ENGLAND TAKES NO CHANCES.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20763, 25 June 1937, Page 8

ENGLAND TAKES NO CHANCES.

New Zealand’s cricket team goes on to London to-day to face the ordeal of the first test (of a series of three) at Lords, with a record of the most erratic form ever shown by a representative cricket team to engage in a serious tour of the United Kingdom. In the match against Norfolk which concludes this morning, the breakdown of the batsmen is regarded by the special correspondent of the Press Association with the team as alarming! So far the team’s record is reflected in the results of completed matches as most disappointing. Only one match, that against Cambridge University, has been won, and Cambridge last year won only three matches of the thirteen played. It was not anticipated when the team sailed, that the New Zealanders would hold their own against the leading first-class counties, particularly in bowling; but the batting was expected to redeem in some measure the weakness of the team’s attack. In almost every match the side has suffered a sorry slump; indeed, only in one or two matches have the New Zealanders retained their grip on the game. And now with a most unattractive record to their credit the New Zealanders are journeying to London to meet England n the first test match. But if the New Zealanders have demonstrated time after time that they seem to lack match-winning talent, the English selectors have certainly not regarded the team with scant consideration. Proof of this will be found in the well-balanced and powerful side that has been selected to represent England at Lords tomorrow. Manifestly the English selectors have been inspired by the “safety first” principle. No risks have been taken; indeed, it is doubtful if the English selectors would have to make very much change in the personnel of the team selected to play against New Zealand if they were called upon to choose the team to engage Australia in the first of five test matches in the fight for “The Ashes.” Obviously, no risks have been taken. It may be true that Ihe New Zealanders are regarded by the highest cricket authorities in the Homeland as something of an unknown quantity. But even if the visitors were able to reproduce their very best form, the English team would hardly be in danger of defeat. It is true, of course, that the game of cricket is full of glorious uncertainties, but no one anticipates that the New Zealanders, under normal weather conditions, will extend the chosen of England. This point is elaborated by C. G. Macartney, the cricket writer in TVte Sydney Morning Herald, who suggests that because the New Zealanders have not performed convincingly in this tour, the English selectors ought to have seized the opportunity to widen the field of selection and encouraged some of her young men whose claims to international honours seems beyong question.