WILL MERRITT PLAY?

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 190, 12 August 1931, Page 9

WILL MERRITT PLAY?

Hint That he will be Out of Test. The cabled suggestion that Merritt may be dropped from the New Zealand eleven in the final test against England is calculated to cause a stir in cricketing circles in Christchurch. Writing to the “Star”.on this point Mr T. W. Reese states: “ A few short weeks ago the leading English critics hailed Merritt, then at he top of his form, •s the great bowler the side, even lassing him as one >f the select band >f tsie world's :oogiy bowlers, and s one who at any ime might go right hrough any side. “ New Zealanders lave always realsed here that if ilerritt could only ;et a little more >ace he would be nore effective, and t has been stated diat on this tour he was appreciably faster than in 1927. Now the scene is changed, and there is a suggestion thrown out that he may be omitted from Saturday’s test. “ No hint has been thrown out as to the real reason. On one or two occasions he has bowled really well without luck, but on the whole he has been ineffective since the last test, while Blunt, the same type of bowler, has not been effective at all on the tour. Probably the real reason is that against such dour batsmen as Sutcliffe, Allen and Jardine, watchful batsmen all, and against such qnjek-footed batsmen is Hammond, Duleepsinhji, Ames and Larwood. Merritt is not likely to be so dangerous as he was in May last. In the same way Robins has been dropped for England. Evidently the mediumpaced services of Matheson and Cromb and the spin bowling of Allcott and Vivian arc the real backbone of our attack at the moment. " It is almost treason to refer to the possibility of Merritt’s non-inclusion, but the fact remains that Lowry has to pick a set of bowlers best calculated to dismiss England’s formidable array of batsmen.” (Other cricket reports appear on page 1.)