SPORT AND SPORTSMEN.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 714, 18 March 1933, Page 13

SPORT AND SPORTSMEN.

“■ Good-, bye, Boys.” I Eight and a half hours’ batting for 149 runs. That was the patient performance of Noble in the fourth Test match, played at Manchester in 1899. He set out to save Australia from defeat, and he succeeded (writes Clem Hill in reminiscent vein). Eight bowlers were tried against him. As he went out to bat he said, ‘‘Goodbye, boys, you won’t see me back here for some time.” The Lancashire lads barracked him, but he went along unperturbed, fighting for a draw. In one stretch of 75 minutes he never scored a run. “ Put a rope round his neck and pull him out,” yelled one barracker. Mr Bensilum, a cricket enthusiast of Melbourne, who was in the crowd, told them that there was only one man who could take Noble. “ Who’s that?” they called out. “ Why, the blooming photographer, of course.” The laugh was on them. Noble began on a Tuesday morning, and when the side was dismissed he was 60 not out. In the follow-on he opened the innings, and continued tobat until Wednesday afternoon, when he was caught and bowled at 89. A Surprise Packet. A Melbourne newspaper used the heading, “ Selectors’ Surprise Packet,” when it was announced that Noble, Trumble and I had selected Duff to play for Australia in the second Test against MacLaren’s team in 1902 (writes Clem Hill). I had not seen much of his batting, but Trumble and Noble had, as he had played for New South Wales apainst Victoria. What a time the Melbourne crowd gave him when he went out to bat! They wanted another Victorian in the team, and this was their way of protesting against our selection. It was the cruellest thing I ever saw on a cricket ground. It is bad enough to have to go out to bat in your first Test without having to suffer from a demonstration by the crowd. MacLaren won the toss for England, and so bad was the wicket after the rain that he sent the Australians in to bat. The people who hooted Duff remained to cheer him. In the first innings he made top score—32—out of a total of 112, and on a wicket which had improved was again the highest scorer in the second innings with 104. He certainly was a “ surprise packet.” Duff never looked back. What a great start he and Trumper gave to Australia match after match, and year affer year! A batsman could always rely upon him to run two if that was at all possible, whereas with others a single was sufficient. In this respect Trumper found him invaluable. Often as the pair left the dressing room Duff would call out to us, “ Well, good-bye. Victor is taking me for a little run about asain.” 55 55 55 Brilliant Juniors. Besides taking the singles at the New South Wales lawn tennis ground on February 25, Vivian M’Grath was in the winning combinations of both the men’s and mixed doubles. Junior and special events were held, and Miss Joan Ilartigan, who partnered M’Grath in the mixed doubles, also scored a hat trick. M’Grath, in the boy’s junior singles, beat J. Rodgers 7-5, 6-0. In the doubles he and Rodgers beat A. Buckmaster and R. B. Thompson, 64, 6-3. In the mixed finals M’Grath and Miss Hartigan beat H. Lewis and Miss K. Campbell, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. Miss Ilartigan beat Miss E. Williams, 7-5, 6-6, 6-1 in the girls’ singles, and she and Miss J. Williams beat Miss K. Campbell and E. Williams, 6-1, 2-6, 6-3. 55 55 55 When Pests Were Jolly. According to Clem Hill, writing in the “ Melbourne Herald,” the old-time Tests were jolly affairs. He says:— “ We used to joke with the players of the opposing team, even in Test matches. Round about 1896, Jessop was a very fine fieldsman for England at cover point. We had to be wary when sneaking a run if a ball went in his direction. If we did succeed in beating him we would call out, ‘ Beat you that time, Gilbert; bit slow off the mark, weren’t you?’ To which he would reply, ‘ Yes, but I’ll get you In time.’ And he did. “ I w r as always interested in watching the actions of men as they came out to bat. Some did a little whistling, others chewed a blade of grass. You could depend upon it that they lacked confidence and might go cheaply, . Other batsmen, to mention two, Joe Darling and Alf Noble, were not like that. They walked to the wicket with determined stride, looking neither to the right nor the left, took block, looked round to see how the field was placed, and set their jaw. “ There was one English player who simply had to talk to somebody as he went to the wicket. I suppose it gave him confidence. We found out this weakness of his, and instructions were given that nobody was to talk to him until he had been in for a while. He never did much good after that. “ I have related these incidents here to try to convey the atmosphere in which matches were played in those days. There was a spirit of joviality about them. How different to-day. Rugby in Victoria. The annual report of the Victorian Rugby Union, issued this week, notes that at the end of the last playing season the position of the code in Victoria was better than ever before The number of teams in the various grades was thirty-seven, and the report expects that four more will be added this season, and that the playing strength will be about 650, without including teams which, late last_ season were put into the field by various col!ef he financial result of the season was satisfactory, largely because of a grant of £l5O from New South Wales which the Victorian Union accepted in preference to a match in Melbourne with the visiting All Blacks, the only date available being a week day During the year E. A Dunlop, E. A. H. Laurie and N. B. Wilson gained full Blues for Rugby at the Melbourne University, and G. R. Loundes, J C. Lowry D. H. Merry, J, Morrow and W . E Spring half Blues, and congratulations are extended to them, as well as to Dunlop, Dr Sturtridge, D. Cowper and O. Bridle, who were chosen to represent Australia against New Zealand. The last three were also selected to make the South African tour.

Average of 433. Once out in ten innings this season resulted in W. Lewis, captain of the Tramways team (Adelaide), having an average of 433. Had it not been for a fluky catch he might have had no average. Batting against Post and Telegraphs in the Wednesday Afternoon Association competition, he cut the ball, which went straight to first slip. The ball hit the fieldsman’s boot, shot into the air and was caught by second slip. In the other nine matches Lewis carried his bat. He certainly deserves the association trophy for the third time. In the semifinal he scored 177, but that is not included in his average. Lewis captained the AdelaideY.M.C.A. team in Melbourne in 1930, and made 144 and 145 not out. Two seasons ago he played for four teams, and scored 2018 runs. 55 55 55 Woodfull in Longest. The dogged efforts of W. M. Woodfull, Australia’s captain, to withstand the shock attack of the English bowlers are the feature of statistics showing the scoring rates of the individual batsmen in the five Test matches. Woodfull staj'ed at the wickets longer than any other batsman (says the Melbourne “ Herald ”). The figures are full of surprises. Larwood, the fastest bowler, was also the fastest scorer for England, while Wall, the rival speed merchant, was the slowest batsman on the Australian side. Woodfull, who faced the fast bowlers when they were at their freshest, batted for a total of 19 hours 5 minutes, beating Sutcliffe’s aggregate time by 11 minutes. They were the only two batsmen, to spend more than 1000 minutes at the creases. Woodfull’s average rate of scoring was less than 16 runs an hour, but frequently his principal job was to concentrate on staying in. There was not much between the scoring rates of the rival captains. Woodfull was a fraction faster than Jardine, and both were among the slowest of the eleven men who played in three or more Tests for each side.

Bradman, who topped the Australian averages and aggregate, was the fastest scorer of the side. His 396 runs were hit up at the rate of 37.6 an hour. M’Cabe’s “ death or glory ” innings of 187 not out in the first Test took him only 242 minutes. It was responsible for bringing him into third place in scoring pace, because the other 198 runs he made in the series took him 475 minutes, or well under 30 runs an hour. Larwood’s forceful 98 in 138 minutes in the last Test improved his rate, but he never wasted much time at the crease in his other six innings. 55 55 55 First Pest Century. Clem Hill, writing in the Melbourne “ Herald ”, describes his first century in a Test. “ It was at Melbourne in 1898. Australia had five down for 58, and our prospects looked black. I read in the papers afterwards that the men who had brought lunch boxes with them never opened them. They did not feel like eating; they just stood or sat, chewing the stems of their pipes. “ A telegram from Adelaide stated that a thunderstorm had reached there from the west and was on the way east, and would bring rain with it. Some humorist suggested that to make sure it arrived on time to damage the wicket for the Englishmen it should be put on the Melbourne express. “ Hughie Trumble joined me. He came in determined to keep his end up, and he succeeded. At one stage the crowd had a thrill. I had to run hard to get home, and just as I passed the crease Bannerman, the umpire, raised his hand. But he was only brushing a fly away from his face. “ Gradually Trumble and I changed the complexion of the game. I remember that when I reached my century, somebody called out in a stentorian voice to MacLaren, ‘ Hulloa, Archie, the kangaroo is still hopping.’ “ We carried the score to 223, and then the great knock of Trumble was brought to a close. We had put on 165, and that still stands as the record seventh wicket partnership in Test cricket. “ When I reached my century the score was 142. The great crowd went wild with excitement. I must confess that I was pleased to see’ three figures opposite my name, because I had never before had that success in a Test match. “ I read in one of the Melbourne papers on the Monday that a funeral stopped in Swanston Street so that the mourners could read the scores posted on a board outside of an hotel.” Australia won the match by eight wickets. Clem Hill was then only

twenty years of age. He was acclaimed as one of the greatest, if not the greatest of batsmen then playing. In Adelaide the boy prodigy, as he was known, was the idol of everybody.