THE SPORTING SPHERE

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXX, Issue 190, 20 August 1935, Page 6

THE SPORTING SPHERE

PHASES AND PERSONALITIES OF SPECIAL MOMENT

New Zealand Golf Championship From October 11 to 19 the New Zealand open and amateur championships will be played at the Christchurch Club’s links. The New Zealand women's golf championships will be played at Heretaunga, Wellington, commencing on October 17. a High Hopes of Lifting Shield According to reports from Dunedin, Otago have high hopes of lifting the shield from Canterbury on September 21 —if it is still in Christchurch. Otago have never yet held the shield. They came fairly close to it in 1933, just going under 8-5 to Canterbury in an exciting match.

South African Prodigy The unusual is always happening in sport: A. D. (Bobbie) Locke, a South African boy golfer, is a superprodigy. At the age of 17 he won both the amateur and open golf titles of his country —and goes on his way unruffled. A day or two ago, over the Irene course, Pretoria, he returned a score of 67. beating bogey by nine

strokes. Just to show this was not a fluke, he went round again in the afternoon in 70. In Pretoria they are speaking of him as another Bobby Jones.

Tempting Bait Immediately .after they had completed the women’s singles final at Wimbledon, Mrs Moody and bliss Helen Jacobs, both of America, received a most tempting offer of £5OOO to play a match in California. Presumably the offer was made to them in order that they would turn professionals, but neither rose to the bait. At the same time it was announced that Miss Elizabeth Rvan, the woman who had won

more events than any other player at Wimbledon and one of tlm greatest doubles .players, either combined or women’s, that the world has ever seen, bad decided to start a tennis school in her native California. This course will i make her a ,professional. »£ Shock Bowler Coming Here H. D. Read, of Essex, now being proclaimed as a shock bowler, is coming to New Zealand in the summer with the M.C.C. team. He is particularly fast on some wickets, easily the fastest amateur in England, but : s inclined to be erratic. However, he has* the pluck to keep on hurling them down, and this makes him a first-class bowler under trying conditions. He made a name for himself last season by taking 55 wickets at an average cost of 20 runs apiece. It is becoming

increasingly apparent that with Langridge, Holmes, Read, Baxter, Sims and Parks, the M.C.C. side will have a strong attack /or Dominion batsmen to cope with in December and January.

Indian Cricketers to Visit N.Z. It is now assured that a team of Indian cricketers, organised by the Maharajah Jam Sahib of Nawanagar, nephew of the late K. S. Ranjitsinhji and elder brother of K. S. Dulcepsinhji, will visit New Zealand in the 1936-37 season. That will be a very busy season in New Zealand cricket. The Indian team’s visit will have to be shortened a little because the English test team which will be in Australia in the 1936-37 season will play some matches in the Dominion, on its wav back from Australia to England. In the same season, too, the New Zealand team which is to visit England will he chosen. » Holders of the Shield The following table gives a list of the provinces which have held the Ranfurly Shield, since it was donated by Lord Ranfurly, <a former Governor of New Zealand. —

Challenges Season Provinces Resisted 1902 Auckland , — 1904- Wellington 4 1905- Auckland 23 1913- Taranaki 6 1914- Wellington 15 1920- Southland 1 1921- Wellington 2 1922- Hawke’s Bay 24 1927 Wairarapa 1 1927 Hawke’s Bay *1 1927 Manawhenua 2 1927- Canterbury 1 1928- Wairarapa 8 1929- Southland. 3 1930- Wellington* 1 1931- Canterbury 15 1934 Hawke’s Bay 2 1934 Auckland 1 *Win disallowed.

The Wanganui-Canterbury, match at Lancaster Park on August 21 will be for the Ranfurly Shield.

Many experienced players say that defending the Ranfurly Shield imposes as much strain on the men taking part as a big international match. No team should be worked to exhaustion for the sake of a trophy. Record Crowds Each Day The two final days at Wimbledon this year were eye-openers (writes Harrv Hopman from London). Record crowds each day. As we left the courts in the vicinity of 8.30 on both Thursdav and Friday nights, the queue, which grew to 1000 byjnidday next day, had already started to form. Some hundred odd people, with blankets, thermos flasks, bottles, wireless sets and gramophones, prepared to hold their places, which some sold in the morning for as much as 30s. Wellington’s Win a Shade Luckv When Manchester, Oliver and Hart left Christchurch to join the All Black team Canterbury were-not regarded in the Nortli Island as serious Ranfurly Shield challengers. But the 1924 and 1928 All Black, W. C. Dailey, and former Canterbury representative forward, N. Carnegie, worked hard in making a team out of the remaining •material. That they succeeded was amply demonstrated in the result of the Ranfurly Shield match in Auckland two Saturdays ago. Further proof that Canterbury is again on the eve of a period on the crest of the Rugby wave was given in Wellington on Saturday, when Wellington, scored a very narrow and possibly a shade lucky win over the holders of the Ranfurly Shield. Batting Well K. J. Viljoen, highest scorer with 122. for South Africa in the match against Gloucestershire, is doing some great work with the hat on his first tour of England. Last month, in the fourth Test at Manchester, he hit up a magnificent 124, his first century in the Old Country. Viljoen (pronounced Fil-june) made his Test debut in his own land when he played against England in three matches during the 1930-31 season, and his form was so good that he won a place in the side that later toured Australia. There he gained distinction by being the only member of the South African side to score a century in the Test matches: 111 at Melbourne. Viljoen’s other game | is lawn tennis, at which he is by way of being expert.

Canterbury’s Captain Geoff. Parsons played in his first representative Rugby match on Saturday at Auckland; he captained the Canterbury side and the side won the Ranfurly Shield—a unique and promising start to what should be a brilliant career in football. Parsons, who is 22 years of age, learned his Rugby at St. Andrew’s College. A month or two back, he was unknown to the big bulk of football enthusiasts, and then one or two fine games played at Rugby Park began to bring him to notice. On July 6, Varsity had an unexpected win against Christchurch by 16 points to 6. and subsequently a critic in this pa r er wrote: “There is not another five-eighth in Canterbury who is showing Parsons’s form and the selectors will have to keep an eye on him. He was the outstanding back on the ground against Christchurch.”’ * Not Allowed to Compete

Because it was feared that GeorgeNepia would jeopardise his amateur status in New Zealand, the New Zealand Rugby Union representative (Mr W. J. Wallace) forbade him to compere against Harry Vallence, the Carlton champion goal kicker, in the footballkicking contest arranged to precede the international Rugby match between the Maoris and Victoria at Carlton. Myles Hyland was selected to act as a substitute after preliminary tests had been conducted among prominent Rugby kickers. The match was of six kicks each from various angles and distance. Vallence, using the dropkick. scored at each attempt, but Hyland failed to register full points. Vallence kicked brilliantly at distances varying from "4U to 75 yards. Erom seven shots he accounted for seven goals (there is no crossbar between the posts in the Victorian code). His last kick covered a distance of\B9 yards. Myles Hyland kicked well, Hut lacked direction.