Sporting and Athletic Review

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17758, 30 January 1926, Page 28

Sporting and Athletic Review

Whilst competing at a small meeting last May Scholz. the American runner now in New Zealand, recorded the sensational time of 9*sec for the 100yds, which is l-10seo better than the world’s record of 9 3-ssec, standing to the credit of Charles Paddock. When he arrived in Auckland Scholz stated that difficulty was being experienced in obtaining recognition of the performance, owing to the fact that the meeting was a small one. Three watches recorded the time as 9*sec. Advice has since been received from the Amateur Athletic Union of America to the effect that the record has been recognised. It has yet to be passed by the International Federation. A London writer recently stated that he had been informed that Paddock, with a flying start, covered the distance in 8 9-10 sec, the performance being accomplished in California during 1923. I do not know (says the writer) just how this affair was timed, but presume the recorded time is the difference between two watches, and if there is on record particulars of the distance at which this performance started, I should be delighted to get them. I suppose Paddock would start on his flying expedition at about 60yds, at which point he would be covering about 11* yards a second.’’ Cambridge University won the sixth rplay carnival against Oxford University on December 1 by four events to one. The only item of interest in the event to New Zealanders is the fact that A. E. Porritt represented Oxford in two events. In the half-mile event, run in furlongs. Oxford was represented by three Americans and Porritt. The New Zealander was called upon to run the final furlong, and when he received the baton his opponent, J. W. Rinkel. had a lead of ten yards. As Rinkel is about the equal of Porritt over 220 yards, the distance between the pair at the finish was about what it was when the final distance was entered ui>on. The time was lmin 29sec. or 1 1-5 sec better than the previous record for the event. The other event in which Porritt competed was the hurdles, which was run in three relays. Here again Porritt was Oxford’s last string !<>r the final distance, which the rivals started on equal terms. Porritt, who goes over the hurdles in a style of his own. won by three yards in lmin 6 4-5 sec. which is only 2-ssec outside the record. Taking the conditions into consideration. the performances were somewhat remarkable. One part of the track was frozen so hard that it was difficult to drive a spade into it to make the starting holes, while another part which had had the sun shining on it all the morning was covered with standing water, and on a pond away in the distance, yet plainly discernible to the spectators at the carnival, skating was progressing merrily. A movement is on foot in Melbourne to raise a fund to enable the wellknown cricket umpire, “ Bob ” Crockett, and his wife, to visit England. The proposal meets with general approval among followers of the game. < rockett's record (writes “ J.W. ” in ” The Australasian ” >- is a wonderful one. He commenced umpiring in 1887, has officiated in 33 Test matches, many inter-State contests, earning a reputation that will remain undimmed and unsullied long after his departure from the scene of his many triumphs. I ran speak personally as to his qualities. We were young men together, one a player, the other an adjudicator. He is not quite infallible, as I have known him to make a few mistakes, yet they were very few indeed. His knowledge of the laws, his careful analysis, and his intense concentration must have been a strain on the man year after year. Vet he never faltered, never became lax, being just as conscientious in a public school match as in a Test between the two great cricketing countries of the world. He is a lovable man. Through a great deal of my playing days and after, all visitors, were they Englishmen. Afrikanders or inter-State men. asked for Bob Crockett. And we always wanted him, of course. During all those years in which he has umpired and honoured the game he has made hundreds of friends. and one feels safe in saying that they have not forgotten him. A conspicuous figure at the recent big games at Melbourne Cricket Ground was oid Sam Morris, the coloured cricketer who was once one of Victoria’s mainstays (says an AustraJan paper). The veteran, who became a groundsman on dropping out of big cricket, was for years caretaker at *outh Melbourne till total blindness descended on him. Nowadays he is to be seen at most of the big marches with his old-time team-mate Charley Henry, and follows the game through bis friend's eyes. He was a fine batsman in his prime, and a useful bowler. His levee, held during the N.S.W.-Vic-toria match, inchided pretty well cverv hading player of the past and present who found himself in Melbourne that week. Tt. was an education in contrasting styles to watch Woodfull and Alexander at work on the bowling in the Yic.-S.A- match .(writes a correspondent in the Sydney ’ Bulletin”) The \ ctorian. apart from his magnificent eve and clever footwork, is one of the least inspiring batsmen in the world to watch, and may be said to have elevated colourlessness to a niche of its own. Alexander, brisk, wristy, loose-shoulder-ed. and hitting instead of pushing the ball, has resuscitated the old drive through the covers off the rising ball, which the latter-day batsman lets pass. J le has half a dozen other delightful shots, and as far as cricket is concerned is a throw-back to the days of Reg Duff, Victor Trumper and others. Yet both are great players, and the Victorian is going to bulk big in test cricket for some years to come. “Fatty” Lamb is. without doubt (says a Melbourne paper), one of the most versatile amateur cyclists Australia has produced. He was born at Kensington on Boxing Day, eighteen years ago, and joined the Mal vern Cycling Club at the age of fourteen years. Success soon came his way, but it was last year that he shaped briiliantly on the track and road. He put up a fifteen miles unassisted club record, and won the Victorian ten-mile senior and the twenty-five miles paced amateur road championships. Having won the five miles Victorian grass championship at Ballarat, Lamb was selected to represent Victoria in the Australian track championships held in Sydney in March of last year. He carried off the ten mile senior championship m line style. Last year, on the road, he has l*een proving bis worth, putting up a twenty-mile record at West Footscray. Selected to represent his State in important road races in Queensland, a few months ag >. Lamb secured fastest time in the Ipswich to Brisbane race, and secured first and fastest tuna honours in the fifty-mile Nissen race, winning with several minutes to spare. Never in the history of cricket in Australia have we had so many really capable wicketkeepers who are also ex-

cellent batsmen (says a writer in the Melbourne “Globe”). Love (Victoria), Ratcliff e and Oldfield (New South Wales) and O’Connor (Queensland) are all high-class batsmen, who have made their centuries in first-class cricket. Ellis, also, is not a bad batsman by any means, and he got very close to a century against South Australia a couple of seasons ago. It is rather a coincidence that three of them were very busy with the bat during the week-end, Ratcliff e getting a century for New South Wales against Queensland, and Love one for Victoria against New South Wales, while O’Connor got well up towards three figures for Queensland against New South Wales. It would be interesting to pick a team of wicketkeepers who are also batsmen, and see how they fared against a good bowling side. The bowlers would not have things all their own way.

With the exception of W. H. Ponsford, who has scored phenomenally in first-class cricket ever since he came to the front, Alan Kippax and W. M. Woodfull have done better in the Sheffield Shield and other first-class cricket than any of the great guns of International cricket (says a Sydney paper). And yet the pair are at present among the from the Australian team for England.' Jn the Sheffield Shield Kippax has made over 1800 runs at an of 64, having scored at the rate of 72 against South Australia and 57 against Victoria. Woodfull averages 66.56 against N.S.W. and 75 against South Australia. The following are the ages and occupations of the twelve players chosen for the Australian team to visit England:— Ape. Occupation. «T. L. Collins 37 Clerk. W. Bardpley ... 41 Civil servant. C. G. Macartney.39 Sports depot prop. W. A. Oldfield . . 28 Sports depot prop. J. M. Taylor 30 Dentist. J. M. Gregory .. 30 Jndentor. T. J. E. Andrews 35 Monumental J. Ryder 36 Com. traveller. H. 1,. Hendry .. 30 Clerk. W. Hj Ponsford 25 Bank clerk. C. V. Grimmett . 34 Sipnwriter. A prominent sportsman on the Rand suggested recently that, in view oi there being no Rugby tournament next year, the New Zealand game should be tried in the Northern Provincial competition. The competition comprises five centres, Transvaal, Natal, • Orange Free State, Griqualand West andWestern Transvaal. The gentleman declared that it is all very well for Western Province to oppose the “brighter Rugby” scheme, but if professional Rugby was to be started in South Africa, with such a small population, spread over such a wide area, not only Western Province but-all the centres would be compelled to do something to cope with the Opposition. As-a result of a recent conference between delegates of the French Athletic Federation and the German- A.A., France, and Germany will immediately resume their pre-war relations in athletics: The first meeting between the two nations has been fixed for next August in Paris. In addition, a triangular .match between France, Germany and Switzerland has been arranged lor the same month in Switzerland. The French athletes, however, will not visit Germany until 1928. With the idea of fostering, track athletics, the Metropolitan Association of the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States is inaugurating a series of indoor track meetings, which will also embrace field games, during the winter in the eastern cities of the United States. The meetings will be run without any idea of profit, and the public are to be admitted free, and the competitors arc to pay no entry fees. This idea has grown out of the success attending the twilight meets last summer held in the public parks of New Jersey and New York. Bovs turned out by the hundreds, and many fine athletes were developed out of their ranks during the summer. One, Pincus Sober, won the junior and senior metropolitan half-mile championships, and wound up the season by beating the great Alan Helffrieht over the half inile. For the indoor meetings armories (or, as we would call them, drill halls) around New York have been granted free for such, and the senior athletic clubs arc providing medals for the winners. Mr Murray Hulbert. president of the Amateur Athletic Union of the United States, is at the back of the movement. They are having great fun at. the board's expense in England over the question of whether the wives of the players should accompany their husbands on the trip (says a Melbourne writer). Was it not a prominent item in the cables a few short months ago that the Marylebone Club also put a veto on wives accompanying their husbands to Australia, and was not there some trouble over Hobbs in that rc-

spect? When all is said and done, it is a matter for those concerned. The experiment was once tried of wives accompanying their husbands on an English tour, and it was admittedly not a success. And it has also been whispered that women marred somewhat the smooth working of the machine when Douglas’s team was in Australia. Personally, I think the best way out of the difficulty would be not to prevent the wives from going to England, only that they should seek quarters elsewhere than where the members of the team are quartered. I suppose the idea is to make the members of the team concentrate on the cricket part •of the programme. It is the one that the public of this country is interested in, and when all is said and done that is the object of the tour. The English opinions arc amusing; but we can afford to smile.

The batting honours for Victoria in the match against South Australia went to Woodfull, who scored 97 and 236. Referring to his second innings performance, “J.W.” writes in “The Australasian”:—Woodfull defied the attack for 407 minutes, during the prolonged period reaching the fence twelve times. It was a characteristic hand. Ilis first hundred was a batting one. The bowling was good, and the fielding keen. But afterwards he was at his best, having complete mastery over the bowling, placing the ball in all parts of the field, and using fine power in the drives. Great and distinguished as was the performance, with its wonderful concentration and self-control, I consider the manner in which he placed the ball was the feature of his long innings. It is his fifth century in Sheffield cricket, and while his great score of 236 has been beaten, by Armstrong twice and by Ryder once, it is the fourth highest score, ever made by a Victorian against South Australia. He gave but one chance in the whole of his long stay, a rather difficult one to Murray in the slips when eighteen. His partnership with Ryder in the fourth wicket added 223 ‘runs, only one short of that made by W Armstrong and F. A. Tarrant y in Melbourne in 1907-8. It has long been contended that Woodfull was an' opening batsman of class, and he has by his performance established the fact beyond all argument. He is improving every match, both in style and in the quality of his strokes. Warren Bardsley has made nine century scores against South Australia, his latest (159) being compiled in the recent- record aggregate match at Sydney. Bardsley was an immediate, success in these matches, and continued scoring season after season with a degree of consistency rarely equalled in Australian cricket (says * the - “Referee”). For many years his batting .against \ ictoria met - with corresponding success. But a few seasons back he started a bad run against the bowlers, uf Melbourne, though this he has now broken through, his three latest efforts having been 65, 59 and TV The great total of 2241 runs stands to his credit against South Australian, for 34 innings, three not out. This gives the remarkable average of 72 runs per wicket all the more striking seeing that lie has invariably gone in first for the side I he nine centuries in these matches in chronological order are r 119, 191. 177. 103. 106. 235, 235. 141 and 159 If Warren Bardsley is. not quite such a dangerous batsman on the fast Australian wickets as of yore, he. seems to be quite as good as ever on wickets that are a trifle slow. If this be a correct view to take, of his form, it is likely that he will once again reach an aggregate exceeding 2000 runs on the English tour. If he does this, the record will probably never be equalled by any other Australian of this or the next generation in Australian first-class cricket. Of the late A. N. Hornby, who died on December 17, following an operation for an internal complaint caused bv a fall in the hunting field two years ago. a London writer says:—A captain of England on both the cricket and Rugby football fields- one of the rarest of sporting distinctions—the passing of A. N. Hornby, the famous Lancashire captain and batsman, will lie universally regretted. Hornby, whose opening partnerships with R. G. Barlow will live long in cricket memory because of their daring between the wickets, toured in America and Australia With M.C.C. teams in 1572 and JS7B-9 respectively, and captained England at the Oval in 1882, when Australia won an exciting game by seven runs.. Tt was in 1882 too, that he led the England Rugby. XV. against Scotland, at Manchester: he was capped nine times in all. Hornby’s audacity at the wicket was almost as great as it was in running daring singles. In a -game at Lord s between the M.C.C. and Lancashire in 1890, Whitehead (the bowler) lost control of the ball in the act of delivery and it rolled halfway down the

pitch. Hornby dashed out to it, but Whitehead got there first and threw the ball to Carlin, the old Notts wicketkeeper, who broke the wicket. M.C.C. claimed that the batsman was out, but Hornby held that the bowler had obstructed him—and he was upheld by the umpire. “A.N.” was a man of decided opinion and dominating personDuring the visit to Australia he objected so strongly to the “barracking” of one spectator that, having singled him out, he waited for the fall of a wicket, went across, and there and then engaged in a bout of fisticuffs with the offender. But, though he could express his own opinions forcibly, he disliked intensely making speeches at public meetings. His reply to his election as president of the Lancashire C.C. for some years was always the same: “I thank you, gentlemen.”

THE “ WESTERN ROLL ”

AMERICAN HIGH JUMP RECORDS. Js the world’s high-jumping record a fake? Hugh 11. Baxter, of the New York Athletic Club, who is one of the most consistent record performers the country, America, ever produced, declares it is. He is up in arms ov.er the “ western roll ”’ system of high-jumping h}* which Harold Osborne gets his results. He is not the only one. Krogness, whom New Zealanders will remember, and the athletic expert of the “ San Francisco Examiner,” are both doubtful as to Osborne’s methods (says an American paper). Baxter has taken the matter up again recently*, and hopes that something will be done about it. He claims that the “western roll” often produces something between high jumpiife and vaulting. Here is the method: The jumper leaps high into the air in a legitimate way, then rests his arm on the bar and gives a downward pressure. This helps to shoot his body into the air as in a vault, and depresses the light Olympic bar from a few inches to a foot. Over the lowest point of this depression the jumper rolls his body. By the clever use of his arm and hand he pushes the bar back against the post and lets it spring back into place. Sometimes the bar will bounce off. but usually it stays “ put.” Baxter declares that he has heard that the ends of the bar are sometimes wrapped with adhesive tape. After the bar has sprung back into place the measuring stick is used. It may show a height of, say, 6ft Gin, whereas the jumper’s body may have been no higher than sft lOin. The solution suggested is that some clip or device be used to hold the bar that will give way under any pressure. This would assure fair jumping. Mr Baxter does not hold anything against the athletes using this method of vaulting, as there are no rules to bar their method. He considers, however, that the time has come for a revision of the rules which will do away with the high jump vault just as the old pole-climbing method of pole vaulting was eliminated by the American authorities and the International Olympic Committee. Baxter’s protest has caused a lot of discussion, and athletes here consider that the amateur union will take action.

TWO SOUTH AUSTRALIAN STARS.

RYMILL AND ALEXANDER. In the recent match between Victoria and South Australia, when the latter had lost six wickets for 184, in reply to Victoria’s 232, Alexander joined Rymill and the pair had raised the score to 367 when Rymill was caught for 124. “ J.W ,” in “ The Australasian,” has the following interesting reference to this pair of young players:—Rymill has practically all the left-hander’s characteristics. His cover driving was splendidly timed and powerful, he scored well on the leg side, while his cutting was clean and true. lie came in at a critical time, and played his part like a hero. He is strongly built and active, and seeing him hitting the Victorian bowling all over the field one could readily understand how he made 146 before being run out against Gilligan’s team last March and his 110 against New South Wales a year ago. Evidently another batsman of class has come to.light, one who considers an apologj r unnecessary to either the bowler or the ball when he treats them unmercifully. As Rymill is also a brilliant fieldsman South Australia is to be congratulated. And now that one is finished with Rymill's capabilities, what can be said about the tall, slim youth of nineteen, W. C. Alexander, and though he claims to be nineteen, he would not find many disbelievers if he gave his age as fifteen. so youthful is he in appearance. His fame had preceded him, for twelve months ago he made a century in a college match, while against our New Zealand visitors he compiled a brilliant 130 before being run out. His display on that occasion heralded the arrival of a star, all Adelaide experts being impressed beyond measure. And when he joined Rymill when six wickets had fallen for 184 all eyes were upon him. By this time Rymill’s qualities had been driven home to one and all, and it was not long before this boy made us take notice. That a youth of nineteen should be so confident, so cool and self-possessed, so utterly nonchalant in his manner, and so gifted withal, brought the oldtimers vividly back again to the early days of Victor Trumper and Clem Hill, when both were boy champions. One never knows what the future has in store: but I sincerely doubted whether in my time such another prodigy would appear in quality equal to those two absolute champions above mentioned, lie is a right-hander, has many strokes, is more Trumper-like in his style than the left-hander, and gave an astonishing and delightful exhibition, actually scoring faster than Rymill, who took a pull at himself in the 70s. Although he excelled in all strokes, the one that captivated me most was the way he played back to any ball a bit. on the short side. It. was Victor over again, though with a difference. Alexander, who must have wonderful power in his arms for so slight a boy, would step back to that class of delivery and drive it to the off with marvellous power, precision, and certainty, though he was inclined to hit it a bit high. Trumper, on the other hand, invariably drove that ball on the onside with the power almost of Jack Lyons. lie charmed everybody with his ease, grace, and power.

ALL BLACK METHODS.

ENGLISH CRITIC’S VIEWS. The rumour in Rugby Union circles that Ireland proposed to adopt the All Blacks’ New Zealand formation in international matches this season, provided “Touch Judge,” that entertaining writer in London “Sporting Life,” with the opportunity to express his vie\vs on the system adopted by the New Zealanders. lie writes as follows: Personally, I have my doubts as to the wisdom of such an alteration, if seriously it is contemplated by the Irish Union. For this reason: The New Zealand game was a success as played by the All Blacks, due solely to the fact that at a particular moment for' a particular adventure, they were fortunate enough to possess superb players who were adapted mentally and physically for the positions they occupied. Had there been a single weak link in the general scheme of operations, I believe that, so far from enjoying a triumphant tour, they would have been defeated on several occasions. If we are not obsessed b} r the supreme importance or value of an undefeated record—magnificent as it was —we must remember that the All Blacks triumphed not so much as a result of the methods they adopted, but because they w r ere a well organised, perfectly-trained machine, who met in the majority of cases combinations of a scratch character. REMARKABLE FACT. It is a remarkable fact, and one that cannot be contradicted, that the nearest approach the All Blacks came to defeat, or when they had the greatest difficulty in winning, was on the occasions they met fifteens that had been playing together, and the members of which were not strangers one to another. As. an instance, let us remember what happened in the Newport match, and later in the season against Llanelly and.the two ’Varsities. If Ireland have ambitions in the direction of emulating the methods of the All Blacks they have many difficulties before them. In the first place they must cultivate men of speed and resource who will play the five-eighths game, and nothing else at all times, exactly as did New Zealand. These men must eliminate altogether the idea that they are included in the team as scoring factors. They cannot be, or they arc not five-eighths as regarded by the All Blacks. In the last tour Mark Nicholls, a glorious- player in every sense of the word, scored only one try out of 156 obtained in England; yet he “made” the side on many occasions. But a Mark Nicholls is not discovered in a season or in a generation, and he never will be if an individual desiring to follow his footsteps does not play in this ; position every time he turns out, and he cannot do that unless the New Zealand game is universally adopted in Ireland.

EACH MAN A SPECIALIST. But this is not all. l'o play the New Zealand game with any success it is necessary for the team as a whole to operate time and again in the new formation ; for each member of the side to be. as it were, a specialist in his particular position; and for each man to train consistently, resolutely—in fact, almost to devote his life to improvement, in physical, mental, and athletic qualities. It may be possible for this to be done by Ireland, or even by a club, but I doubt it greatly. The fact is the present generation—and there is a certain justification for them so doing—-have formed the opinion that the extraordinary success of New Zealand was entirely due to the tactics and formation they adopted. THE SECRET. The secret of the New Zealand success was not due to their formation, but to intensive backing up at all stages of the game, to the delivery of a mass frontal attack, so that the wing man, when in posssession, had plenty of space in which to operate, to the fast, perfectly straight running to the man with the ball, and to the cultivation of superb fitness. It was nothing else, and the five-eighths had no more to do with it than the rest of the team. To my mind, rightly or wrongly, the ideal methods and those the most likely to be successful against any opposition are the ones given to us round, about 1907 by Adrian Stoop, the old international and now the leading spirit of the Harlequins. The introduction in those days of the “Harlequin game” caused as much sensation as did in 1890 the adoption of four three-quarters by Wales, and as did the New Zealand game of 1905. It was a revolutionary, idea in the minds of many, b\it it was so attractive, and—as quickly proved—so effective, that it. became the recognised methods of the country. Unfortunately it is not possible for a nation to field year in and year.out a combination of such men as Adrian Stoop, Ronald Poulton-Palmer, John Birkett, D. Lambert, and 11. Brougham among others. These men in their prime, with the pi*;k of the English forwards of the last three seasons, would have proved beyond any question or doubt that to be successful it is not necessary to adopt the five-eighths formation, the so-called “wing-forward” who never even lays a finger on' the scrum, or the “2-3-2” packing of the front line. Given men of speed, who possess brains and can give and take a pass with consistent accuracy, then four three-quarters and two half-backs behind eight forwards is a more appealing, and, to my mind, a more effective force than any other.