SPORT AND SPORTSMEN.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18189, 23 June 1927, Page 9

SPORT AND SPORTSMEN.

iifiiiiiiniiiiiuiiimiiiiiiniiimniiiniiiiniiiiiniiiiiiiiiiniimiiinmiiimiiiiniiiiini Len Mason, who was granted a clearance by the Canterbury Rugby League at its meeting on Monday night, leaves Wellington for England on Wednesday next. The Management Committee of the Wellington Football Association has given permission to the Marist third A team to travel to Christchurch for , the annual match for the Amos Cup on a date to be fixed. The committee has approved August 13 as the date of the match, Wellington v. Auckland, for the F.A. trophy. 11 is proposed to take a representative boys’ team from Wellington to Auckland at the end of August for the Webster Shield. It will be a great pity for the sake of the unemployed if the rain continues over Saturday, as the bulk of the proceeds of the Rugby matches that day will be devoted to alleviating the position of men out of work. Wilson-Hall, the popular Hornby Rugby League half-back, left for his home in the North Island last night owing to illness in the family. It is not known yet whether he will return to Canterbury, as he is at present waiting a reply from Halifax, England, as to whether his terms have been accepted. The Lancaster Park oval will be very heavy and slippery on Saturday, and the conditions should be all in favour of the Christchurch forwards and against the Old Boys’ backs. The big majority think Christchurch will win. >3 tt 96 From what can be gathered concerning the annual match between Boys’ High School and Christ’s College, which takes place on the College ground on Saturday week, High School are favourites. They are leading in the Rugby Union’s under twenty competition. Yesterday they defeated Lincoln College rather easily. The College team have had no regular competition matches and last term some of them were playing hockey, a game on which the head master, the Rev C. E. Crosse is very keen. According to J. W. Hearne, the wellknown English professional cricketer, “Patsy” Ilendren has a warm regard for the New Zealand cricketers. “I was rather amused with Patsy the other day, when we met two or three of the visitors who were having some practice,” wrote Hearne in the “Evening Standard.” “The New Zealanders have had a very interesting tour mapped out, while the social side has not been neglected. We were being told what a fine time they were looking forward to, and this led 'Patsy’ to remark, ‘Now you young lads must look after yourselves, and think of nothing but cricket. What about me carrying your bag, and looking after you at the same time? I’d be glad to do it.’” Writing in the “Evening Standard” prior to the match between New Zealand and the M.C.C. at Lord’s, J. W. Hearne, the English professional, said:—“l shall be particularly interested in the bowling of young Merritt, who, I understand, is the googly man of the party. This type of bowling always interests me, because from it there is always something fresh to learn. This lad is less than twenty years of age, and. in addition to being a clever leg-break bowler, is quite a useful bat. The googly is so different from any other type of bowling. Your ordinary bowler can be depended upon to keep an immaculate length, but when sending up the ‘wrong 'un’ length is apt to elude you, and this is expensive when it hapens often. I do hope that Merritt will have the good fortune to find a length straight away. I don’t like to see a googly bowler hit all over the shop!”

'Miiiiiniiiiiiiiiniiiiii^ The next run of the Presbyterian Bible Class Harrier Club will be held on Saturday. June 25, from St Ninian's Church, Puriri Street, Riccarton. Cricketers will have another hearty laugh to-day when they g.ee that Merritt scored 38 not out. People at this end have become accustomed to it now and there are expressions of regret when word comes that the Canterbury colt has been put out. « Blunt’s score of 195 against Northumberland is the highest individual total of any batsman of the tour so far. The previous best was Mills’s 188 made against Mr H. Martineau's eleven in the opening match of the tour. In the game against Durham Dempster scored 178. Messrs Den Mason and E. WilsonHall, New Zealand Rugby Union representatives, left for the north by last night’s ferry steamer, and were accorded an enthusiastic farewell by members of the Hornby Club and the League code. sc Yesterday Wairarapa beat the Bush by 38 to 8. Yet in face of this the Bush have issued a challenge for tfie Ranfurly Shield, and the match will be played in Masterton on July 2. « k "To-day the New Zealanders make their debut at Lord’s against the M.C.C., and as Middlesex have no engagement, I hope to have the pleasure of seeing the game from the players’ enclosure,” wrote J. W. Hearne, the well-known English professional cricketer, in the ‘‘Evening Standard” prior to the commencement of the second match of the New Zealanders’ tour. “The tourists are quite modest about their prowess as cricketers, but from what I have seen, and also from what I have heard, I shall be surprised if they do not put up a fine game. They certainly had a very good opening game against Mr Martineau’s XI. at Holyport, near * Maidenhead, and although the bowling they had to face was not of the strongest, to score 586 for nine was no mean performance. One or two of these bowlers had had county experience, while most of their colleagues had reputations as excellent fieldsmen* But it is a very difficult test that faces our visitors to-day. There is something about the atmosphere of Lord’s that is found at no other ground. Our tourists will know thht seated in the handsome pavilion will be some of the great cricketers of the past, who will follow every ball and watch every stroke. There will be many among them who will hope to see in the New Zealanders possible future challengers in the real Test cricket sense. I shall be surprised if totals of 300 and 400 are not forthcoming when they are batting. In New Zealand the Plunket Shield is the honour fought for, and individual scores of 200 have been attained before today.” “With plenty of youngsters in the side, it is more than likely, whether in batting or fielding, that the game will be lively,” wrote J. W. Hearne, the well-known English cricketer, on the eve of the match between New Zealand and the M.C.C. at Lord’s. “I sincerely hope that none will be attacked by nerves, and that we shall have the good fortune to see a player like Roger Blunt at his best. I can feel for the tourists, because I so well remember when I went to Australia fifteen years ago. I was then a shade under twenty years of age. When you are abroad you simply have to pull yourself together. It has often been said that I have no nerves. But there have been times when I have gone to the wicket and felt incapable almost of lifting my bat. No one can possibly gauge how another player feels. Some come in with a smile, but this often conceals a high state of nervousness. Others come in nonchalantly, apparently not caring whether they score a duck or a hundred. All have a way of hiding their feelings. To do well in novel surroundings calls more for grit than for nerve.”