SHORT PASSES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18937, 6 December 1929, Page 3

SHORT PASSES.

It is pretty safe to say that there will be one freshman at Oxford next cricket season with a reputation and a record of achievement such as nobody has ever taken up before. This is OwenSmith, the South African, who has been selected as a Rhodes scholar. To few batsmen is it given to score a century :n a test match after leaving a university; Owen-Smith has accomplished it before going to one. The accepted theory that a severe service is a game-winning asset in tennis has been combated by some, but figures recently compiled by an English statistician show it to be a correct one. He took the final seven matches at this year’s All-England championship, and of the eight players concerned seven shewed a percentage in favour of the server of over 60 per cent. Cochet had the highest percentage with 68.8, and the average was 61.3 per cent.; or three out of five service games in favour of the server. A compliment has been paid to Australian sportsmanship by George Story, captain of the American Multomah baseball team, which, arriving practically unheralded in Sydney, achieved great success, and popularity withal. He notes that outside horse-racing, boxing, wrestling and “part of the football” Australian sport is entirely amateur. “They play the game for the sake of the game, ar»d not only for the sake of winning.” Hubert Opperman's great cycle ride between Sydney and Melbourne in 39hr 42min has invited comparison writh that put up by the old-time amateur, E. A. Pearson, whose figures of 49 hours stood for eighteen years. Opperman rode a modern French road-racing machine with variable gears. Pearson’s machine was an ordinary roadster with taped road-racing tyres, and the roads ridden are in infinitely better condition now than in time. Perhaps the real hero of the route is A. Edward, president of the Sydney Bicycle and Motor Club. He rode a solid-tyred highwheeler between the two cities 45 years ago, and took ten days on the pioneer ioK Tfiough the N.S.W. tennis authorities have banned private exhibition matches between amateur and professional players, while countenancing them under its own auspices, the Australian body is of a different mind. It has invited Kozeluh and Vincent Richards to come to Australia for a series of matches with amateurs, while it is prob able that they will be stacked up against J. O. Anderson and L. Baker, two professionals of class. Indeed, it is likely that England’s example will be followed, and an open championship for both sets of players instituted. Abe Mitchell, having cracke,d his championship duck by winning the Irish title, went on to a fresh victory by taking the professional match-play championship of Britain by a hole. His opponent was again Archie Compston, though a great golfer, is a very in-and-out one. Going over to France immediately after for the Gallic open, Compston played inspired golf, only to find that he had tied with Aubrey Boomer. An 18-hole play-off saw him lose by one stroke, though his score was 71. Boomer is a bad ’un to beat on French courses, most of which he knows by heart. New South Wales oarsmen are discussing the prospects of sending an eight-oar crew to Henley, in July, to compete in the Grand Challenge. Whether the crew will be picked from New South Wales alone depends on circumstances. Gilbert Hughes, a onetime hon. secretary of Sydney R.C., will be in London shortly, and will set about fixing matters up at that end. Australia has had only three eights to represent it in English rowing, the famous A.I.F. first and second crews and the N.S.W. eight stroked by Roger Fitzhardinge, which won the Grand Challenge from Leander in 1912, and was second to a London crew at the Stockholm Olympiad the same year. a For years Australia’s champion professional cyclists have been forced to go to America and Europe to find opportunities and prize money. One of the most brilliant, Cecil Walker, of N.S.W., has returned to Sydney under engagement to ride. Before leaving America, Walker won the all-round cycle championship of America for the fifth successive year, a wonderful feat in that land of top-notch 'pedal-pushers. a a a The death of Jean Latterrade, one of the best half-backs who have represented France in Rugby internationals, draws attention to the pre-eminence of the 'Basques in French Rugby. They are only a small community, yet there ar,e always half a dozen of them in any French side, and usually the best halfIt may be due to the fact that tneir national game, pelota, though a small-ball game played against a wall, is one of the hardest in the world, calling as does for perfect condition, great pace and an unerring eye arid hand. zi « a Kumar Shri Duleepsinhji, the young Indian batsman with the English cricket team, laughingly explained to a “Melbourne Herald” interviewer how he came to be known as “Smith.” He said that the nickname was “conferred” on him a& a joke, five or six years ago. by fellow undergraduates at Cam bridge University. Duleepsinhji is a nephew of the famous K. S. Ranjitsinhji (“Ranji”) who is now Jam of Nawanagar, India. Regarding the pronunciation of his name. Duleepsinhji said: “It is pronounced as it is spelled —Du-leep-sinhji—but I do not leap.” He had not received cricket tuition from his uncle, the great “Ranji,” he said, but he had always been fond of cricket. :: If he keeps up the form he showed in the second innings of the match against South Australia, G. F. Earle, of Somerset, whence comes J. C. White, should give New Zealand cricket followers a taste of the long ago. He was run out in Adelaide for £3, but marked the occasion by walloping the redoubtable Clarrie Grimmett for 6,4, 6, 6 in one over. Earle is a Harrovian, and was captain in 1910. A mighty smiter of the Bonnor rather than the Jack Lyons type, he is a first-class field, especially at mid-off. Some pairings for the New Zealand lawn tennis championships are: N. G. Sturt (Auckland) and C. Angas (Canterbury), D. G. France and C. E. Malfroy, E. B. W. Smyth (Picton), and W. G. Wallace (Taranaki). N. R. C. Wilson (Wellington), A. Stedman (Auck land), Mrs W. J. Melody and Mrs W. A. Scott (nee Miss Jean M’Laren, Timaru). A. L. France has yet to get a partner. It has been stated that T. Rhodes Williams will not compete at the New Zealand championships.

G. S. Cabot, the Otago walker, who , holds the New Zealand championship, is reported to be in fine trim at present, and he may make an attempt upon the world’s half-mile walking record at a Dunedin meeting to-morrow. tv tv tv Dempster, by hitting up 136 against Wellington on Saturday, notched his thirteenth century in * senior competition championship games. The reason that Dempster is such a great batsman j is because he has reduced batting toj a science (says the “Dominion.”) Hej knows how to play every stroke, and treats each ball strictly on its merits.l You never see Dempstei 4 flicking at a| ball outside the off pin. If he elects toj play at a ball on the off, he places him-1 self in the correct position to make! the stroke, and rarely are the slips! given a chance to make a catch, as the! ball is kept down. The first impression of the English* cricket team is one of size; though! wicketkeeper Cornford is one of the! smallest players that ever came this] way. Barratt is built on Warwick Arm-1 strong lines, and most of the others! are tall. Harold Gilligan, on reach-1 ing Adelaide, put them through the! severest fielding 'practice seen since! Warner’s time. They are great in that! department, with a particularly fierce I throw-in that “Plum” used to complain I he couldn’t get. Duleepsinhji (who isl medium height and slight) has a speci-j ally sure pair of hands. The double victory of M'Conachy and Walter Lindrum over Davis, the English champion, and Willie Smith has delighted every billiards player in Australia and New Zealand* Most were confident that Walter would more than hold his own against the best, but not many expected the New Zealander to prove himself a real top-notcher. His defeat of Davis has put him right among the mighty men of the cue, coupled as it was with a break of 1377, by far the best he has ever made. Lindrum, easing down in the last stages of his match with Smith, won by nearly 1400. He twice ran over the thousand, his best being 1271. :*; a Australia has never boasted a onearmed tennis player in the championship class, though St John, a Queensland representative, was minus his right hand. America can claim Clarence Charest, who won the veterans’ championship at the last National meeting. He has only his left arm, but he has a capital service and volleys well, while his ground shots are particularly severe. In serving he tossed up the ball with his hand while holding the racquet, and rarely has occasion for another ball. On top of it all he is shortsighted, and has to play in glasses, a handicap to a tennis player. ss Some interesting tennis matches were played at United yesterday. D. F. Glanville, who was challenged for second place on the Canterbury rank ing list defeated the challenger T. Rhodes-Williams 6-1, 7-5, running him around tremendously in the first set. Two ladies’ matches of special interest were played- Mrs Miles owing Miss Sowden four sixths, won in a not very spectacular game 6-2, 6-2. Miss Smithson beat Miss B. Macdonald, in a chal lenge for eighth place on the Can terbury ladies’ ranking list 6-0, 3-6, 6-1 In a handicap doubles, Misses Wake and Andrew were just a little too heav ily weighted with owe 30 to do very much with Mesdames Hale and Stew art, two very steady players and hard drivers, but the match went to three sets 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. At one stage in the third set when she and her part ner were down 1-5, Miss Wake did some wonderful hard driving into a strong ncr’wester. The play, all round, reached a fairly high standard. One player who shows considerable promise in the junior grade is W. H. Vincent, of Old Boys.*His batting average this season is over 60. In last Saturday’s game he scored an unbeaten 137 in addition to taking five wickets for 57 runs. Last season Vincent played for the Boys’ High School first eleven, and has been steadily improving for some time. Although at times he is not too sound on defence, he possesses a strong off drive. ss A Paris message says that the committee appointed in July to simplify the conditions of playing for the Davis Cup recommends:—(l) That in order to obviate long and expensive journeys the smaller nations should undertake to compete in eliminating rounds. (2) That the European zone should be divided into northern and southern sub zones, each of which shall play only in alternate seasons, interest and equality in the competition to be secured by the inclusion in one year of the last eight nations in the opposite sub-zone of the previous season. A Scandinav ian complaint that the competition was too protracted, resulting in players getting out of training was answered by the recommendation that countries might play eliminating matches at the close of one season in readiness for the next. M. Sabelli expressed the opin ion that the suggestions would be most helpful yet might be slightly modified and would probably be adopted for 1931. Miss Effie Hoyle, the Hawke’s Bay lady runner who broke the world’s record for a fifty-yard dash at Waipukurau last Friday, is a member of the Napier Amateur Athletic Club, to which she belonged since 1926. Miss Iloyle has always been the best of the girl sprinters in Napier, and has some very fine performances to her credit. Last season, for instance, she equalled the New Zealand record for the 100yds, and was also a member of the Hawke’s Bay ladies’ relay team that broke the New Zealand record at the Wellington championships in Masterton, Her latest, effort., however, is by' far her best to date. It was made during a specialb' staged attempt to break the existing New Zealand record. She covered the distance in 6 l-10sec, as against the existing official record of 6 3-10 sec, held by Miss Helen Filkey, of South Africa. Miss Hoyle is a short, stocky little girl, who reaches top speed in a very few strides and covers the ground with a faultless style. Her_ lack of height and consequent shortness of stride are against her in the 100yds, but over shorter distances she is exceptionally speedy. Off the track she is a quiet little sportswoman and her latest success will make no difference to her outlook' on the sport. She will still be as ready as ever to compete in every event on the programme at the usual evening meeting of the club. Waipukurau, where the new record was established is a farming centre about fifty miles south of Napier. It was the first amateur sports meeting that has been held there for years, and Miss Hoyle’s appearance was specially arranged to give the club a help along