Flashes From Fields Of Sport Abroad

Taranaki Daily News, 26 November 1934, Page 11

Flashes From Fields Of Sport Abroad

Cap And Bali. One does not expect to read of a fieldsman in a first-grade cricket match in Sydney using his cap to field the ball. But in a match between Gleband Randwick, recently, a Randwick fieldsman who was unable to reach the ball in time to stop it before it could get to the boundary threw his cap at it The cap hit the ball and slowed its pace enough for the fieldsman to oyeitake it and pick it up before the boundary was reached. Of course, the umpire at the bowler’s end called out to the scorers that five runs must be added to the score, in accordance with the rule provided in the laws of the game for such an occurrence.

New Captain Of Middiesex. The Middlesex County Cricket Club’s committee has appointed R. W. V Robins captain of its team for next season. This means, of course, that he will be playing regularly in county cricket next season, intead of sometimes in county matches and more often in club games—he has played a good deal of his club cricket of late years for

Sir Julien Cahn’s team. Robins is a genuine Middlesex man. He first played for the county before he went to Cambridge University, where he obtained h’s blue by means of his fine fielding, although his googly bowling and his batting also kept him in the university team. Robins has played for England against Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the West Indies. He is best known as a bowler, but his colourful batting and his fielding are expected to put new life into the Middlesex team, which has been a little drab lately. As captain of the side he succeeds Nigel Haig, who has retired. Robins is 48 years old. * * * A Rugby Recovery. Four years before the formation of the Northern Rugby League the membership of the Yorkshire Rugby Union was 150 clubs. Six years after the introduction of the League code, with its professionalism, the county union had been reduced to a membership of 13 clubs. Now, however, the Yorkshire Rugby Union has 117 clubs and 27 schools affiliated with it. Much of. the credit for this great recovery is given to the organising ability of R.. F. Oakes, hon. secretary to the Yorkshire Union, who was also president of the Rugby Union of England last year. w -’r . w Great Three-Set Player.

That G. P. Hughes, captain and manager of the British tennis team which visited New Zealand recently, is the best “three-set” player he has seen for many years is the opinion of Geoff. Ollivier, former New Zealand champion, who umpired a singles match in which Hughes beat F. J. Perry, acknowledged the best amateur singles

player in the world to-day. According to Geoff. Ollivier, Hughes is a much more clever player than Perry. His ability to "mix” his game, with topspin and under-slice, and variation of pace, is remarkable, as is his accuracy. Time and again Ollivier heard Hughes s dipping forehand drive just "clip” the top of the net as it went over. It is the possession of this drive which, in Ollivier’s opinion, makes Hughes a better-equipped doubles player than Perry. He has also a more useful variety of services, of which his American “club swing” was the most frequently used last Saturday.

Until this year one of the laws of Rugby read: “The referee may order the ball to be put into the scrummage on either side he may choose, but he should only exercise this option in special circumstances. Now the law reads simply: “The referee may order the ball to be put into the scrummage on either , side.” The deletion of the admonitory clause was one ot tne changes made fairly recently without having attention drawn to them by the International Rugby Board and the English Rugby Union.

Soccer And Broadcasting. The clubs in the English Football League—that is, the organisation of professional clubs, under the English Football Association, which compete for the league championships m the various divisions —have not changed their attitude toward the broadcasting of matches, reports an English paper, in a recent issue. “The clubs would, no doubt, be in favour of broadcasts if they did not feel convinced that they lose money thereby,” continues the paper. “They realise the publicity value of a broadcast of a match, but their biggest fear is that if broadcasting were allbwed on anything like a regular scale they would lose heavily in revenue, especially in wet weather, through their supporters having a first-class alternative to turning out to watch the local name. It was this which counted most toward the original decision of the league clubs to ban wireless broadcasts altogether. Yet in official quart" ers there is still a feeling that the clubs mav be mistaken in their attitude, and that they should at any rate be prepared to allow this free publicity for the game to the extent of allowing broadcasts of the second half of matches, at any rate as an expenment.

The crowd at a match between two professional Association football clubs in England recently was amazed when a player who had broken through the opposing side’s defence and headed straight for goal, with no one but the goalkeeper in front of him, was stopped by the opposing side’s left-back with a flying Rugby tackle.

Amar Singh, who has played for India in Test cricket matches against England, and who is possibly the best all-round cricketer in India, has signed on as professional for the Colne Club, in the Lancashire Cricket League, for next season. In the All-India team s tour of England in 1932 Amar Singh, a fast-medium bowler who spins the ball, took 111 wickets in first-class matches at a cost of 20.78 runs each, and made two centuries.

In future a larger proportion of tickets will be available for the members of the two clubs which reach the final of the Football Association Cup competition in England. Hitherto the cup finalists have each been allotted 7,500 tickets, but at a meeting of the Football Association Council recently the number was increased to 10,000 each. The total number of tickets available is roughly 92,000. » * * Quick Start And Finish. Jock McAvoy, British middleweight boxing champion, won one of the quickest victories of his career when he knocked out Jack Etienne, of Belgium, in 52 seconds of actual boxing time, at Belle Vue, Manchester, a few weeks ago. McAvoy went stranght into his man, and quickly flustered him. A stiff uppercut and then a terrific right to the ribs sent Etienne under the ropes. The Belgian was down for a count of nine. As Etienne came up McAvoy hit him again with great force, in the ribs, and then two quick blows to the head put the Belgian out. From the gong to the raising of McAvoy’s hand as that of the winner of the contest lasted only 71 seconds. A medical examination of Etienne showed that he had at least one rib broken by the force of McAvoy’s blows. Etienne has boxed a draw with Marcel Thil, of France, holder of the world’s championship, whom McAvoy is anxious to meet.

After gaining a place in the Warrington' Club’s first team, in the English Rugby League, as a substitute for an injured player, R. K. King, former Sydenham Club and Canterbury Rugby Union representative forward, has held his position by merit. In commenting on the form of Warrington players in a recent match a North of England paper names King as one of three forwards who would be worthy of places in almost any team.

C. L. (“Jack”) Badcock, the brilliant young batsman from Tasmania, now settled in Adelaide, who'scored 64 and 87 for the Rest of Australia against the Australian team, in the WoodfullPonsford testimonial cricket match a few days ago, is not yet 21 years old.

All Blacks In Wales. Considerable dissatisfaction, says the “Athletic News,” is being felt in Welsh Rugby circles at the announcement of the Welsh fixtures with the New Zealand Rugby team in the 1935-36 season. Matches have been allotted to Swansea, Llanelly, Cardiff, and Newport, while Neath and Aberavon and Crosskeys and Abertillery have been omitted. Clubs given joint games contend they should have the same privileges as Swansea, etc. Pontypool claims to have the best Welsh record against touring teams, and there has been a threat that it will join the English Union. Bridgend and Penarth are also protesting against the Welsh Union’s decision. An official of the Welsh Union stated that an effort had been made to spread out z the fixtures in different areas. There was still one open date, but the union was still considering which club should have it.. Clubs should be glad they had gained a half-share of fixtures and not grumble, he said. “Even if we had a dozen dates with New Zealanders we should probably be in the same difficulty—a score of clubs claiming their share.”

Into A Rut. Association football in the Irish Free State is said to have fallen into a rut. Lack of sparkle in the play is blamed for the decline in public interest. The Irish Soccer correspondent of one English paper says that, looking back over a period of 20 years, he cannot recall another season in which the standard of play was so poor and in which so little interest was taken in the game. Even at the leading matches the “gates” so far this season have not exceeded £l6O, whereas in other seasons there have been “gates” of £4OO at this time of the year. w w “Prince Of Hookers”

H. G. Kipling, noted 14st. 61b hooker in South African Rugby, has announced his retirement from the game. He is 30 years old. Kipling played for Griqualand West, but not for South Africa, against the All Blacks of 1928. He was, however, the first-string hooker for the South African team which mured the United Kingdom and Ireland in the 1931-32 season there, and several British Rugby ciytics described him as a

master hooker, although Kipling himself ascribes his success on the tour as “not so much due to my hooking as to the support given to me by that mountain of humanity which comprised the Springbok pack.” He also said _ recently: “In seven years of international Rugby I have played against the hookers of New Zealand, Australia, and the four Home countries, and I have no hesitation in naming Eddie Bonis, the Wallabies’ hooker, as the prince of hookers.” 1 * Preferring Scratch Races. Besides being one of the leading harrier clubs in England, the Birchfield Harriers are prominent in. trackrunning. So it is interesting to find in the club’s report on the performances of its members this year mention of the fact that members are showing a preference for scratch races on the track. Other athletic. clubs in England have come to the conclusion that there is too much handicap running. That conclusion is in accord with experience in Canterbury; the general standard of athletics in that province has improved definitely since the introduction of plenty of inter-club • racing from scratch. . ' ' O’Reilly’s Cricket. Reports that W. J. O’Reilly would seldom appear in first-class cricket after his return from England ' were confirmed by O’Reilly when the, Australian team returned home, a few days ago. O’Reilly announced that he would not play for New South Wales in any first-class match this season and that he would not be available for the Australian team’s visit to South Africa in the 1935-36 season. He would confine

his “big” cricket this season to the Woodfull-Ponsford testimonial match. O’Reilly, who is a teacher under the New South Wales Education Department, says that he can no longer prejudice his position by playing first-class cricket. The punch witn which Freddie Miller, the American who holds the world’s featherweight boxing championship, knocked out Benny Sharkey, a prominent. English featherweight, in the first round of a contest at Newcastle, England, a few-weeks ago was a terrific left which did hot travel more than six ifiches. . -x- * ' *' Putting Won. Consistently good putting won the English women’s golf championship for Phyllis Wade, of Ferndown, Dorset, a few weeks ago. The championship was competed for on the Seacroft links, Skegness. In the final Phyllis Wade, who has held the Hampshire women’s championship but who had not hitherto been in the first eight in the English women’s- championship, beat Mary Johnson, champiop of Yorkshire, four up and three to play. Mary Johnson was in the final last year, too. A Boxing Problem. The victory which Bob Olin, of New York, gained in a bout with Maxie Rosenbloom, also of New York, in a bout for the world’s' light-heavyweight boxing championship, a few days ago, sets a nice little problem for the American National Boxing Association, more especially as the association’s rulings are not recognised in New York, where the bout was held. The association recently suspended Rosenbloom from the championship, partly on the ground that he had not defended his title often enough, although he actually has had more championship fights than several of the champions recognised by the association have had. However, as there are about 17 States in the U.S.A, which do not accept the association’s decisions the suspension of Rosenbloom did not mean a great deal. The association ordered the holding of an elimination tournament to determine the new holder of the championship. But in rating the half-dozen best lightheavyweights i£ ignored Olin, who already had been accepted by the New York Boxing Commission as a suitable contender for Rosenbloom’s title, and who was generally recognised . in America —except by the National Boxing Association—as one of the best four men of his weight in the country. The problem that the association will have to decide now is whether or not it shall continue to make itself look foolish by ignoring Olin as the new holder of the championship.