CRICKET

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19718, 8 December 1926, Page 4

CRICKET

TO TOUR ENGLAND NEW ZEALANDERS’ ITINERARY. ’ LONDON, Dec. 6. The fixtures for the New Zealanders’ cricket tour have been issued. The team has practice games on May 4 land 7. It will then open the real programme on May 9 at Holyport against Martinian’s eleven, winding up the tour on September 10. AUCKLAND DISSATISFIED, NO REPRESENTATIVE ON SELECTION COMMITTEE. (Per Press Association). AUCKLAND, Dec. 7. The fact that Auckland is not represented on the selection committee to choose the New Zealand cricket team to tour England next year was commented upon at a meeting of the management committee of the Auckland Cricket Association to-night, and it w r as decided to forward a letter of protest to the New Zealand Council. Speakers alleged that it was unfair that the North Island should be allowed only one of tho three selectors; it being contended that the standard of play in the North was appreciably higher than in the South. The unanimous opinion was that Auckland had not received fair treatment in the matter. It was made plain that Auckland did not want to introduce a spirit of parochialism into the matter, and would do all possible toward assisting in taking up shares to finance the tour. TEST REFORMS FOUR DAYS’ PLAY. LONDON, Dee. 6. “The Oval test was an unqualified success and proves the necessity of the allocation of four days’ pltay,” said Sir Edwin Stockton at the annual meeting Edwin Stockton at the annual meeting of the Lancashire Cricket Club. “Personally I believe that a settled policy of four days’ pliay would be more satisfactory, owing to England’s varying weather conditions. The Australians would have to fight hard to regain the ‘Ashes,’ especially if more Lancashire players were included in the English telams.” He added that over-prepared wickets greatly handicapped the bowlers, and a smaller ball was a reform in the right direction . SHEFFIELD SHIELD N.S.W. AND QUEENSLAND. CENTURY TO MACARTNEY. Received Dec. 7, 9.20 p.m. SYDNEY, Dec. 7. The Sheffield Shield match, New South Wales v. Queensland, commenced to-day. New South Wales in their first innings made 287—Macartney 114, Andrews 62, Ratcliffe (in) 28. Bowling: Gill 3 for 89, Bensid 3 for 26, Oxenham 3 for 29. Queensland in their first strike have lost 2 for 48. The weather was fine and the wicket good. The home side opened badly, losing three for 37. Macartney stopped the rot, and in partnership with Andrews runs came quickly. Macartney giving a polished display with all manner of shots on both sides of the wicket. Shortly after he was dismissed Andrews went, after playing a valuable innings. The remainder of the side was unable long to survive the exceptionally brilliant Queensland bowling. The fielding also wa~s very keen. VICTORIA SCORE WELL BIG INNINGS BY HENDRY. Received Dec. 7. 10.35 p.m. ADELAIDE, Dec. 7. Victoria in the second innings made 430 —Woodfull 84, Hendry 177, Willis 33. Bowling: W’illiams 6 for 146. South Australia have 3 down for 393—Schneider 28, A. Richardson 37. The weather was dull and threatening, and tho wicket good. Woodfull was unfortunate in being run out off the third ball after the commencement. Hendry played a fine fighting finnings, scoring at a rapid rate on all sides of the wicket. He never gave a real chance. South Australia still require 172 runs to win.

TOWN v. COUNTRY GAME ON FRIDAY WEEK. Arrangements in connection with tho Town v. Country match, to be played on the Basin Reserve, Wellington, commencing on Friday week, are well in hand. The matter was further dealt with at a meeting of the Wellington Cricket Association on Monday evening. In forwarding the personnel of the Country team. Mr A. M. Ongley, of Palmerston North, the sole selector, had the following to say in a covering letter: —• “There appear to he plenty of useful 'batsmen offering, but good bowlers appear to be scarce in the country associations. Hope's illness robs the team of a good deal of its bowling strength. The country is well off for keepers, Lowry, Kingston and Ritchie all being available for selection. Kingston and Lowry are good batsmen as well as keepers. The. only bowlers new to Wellington are Clarke and Mitchell. Clarke is the Taranaki bowler who did so well against Wanganui. He is a right-hand fast-medium bowler, making pace off the pitch, and swings under suitable conditions. Mitchell is a right-

fcand sSw I Ibaw, not ii»d an opportunity of soeing hint in action, but he is highly recommended by Worker, and, as I have said, there were not many bowlers offering. On the whole, I think the team should be quite capable of giving a good account of itself. Some familiar names may be missing because wherever possible I have given preference to the younger brigade.” On the suggestion of Mr Ongley, it was decided to appoint T. C. Lowry captain of the Country team.

The Town Team. The Town team has not yet been completely selected, but the sole selector, Mr K. H. Tucker, has picked nine players, as follows: —W. S. Bryce captain, J. 8. Hiddleston, H. M. McGirr, B. J. Kortlang, K. C. James, H. Lambert, A. M. Hallings, F. T. Badcock and M. Henderson. The two remaining players will be picked after next Saturday’s games. The same team will also represent Wellington against the New Zealand Minor Associations on December 21 and 22. SPEEDING UP CRICKET W. R. PATRICK’S PROPOSAL. WILL RECEIVE CONSIDERATION. At the conclusion of their ordinary business meeting last week, the executive of the Canterbury Cricket Association spent some time discussing their rules, which were gone through with the idea of placing any new proposals before a special meeting of the association on December 14. One of the most important proposals was that brought forward by Mr W. R| Patrick in regard to the competition matches. Instead of the present method of postponement from Saturday to Saturday Mr Patrick suggested that the draw be made out right at the commencement of the season, and that no more than two Saturdays should be devoted to any one match. The efftet of this would be that if the first Saturday was wet one team or the other would have to speed up the following Saturday in order to obtain a definite result. Failing a first innings win by either side the game should be drawn and each side awarded one point.

On the other hand play on the first Saturday would no doubt be brighter as the teams would go for all they were worth, not knowing what the second Saturday would bo in regard to the weather. FUTURE BOWLERS ’ WHAT IS WANTED, TEAUBING THE YOUNGSTERS. Maderu bowling mar bti Qivlflefl late fOflp classes—Fiistj iflfediuifl ifledluHl (.break.)and fclew-. FleVitnis id Uld AUbtrrtUafi fedtH ifl j&iid h It as ikoughfe adtisabld ib tivU fa£d blit And Gregor.V ini that OeeaMiuh jji’bVOfl IWd bdwifcfs id bd fl t'Oiflbinftiioiii wfitofi Arlhui' Mnih'Y io thd Uh the deea : sibfi two Mtrw 4wwhra bore the biuflt the fttUek and obtained twio.p as wiekeU as all the otkef bowlete i put together, I am not g°hig to predict whether ; fest or slow bowlore will be auoeeee;ful in England during next tour, Per= I Imps two left=handeru will be ealled i upon to do all tho work. What is ne> cesßary in first-class cricket now are bowlers who cun get wickets. I cannot imagine the selectors of the future saying, “Now let us pick our best fast bowler, then our best slow bowler, after which we will choose a lefthander and a medium—unless they are all sure wicket-getters. If three fast bowlers were capable of winning matches I would pick them and forget about a varied bowling combination altogether. In order to keep up with the times and combat the efforts of the batsmen, some of whom are reducing, or elevating, the science of self-preservation, and defence in such a way that we find even tail-end-ers setting their teeth and defying the onslaught, it will be necessary for the slow bowlers of the side to commence the attack by swinging or swerving the ball.

The Swerve. Young bowlers can be taught to bowl the in-swerve and out-swerve much quicker than googly or fast bowling. Therefore, I would not be surprised to find the slow bowler swinging the new ball for five or six overs, which is about the life of a seam-swinging ball in Australia, then rearranging his field and dropping back to googly bowling. This may appear to be a very ambitious suggestion, but the possibilities are apparent. If the bowler who relies solely on medium pace is a firstclass batsman his inclusion would be welcome; but it seems superuous to carry a bowler about who bobs up every time 200 runs are scored and bowls five or six overs while the ball is new. On an English tour a stock bowler cannot be expected to win matches wth his batting. The tour is far too strenuous. Macartney’s performance was sufficient proof of this. He began the tour by bowling in splendid form, but after being called upon to bat the whole thing was beyond a joke, and there were times when his bowling had to be sacrificed to keep him free for batting. r No Batsman. I may be forgiven for quoting my own particular case. There were dozens of occasions when I never tried to bat, not that it would have made much difference to the English bowlers’ averages if I had. Nevertheless, I needed what little physical energy I possessed for bowling, and after all, looking at the affair purely from a spectacular standpoint, who wants to pay two or three shillings to see me floundering about the batting crease?

The N.S.W. Cricket Association is to be congratulated on making a serious attempt to discover and develop whatever bowling talent there is available. Although many things arc learned on the bitter road of experience, there are times when a young bowler can be shown a short cut to tactics that otherwise might take years-to accomplish. Therefore a young slow bowler can be taughf to seam swerve a ball. It is not a big load to carry, and it may come in very handy. To a self-made bowler the first ten years is always the worst.