N.Z. CRICKETERS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 100, 30 April 1938, Page 4

N.Z. CRICKETERS

FRANK REVIEW BY WISDEN’S

DID NOT FULFIL EXPECTATIONS

Wisden’s Cricket Almanack to hand from London makes the following reference to the tour of the 1937 New Zealand team:—

"It would be mere pretence to state that.the New Zealanders fulfilled expectations. The team certainly had a better playing record than that of the 1931 side, but for the representatives of a Dominion which, for the first time, had been allotted three Test matches here against ihe full-strength of England, the standard of play m many matches was, frankly disappointing. . . . "One is led to the conclusion that those who picked the team chose bowlers on the assumption that the English .season—so far as weather was concerned —would be the average one and that slow wickets would be the rule rather than the exception. Another fast bowler might have transformed a struggling side into a really formidable team, but no one, ol course, could nave anticipated so many fiard wickets. At the same time, Wisden’s deals with contributory causes to the unsatisfactory form and comments favourably on the brave showing pul up by the New Zealanders in each of (he representatives games, and their success in holding England to a draw both at Lord's and at the Oval, though a glorious opportunity was al lowed to slip by bad catching at Ola Trafford. "Had Cowie been an Australian, he might have been termed a wonder of the age,” adds the editor.

"Page handled hi.s how ling and con ducted the general duties of captaincy in a manner that never warranted

criticism. . . . The batting of lhe youngsters, Wallace and Donnelly was of a, class above that of then colleagues.”