MERRITT PENALISED
“BREACH OF UNDERTAKING.” DEBARRED FROM NEW ZEALAND ELEVENS. (By Teleeranh Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, Monday. An official announcement by the Management Committee of the New Zealand Cricket Council states that W. E. Merritt will not, in future, be invited to play for New Zealand. This is in consequence of Merritt’s breaking his undertaking to the council by signing an agreement with the Rishton Club, Lancashire, to play for it in 1932 and 1933. The official communication from the New Zealand Cricket Council to the newspapers reads:— “Prior to the departure for England of the New Zealand cricket team the committee decided, as a matter of policy, that no member of the team should be allowed to accept a cricketing engagement in England for a period of two years after his return to New Zealand. Each member of the team gave an undertaking to the t. council that he would not accept any such engagement. On August 1, 1931, while on tour, Merritt signed an agreement with the Rishton Club, in the Lancashire League, under which he has agreed to play for that club during the seasons 1932 and 1933.
Merritt did not inform the manager of the team or the council of either the negotiation or the agreement. He has admitted to the committee that he has broken the undertaking he gave to the council. “The committee has given careful consideration to the unfortunate position which has been created by Merritt’s breach,of the undertaking. With great regret the committee has decided that the breach of an undertaking cannot be passed over, and it has therefore decided that Merritt will not in future be invited to play for New Zealand.” LEAVING IN FEBRUARY. Merritt leaves on February 28 to fulfil his engagement with the Rishton Club. He will return in September, 1932. In the meantime the ban does not affect his eligibility to play for club and province. In an interview, he made no comment, except that he would abide by the council’s decision.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WAIPO19311222.2.50
Bibliographic details
Waipa Post, Volume 43, Issue 3391, 22 December 1931, Page 5
Word Count
334MERRITT PENALISED Waipa Post, Volume 43, Issue 3391, 22 December 1931, Page 5
Using This Item
NZME is the copyright owner for the Waipa Post. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of NZME. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.