Sport and Sportsmen.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18643, 24 December 1928, Page 9

Sport and Sportsmen.

English papers are reported to be “amazed” at the offer of a Melbourne firm of a guinea for each four scored by members of the Australian team in the tests, and £5 for sixers. Apparently it is the gross insult to the finer feelings of pure amateurs that impresses the critics; this seems to be their first knowledge of special “perks” which have been quite the usual thing in Australian cricket. Frank Iredale habitually drew from one firm a prize for every 50 he_hit up, something extra for the century and a pound for every run beyond that; and he was only one out of many. As far as is known the cricketers in every case pocketed the insults. & m t; If the big game in Brisbane did nothing else, it gave added prominence to the undesirability of the playerwriter (says the Sydney “Bulletin.”) One of the objections to the practice is that the necessity of seizing on every moment unoccupied by cricket to write reports and despatch cables puts a player off his game. There is another aspect of the matter which has been allowed to pass unnoticed. This is that the gentlemen are hired to play cricket in each match by the Board of Control, which pays them £3O each. It is not a fair thing that, having been conveyed from their homes free of charge and paid 30s per day additional while absent from home to play cricket, they should waste their employers’ time in doing work for other people, work which may have the effect of preventing their proper performance of the job they were originally engaged to carry out.

Recent English exchanges give a lot of space to the so-called artisans’ golf championship, which has nowadays grown into an annual event, and was this year playe<J at Sunningdale. Artisan golf—workman’s golf would be a better name for it, since it is not confined to skilled workers—has become a recognised institution in Britain, especially in the vicinity of the big manufacturing towns, where most private clubs set aside certain hours of the day when workers may use their courses free of charge. Municipal courses also help in the making of the artisan golfers, whose ranks comprise all sorts and conditions of men, from hod-carriers to policemen. x x

The Pitt family had a good day in the cricket field on Saturday. A. Pitt, R. Pitt and F. Pitt were responsible for the dismissal of Technical Old Boys for 119 in their game against Greens in the suburban competitions. A. Pitt and F. Pitt bowled unchanged, getting four for 60 and six for 51 respectively. G. Pitt was responsible for a couple of catches. In one season six of the brothers were playing for Green’s Club.

Australia’s old friend J. W. H. T. Douglas has been deposed froirf the captaincy of the Essex County Club, a position he has held since 1911. Johnny was not warned, apparently, of the committee’s intentions, and he is considering the question of withdrawing entirely from Essex cricket. After all he is wise. England isn’t Australia, where no one is ever pushed out of a team once he has shoved into it, until he is carried out feet first.

Lionel Tennyson, who, as captain of England against the 1921 Australian Eleven, achieved a greater fame, perhaps, than his laureate grandfather, has become Lord Tennyson. The new peer will go down in cricket history as the only captain of England who openly confessed his ignorance of the rules of the game. In the fourth test of that series at Manchester, Tennyson closed England’s innings on the first playing day, only to be informed by Armstrong that he had made a mistake and left it too late. The Australians went out to field again, and the match was subsequently drawn. But for the error on Tennyson’s part England would have won. Joe Kirkwood is a born showman (says an Australian golfing writer). Even Bobby Jones is a mere amateur in histrionics compared with Joe. Kirkwood’s trick-shots, such as swinging for a mighty drive—to miss the ball and let it dribble only a few inches; his amazing slices and pulls that almost come back to the tee; his taking the turf two inches behind the ball and missing the ball altogether; his burying a ball till only the top is visible and sending it on its way with a brassey are worthy of the best music-halls, and amusement is blended with knowledge when he does his real shots in slow motion, imitating all and sundry from Bobby Jones to a nervous associate. His patter is even better than many of his shots, but his American accent badly cuts up the fairways.

According to the cables, the International Swimming Federation has endorsed the claim of Johnny Weissmuller to have swum 220yds in 2min 9sec. The previous best time, made by John himself, was 2min 10 4-ssec, done in Chicago in 1927. The best time by an Australian is Andrew Charlton’s 2min 23 4-ssec, made in Sydney Domain baths in 1925. Takaishi, of Nippon, bettered that last year by doing 2min 17sec at Manly. x The proposal to have Empire Games in Sydney in connection with the formal opening of the Harbour Bridge in 1931 is taking shape. The New South Wales Amateur Athletic Association has resolved to hold a meeting in Sydney late in January to consider the scheme, and invitations will be sent to all New South Wales bodies controlling Olympic sports. Shipping companies are to be asked for rebates of fares, and various other methods of ensuring a big gate are being considered. XXX A dashing, inspiriting captain is a priceless asset to a touring team, Australian or- English; it looks as if Chapman will rank as England’s best skipper since P. F. Warner (says the Sydney “Bulletin”). Gilligan was a keen enough leader and a chivalrous opponent, but, except as a fieldsman, he never justified his English reputation in this country, or his selection for such a post. One explanation is that he was handicapped by an accident in the English summer of 1924, but the fact remains that he could neither collect wickets nor runs in test matches, although on at

least two occasions a “captain’s knock” on his part might have altered the whole course of, cricket history. And Douglas, splendid all-round cridketer as he was in his day, was plodding and stodgy to a degree. Whether he went

in to bat or went

on to bowl he gave the impression of a man fighting a desperate duel and conscious that he was up against a formidable antagonist—no Rupert-of-the-

Rhine touch about Douglas. A skipper’s example, even his outlook, is bound to influence a team. XXX It has been found necessary In regard to that proposed visit of the German runner Dr Peltzer to send a formal request to the German Amateur Athletic Association, and this has been done. Neglect of this precaution when Peltzer was invited on a previous occasion provoked the German authorities to stand on their dignity, with the result that the champion half-miler was told to Btop at home or take what was ready for him. Both Peltzer and Cortz, who won the English hundred yards two or three years ago, will visit Sydney, Adelaide and Hobart, and. later on, New Zealand.