"CRICKETING DAYS,” BY C. G. MACARTNEY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19197, 10 October 1930, Page 9

"CRICKETING DAYS,” BY C. G. MACARTNEY.

VICTOR TRUMPER WAS BEST BATSMAN HE SAW. Many Christchurch enthusiasts have watched and enjoyed C. G. Macartney at the crease on Lancaster Park. If Macartney’s pen were as lively as his bat, his new book, “My Cricketing: Days,” would be a lot more interesting than it is. But tiie author rarely wanders from the beaten track of facts, facts, facts, i His book is crammed with them, and it I is too rarely one stumbles across those little inside stories associated with cricket celebrities that make any book of “ reminiscences ” worth reading. The publishers, William Heinexpann, Ltd., London, advertise that Macartney “ writes as he played.” After haying read the book the presumption is that tlie publishers never saw Macartney play. However, if the book has little literary merit, it is certainly valuable as a cricket record, for it deals with a cricketer whose career is synonymous with the his- , tory of the game during the past twenty years. Greatest Players. Some of the more interesting expressions of opinion culled from Macartney’s book may be briefly summarised as follows: Victor Trumper was the best batsman he ever saw. He excelled on any wicket and against any bowling. There was no more popular player. Noble was the greatest captain 112 ever played under, and MacLaren was the finest opposing captain. Noble seemed to be able to pick on the right man for the job in almost any match. The most brilliant hit he ever saw was when Trumper hit a vorker from ! Laver out of the Oval on the Sydney Cricket Ground. Cotter was the fastest bowler in his experience. Warner’s 1911-12 team was the strongest that visited Australia. Blythe was the greatest left-hand bowler on English wickets. George Hirst was the finest exponent of the swing ball. Braund was the best slip fieldsman. Dr If. V. Hordern, the greatest googly artist. “Carry Your Own Clubs.” “Carry your own clubs,’* says the Central Council for Health Education, in a series of hard, but healthy, sayings to golfers at Home. _ “Of all forms of exercise, walking is an easy first, and of games golf is second to none. It is beneficial both to the body and the mind,” the council states. “If "'the full advantage of golfing as an exercise is to be attained, the useful ‘caddy’ should be done away with. Carry your own clubs between the strokes, stoop down to place them on the ground before, to pick them oft’ the ground after making your stroke, tee your own ball. “The extra exercise imposed by hunting for your own, or your opponent’s, ball is another advantage you lose where caddies are employed. “Although walking is the most useful exercise, the habit of taking long constitutional walks for health’s sake is conducive to little good, and to many is a mere boredom of the flesh.” The Rolling Paper. A strip of brown paper thrown out from the crowd on the western side of the ground got in Duleepsinhji’s way during the final cricket test on the Surrey oval. Then the wind took it rolling towards the wicket. Nervous onlookers in the East stand feared it might distract the attention of Woodful or Ponsford. Between two deliveries from Tate, Duckworth picked it tip. We wondered if the wicketkeeper would stuff it in his pocket. Instead he crushed it into a ball and threw it from him. Again the wind played on it and caused it to resume its journey along the ground towards the gasworks. “The umpire should have taken charge of it,” said an anxious woman with a Sydney accent.