CRICKET

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 31, 6 February 1935, Page 4

CRICKET

By

"Bastman")

But for the fact that the match co * incided with the Wanganui race meet * mg the attendance at Cook's Garden: last Saturday to see the uiglisl women play would have been easily I double what it was. There was a crowd estimated to be in the \ iciuity 1 of 20UU and the gate takings were be tween £5O and £OO. From a cricketing standpoint the match had a great ileal ot interest, it was a pity, perhaps, that J-.ngland Matted m me morning. From the game's point of view it did not matter, peraaps, except that by giving a display beiore the largest attendance possible would have meant greater encouragement of cricket lor women, lire more people .who saw the English girls in action the greater would nave ueen the incentive to stimulate the game for the fair sex in Wanganui. In other words, the English gills showed that cricket can be brought up to a very high standard among women and made jiist as al tractive, and in some respects more so, than when played by men. Wanganui has not had sufficient time to build up properly, but the game here has great possibiliI ies. While tiie writer does not agree with the contention tuat the English girls would have beaten the leaning men’s club side in Wanganui, it was readily seen that such a match would nave been keener than many were disposed to aumit. The Ei.g’.is.i bowling, for the most part, was oi good leugin, but it offered great possibilities to uatsmen worthy ot the name. Outside of one or two the Wanganui batting was weak. That was the real accounting for the Lail of noughts in the scoring register. England’s bowling was ox average club standard, but the fielding was well above the average, and the wicketkeeping excellent. Ihe picture presented with factors ot that type is easily read. Wanganui, lor the most part, lacked the anility to play bowling that could be played and those in the team who could play it were not equal to evading for very long the fast and accurate English fielding. One of the very patent weaknesses in the Wanganui team was inability to judge when to run. Two wickets were lost through those fatal Hashes of indecision which can only be mastered by players who have tne correct temperament. Running between the wicKets is an art, and it can be made a very valuable art against a sound fielding side. But let there be one weakness in judgment and the penalty is a scattered wicket.

Wanganui's bowling was fair. Its real weakness was lack of consistency. Whether it was exertion or not was hard to tell, but several of the bowlers would deliver three excellent length balls' and then fail miserably to find the length. Miss Snowball, the captain of the English side, who had a sound knowledge of how to handle a bat, played tn-e good length bails defensively. The otners she stepped down the wicket to meet, 'lune and again Wanganui was treated to tiie spectacle of her coming out oi the crease to smack a shori, loose bail away to the boundary. Her treatment of those short pitched balls was surely a. most insistent reminder that ihe basis of good bowling is length. I hat was why Mabel Corby proved better than the others in attack. She bowled good length balls and they handicap the best of batsmen. She had Miss Snowball on defence nine balls out of ten. Having made the foregoing criticism, let it be repeated that Wanganui has no reason to feel discouraged by the

performance against as good a ’women’s team as could be g it together in the world. Many of them are sports mistresses at girls’ schools in England, and in such capacity have every facility foi practice and study of the game. Miss Snowball, for instance, who showed her cricketing ability in a score of 103, is sports mistress at St. Swithin’s, Winchester. England’s wicket keeping was deserving of very high praise. Miss G. Morgan could teach many a man the art of stumping. She is not the first wicketkeeper in the team either. Miss Snowball is first string to that strength, but on Saturday, in consequence of her long term al. the wicket, she went out into the field and gave Morgan the task of keeping. How true were the remarks of one member of the English team that the Australian barracking at cricket never ceases. Barracking comes as second nature to an Australian in all walks of life. He understands his sports down to Ihe finest detail and there are men behind the voices on “ihe Hill ’ who could actually step into the field and show how it ought to be done. There are Inanv more who couldn I, but never mind. They are content to support those who could. Except in Hug >v football New Zealand’s barracking is too dead. There is a reserve about Ihe New Zealander which forbids him to give vent to his opinions, except m Rugby. How barracking is yieweii, however, by those actually in the held is summed" up in that English git s Statement about the ruling atmosphere on Cook's Gardens of last Saturday “This peace is heavenly.” It. was surprising to lind the English girls adorned with stockings i" theirLlaving uniform. The cut ut t it dress inav not have permitted stockings to be discarded, perhaps, but it would surely be belter for the players fo adopt a uniform which would permit, dispensing with articles of apparel long since disposed of in the Dominion. England, of course, sticks very rigidly to the conventions. One of the gn s confided to the writer that "none ot us like wearing stockings, but you see, we have to, and that’s an end ot it. Old England again, with some fantas tic notion that the. world would cease turning if lady cricketers went without, stockings. Next Saturday there will be. a resumption of play in Wanganui Club competitions. Wanganui will face the heavy task of endeavouring to rise out of the. slush the United bowling has thrown the side into. The last partnership is in action and there are 59 runs on the board. twenty-two ate wanted to avoid a follow-on. One wonders what would happen if the terraces of Cook’s Gardens were suddenly transformed into “The Hill” of Sydney fame. It would be interesting to hear the barracking when the match