Short Runs And Byes.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19233, 21 November 1930, Page 9

Short Runs And Byes.

Despite the fact that “Jock” Hill, the promoted junior, “cleaned up” the Old Boys’ team last Saturday to the tune of six wickets for 50, the West selectors in their great wisdom have dropped him to the junior ranks for to-morrow’s match. Hill bowled exceptionally well, his “scalps” including Escott, Innes and Carleton. Why he has been dropped will surely require some explaining. In the past West have not been famous tor encouraging young players, which probably accounts for the poor state the club have drifted into. A player in Christchurch who has done consistent yeoman service for his club is Jack i ham. Young has • been one of the l club's most solid i batsmen for a \ number of years ! now', and on pres- \ ent form is likely i to make a good i score any time. He \ is one of the keen- • est cricketers in Christchurch. As well as being a good performer in the summer time, he turns out for the Sydenham senior Rugby team, and there he gives experience and solidity to a young team. In his day Young played Rugby for the province. The critics were impressed with Kerr’s great innings of 139 last Saturday. He treated all the bowling alike, scoring with sparkling shots all round the wicket, and also showing impregnable defence when the bowling required it. Kerr looks a certainty for the trip to the Old Country, and the experience gained there will be of inestimable value as he is still young with a lot of cricket in front of him. George Condliffe came to light with a nice knock for St Albans last Saturday. He has some pretty strokes and once he gets his eye in scores very quickly. A year or two ago he had one of the best “pull” shots in Christchurch, but sometimes, when he failed to connect, it got him into trouble, and he very rarely brings it into play now. Another cricket veteran whose services are still in demand by his club]s senior eleven is . .. Arthur Thomas, of St Albans. Thomas has played k good cricket for a long time, and at his best put up some good performances for Canterbury and his club with both bat and ball. When his side needs runs, he can still go in and knock a few up, and his accuracy with the ball is consistent. When in form, he can swing the ball deceptively, and make it nip up from the pitch. Progress is being made with the enormous Miller car with which the U.S.A. will seek to pulverise the late Sir Henry Segrave’s record of 231.36 m.p.h. The engines—two of them—have been built and tested. Each consists of three banks of eight cylinders, arranged on the “broad arrow” pattern, and develops 1200 h.p. at maximum revs. One will go in front and the other behind the driver, and the drive will be applied to all four wheels. The car will weigh five tons—twice the weight of Kay Don’s “Silver Bullet,” which was credited with housing motors that developed 4000 h.p. Two of America’s foremost racing drivers have been engaged to steer the monster— De Paolo and Fengler.

Queensland has included a fair amount of new blood in its first Sheffield Shield team of the season, the most notable being the abo. fast bowler, Gilbert. Long and lathy, the indigene takes a run of only half a dozen steps, and though his pace through the air is not exceptionally fast, his nip off the pitch is described as phenomenal. Canterbury have not had a good left-hand bowler since M’Beth last played for the representative side, but it looks as though young 11. R. E scott, of Old Boys, might in a few seasons* time fill his shoes. Escott is going on the right lines, developing a good length before going in for any great variation of flight and spin. He is a slow bowler, and should benefit greatly by playing on the same side as that master of the googly art, Merritt. Sydney, which recently broke out in a rash of miniature golf courses, is to have a regular governing body just like the real thing. Last week a meeting of miniature-course proprietors formed an association, with the idea of controlling the game generally and instituting inter-club competitions. Wellington's hopes in the New Zealand tennis championships at Christchurch will be centred on D. G. France. It was thought all over the Dominion that his time had arrived last year, but Angas beat him in the final. France’s performances in Christchurch in Dominion tournaments and Wilding Shield matches have been far from reassuring. So frequently ha. he failed that one may be forgiven for thinking that he may never be able to win a championship here. He has had scarcely any practice this vear so far, and certainly none at all on grass. His great variety of strokes demand that he have ample opportunities to key them up. Australia will not see the professional American baseballers this season, the plans for a tour of Australia by the New York Giants and the Chicago White Socks having been cancelled. The excuse is that matters were left too late to complete, arrangements, which sounds a bit thin, since the idea was mooted, oyer a year ago. However, Uncle Sam has announced that the visit will be paid next year without doubt. Crawford is right back to the form that earned him a trip to England a few years ago. When in his stride, he is a real dashing player, with some wonderfully pretty shots on both sides of the wicket. He will be useful to Canterbury when the Plunkct Shield , matches come on.

Players who will have to be seriously considered for places in the New Zealand team are R. O. Talbot, of Christchurch, who scored 50 and 113 for Canterbury in the Plunket Shield match against Wellington at the Basin Reserve last season: 24 against Auckland, and 23 against Otago, while with the ball he captured tw T o for 24 and one for 4 against Otago at Christchurch (says a Wellington writer). Another youthful player w'hose form will be watched with interest this season is Kerr, of Canterbury, who scored 61 and 69 against Auckland, at Auckland, in the shield match last season, and 70 against Otago at Christchurch. J. L. Powell is another Canterbury colt who shows promise of developing into a really brilliant batsman. Against Otago at Lancaster Park last year, he played a peerless innings for 164, and he also notched 53 against Auckland.

Use of the Lancaster Park Oval on Saturday, March 7, for the visit of the American athletes to Christchurch, was granted last night to the Canterbury Centre of the Amateur- Athletic Association by the Lancaster Park Board of Control. The board made the stipulation that the grounds adjoining the Oval could on that day be used for cricket. An application for use of the ground on February 7 or 14, for the Canterbury amateur athletic championships, was held over till next meeting. o One of those cricketers who have a distinct chance for the representative side is D. M. Dunnett, of Riccarton, whose hobby is wicketkeeping. In this departure Dunnett has shown considerable ability, and as he is a young player with most of his experience in front of him, he should soon develop into a very valuable man. Dunnett had a good cricket record at St Andrew’s, and now the Riccarton Club are finding him a valuable addition. He is a rather clumsy bat, but can hit the loose ones, and gets a satisfactory number of runs in club games. Aucklanders well in the running for a trip to England next season are C. F. W. Alleott, J. E. Mills, A. INI. Matheson, and 11. D. Gillespie. The last-named played a sterling innings of 183 against Canterbury at Auckland last season, and is one of the best cover-point fieldsmen in the Dominion. J. E. Mills is unquestionably one of New Zealand’s rest batsmen. Last season he hit up 17 against the M.C.C. team in the second test match at Wellington, and 185 for Auckland against Otago.at Dunedin. ?•: :* With the season officially closed by an announcement made last w r eek by the New Zealand Wrestling Union, wrestling enthusiasts have seen the last first-grade match they are likely to see until next year. The union, it is understood, intends to open the 1931 season in July next, and with agents in America like Ted Thye, Tom Alley, Kara Pasha, and the Stechers, a wonderful consignment of wrestlers should visit New Zealand next year.

Since Peary does not mention having seen a golf course in. the locality when he Visited the North Pole, the inhabitants of Flin Flon, in Northern Manitoba, are confident that their course is the farthest north in the world. Recently the Hudson Bay Co., which runs the smelters there, laid down a fourhole course on a drained lake-bed near by. At first the innovation was received with scoffing by the roughnecks of the community, but at latest advices the game has lured the roughest of them from pinochle and stud poker, and the extension of the course to a nine-holer is being taken in hand.

C. E. Malfroy finished the tennis season in England in a blaze of glory, and received notice from the principal papers at Home as being “the most improved player in England.” Probably Malfroy’s most impressive victory was liis defeat of F. J. Perry, 7—5, 4—6, 7—5, in the final of the Norwich tournament. It was stated that Perry made the mistake of departing from his usual game and playing more careful tennis, at the same time, therefore, playing right into Malfroy’s hands. Malfroy served beautifully, placing excellently to the side lines or down the centre line, and he recovered what seemed certain winners brilliantly. He saved match point against himself by coolly lobbing over Perry’s head as that worthy took the net. Malfroy flew to Holland, where he won a doubles tournament in partnership with the Dutch champion, 11. Timmer. • By defeating North Canterbury, Christchurch Suburban qualify to meet Malvern in the final for the SubAssociations’ Shield. The match between these two associations last year ended in victory for the county side, who are the present holders of the shield. As the Suburban Association have a strong side this year and the match is to be played in the city, they appear to have a good chance of lifting the trophy. The broadsiding season will open in Dunedin on November 22, and most of the racing will be provided by the local men, w-ho include some very promising riders. Harry Mangham, who has been riding in England during the past few months, will probably captain the Dunedin team in inter-track competitions. Other good Dunedin men include Jim Nesbit, who shaped well last year, Dusan Miller, Hasler and Homer. The Dunedin team will visit Christchurch on December 6 to meet the Christchurch team in the first of the inter-track competitions.

Although the Dunedin Cricket Club has lost the services of P. G. Monk, well-known Otago representative allrounder, his place should be well filled by the ex-Southland and Wanganui player, R. W. Coupland, who will make his first appearance to-morrow. Monk has been transferred to Wellington.

Llew Edwards, the 18-year-old Australian, gave a taste of his quality at New Plymouth on Saturday night when he decisively outpointed Johnny Leckie, the New Zealand professional featherweight champion. Edwards came over under contract to the Taranaki Boxing Association to meet Tommy Donovan, but Donovan became indisposed and Johnny Leckie, of Napier, had to be impressed at short notice to take Donovan's place. Edwards proved very fast and convincingly proved too good for the New Zealand champion, who lent the impression that he was short of a gallop. 11. Lilburne, better known on the football field, is wielding a sound bat this year, and in the match between Suburban and North Canterbury for the Sub-Associa-tions’ Shield he notched 122 not out and 28 not out. Lilburne is an enterprising bat who does not ■wait for the runs to come, lie is also a useful trundler, as his figures of two for oil in twenty-seven overs in the same match indicate. A good deal of indignation has been expressed by Otago swimmers at the delay of the New Zealand Swimming Council in issuing the list of compulsory dives for the New Zealand championships. These are supposed to be in the hands of centres lour months before the championships, but the time for their issue is long overdue, the intermediate- championships being only two months’ distant. The intermediate section of the Otago championships is to be held on December 11, and _ a good deal of inconvenience is being caused by the delay in the issue of these dives.

WHAT AMERICA THINKS OF BETTY.

(Special to the “ Star.”) LONDON, October 10. Miss Betty Nuthall returned to London last night from America, where she won the women’s lawn tennis championship of the United States. Mr John R. Tunis, in a lively character sketch of Miss Nuthall in the “New Yorker,” wrote recently: “ Betty has changed, has thinned down from the fat child wonder of eleven to the well-built young lady who in 1929 gave Miss Helen Wills the closest match she has played since her contests against the Lenglen in 1926. Mother Knows Best. “It is largely to the mother that Betty owes her prominence in the world of sport. One of the few tennis players, men or women, who display a happy smile during actual matches, she has'been taught this by her astute mamma. “ ‘ Smile, smile, and keep on smiling,' counselled Mrs Nuthall. 4 First, because It gets the crowd, and that is an important factor in a big match. Sec-

ond, because it helps you keep cool yourself. Third, because it deceives your opponent. They never know just what you are thinking.’ Betty’s carefree toss of the head, that attractive and artless smile when her whiplash forehand goes just an inch over the line in a crucial point, are by now second nature. Her Unspoilt Charm. “ Betty is an amazingly good-natured young lady, extraordinarily unspoilt considering the flattery and aulation she has and still does endure. I have seen her at tournaments on the Riviera fawned and pawed over by duchesses and peeresses without number. 4 Deah Betteh .. .' 4 Oh, Betteh, deah .. .* and so it goes.” # The writer goes on to say that Betty liked best in America the honey-dew melons, and that she found American men poor dancers.