DINNER GIVEN IN HONOUR OF N.Z. CRICKETER, H. B. CAVE

Wanganui Chronicle, 17 November 1949, Page 4

DINNER GIVEN IN HONOUR OF N.Z. CRICKETER, H. B. CAVE

“The main purpose of the tour of England was to improve the standard of the players chosen,” said Mr. H. B. Cave, the New Zealand cricket representative, at a dinner given on his behalf by the Wanganui Cricket Association at the Rutland Hotel last night. “The selection aimed at choosing a number of young players who, on their return to New Zealand, would carry on the work of helping cricket. Some have greatly improved their play,” he said. Forty cricket enthusiasts, including members of the Management Committee of the association, vice-presi-dents, prominent players both past and present, members of the Umpire’s Association and club representatives were present. Mr. R. I. Sewell was chairman.

Mr. Cave said that the tour was a great success from practically every point of view. He thought that one of the reasons for success lay in the difference of styles between the two countries. English cricket is divided into three classes —county, league and club. "County players are mostly professionals, who are paid a set rate and the rate is increased if a win is gained. Counties vary in the way they pay their cricketers,” Mr. Cave added. ~, „ He thought that many of the English cricketers would find it difficult to make the Wanganui representative team providing they played the same amount of cricket. In his opinion plunket Shield players would have no difficulty in being chosen for county s’des, if they had enough cricket. Because 18-year-old boys were required to do military service, many promising cricketers were lost to the game. On leaving camp, many of these boys were not given the chances by the counties, he added. “Professional cricketers play tor their living and consequently play ■dry’ cricket. Their batting is all Cm the safety side, which takes much sparkle off the game,” Mr. Cave said. “Opportunities for playing first class cricket in England are limited as the result of military service. Youngsters in this country have a better show of reaching first class standard.” He said that club cricket is not of a good standard and only few players are chosen by the counties. However, club cricket is very enjoyable and matches are played in all parts of the country during week-ends. “The main reason for our success was in many cases due to our batting strength. We were ahead of our opponents in forcing the pace. In the early stages of the tour our idea was to win as many games as possible. Even if wickets did fall cheaply we would still try to score quickly,” said Mr. Cave. Mr. Cave said that the grounds in England varied and most of them have their own peculiarities. Lords, the most, famous of all grounds, was the best to play on and had a wonderful atmosphere. The light on the English grounds was fairly poor and did not help the fielding. He said the English players were real nice chaps. Of the captains the tourists had met. G. Mann, Freddie Brown and Norman Yardley were all likeable characters. Mr. Cave thought that Hutton was the soundest and greatest batsman in England. Compton was better to watch but was not as sound. Frank Chester is a great umpire and had raised the standard and set a model to follow. “The English people are still suffering from the effects of war and they are short of practically everything. There are goods in the shops, but most is for export. Their food ration is much below what we live on and I don’t know how they manage to do it,” Mr. Cave said. ‘We had a hard tour and much travelling in the finest summer in 80 years. We got little leisure. The tour was such a happy one despite everything and there was always the spirit of fun, with Scott, Sutcliffe and Smith the main jokers,” he said. The tpast of "Our Guest —Mr H. B. Cave” was proposed by Mr. G. S. Gordon, who mentioned the great cricketing record of the Cave family. The toast “Ex-N.Z. Cricket Representatives” was proposed by Mr. G. Orr and replied to by Messrs. E. H. L. Bernau and Chester Holland. “The Wanganui Cricket Association” was proposed by Dr. F. C. Hutchinson and replied to by Mr. R. I. Sewell.