CRICKET.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17346, 29 September 1924, Page 6

CRICKET.

TATE’S TRIUMPH. FINE NATURAL BOWLER. LONDON, August 10. Though it is probable that nearly a dozen teams could be picked in England this season capable of beating tbe South Africans, the English selectors have done their utmost to discover an ideal eleven. All Australians will lie glad to hear that Jack Hobbs will probably accompany the team. He is in such dazzling form again this year, and he is so devoted to the game, and so anxious to build up his staggering aggregate of centuries that nothing except a very serious development will prevent him going. He is known to have expressed a wish that his wife should accompany him, and though opposition might have been raised by the M.C.C. against the payment of her expenses, the difficulty has been overcome by the offer of an Australian visitor to house both Hobbs and his wife during the whole of their tour. Perhaps if he strikes his true form on the true Australian wickets, the bowlers will wish that lie should literally accept the invitation. SUTCLIFFE, STYLIST. Sutcliffe is a polished batsman with strokes all round the wicket, and sweet strokes behind point. He does not score at the rate of Jessop, but lie is a stylist, and with Hobbs in the world. In the match at Lords the critics might have been excused for saying that he and Hobbs overdid the singles business. Hobbs had between eighty and ninety in his inning of 200, and though a stolen single might appeal to some crowds, others argue that carried to the extreme they do not leave an impression of brilliant batting. A dozen stolen singles cannot compare with one crisp late cut. Sutcliffe will be an exceedingly popular tourist, and his fielding will not suffer by comparison even with the highest of the Australian class.

TATE LIKE A SURF BATHER. A bigger personality than Sutcliffe is perhaps 'late. Fie is tanned like a surf bather or a farmer, and be has rather ungainly feet, causing one, seeing him for the first time, to compare J. AV. H. T. Douglas. The points of

ever, are limited to bis feet. He is a better natural bowler than Douglas without Douglas’s resource, and on the Australian wickets, provided there is a little fire in them, be

should prove extremely difficult. Tt in the case of Parkin. Several visiting Australians, with a profound knowledge oi the game, to whom T have spoken, have expressed the opinion that Tate will be another Parkin so far as the Australian tour is concerned. I here is another school, however, hold, ing an opposite view. Tate is an aggressively hostile bowler who expects to hit the stumps every ball. He makes no attempt to hide guile behind studied innocence. Taking a short run up to the crease, he flings the hall clown hard, runs through a little, and then defiantly faces the batsman. as though he would say: “I'hat one is too good for you.” His strength, lies in his accuracy of length and his great pace off the pitch, and the latter is probably the greatest factor in his success. Several of the Africans mistimed him lamentably. ADVICE FOR GILLIGAN. Gilligan will be a favourite in Australia. though his captaincy has not been free from criticism, many people believing that he has a tendency to overbowl himself. There are indications that Hendren has mastered the nerves which, in the past, have prevented him shining on great occasions. His fielding is still superb, and his resoluteness was shown at Lords, when, in his endeavour to save a boundary, he fell headlong over the chains into the lap of a sedate spectator. The most amazing tiling that occurred at Lords during one test was the revolutionary action of a section of the crowd in barracking. They showered advice on Gilligan in the best Australian manner, and, actually becoming ironical, they shouted out for Parkin, who, because of his fierce outburst in the “Weekly Despatch,” was precipitately dropped from the test team.