W. LANKHAM.

Observer, Volume 5, Issue 118, 16 December 1882, Page 212

W. LANKHAM.

W. Lankham, junior, is the eldest son of the respected veteran cricketer of the same name who was one of the Auckland Cricket Team which swept the board in 1873. It must be a proud thought for the father, that though insidious age has put it beyond his power to qualify once more for the creditable position of a chosen cricketer yet in his son the family name and credit is still kept green, and that an Auckland representative team cannot be complete without a Lankham. The subject of this necessarily short notice has had a wonderful advantage over the average Auckland boy, in the patient and competent teaching of his father, himself a past master of the glorious game of cricket. Lankham, like Arneil, is of Scotch parentage, but both are "young Colonials " to the back-bone, and will back their country against the world if necessary. Touug Lankham was born at Newmarket, Auckland, exactly 21 years ago last Monday week, and all the cricket he knows he learnt in Auckland. His father says feelingly, "Poor lad, I hadn't much time to teach him, 'twas nearly all done of ..a morning before going to my business." Be that as it may, "Willie" has profited by his lessons, and is to-day the best bowler in New Zealand, say nay who can. His frame is eminently suited for that particular department of the game, being tall and gaunt, with big strong tones, and no superfluous flesh to carry, and he lias proved his ability to bowl all day and keep improving instead of falling off, by his performance against Shaw's Eleven a season ago. Shaw, himself one of the best trundlers of the age, gave his opinion on this head in the words of our statement above, "He is the best bowler vre have met in New Zealand."