FISHER IN AUSTRALIA.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6072, 8 January 1898, Page 6

FISHER IN AUSTRALIA.

\ ALLEGED SCURVY TREATMENT. The Melbourne correspondent of the Otago Daily Times, referring to the intir mation of tbe selectors of the Australian team that they would not pick Fisher, the Dunedin bowler, for the second test match, and that he had decided to return to New Zealand at once, says :— There is no question that Fisher has '. been treated with the scantiest possible courtesy by the M.C.C., indeed, it may be just as well to say with nothing less than discourtesy ; and if is not going too far to ' suggest that the New Zealand Cricket Association should take the matter up and -. make a dignified protest against the ' manner of his treatment here ; that is, of ' course, if Fisher on his return makes any ! statement on the matter. The arrangeI ments he may have made with the M.C.C. financially are probably a personal con- ' cern, and may have been carried out as ; agreed upon; but what New Zealand ' cricketers must regard as unsatisfactory is 1 the complete want of opportunity afforded I him to prove his bowling ability. From i the time he set foot in Melbourne he has been left to his own devices. No arrange- ' ments were made to secure practice for * him; no one took him in hand to introduce him to players at the nets, no one 1 was commissioned to watch and report ' upon his fowling ; v 'he was allowed to make ' his way to- the. nets- as he pleaded and ' to bowl at Tom,- Dick", or ' Harry .' Though [ he was invited, to Melbourne., as a first- ■: class crioSeter, no arrangements wei'e'inade to play him in first-class cricket. He was pitched into a few minor matches, which l are played on off days to empty benches and in which the players are scarcely > serious ; and no account was taken in these ' r of the lack of assistance he got from the [ field ; nor did any player or committee of players watch or report on his perform- ' ances. He has had no encouragement or incentive to do his best ; on the contrary, ( what has looked like studied neglect has rather tended to discourage and disconcert . him. The one match of importance he ' ,played in was the match Town v. Country . at the close of the country cricket week ; ' in this he naturally felt more upon his - mettle than in the scratch games he had previously taken part in; yet in this • no M.C.C. representative or other capable critic was deputed to report on his perform- \ ance. None of the Press critics of import- [ ance were present, and in the daily papers his average was allowed to tell its own story. One small paper, the Cricketer (a , weekly which sets itself to supply.some of '_ the details of .matches -for 'which space" can- ! not be f oun d in the'larger papers) has given Fisher in this . •caatch; the only piece of i newspaper , criticism .bestowed upon " him .since his arrival.^ This ) paper; says of "him: ' — " On the metropolitan side, we must cer- " tainly congratulate Fisher on his howling, . and although; attempts have been made to 3 disparage his Success on the ground that he t was not bowling against first-class bats, the l- fact that he had only 71 runs made off 322 c balls, and secured six wickets, is worth a _ bushel of argument. Fisher mixes his pace splendidly, is particularly clever in getting good and varied work on the ball, j and has an easy and entirely legitimate 3 delivery. With the improvement which should come from further experience on our wickets and additional practice, Fisher should . become the best left-handed bowler in Australia." Even in this match he suffered from weak fielding. 3 Murray, the batsman who stayed longest, was missed at the wickets off Fisher f inthe first over j and when he had made j about half his score an extremely easy catch in the slips off Fisher was badly buttered. 9 The sole grounds upon which Messrs Trott, Iredale and Darling bave concluded ' not to select Fisher for the test match are apparently the meagre Press reports of his performances. Neither Iredale nor Darling 3 has seen him bowl since he came to Mel's bourne ; and Trott has had a quarter of an i, hour of him at the nets on a bad pitch, ' iduring-which-shortperiod of .time he was .*

11l rtiLKII'JIIMIIIIII**I»'^- tl ** lt '*^^^^^^^^-'^**^ t,ga out half-a-dozen times to him, or would have been with a field. Fisher will return to New Zealand with a feeling that he has received a scurvy welcome on his arrival, * been neglected during his stay, and never been seriously tried as a bowler. AU the cricketers he has met have been most favourably. i m . pressed with his personal qualities. He has earned the reputation of being a modest, unassuming young fellow, who was genuinely anxious to prove his worth as a cricketel-. That no opportunity was afforded him of doing so may well be con-, sidered a slight to New Zealand cricket.