Sport and Sportsmen.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18641, 19 December 1928, Page 9

Sport and Sportsmen.

The second test is on the way. And Ihe Kangaroo is sick. The Lion, at the close of play, His chops, with joy, does lick— He’s proved to all that, on the day. He's the quickest of the quick! The Kang, is down—but he will live. Though badly bashed and sore, By cricket most demonstrative. To top the Lion's score. Else the Great Australian Adjective Will be ruddier than before! If anyone has an unenviable job these days it is Jack Ryder, captain of the Australian test eleven. His side has already had one awful hiding and is now in for another. Naturally a few of the critics will try to lay some of the blame at Ryder’s door. To-day, Clem Hill is quoted as saying that Ryder’s captaincy is not up to test standard, and so on. Hill himself was once captain of an international side, but just once! The selectors never experimented that way again. Arrangements for the Plunket Shield matches during the Christmas and New Year holiday period were finalised at a meeting on Monday of the Wellington Cricket Association’s Management Committee. The hours of play for the Otago-Wellington match, commencing at the Basin Reserve on Christmas Eve, were fixed as follow: —Monday (Christmas Eve), 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., 1.45 p.m. to 3.45 p.m., and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday (Christmas Day): Start at 2 p.m. Wednesday (Boxing Day): No play. Thursday and Friday: Same hours as for Monday. Reference was made to the fact that- quite a number of players were not available, and as a result the selector (Mr K. H. Tucker) was compelled to make numerous changes to the team to meet Otago and Canterbury. Advice was received that N. Gallichan (Manawatu) would not be available. With regard to the match with Canterbury at Christchurch, it was stated that the Wellington team would leave for the South on the evening of Saturday, December 29, not on Friday night as had been reported. The match with Canterbury is to commence on New Year’s Eve. A New York correspondent writing on November 28, says:—That women are becoming physically the superior of the sexes as a result of the vogue for short skirts, and that men are advised to take to wearing “shorts” if they wish to maintain their traditional “superiority,” are views seriously advanced by Dr Ephraim Mulford, president of the Medical Society of New Jersey, at a conference of the Tri-State Medical Association. “ To-day our American women are in better physical condition than our men,” he added. “And while, there are many reasons, we might credit one to the fact that women do not wear too many clothes, especially in the summer. Their garments, light in weight and light in colour, permit the ultra-violet ray of the sun to give its full benefit. Men, in their dark clothes which completely cover them from neck to ankle, are denied this energy. “ Whatever the reason or reasons, women are demonstrating without fear of contradiction that they are stronger. They can stand long swims in icy water, they can play tennis from sun-up to sun-down, and they live longer than men.” X X X A. W. Gore, whose death last month was reported by cablegram, bore an honoured name in the history of lawn tennis and was a true veteran of the game. His first win in the championship singles at Wimbledon was in 1901, when he defeated the holder of the title, R. F. Doherty. He again won the championship in 1908, Norman Brookes, the holder, not defending his title; and for the third time he was successful in 1909, in which year, with 11. Roper Barrett, he also won the doubles championship. This was the last occasion, it is of interest to note in passing, upon which the championship singles at Wimbledon was won by an Englishman. In 1910 Gore unsuccessfully defended his singles title against Wilding, and two years later he made his twenty-first appearance at Wimbledon when he won the AllComers’ Singles for the fourth time and contested his. seventh final on the famous Despite his advancing years, Gore maintained active participation in the game after the war, making his twenty-ninth consecutive appearance at Wimbledon in 1920, in which year, w-ith F. L. Risely, he won the doubles at Bristol. Apart from tournament play, he represented England against Australasia in the Davis Cup in 1907, and in 1900 he captained the first English team which visited America. He played an important part in the development of the game over a period of nearly 40 years, and the presentation to him by the Queen at Wimbledon in 1926 of the Jubilee Commemoration medal was a richly-merited honour. ## A London cricket writer says:— “ Apparently the captaincy of Yorkshire cricket has not been definitely settled. Captain Worsley is very doubtful whether he will be able to devote all the time to the game that his present position demands. But if there is to be a vacancy, I hope we may be spared the discreditable wrangle of last w-inter, when Herbert Sutcliffeu was compelled to decline the leadership of the eleven. I believe he would still accept it, but only if his election were warmly received.” Phil Scott has every reason to feel aggrieved that he has, so far, been left out of Tex Rickard’s heavy-weight arrangements (says the London journal “Sports”). The issue of a £SOOO challenge was never likely to do him any good, but after his last shows in New York he was undoubtedly entitled to further opportunity to prove himself. But the situation is really in the hands of Scott. First, he must make up his mind to accept any engagement w-hich is offered, and he must go to America to get it. He might win a watch or so here, but they wouldn’t do him any good. There is one way in which Rickard's hand can be forced—that is by fighting and winning.