TWO GREAT CRICKETERS

Taranaki Daily News, 21 December 1931, Page 12

TWO GREAT CRICKETERS

BRADMAN AND DEMPSTER NW ZEALANDER’S BATTING. ONE OF WORLD’S BEST TWELVE. (N.Z. Herald Correspondent.) London, Nov. 10Mr. Trevor Wignail, in his Daily Sportlight column of the Daily Express, to-day has a good deal to say about cricket and cricketers. “Whether Don Bradman is the greatest batsman in the world,” he writes, “is bound to be a matter of opinion. I do not pose as a judge, but he is decidedly the most wonderful cricketer of his age I have ever watched. “Some say he has not the strokes or the polish of certain famous Englishmen, but is this really important? Bradman gets .the runs, and in test cricket in particular that is about the only thing that matters. “An Australian with whom I conversed on Saturday last produced the theory that young Stanley McCabe, another Australian, is superior to Bradman as a stylist and in sheer prettiness of stroke. This may be true, but I can see the contention starting another argument. McCabe was the baby of the last Australian team, but, although he was quite a success, he did not approach Bradman for scores or as an. attraction. ‘‘There is not much difference in the ages of this couple, McCabe being slightly the younger, but a big score he ran up against Gilbert, the aboriginal fast bowler, last week, demonstrates that he is still improving. DEMPSTER'S EXCELLENCE. “It should not be forgotten, however, that there is a New Zealander named Dempster who is clearly in the Bradman and McCabe class. He was one of the big figures in English cricket last summer, and, if he were given an opportunity of playing on this side for one of the chief counties, it is conceivable he would jump even nearer to the very top. I was able to watch Dempster only once, as I had to leave for the United States just when he was settling down, but he struck me as a batsman with all the known strokes and with a method that was most excellent to watch. “It is frequently stated of Australian cricketers that they are hardly more than Saturday afternoon players. This is said by way of emphasising that they do not get the same practice as Englishmen. Ido not altogether agree with the assertion, but it is perfectly correct that New Zealanders are limited to what in effect are club games. Tho rise of a man like Dempster is therefore all the more significant. I think he can be counted with the 12 best on earth. Many, I admit, would be ready to reduce this number to six. ' IRRITATING COMPARISONS. “Two of the best of our younger players are Bakewell and Arnold, who are fairly sure to go to Australia next autumn. But I doubt if we have any newcomers who as yet are quite so skilful as Bradman, McCabe and Dempster. Englishmen take longer to develop than the youths of the Dominions. Bradman and McCabe were only boys when they played in their first tests, yet they conducted themselves like veterans. It would have required an explosion beneath his feet to have rattled Bradman. “I am afraid that, like other writers, I am sometimes inclined to compare the old with the new. It is -an irritating habit, and, what is worse, it never serves much of a purpose. To attempt to compare, say, Bradman with Jack Hobbs or Reggie Spooner, is really a waste of time, for the trio are as poles apart. “There will never be another Hobbs and probably never another Spooner arid, ■by the same token, it is easy to guess that we ard seeing the only Bradman of our lifetime.” x