THE CRICKET SEASON.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14329, 20 October 1910, Page 4

THE CRICKET SEASON.

We hope that the opening- of the cricket season in South Canterbury this afternoon is regarded as an event of some importance, not only by the playing few who "keep the pride,'' but by the greater number of the public whose joy and privilege it should be to " mark the score." As the chief of summer games, and a great English game with great traditions, a game also which Calls forth in those who play it the highest qualities of skill and character, cricket is deserving of a better fate than to have been allowed to languish as it lias done locally in past years. When the Duke of Wel'ington said that the battle of Waterloo was won on the playing' fields of Eton, he doubtless had its cricket field in mind. At the close of the last English season, the annual cricket match between the two great schools of Eton and Harrow afforded a striking- demonstration of the value and nobility of the swamer game.. The stnra -ia tkeir

courses, at all events the weather; and the toss, fought against Eton i'roin the first, and though they played, an uphill Maine with skill and courage, Harrow, who had also played a hrilliant game, bewail lhe last innings of the match needing only 55 runs to win. It must have seemed u creditable finish if the Eton team could take three or four Harrow wickets before the end. "The Eton captain, however, thought otherwise. Ha meant to wm; he came out to win and took a wicket with his first ball, and within an hour he and Si eel—filius patris dignus digni—had got out the whole Harrow eleven for 45 runs, and had won the matcli for Eton by 9 runs." The " Speeiatoiy' from which' we quote, goes on to say: "In a sense, of eour.se, it would be comparing small tilings with great to set Saturday's finish by the side of other famous finishes in what is generally called first-class cricket, such as lhe two-run victory of Cambridge in 1870, when Oxford only needed 10 runs with five wickets to fall; or the wonderful match of England and Australia in 1882, when Spofforth won the game for Australia; or the equally fine ending to the test match in 1002, when England won by one wicket. But as an example of the spirit in which cricket should be played, the Eton and Harrow match of 1910 will siand comparison with any. In that respect it was first-class, a description which many county mutches never come near_ deserving, when cricket is looked on first and foremost as a game. Not one of the boys playing ever stopped trying." The fielding, which is one of the best tests of the spirit of an eleven, was excellent on both sides, and for each side, too,, there were times when something more than ordinary nerve was needed, and on each side there were boys who rose to the occasion."

We do not think a game ■which can call f'ortli such displays as tin's should be allowed to languish. The South Canterbury Association is endeavouring to stimulate more interest in the gnine by playing two-days matches, instead of the one-day fixtures that have hitherto been in vogue. Whether, in a scattered district like this, two-days matches will be an improvement is perhaps doubtful, but the Association is to be commended for its effort to increase the popularity of the game. If cricket is to take its proper place among South Canterbury sports two things are needful. The public must attend and show some interest in the game, for without their interest and encouragement it is almost sure to decline. In the second place yoxir cricketer must be caught young. The game mustbe fostered in the schools, and older cricketers should take care that the boys are drafted into clubs so soon as they leave the schools, ]STo game will ever flourish in any town which depends on outside importations for its new blood. In addition to the considerations we have urged already, it is surely fitting that tl;e "most English" province skouM foster the most English game. The names of the Canterbury founders are, in many instances, the names of sterling cricketers. From the burden of the Empire builder they found solace iu the "burden of hard hitting." If they set a great example by their work, they also set a good cue by their recreation.