CHOOSING OF TEAMS

Waikato Times, Volume 118, Issue 19762, 18 December 1935, Page 8

CHOOSING OF TEAMS

SELECTORS’ DIFFICULTIES. PLAYERS DESIRING HELP. HAWKE CUP CHALLENGE. “ It is a great pity when the winning of the Hawke Cup means so much to cricket and the district that we are unable to send our best team away to challenge for the trophy,” commented Mr A. E. Gibbons at the meeting of the South Auckland Cricket Association last evening. “ The reasons advanced by tile players approached for selection and not making the trip range from lack of means, difficulty of obtaining leave, desire for another form of holiday and to, in one case, no tangible reasons. “ The expenses incurred would he train 40s, accommodation 30s, and say £1 for pleasure. For £4 10s the players would have a pleasant holiday and a great cricket match thrown in. Perhaps for some this is a drain on their finances,” he added. Difficulty of Leave. “ Leave is a difficulty as it would mean an hour off for shop employees on Xmas Eve and the whole day Friday, but I feel sure that if employers were approached in the right manner, knowing what it means to their employees and the district, they would co-operate. “ Respecting the players that come under the other two categories, I feel with the selector that if, on the very rare occasions players are asked to travel, they are not willing to do so, that they should be dropped from representative teams playing at home. “ It is very poor encouragement to us who come here week in and, week out and give untold time and money in helping to run cricket, to find that those who ’ obtain their pleasure through your work are unwilling to put themselves out a bit in the interests of the game,” Mr Gibbons remarked. Chances of Selection. 11 In view of the many engagements of the major associations and the outcry at the annual meeting of the New Zealand Cricket Council, there is a distinct possibility of a "large number of minor association players being included in the North Island team this year. The holders of the Hawke Cup would be sure of getting representatives in tlie team and one or two >of those not going south would have had excellent chanCes of gaining the North Island team and perhaps New Zealand honours for next year’s tour. “Another point, by not making the effort they are in a degree letting the association, their team mates who are going, and junior cricket, down. “ One of the most regrettable features in modern sport is that players expect everything to be provided for them, but they must not in any way be expected to put themselves out. This feature is very noticeable in many other sports and 1 am sorry to see it creeping into cricket.”

Mr N. Winger was of the opinion that the association should concentrate on getting its best team away otherwise it was useless going down. The question of the association providing some of the players’ expenses was discussed but it was considered impossible to help irri this direction as the association had no funds whatever.