A PITIFUL TEST.

Observer, Volume XXXII, Issue 22, 10 February 1912, Page 3

A PITIFUL TEST.

Cricket as it is Played. THE cable messages from Sydney, telling us of the " scrap " between the Australian cricketers Hill and Macalister, when blood is said to have flowed freely, makes reading. It is not eport, and neither is it playing the game. The episode, unfortunate as it is, throws the limelight somewhat luridly on one of the most deplorable characteristics of the Australian " sportsman." He has never yet learnedhow to take a beating with good grace, and until he has achieved that lesson he will never really be a sportsman. This is true of cricket as it ie aleo of football and other contests in the 'field of athletic sports. • • • If the Australians, had not lost two of the test matches, we would probably have heard nothing of this quarrel, because in that event it woulfl certainly not have taken place. But having lost the games the cricketers of the Commonwealth appear also to have lost their nerves and their tempers, and they are now making themselves rather ridiculous. It ie unfortunate when the partizan and bitter spirit of the " barracker " extends also to the players. In this instance, it appears to have done so, with regrettable results. "Where the English cricketer compares more than favourably with the Australian is that he, at all events, can take a defeat like a gentleman.