SPORT and SPORTSMEN

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20482, 7 December 1934, Page 11

SPORT and SPORTSMEN

JJATTING in first-grade games is certainly much brighter now, as was stated at last evening’s meeting of the Canterbury Cricket Association. If the bowling were just a little worse, it might even be sensational. The appearance of A. T. Anderson, the University and Canterbury hurdles champion, added interest to the hurdles events at the inter-club athletic meeting at Lancaster Park last Saturday. Anderson won the 440yds event with ease in 61 l-ssec, and the 220yds event in 27 2-ssec. j: v? ss R. O. Talbot, the ex-Canterbury batsman, turned on fireworks and scored a delightful century for Kaikorai agaipst < arisbrook A at Dunedin last Saturday. Previously his form had been a little disappointing, but now he is getting his eye in again. a F. W. Dukes, half-mile and mile walk champion, avenged his defeat by J. G. D. Ward (Varsity) the previous week over the short distance by leading Ward home in the mile at the interclub athletic meeting at Lancaster Park last Saturday. Dukes went over the mile course in 7min 43sec, to clip 7sec off the Canterbury standard. The form of Dukes and Ward will be followed with interest, as they are likely to have some rare tussles for honours this season. k The new Hawke’s Bay-Poverty Bay Centre has lost E. G. R. Steere, one of its foremost athletes, who has been transferred to Wanganui. Steere shares the distinction of being one of the only two men who have put the 161 b shot past the 40ft mark at a New Zealand championship meeting. He will be a valuable addition to the West Coast (North Island) Centre’s team. :* :* v: Interviewed in Dunedin this week. Gene Sarazen was emphatic in his praise of Shirley. Shirley, he said, was the only real championship course he had yet played on in New Zealand. In fact, he thought it was the best course he had seen south of Honolulu. On Shirley they did water the greens. “ You must water your greens in summer. Why, it is concrete golf in this country’.” 55 55 55 Playing for Manly against Universitv in a third grade cricket match in Sydney recently, V. Trumper took eight wickets for 27 runs, including the hat trick. Trumper is a son of the late Victor Trumper, the famous Australian Test batsman. vs L. Butterfield, of Sydenham. has been doing reasonably well with the bat for ‘ his club side this season, his scores including a sound 86. It was not till he played for Town against Country, however, that he succeeded with the ball to any marked extent. He took three wickets for 19 runs with his medium to slow deliveries, keeping good length and direction, with occasional changes of pace. A Change of Mind. _ There will probably be some discussion over the fact that the one-day match scheme for the first-grade cricket competition has been cancelled. When Mr W. H. Winsor mooted the scheme two years ago, batting was dull to the point of stagnation, and he thought, with a great deal of justification, that any means to brighten it up and make the plaj’ers show enterprise was better than none. At the association’s meeting of delegates last night, Mr Winsor admitted that the batsmen were showing more initiative now. “ Even ordinary batsmen make 222.” said Mr Winsor, and the laugh was on lan Cromb, who made that big score in 1 such sparkling fashion last week, and was present at the meeting. Vi vs vs A Valuable Knock. R. W. Coupland’s steady batting suffered a little on the spectacular side in comparison with Allsopp’s whirlwind 91 for East Christchurch last Saturday, but his ; nnings was. nevertheless, a valuable one to his side. Coupland went in at a stage when the game was at the cross-roads—-one of those critical periods when the bowlers are within an ace of taking charge—and it required a careful bat to keep the attack in check. Coupland had broken the back of the St Albans bowling when Allsepp took strike, and between them they put on 100 runs for the fifth wicket. Allsopp’s contribution being 73. Coupland batted for 132 minutes for 60 runs, hitting six fours. Their Mistake. Under the heading. “ Women’s Cricket Notes,” and the sub-heading Getting Ready for the English Girls.” a Wellington paper publishes this in all good faith : “ The following Canterbury cricketers have been chosen for representative practice: —Cobden, Cromb, Kerr, Allsopp, Coupland, Bellamy, Oliver, Patrick, Allen, Kerr, Smith, Andrews, Fairbairn, Jacobs, Roberts, Crawford, O’Brien, Park, Burns, Hadlee. Page, Dunster, Lester, Walter and Alexander.” The paper adds: “ Wellington would also be well advised to pick their proposed team before Christmas, so that special fielding and batting practice could be had in good time for the English team’s visit. The fielding will have to be improved particularly.” Golfers Lucky. Christchurch golfers are lucky in the professionals that are stationed in the citv. When it is considered that the local men have coaching engagements that take up most of their time, and a lot of work to do in connection with club making, reducing their playing time to a minimum, the exhibition of Blair (Shirley) and Clements (Harewood) in the match with Sarazen and Shaw was wonderfully good.

Flying Bail.

Fast bowlers in cricket can make the ball fly, and according to how they connect they can make the bails fly, too. During the senior match University v. Institute, at Kelburn Park, Wellington, on Saturday Tricklebank, the University fast bowler, happened to strike the top of the wicket in such a way as to set a bail spinning through the air as from a catapult (says the “Post”). The bail went so far that some of the players stepped out the distance, and found that the bail had travelled about thirty-six yards. The question arose as to whether this measured up to similar feats given a place in official cricket records. The distance, however, is well short of the record. In a match in Tasmania some years ago a bail, when struck by a ball, was sent just over eighty-three and a half yards.

Consistent Sprinters. C. S. Barrell, the Sydenham sprinter, has been very consistent this season and is showing splendid form. Last Saturday he won the 220yds event in the fastest time of the day. 24sec. The previous week he flashed over the 100yds in 10 2-ssec. Two starts and two firsts in the A grade competition are good going. Barrell is shaping exceedingly well, and looks like extending the best in the competition before the season is out. A B grade runner who is going well is J. A. Gasson (Canterbury), who has led fields home in the 100yds and 220yds. lie is still much superior to many of the younger brigade, and should score many more points for his club. Otago’s twelve Plunket Shield players are all batsmen, with a strong i attack in Badcock, Dunning, Dickin- ! son, Elmes and Moloney (says the “Star’s” Dunedin correspondent). Two colts in Saxton and Smith are include din the team. An unusual position i arises with respect to Moloney, who is ! transferring to Wellington. Under the I rales of the Shield competition, however, he is entitled to play for Otago, although he may reside at the time in Wellington. Under the experienced leadership of Badcock the side should provide cricket of the highest class. There will be any amount of cricket ! over the holiday period. On Christmas j Day Canterbury commence the Plunj ket Shield match against Auckland at ! Lancaster Park. On December 28, I South Canterbury will be meeting a i Canterbury B side at Hagley Park, the I match concluding on Saturday, Dej cember 29. Then, on New’ Year’s Day, I Canterbury and Wellington will begin ! the second Shield match, also at Lancaster Park. Good Thtee-miler. \ C. H. Matthews, the Technical Club’s ; A grade distance runner, again moved ; along smoothly at the inter-club athletic meeting last Saturday, when he ran his own race to win the three-mile event from G. H. Watson, the Old Boys and Canterbury champion. It was Matthews’s first attempt at the longer distance, and the time of 16min 24sec was on the slow side. A faster three miles was done by T. Bartlett (Celtic), who should actually be in the A and not the B grade. Bartlett’s j time for the distance was 16min 19 2-ssec. The long-distance men will have to speed up if they hope to hold their own when the New Zealand championships come round. No Competition. The life of the boxing champion (writes B. Bennison) is sometimes hard. Curiously enough, the more formidable he is the harder it is likely to be. The j reason for this is that opponents are i shy to meet him, and when one is bold ; enough to do so the contest is such a j poor box-office attraction that pro- | moters cannot afford to pay the chamj pion the price he has a right to expect. I Jock M’Avoy, the British middle- * weight champion, is in this unfortunate j position. The Board of Control are j trying to find him opponents, but, i even if they succeed, there are difficulties in the way of matches being made. For instance, the authorities have decided to hold an eliminating contest with the winner of the fight between *AI Burke, the London-born Australian, and George Gordon, of Scotland. to oppose M’Avoy. But the latter has already met and outclassed A 1 Burke, and if he should beat Gordon, who is going to put up a purse for him to meet the champion? As a matter of fact, M’Avoy would overwhelm either man. In private life M’Avoy is Joseph Bami ford, riding schoolmaster and inn-keep-er and. if he insists on staying at home. I think he will continue to find more to occupy his attention outside the ring than in it. I am convinced, however. that he should go boldly out to win the middle-weight championship of the world, which is held by Marcel Thil, the Frenchman. The latter has j been offered £2500 to meet M’Avoy in | Manchester, but he will defend his title \ only in Paris, and this is not unfair |lf the Englishman were champion. I would he be prepared to visit France J simply to satisfy his challenger? If i the men will fight. Jeff Dickson has i promised to stage the match, and it is | up to M’Avoy to accept the conditions, j which are only those which most 1 champions impose.

Fast Scoring.'

Two remarkable fast-scoring feats were recorded in Auckland last week. On Friday, Takapuna Grammar Old Boys were left only ninety minutes in which to pass School’s tally of 220 for four wickets (declared) in the annual match. They actually scored 269 for nine wickets in an hour and a half. R. Emery got 106 (retired) in seventyfive minutes, and J. Cowie (Plunket Shield candidate as a fast bowler) 73 in half an hour. Playing in the Rodney cricket competition on Saturday, Whangarepo scored 100 runs in twenty-five minutes. They still had five wickets in hand, but time was then up and* they lost the match by 44 runs on the first innings, although only one more run would have produced a tie (Omaha, 134 and 57; Whangaripo, 90 and 100 for five). School for Athletes. The summer school for field event competitors, which promises to revolutionise this branch of athletics, will commence at the Waitaki High School on January 2 next, and it is anticipated that fifty athletes will undertake the course of training being arranged under the supervision of competent coaches. The school has been organised -by sub-committees of the Canterbury and Otago Centres of the N.Z.A.A.A., but the final arrangements for it will be made by the North Otago Amateur Athletic Club. The coaches will probably be Messrs W. J. Bennett (Dunedin), G. J. Skeats (Waitaki), R. O. Johnson (Otago), W. J. Batstone and Arnold Anderson (Canterbury), H. D. Morgan (Otago) and J. Spillane and A. A. Cameron (Oamaru), while the physical directors will be Dr Brvdon (Christchurch) and Mr R. E. Dimick (Oamaru). Most of the athletes will arrive at Waitaki on the night of January 1. Those attending the school will have four days’ tuition and will also take part in a demonstration sports meeting on the Oamaru Showgrounds. There are still a few vacancies for the school, and applications for admittance to it must reach the secretary of the Canterbury Centre not later than to-morrow.

A Good Shotmaker. B. S. Smvth, who recently scored well over the century for Collegians against Old Boys, has not a great variety of strokes, but those he has could be copied with advantage by many first-grade players. Smyth, with the advantage of height, drives excellently to the off, and in his defensive play makes a real shot of it, bringing a straight bat hard down upon the ball. It can easily be seen that Smvth at one time must have been coached by Mr Gilbert Reeves at Christas College. Mr Reeves loves to see a man get to the pitch of the ball and hit it hard, while the man who. on defence, lets the ball hit the bat moves him to righteous and justifiable wrath. Smarten the Fielding. The Plunket Shield matches are coming on, and yet the fielding of the firstgrade cricket sides shows little or no improvement from the start of the season. It is inevitable that Canterbury will be weak in bowling this year, so that first-class fielding is especially desirable. Good captaincy and good fielding may carr}' indifferent ' bowling through. The Canterbury selector might give a lead in the right direction if. should he consider any player outstanding in the field, he were to give him representative honours on that account. F. Kerr, a recent century scorer in first-grade cricket, failed in the succeeding grade game. but came to light with a brisk 5& retired against the Country on Wednesday. Kerr has built up his game on sound lines, and it appears that he is getting the confidence necessary for consistent scoring. Against the Country he hit them hard and showed a good eye for the gaps in the field. Athletic Programme. The inter-club athletic competitions conducted by the Canterbury Centre of the New r Zealand Amateur Athletic Association will enter the second round to-morrow, when another half of the championship programme will be decided. The grouping has been altered as follows: —Group 1: Technical, Varsity, Civil Service. Kaiapoi, Presbyterian and New Brighton. Group 2: H.S. Old Boys, Sydenham. C.A.A.C., Rangiora. N.Z. Newspapers, Sumner and Celtic. The programme for A, B and C grade competitors will be as follows: Tavelin throw, 440vds, long jump, 120yds hurdles, shot put, 100yds, 100yds ladies, one mile, 220yds hurdles, high jump, half-mile walk, and high jump (ladies). The events for D grade (under eighteen) competitors will be: ~ 440yds, 120vds hurdles, shot put (121 b) and high jump. Pole Vaulter in Form. The outstanding performer at the inter-club athletic meeting last Saturday was F. S. Barraclough, who cleared lift in the pole vault event, and won the A grade hop, step and jump with 43ft OMn. While Barraclough cleared the bar at lift in the pole vault event, he failed in his attempts when he went to attack the New Zealand record of lift 4tin, established by J. W. Bat» stone. Nevertheless, his performance for so early in the season was highlycreditable, and it will be surprising if he does not set new figures for the event before long. At both of the centre meetings to date the field events ha\e produced good efforts, and when the New Zealand championships come round the prospects are that Canterbury will collect more points in this department than it has done for many