SPORT and SPORTSMEN

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20232, 16 February 1934, Page 11

SPORT and SPORTSMEN

To-morrow’s Cricket. After the postponement of play last Saturdaj* owing to rain, the eighth series of senior cricket competition matches will commence to-morrow. The games are: Riccarton v. Sydenham, Haglev No. 1. West Christchurch v. Old Collegians, Hagley No. 2. Old Boys v. St Albans, Hagley No. 3. Lancaster Park v. East Christchurch, Lancaster Park. On form West should beat Old Collegians, who, nevertheless, have a side which might quite easily come to light. Riccarton have better performances than Sydenham, and against the Riccarton batsmen the Sydenham bowlers will have to strike better form than they have done recently, or they will find a big score up against them. Old Boys and St Albans should have a good game, though on recent form St Albans appear the more likely. Lancaster Park should prove too strong for East. 52 55 52 When it comes to making big totals, the New South Wales batsmen can draw a record immensely superior to that of any other State. For instance, in the matches against Victoria they have run up 15 totals of 500 or more, while the Victorians can claim only six of such magnitude. Victoria’s one total beyond 511 is the record one of 1107 in 1926-27, but New South "Wales claims such total as Sls, 805. 775, 713 for six wickets, 708, 705 and 675 all bigger than her €72 for eight wicket-s recently. Such totals no doubt give a certain amount of pleasure to the makers, but it is doubtful whether they are altogether .good for the game. At a farewell dinner to the Australian Rugby League team, at Leeds on January li, the great success of the tour was attributed to the excellent type of play of the side. Mr Harry Sunderland, the manager of the tourists, stated that it had been decided to give the next of kin of Ray Morris his share of the players’ bonus just as though he had played in England. Morris, a young and clever three-quarter, was taken ill on the voyage over, was put ashore at Gibraltar, and died in hospital shortly afterwards. 55 55 55 Miss Kay's T rip. Golfers abroad are keenly interested in the visit of Miss Oliver Kay, of New Zealand, to compete in the British championship. In a recent issue of “Golf Illustrated” it was stated that, provided she could master bunker play, she would do well. It was originally announced that both Miss Oliver Kay and Miss Bessie Gaisford would make the trip to England and would be assisted by public subscription, but when arrangements had been almost completed the organisers received a setback by an announcement from St Andrews that if either Misses Kay or Gaisford went under such conditions they would forfeit their amateur status (comments a writer in the Melbourne “Herald”). Since then, however, Miss Kay has sailed for England. MiSses Kay and Gaisford were members of the New Zealand team to competer for the Tasman Cup at the Victoria links during the Australian women’s meeting last , year, following which Miss Kay went on to win the national title. It was then thought that the New Zealanders would be troubled with the bunkers because of the hard nature of those in New Zealand. compared with the sand here. However, it seemed to make little difference to their play. 55 55 55 Auckland will not be represented in the water polo competition at the New Zealand swimming championships in Christchurch. The best players were unable to spare the time for the trip, and the Auckland Water Polo Control Board realised the futility of sending a scratch team to play against the powerful Canterbury team in its own water (says an Auckland writer). At present Auckland and Canterbury are the joint holders of the championship trophy.. 52 5*5 55 Ellsworth Vines, the former American. amateur champion, recently announced his intention of making £IO,OOO a year out of professional tennis. His first match against Tilden drew an attendance of 15,000. 52 55 52 Growth of Bowls. No fewer than 1024 players will take part in the rink championship to be decided at the Australian bowls carnival in Adelaide'from March 5 to 17. The great strides made by this sport can be imagined when it is stated that at the last carnival held in Adelaide, in the 1921-22 season, only 524 players participated. For the singles championship there are 613 entrants, and for the pairs 1012. Nominations for the singles, rinks and pairs came from: South Australia, 222, 152, 299; Victoria, 217, 54, 108; New South Wales, 75, 22, 45; Queensland, 33, 8, 16; Tasmania, 32, 9, 19; West Australia, 32, 9, IS; New Zealand, 2,1, 1. 52 55 52 Writing prior to the cancellation of the Australian -cricket team’s tour of the Dominion the Sydney “ Referee’s ” critic stated:—“ The allowance of 15s a day as expenses, in addition to all hotel and travelling expenses, including laundry, has been criticised as inadequate in some circles. New Zealand is paying 10s and the Australian Board ss. The allowance strikes me as being quite adequate. It is princely compared with what many earlier teams received.” N.Z. Doubles Final. The final of the \ew Zealand mixed doubles tennis championship which was postponed because the New South Wales, players were unable to remain in New Zealand longer when playing here, was decided yesterday at Rushcutters Bay, when E. D. Andrews (New Zealand) and Miss N. Hall (New South Wales) scored an easy victory over C. Donohoe and Miss U. Valkenburg (New South Wales), 6-1, 6-4. *•* 55 52 The Australian Lawn Tennis Association has again decided to contribUL<£3/5 toward the expenses of Mrs Crawford in accompanying her husband, J. H. Crawford, in his Davis Cup tour. The association has also granted permission for Miss Joan Hartigan, the Australian lady champion, to travel with the team.

English Bar rackets A London newspaper states that the Football Association is alarmed at the unruly behaviour of crowds at League matches, and it is probable that drastic action will be taken. On January 6 there were disorderly scenes on no fewer than five grounds—at Villa Park, Wolverhampton, Newcastle, Walsall and Chester. The good conduct of crowds is the responsibility of the clubs, and more than one club has had its ground temporarily closed on account of the misconduct of its supporters. At. Villa Park a bottle and other missiles were thrown, at the referee. A three days’ representative game against Wellington, such as is under the consideration of the management committee of the Canterbury Association, would meet with the approval of supporters of the game in Christchurch, as they have only seen their representatives in action once this season, and that was in a rather disappointing exhibition (from the Canterbury point of view), against Otago. Wellington provided a great fighting finish to capture the Plunket Shield match against Canterbury at New Year. The “ Fatal Exception.” John Worrall, commenting iii “ The Australasian ” on the team for England, writes: “As Chipperfield was considered fit for the side, Fleetwood-Smith should have been dropped, thus making room for an opening bowler of repute, one capable of-swinging and turning the ball like Nagel. With that fatal exception thore chosen are thoroughly representative of Australia’s cricketing strength. Picking only two opening bowlers in a company of sixteen is simply courting disaster.” :: Why Perry Wins. Fred Perry is an excellent player to watch if one is anxious to improve one’s game (says the Australian, Harry Hopman). He keeps his eye on the ball until he has definitely hit it. He also gets down to his shots with the idea of keeping the ball in better alignment with his eye. His court position is almost faultless. After making each stroke, he immediately moves back toward the centre of the court, which facilitates his anticipation of the next stroke. We have never had in Australia a visitor so physically fit as this debonair Englishman. He takes his tennis very seriously, and neither drinks nor smokes. You may have noticed that, for practically every shot "he makes, he turns sideways to the net. To do this, one must have excellent footwork. Standing sideways to the ball gives Perry his ease of stroke making. Last, but not least, is the fact that he is rarely bustled. The most difficult achievement when subjected to a severe net attack is not to hurry one’s strokes. Before the American “ grid ” football season opened, the coaches at Stanford University decided that their men might develop greater speed, better handling, and faster open play if they were trained on English Rugby football lines. As a result, Stanford have carried all before them, and they are new champions of the Western States. If Jar dine Leads. The mention of Douglas Jardine's name with the captaincy of England's Test team automatically invites a lengthy discussion which eventually veers around to the leg theory problem (stated Arthur Mailey last week). In the first place I feel that, if available, he will be chosen in preference to Wyatt, and the depends upon the form of attack adopted during the first Test. The position at the moment is more embarrassing than ever. If Jardine decides to abandon the packed leg side field to a fast bowler, and Australia wins the first Test match as handsomely as sh£ did the Lords Test match in 1930, will Jardine or the M.C.C., or the county captains sit and take the defeat calmly, or will they revert to a fast leg theory attack in the second match? Personally, I would rather Jardine had a free hand if he were chosen to lead England in the Nottingham Test, and if his tactics are acceptable to the M.C.U., he may be allowed to carry on. The psychological side of winning or losing Test matches will have a stronger influence on the minds of the people of England and Australia than the question of whether last leg theory is right or wrong. If England adopts this questionable theory in the first Test, and is beaten, Australia cannot complain if it is turned on again in the remaining Tests. These questions are all closely allied with Jardine’s captainc3 r . The Cancelled Tour. Support for the action of thg New Zealand Cricket Council in cancelling the Australian cricket tour is forthcoming from the “ Dominion,” Wellington, which says:— “ The original selection was so -weakened by defections that public interest in the visitors’ appearances here was bound to be affected adversely, and the council was not justified in walking open-eyed into a loss of more than £SOO on the tour. Indeed, the wisdom of courting a loss limited to that amount is open to serious question. While the experience of playing against Australia’s greatest is always the best possible coaching, the position this year is that the top sixteen were removed before selection for New Zealand began. Subsequent withdrawals, therefore, reduced to a Third XI. the party that would have crossed the Tasman. The New Zealand Cricket Council no doubt takes the view that playing against a Third XI. would not greatly improve our cricket—at any rate not sufficiently to offset the public’s disinclination to pa}- to see the experiment.”