CRICKET

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 72, Issue 293, 10 December 1929, Page 5

CRICKET

INDIAN AFFAIRS VISIT TO ENGLAND DELHI, December 6. The first general meeting of the Indian Cricket Control Board was held at Bombay and drew up an itinerary for the M.C.C. visit to India in 193 U and 1931, as well as for the Indian visit to England in 1932. The latter side will be all-Indian and will not include any Europeans, except in an ex. tremfe emergency, and then only provided the European included has a qualification of four years’ .residence in India. Their programme will include fixtures against all the first-class’coun-ties and the combined minor counties. There will be matches against M.C.C., Oxford, and Cambridge Universities, two festivals at Scarborough and Folkestone, and. Wales. It is also hoped that there will be one three-day Test match.

EXPERT'S JOB TAKING CRICKET SCORES

SYDNEY, Nov. 28. Recording the scores in a first-class cricket match is no job for a beginner. Australians take their cricket so seriously that it is not to be wondered at that they have produced several experts in this highly specialised job. One of them was the late Mr Joe Taylor, of Melbourne, who was aefordyd the unique compliment of being asked to keep the scores for both England and Australia.

But it is generally conceded that no scorer has passed in efficiency the late ‘‘Gene’’ Healy, whose death occurred in Melbourne a day or so ago. He was an expert on the mathematical side of cricket and his legal training made him a recognised authority on the interpretation of the laws of the game. Spec, tutors near the scorer’s seat often expressed surprise at the speed with which he was able to give progress results to the Press. Every time a run was scored there was an entry to make to the batsman, the bowler and to the total. If the umpire signalled byes, a “no ball,” a wide, .or one short, the scorer had to acknowledge the signal instantly and interpret it correctly, Mr Healy reduced all this to a fine art. Before play each day he set his watch by the pavilion clock, from which the -umpires took the time. When the batsmen took guard the time was recorded and thus when a batsman reached 50 or any multiple of it his time was instantly announced, with the number of boundary strokes he had made. The score sheets used by Victoria in first-class matches were resigned by Mr Healy. They are much larger than those in ordinary use, there is space, for example, for the recording of 42 overs for each bowler. In addition to this, Mr Healy used a pad ruled in columns for the progress total and for the total of the batsmen with a progressive list of fours. The whole system has been termed as the last word in efficiency and it is not easy to sec how any scorer could improve upon it. So keen was Mr Healy on the task that he made peculiarly his own, that he visited every State in the Commonwealth with the Victorian teams, paying his own expenses. For his services he was awarded the gold medallion of the Victorian Association —the equivalent of life membership. There was public surprise when an inquest revealed that Mr Healy had committed suicide by cutting his throat.