CRICKET.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18649, 19 August 1930, Page 10

CRICKET.

CHOICE OF ENGLISH TEAM. DROPPING CHAPMAN. The news that Chapman had been* dropped by the English Selection Committee came as a surprise in New* Zealand. but it had been freely discussed at Home for some time. Cabling to the Sydney “Referee” a fortnight ago, P. F. Warner, said:— “England’s individual cricketers are splendid but the team is not a combination. The batting has sorr ? palpably weak spots, the tail being too long. Besides Chapman s leadership at Old Trafford and Lord's pleased few, his placings of the field at Old Trafford leaving gaps through which many runs were made. His fielding is superb and he inspires his side by* his example, but he has shown a marked falling off in tactical ability. He seems at the moment to be lacking in concentration and fails to notice phases and changes in the situation. It is hard to account for the falling off in this respect. I have always advocated him as the captain, admiring his happy manner and his ability to manage a side. But frankly he has disappointed his b:sZ friends lately. Still I am sure that he is fully capable of recovering his old flair for leadership. Virgil tells us that rumour runs about the city like a dog and is therefore unreliable but one hears rumours that he may be replaced. I have no reliance on such rumours, but some urge that he is technically not good enough as a batsman and that the side would be strengthened by the inclusion of say Hendren or Wyatt, in his place.” Professionals and Amateurs. England’s prospects appear to have been jeopardised by other causes. The special correspondent of a Sydney paper cabled as follows: “The approach of the final Test has raised a new and thorny question of remuneration of the English professionals. At the present they receive £4O per Test, paying their own expenses. This they consider wholly inadequate, claiming that £SO and expenses is little enough, as they are expected to stay at the same hotel as the amateurs, whose railway fares and expenses are paid on a liberal scale. It is leaking out that something approaching a strike took place at both Leeds and Manchester matches, two professionals refusing to stay a* the hotel selected on the score of e. v nse. This was very noticeable. Though the amateurs and professionals lodged at the same hotel there was little fraternisation.

“While the Australian players lunched and dined together at a long table, the English amateurs sat in little groups, while the professionals fended as best they could. Some could have complained bitterly of the snobbish treatment they were subjected to, but were afraid to air their feelings openly, fearing M.C.C. reprisals. This lack of espirit de corps told against the morale of the English team in the field, while the Australians play as one man without thought of social position. Many of the professionals feel acutely the English caste system. This is an open secret.

“In the 1926 Oval Test match the professionals were paid £33 for three days and £ll each extra day. or £44 for the match. They are hoping to receive similar treatment this time. Otherwise, if the match should be prolonged over a week some of the professionals w*ill be out of pocket as the county payments cease when they are engaged in the Tests.” Hobbs and the Oval. When Jack Hobbs was in Australia with the M.C.C. team two years back, it was stated that he w*as figuring in his final Test series. The Sydney “Referee.” however, pointed out that it w*as not fitting that this man who' had done such remarkable things for his country in the cricket field should drop out of Test cricket and make his final bow to the public anywhere but at Kennington Oval. The Oval is the home ground of Surrey. and there Hobbs has so often unloosed all the finest things in his enchanting repertoire. There he has regaled, entertained, enchanted the crowds for well over twenty years. The Hobbs of years ago was the Hobb6 of youth. To-day the crowds see a Hobbs with a difference. He is mellowed in years and in physical powers. He has come down from the great batsman of distinguished execution, of commanding power, and uncanny placing to the more prosaic artist who pushes the ball to short-leg or to the off and steals singles, with an occasional w*hip of the bat in a grass-scorching four. We are again told that the hour 6f his withdrawal from Test cricket is at hand, and that it will take place, as the “Referee” suggested two years ago, on famous Kennington Oval. where the crowds know him and where he knows ever3 7 one. even to the blades of grass on the wicket. We Australians, remembering the treats he has given us with his polished batsmanship for so many seasons, will wish him a perfect finish —not too many runs—and yet not in a match of victory. If it should happen that England wins the fifth Test—and we fancy the prospects of the Australians—it will be all the, happier for Hobbs, if he plays, as, or course, he ought to.