SPORT AND SPORTSMEN

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 190, 12 August 1931, Page 13

SPORT AND SPORTSMEN

Sill®®®®®®®®®®®® SEE®®!*) , During the discussion at the Cricket Sub-Associations' Conference last night, as to whether the larger wickets were to be used in the coming season, a delegate from North Canterbury said that “ as far as his association was concerned they did not need to use the higher wickets, as it was no trouble to get their opponents out when using the lower ones.” The present financial position has made itself felt in athletic sporting - circles, as is seen in the reduced prize i money available for the WaimateChristchurch road race, which will take i place on October 3. Last year £l4B was distributed in cash prizes, but this I vear a little short of £IOO has been - collected. Some of this amount has to 1 be held in reserve for emergency, so that the amount available for cash i awards will be considerably lowered. At ■ a meeting held last evening to draw up the prize list, members of the North i Canterbury Centre of the New Zealand J Athletic, Cycling and Axemen’s Union, t while averse to reducing the prize s money, realised that in the circumstances a “ cut ” must be made. I 1 _ * v * v t “We must have some suitable jerseys e for them. Are there any with white n stars or gold bands? ” asked a member e of the Management Committee of the e Canterbury Rugby Union last night, n when use of a ground, preferably Sydenham Park, was sought for a match between the White Star and Blue Star . Taxis and the Gold Band Taxis. A set x ‘ of jerseys was applied for. It was def* cided to reply that the union had nc *• control over Sydenham Park, and thal c ' it would grant the application for jer I* seys.

i m ® ® ® ® ® ® ® ® ® ® m ® ® a ® ® ® a i An amusing interlude during the second half of the Rugby championship final between Ponsonby and Grammar at Auckland on Saturday served to relieve the grimness of a rather gruelling contest. The referee signalled for a scrum in midfield, but the pea in his whistle stuck, and its only response was a plaintive peep. With the aid of the line umpire the referee speedily set matters to rights, and signalling to an appreciative crowd that all was well, reopened the game with a doubly shrill blast on the offending whistle. One of the leading figures in Dominion sport, Mr Harry Divers, of Dunedin, is at present in ill-health, being an inmate of a private hospital, under medical observation. Prominently identified with boxing, wrestling, coursing, horse racing, football and amateur athletics, Mr Divers has a wide field of activities, apart from his business as a financier. On Thursday evening the council of the New Zealand Rugby League passed a vote of sympathy with him, expressing a hope that he would make a speedy recovery. He had been looking forward with pleasure to another visit to Auckland, particularly in connection with the twelfth Australasian Waterloo Cup three-day meeting to commence on Thursday of this week. “ I regard Mailey, a critical writer on cricket, as the best of all ‘googly ’ bowlers. He spun the ball more than any other. Like all his kind, he had his off-days, and was then punished heavily,” writes Jack Hobbs on the subject of bowlers he has played against. Arthur Mailey is one of the cricket and football critics on the Sydney “ Sun,” and he is also a cartoonist of first-rate merit. j.j ♦.* Ray Morris, Western Suburbs and New South Wales wing three-quarter in the Rugby League, was approached some time ago to go to the English club

Oldham, for three years. Morris turned down the proposition after consideration. Morris was asked to submit a signing-on fee, but negotiations did not get that far, as the match money did not appeal to him.- Unlike other English clubs, Oldham does not differentiate in the fees paid its players in , matches, but adheres to a set scale of ‘ £4 for a win, £3 for a draw, and £2 10s ‘ for a losing game. Many Australian and New Zealand footballers have play- - ed for Oldham at different times, and 3 every man has spoken in glowing terms of the treatment received. Among , those who have been on the Oldham . register are George Anlezark (New South Wales), George Smith (New Zealand), Sid Deane, Billy and Viv. Farnsworth (New South Wales). Ken Lewis, one of the foremost racing cyclists in Australia in the ’nineties, died at his home in Clarenden Street, South Melbourne, last week. In the palmy days of the sport Ken Lewis proved himself to be a fine racing cyclist, defeating such well-known champions as “ Plugger ” Bill Martin (U.S.A.) and other internationals. In 1892 he came to New Zealand, and in that year he won the quarter-mile, one mile, three-mile, and five-mile championships of the Dominion against fields of brilliant cyclists. Probably his most successful riding in New Zealand was done in 1894. In that year he broke the records for the quarter-mile, halfmile, one mile and fifty miles. In. Australia he was almost as successful. He competed against all the most prominent cyclists of the day, including G. R. Broadbent, “ Newhaven ” Jackson. James Carpenter, Harry James, and Porta, the Italian.