign to English custom that it is but little cause for wonder that cricket nerves in the Old Country arc at stretching point at such a blind leap in the dark. The last Test in Melbourne in 1929 has a distinct bearing on the question of captainship. It might not be known generally, as it was given out at the time, that he was sufleriug from an attack of influenza, but the real truth of the matter is that Chapman was dropped from the team oil his form, White leading the side. Leyland filled the vacant place, making 137 and 53 not out, a decidedly advantageous move considering that Chapman’s highest score in the series was 50, and his average 23.57. Yet the match was the only one lost by England, and who can say the move was for the best? There is such a commodity as inspiration, a quality possessed largely by the old champion, IV. G. Grace, and while the picking of Leyland was undoubtedly a move in the right direction so far as the actual playing merits of the two were concerned, it may possibly be that that inherent character of leadership, so little understood, made the change an undesirable one from a win.uiug point of view. \