Sport And Sportsmen.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19269, 5 January 1931, Page 3

Sport And Sportsmen.

I! ■= J J The two Plunket Shield matches which have been decided are but the first real trials with a to the selection of the team for England. Other trials are now in progress, and there will be more to follow. They are not likely to end with the final Shield matches, as there are bound to be some special matches before the team is finally announced. It is a great pity that the Australian Board of Control has turned down Xew Zealand’s request for a team to visit the Dominion in March, especially as some of the leading players are known to be keen on making the trip. There is still a chance of one of the States stepping into the breach, but if no visit eventuates the Xew Zealand Council should arrange special matches between the best of the Dominion players as final trials. It is understood that the playing of a Xorth v. South match has been under consideration. The effect of Bobby Jones's retirement from the amateur ranks and from competitive tournament golf, says an American writer, will revolutionise the golfing field. With Jones and Von Elm both discarding amateur status, any one of a dozen players may aspire to the seats they have vacated. At the fioment it would seem George Voight, of Xew York, stands out as the most logical contender for the amateur throne. Amateur golf will again drop to its normal level. The open championships will revert to the professionals. for with Jones on the sidelines there is not an amateur in sight who can hope to defeat the horde of brilliant shot makers now in the paid ranks. For almost ten years the open annually has been a struggle between Jones and the professional field. Amateur golf in itself contained no great power. But Jones as the representative of amateur golf was the tremendous force of the game. Over eight short seasons he has won thirteen national championships, four United States opens, five United States amateurs, three British opens, and one British amateur. In addition he has unsuccessfully tied for two other United States open titles. He was a brilliant performer in many Walker Cup matches, and has hung up scores that made golf seem a simple game. No other star will ever approach that record. Under the present system of determining the winners of the Plunket Shield, eight points are awarded for an outright win, four points for a win on the nrst innings, two points for a loss on the first innings, three points each for no result after six hours’ play, four points each for a tie on the match, and two points each for a tie on the first innings, while in the event of more than one team having the same number of points at the conclusion of the competition the team having the best net average is awarded the Shield.

A cricket crowd has rarely been so pleased as that at Lancaster Park on Saturday at one stage of the Plunket Shield match against Wellington It was the Canterbury captain, M. L. Page, was at the crease. He was clean bowled when he went to knock ' a “ no ball ” tc the boundary, but the c owd had not he&ra the umpire’s call, -nd there were disappointed murmurs ajl round the stands. A sigh of relief went up when the umpire signalled the “no ball ”to the scorers Page incidentally made his first century in Plunket Shield cricket after being within easy distance on numerous occasions. He leeeived an ovation from the large crowd watching the match. The forty-first New Zealand Lawn Tennis championship meeting will be remembered as one of many surprises, right from the svery first day’s matches, and in after years players who took part will be heard to remark about the awful heat of the 1930 tournament (savs the Wellington “Post”). Those who had trained hard and with some system for the championships received the benefit, because they stood the unexpected heat-wave better than the competitors who were only halftrained. Those players who "tried to regain their vigour and wind by taking a rest during a set do not deserve the slightest sympathy, and the secretary gave them little time to collect their scattered thoughts. Competitors who enter for the national championships should know that they cannot take any rest except as laid down by the rules when playing a match. J. Enwright, the Auckland swimmer, must have designs on the Kellerman Cup again. At the recent carnival oi the Waitemata Club the veteran won the 220yds handicap in the smart time of 2min 34 3-ssec. This is good travelling for the distance, and would have been good enough to win a national championship not so very long ago. He must be in good form. An exceptionally fine sprint is reported against Gordon Bridson, who is stated to have covered the 100 yards in a training swim in sXcc. This will take some beating if the time is repeated at Wanganui, and already the ex-Welling-tonian looks like having another successful innings at the big meeting. Versatile Swimmer. Miss Joyce Cooper, English swimming champion, gave an impressive display of speed and versatility during a brief competitive visit to the United States recently. Within two weeks she engaged in four free style and two backstroke matches against a pair of leading American lady swimmers. She scored three victories, and her American rivals had to clip world’s record time to defeat her in two of the other contests. Particularly noteworthy was Miss Cooper’s final race in which she not only defeated, over 150 \-ards backstroke, Miss E. Ilolm, the American record-holder, but put up a new world’s record of lmin 55 4-ssec.

Strange Cricket Ruling. News has-been received in England that some weeks ago the South African Board of Control, which had been asked for an opinion on the point, passed a resolution declaring that the match between England and The Reef, played in December, 1909, was not a first-class match. As many as four days were set apart for the match, in which six of The Reef men can be recalled as Test cricketers, and all the ether five as Currie Cup players. On the strength of this very belated action it is seriously suggested that the first-class averages of the 1909 tour should be revised, if only because there should be unanimity as to the number of runs made by Hobbs in first-class cricket! The whole affair is described by English writers as Gilbertian, and they do not hesitate in saying that the South African ruling will not be accepted. Courageous Athlete. In winning the second heat of the women’s 90 yards hurdles at a recent meeting at the Sydney Sports Ground, Miss Clarice Kennedy (Western Suburbs) established a new Australian and State record. However, she had started against medical advice, suffering from an injured knee, which, in the race, was actually heard to crack as she landed over the fifth hurdle. That she finished at all is truly remarkable, but the fact that she broke the record ranks her performance as one of the most courageous in the history of athletics, irrespective of sex. Her leg gave way completely after the race, and she had to be assisted from the ground. On examination it was found she* had fractured her right kneecap and she was admitted to hospital where she is expected to remain for some time. A Billiards Secret. Notwithstanding his vast superiority of skill, Walter Lindrum has learnt a lot in the past few years from professional intercourse with the world’s best billiards players. Long hours of daily practice, combined with parental advice, led to perfection of stroke play, and the development of ball-control; but Lindrum. being intensely observant, extended his knowledge by watching other artists at the table. For instance, it was from Claude. Falkiner that he picked up the “ stunt ” stroke, as applied to the nursery cannons. Lindrum had been in the habit !of making cannons by working them along the cushion on the “ tap-tap ’ system. Watching Falkiner in action, he discovered the advantage of stunting the first object ball, and retain ing position for numberless cannons by 1 keeping it against the cushion.