SPORT AND SPORTSMEN.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXIV, Issue 945, 15 December 1933, Page 11

SPORT AND SPORTSMEN.

CHRISTCHURCH look certain of a good win against Lancaster Park to-morrow. M.C.C. begin their first test against Judea at Bombay to-day. The New Zealand lawn tennis championships will be played at Wilding Park, Christchurch, on December 30. and January 1,2, 3, 4 and 5. S. A. Black, the New Zealand quar-ter-mile champion and Olympic representative, is running in half-miles this season. He is the scratch man for this distance in New Plymouth. League Test To-morcow. The Australian Rugby League team play the third Test of their tour tomorrow, at Swinton. Having been beaten in the first Test 0-4 and in the second 5-7, they will be keen for victory. England’s team—Sullivan, Hudson, Atkinson, Risman, Smith, Jenkins, Dale, Miller, Armitt, Silcock, Horton. Hodgson and Feetham—again is a redoubtable one, with Sullivan backing the three-quarter line that starred in New Zealand and Australia in 1932.

Last Saturday the tourists were beaten 17-16 by Cumberland, a very strong county combination. The Australians have scored a total of 538 points against 208 in 30 matches, only eight of which have been lost. Funeral Overdue. A short over from “ T.Y.S.”—The great bodyline controversy has now reached sublime heights. The “ Morning Post ” and other London newspapers say that the issue is dead and buried and that the uneasy Australians ought to let it lie. Who buried it, and why? Does it not strike an impartial observer that if bodyline has been buried it has been buried for a very good reason—that-it was unfair? All right, if bodyline was unfair, someone surely owes an apology for stooping to use it. Only then can the sexton's certificate be signed and the rather smelly carcase pushed beneath the surface. Ne\’cr mind about “ saving Jardine’s face,” as Gilligan pertinently puts it. Apologise and get on with the game. Isn’t that cricket? Otago’s New Men. Concerning the Otago Plunket Shield team to play Canterbury at Christmas time, the “ Star’s ” Dunedin correspondent writes:—The young members of the side are Nimmo, who replaces the fast bowler, Dickinson, and Uttley, the batting find of the season. The others, led by Badcock, are all former representatives. With Badcock, Nimmo, Elmes, Dunning, Moloney and Talbot, the Otago bowling has plenty of variety and all are batsmen. Ilawkesworth is again wicketkeeper. For the North Island tour, three other young players have been selected: Jolly, a fast bowler; Cox, a batsman; and Groves, a .slow bowler and bat. Against Auckland, Jolly replaces Nimmo and Cox replaces Talbot. Dickinson will be available for the Wellington match at Dunedin.” 2£ tv Jack’s Bad Patch. “Forehand” writes:—The higher one soars among the stars of the tennis firmament the harder, the battles become and the more severe the strain. Jack Crawford must now realise that to the full, and because of his defeat by x Adrian Quist in the Queensland singles championship this week, critics will be asking whether he is really dropping down the ladder. The supreme penalty of being a champion is that you must never lose. Let one serious setback occur in a champion’s career, and the usual comment, “He is finished,”. is heard everywhere. It is assumed that champions never “come back.” Crawford, however, is still a champion, despite patchy form and surprising defeats. All he needs is a spell from perpetual match tennis. The great lawn tennis career of

“Bill” Tilden furnishes a most striking example of a defeated champion regaining his laurels. Reigning champion of the world for six years, he went down in 1920, 1927 and 1928 before the two vigorous young Frenchmen, Lacoste and Cochet, then at the peak of their form. But Tilden was not finished. In 1929 he won the American national championship for the seventh time, and in the following year again took the Wimbledon singles. At the end of 1930 he turned professional, and in 1931 won | the American professional championship.