SURREY’S CRICKET CAPTAIN

Taranaki Daily News, 14 April 1932, Page 10

SURREY’S CRICKET CAPTAIN

P. H. G. FENDER’S LONG REIGN.

CHANGE CONSIDERED LIKELY.

' (From Our Own London, February 25. There is little doubt that there will be a new captain of Surrey ing the coming season. P. H. . ’ who has led the team for over 10 years, “understands that a change is nlated.” Officially the club states that the question of the captaincy will not be settled until the annual luting. As a captain, Fonder has been one oi the shrewdest tacticians of his day, but, as he might himself say, he has moved with the times, and in the eyes of the M.C.C. he has, I think, gone a little too fast. There is no doubt that the authorities at Lords are determined to check the modern tendencies winch have ere| t into the game. Lord Hawke put their case when he recently aternly condemned the freak declarations of last summer, and, though Fender was not concerned in those, it is felt that some of his ideas have not won the approval oi the old school, which has still great influence. During his captaincy he has done much to remove the distinctions which have so long been drawn between the amateur and the professional. For instance, whilst the professionalsi have their own dressing-room at the Oval, all tlia members of the eleven enter the field by the same entrance. One presumes, however, that this change was made with the approval of the Surrey club, and,, of course, the M.C.C. has no authority in such a matter, even if it wished to exercise it. Disappointment was expressed two seasons ago, when Fender did not play with his team during th» Test matches with the Australians. Instead, he wrote about the latter for a London newspaper and handed over the captaincy to another player. This' was, of course, very unusual. Besides, in certain circles it is held that a cricketer, actively engaged. in the game, should, not write about it. Indeed, P. F. Warner, when he joined the selection committee last season, gave up his journalistic work, it being understood that this was a condition of his appointment. Fender has been a fine player for Surrey. A crafty bowler, no one was more fitted to break up a firmly-estab-lished partnership, and as a batsman he has accomplished many remarkable feats, though he is not what may be termed a stroke player. , Unfortunately, the team, however, have not done very well in the championship, but it is not fair to blame him on this account. He has always 'been short of bowlers, especially a slow bowler, and on the fine Oval pitches he has done extremely well with the talent at his command. Often, in endeavouring to bring off an outside chance of forcing a win, he has had to take risks which might not have been justified under happier conditions,, but his daring has made for just that brightness which has so insistently been demanded, and he has rarely erred in his judgment of what was possible.