MYSTERIES OF CRICKET

Te Puke Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 22, 21 March 1947, Page 4

MYSTERIES OF CRICKET

YANK DFS< KIBES .MATCH

CONFUSING AMERICA’S IDEA OF SPORT

An attempt (<> initiate Amerhan readers in (lie mysteries id cricket is made in the New \ ink “Sunday News" hv Hubert Sullivan. w ild further confuses America’s muddled thinking on the sport by railing- it “a .stately ritual with religious overtones. a ritual eouelied in terms as mysterious and filled with motions as obscure, as some strange Oriental faith from somewhat behind the H inia lavas.” Here are some of hi- observations :

“The t ni l should be well eared for. English turf, with a lone' history, is best. In Australia, a lonemat is laid down on ill*' pitch, because Ihe Australian turf is •Tohnny-eoine-latelv stuff, crude, and coarse, like most colonial prod net s. “There are ill kinds of bai I ing, from mere blocking. which is a defensive and cowardly manoeuvre, to a wild swipe at the ball.

“A match can last three or four days depending on its importance and the patience and fortitude of the players am I the spectators.

“ ’To an American the pace of the pa me is maddening. There ino cheering, only some wild occasional «»piilause or a polite cry of “Uli, well bowled.” “11 is t radit ional to wear a sc. I to hold up the pants, due to 1 e fact that the bat handle mig it click against the buckle and make the umpire think that bat and ball had connected. ‘’The British took the panic to Australia, a move which now sometimes seems a mistake. The Ailssies are deadly serious about lire sport. Demon SnofTorth had once terrorised the English with his maniacal bowling. but there came a time when the Aussies had become snob thorough cricket cm that they objected to similai British tactics.

“The adoption of body howlingby the English nearly brought on an international crisis. Finally the Australian Secretary of Stale had to make representations to Ramsey McDonald.” “land s is the home of the Ashes. M all v years ago, when the Aussies bad beaten tile britches otf the Fnplisb. one of the papers said they bad ‘cremated the Fnplisb team and scattered the Ashes to the wind.’ “The Morion Cricket Club. Philadelphia, once the outpost of the ’best cricket outside Fupland, lias now depeiierated to poll and tennis, but tin’s club used to play (lie best Fnplisb teams and made a pood show iiip-, too.

“A recent Falumr Burly suggestion I luil tin- .M .('.( '. should he lint ioli ili-n! w:i , really u pumlerous I.u-.-lish joke. liul many hr,ills o| oak I ill -il lo rrcuguiise

Tin poo;- showing- of (hr EngI i'll :: g:: usl ill - A list ra lia ns lias !>!’<-:- u g-'-l rd a- the reason why (hr 1 ilion r Bai t v had thr (cmerit.\ to mention iiationisat ion. Some Fahnur members feel that a common foiu-h is needed to 1> t i 11 « the 1111 it 1i ty of English play to what it should hr, liul it is unlikely (hat the (iovermneul could survive the storm that would arise from tampering- witli kct. which is held as holy by the the M.llie Yalicaii of rrirrmui who votes Labour as it is hv thr crust irst Tow.''

Of’ Spofforlh, the only Australian singled oul for special menI ion, Sullivan says: “Tlis fanatical and dangerous playing reduced his hutting' opponents to cringingjellies. Some of these men were great, 1 luit it was considered folly so good, or had reputations so point of viewy, to face him. Many or heroism, depending- on the of them turned cricket' into onrma n exhibit ions.”