CRICKET.

Waikato Times, Volume 97, Issue 1600, 31 May 1924, Page 19 (Supplement)

CRICKET.

FENDER IN FORM. P. H. G. Fender, who rattled up (07 in 07 minutes for Surrey against the South Africans recently when tilings were going badly for his side, and who. so far as one can judge from the meagre reports of the County matches that are coming through, has been doing well in other matches, is probably the most interesting personality in English cricket 10-day. Captain of Surrey, there are many who think he should be captain of England too, and when one comes lo consider the wonderful way in widen l.'e leads Surrey, managing his limited .bowlers with conspicuous skill, and gel ting the most out of everyone of iii.s men. (Tom Hayward said in 1914 that he was I he making or the Surrey eleven and the famous old batsman would say the same today), fine can only wonder that the Selection Committee, in their quest for an England captain, have so persistently disregarded him. They started off against the Australians in 192:1 with Douglas, then they appointed Tennyson, and last year Mann was captain of (lie English team in South Africa. H surely must lie nearly Fender's turn. He was born on August 10, 1802, and learned his cricket at St. George's College, Addleslone. He did not take the game seriously there, hut he went in for it in earnest when he went to St. Paul's. There lie mode a name for himself, heading the hatting in 1000 and 1010. While still at that school he was given a place in the Sussex eleven, but he did nothing remarkable. In 1012, however, he did well, and in 101?. slid belter, batting so brilliantly that, not yet 21. he played at Loth the Oval and Lord's. Perhaps his elevation was rather sudden, for he made only 17 runs in his four innings, one of them not out, and he did not bat nearly so well from' then on as he had done earlier. Since that season, however, he has never looked back. He allied himself with Surrey, the County of his birth, in 1014," and as has already been indicated, has had no small ihare in its success. « P. F. Warner says of him: "There is no cricketer before the public today wlio cares less for figures, and it is equally true thai statistics entirely fail lo give any adequate idea of his value. Thin is the case with most match winners, but with Mr Fender it is most emphatically so. Both as batsman and' bowler he invariably shapes his policy lo the needs of Ihe moment, and he never hesitates to make any sacrifice which he considers either necessary or desirable: il i ever occurs to him that he may he risking Ids own average when he sets out to heat the clock." Some idea of Fender's attitude towards actual figures as compared with the real value of the work done may be gathered from a. recent thoughtful article of his on "Tactics ,n Present Day Cricket," in the course of which he discusses Ihe Australian attack of 1021 and the way in which it was handled. lie divides the Australian bowling into three classes: — (1) Fast, attacking, and on occasion devastating type—" Shock troops": (2) medium, perfect-length bowling, which in effect is mere likely to keep runs down then lo get wickets—- " Troops of the line"; (3J Slow, tricky stuff, relying for effectiveness upon deceptiveness or tmusuahmss —"Mining section." He says that the Australian attack was always started with Ihe shock troops, Gregory and MacDonald. If Hiey failed., they were taken off. one end. was closed up with troops of the line, Hendry, Ryder or Armstrong; and. the other end was given to ihe mining seel ion, Mr-.iiey, or perhaps Macartney or Collins. "My mterp'rol.ition of the mining section," lie u'oes on to say. "is that he, should he allowed to offer up a sacrifice of a lew cans, if necessary, in order lo lure Ikj batsman ii lo one of his. leaps." And lalci : -"The Australians regcrdod their mining section, cspeciallY Mailey, as an expensive, but necessary arm to their attack, find ii was instructive lo watch the number of runs ihev would lei him "invest 1 ' so long as Ihe troops of the line at the other end were aide to buwl maidens.

Frequently one saw Moiley's name cm the score board with from 40 to GO runs and no wicket against it, after a continuous hour and a. half’s, or even two tours’ bowling, but if GO had been got off Mailcy in the period, probably onlv 70 to 75 had been added to the total." And so on. The whole article, which is well worth reproducing, if space had pci nutted, goes far to show how 'thoroughly the Surrey captain has studied the question of tactics and to explain his successful leadership. Besides being a good batsman anil bowler, lie is a great slip fieldsman. Of bis work last, year the latest “Wisden” says:—-"Mr Fender must bo spoken of separately. lie was the great all-round force on the side • bowler, batsman, slip fieldsman, and an unequalled captain. He was no doubt disappointed that Surrey did not win more matches, but personally lie had a glorious season. The amount of work ne got through was 'astonishing, hut, he kept fresh to Ihc end. From force of circumstances, the support at his command being so moderate, he bowled 1000 oyers m County matches, but his hatting did not suffer. indeed he has novel combined such sound tlefencc with Iris brilliant hitting. There was a time when lie seemed to think eveiy ball could he hit to the boundary, hut the years have brought restraint. In bowling he stood out by himself witm wickets. As always, with his pronounced spin and variety of device, he was in proportion much better on hard wickets than on soft ones. He is too experimental to keep runs down to the requisite level on a pitch spoilt by rain. lie thought himself that lie had gained control over Ihc ball last summer —and be is a very good judge of ids own cricket. W. A. HUMPHREYS. W. A. Humphreys, whose death was announced from London last week was a Christchurch boy, who went to school at Harrow, where he was in ihc eleven os a fast bowler. Hcturning to New Zealand he played a season or two with the Rue carton Club in Christchurch, but did nothing out of the way apart from an extraordinary last wicket stand against Linwood in February. J'.IOT, wdh Ihc laic Eric Harper, who by ihc way was one of Ihc JPOS All Blacks, ami Insides was at one lime a champion balf-uiilrr. When the north wicket fell Mi'eearton were 185 runs behind but llaruer and Humphreys put, on 188 before the former was dismissed and won the match.