THIRD CRICKET TEST OPENS TODAY

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20887, 19 August 1939, Page 22 (Supplement)

THIRD CRICKET TEST OPENS TODAY

England Play West Indies : Tuo Games Already Decided : Home Selectors Are Experimenting : Headley Only Visiting Batsman Scoring Well : Averages Of The Players : Rugby Rules third and final cricket Test between England and West Indies will commence today and, in view of the changes in the English side and the fact that the West Indian batsmen have been showing better form of late interest will centre in the fixture. There is no doubt that the English selectors are experimenting in the hope of building a strong team for Australia in 1940-41 when they hope to regain the Ashes. The West Indies, at present, hold the Rubber, having defeated the M.C.C. tourists when they were last on tour. This was when English teams were beaten successively by South Africa, Australia and West Indies and England is endeavouring to regain its lost prestige. They have regained the Rubber from South Africa and look like regaining it from West Indies. There is no doubt that the standard of cricket in England is improving rapidly again and the team that next tours Australia will be far more confident than teams for some time past. Many brilliant young players are maintaining their form and, although there is an apparent dearth of new bowlers over the past two months some new talent has been surprisingly successful. By the time the next team is selected it can be expected that there will be a number of new names bearing the brunt of the attack with such brilliant run-getters as Hammond, Gompton, Hutton, Paynter, Hardstaff, Edrich, Bartlett and company to score the necessary runs.

The two tests this year definitely established the superiority of the English batsmen and indications are that the side whi’ch will visit Australia in quest of the Ashes in 1941 will be particularly strong in this department of the game. In the four innings of the two major fixtures with the West Indies, England attained its objective on all occasions without losing all 10 wickets. The first test, which was won by England, was marked by the formidable total of 404 for five compiled by the home team and after dismissing the West Indies for 177 and ‘225 only 100 was required for victory. This was accomplished when two wickets were down. In the second test England declared at 164 for seven and 128 for six, and dismissing the visitors for 133 and 43 for four. The game was drawn. Both matches revealed powerful batting by the Eng- i lish side and which completely over- I shadowed the West Indies. Although Hammond made a valiant effort in the second test to force a victory by applying the closure before 200 had been reached it appeared that the English rate of scoring was too slow to allow the bowlers the chance of a chance to dismiss the West Indies before the close of play on the last day. • • • • The final test at the Oval should prove interesting in view of the position of the rubber. With England victorious in the first encounter and the second fixture played to a draw, the West Indies will make a valiant attempt to obtain a vfetory in the third game. England, however, has experimented widely with its team, four changes having been made from the team which met the visitors at Manchester. The most surprising feature of the new side is the dropping of W. E. Bowes, who in the latest series has proved beyond doubt the star bowler on the English side. He tops the averages with 11 wickets captured at a cost of 176 runs. Copson is another surprise omission considering he is second to Bowes in the bowling table. However, Nichols has been bowling at the top of his form of late and should prove a reliable substitute, while Perks, the Worcestershire fast bowler, should be an able successor to Bowes. N. Oldfield, who will be remembered by New Zealand followers of the game, is an attractive young batsman who is likely to prove a valuable assest to the English side. • • • • The West Indies is a very interesting team in ordinary first-class cricket, but when it jumps into the tests not many, apart from George Headley, appear to have developed dependable batting powers, supported by confidence in themselves. Headley is a wonder. Temperamentally he is equal to any star in the white men's countries. He is in line with Don Bradman and W. R. Hammond. He proved that when he played in Australia. Unless the billiard table is provided for their batting and a sticky one for that of England, it is not easy to forsee the West Indies breaking through to its first test success in England. Headley scored practically as many runs in the two Tests already played* as the next four batsmen. His total is 2C9 and though the others are Grant, 102; Sealy, 71; j. Stollmeycr, 74; and Weekes, 36. this season at least, it is a case of Headley first and the rest well back in the field. Only two England v. West Indies Tests have been played at the Oval. England won by an innings and 71 runs, and by an inings and 17 runs, its totals being 438 and 412. The coming match is restricted to three days. • • ‘ • • The omission of Verity in the second test, as things developed, was not a stroke of cricketing wisdom. On the impaired wicket he might have gathered in a number of wickets. His ! omission from the Oval Test will not • involve so much risk. For test cricket : the West Indies batsmen, Headley ex- 1 cepted, are apparently not high-class ; under English conditions. The two j matches have shown them to be col- ; lectively outclassed, with Headley ! towering over his colleagues. After all the West Indies batsmen i have made plenty of runs in matches ! other than tests. Their highest is • 510 for three wickets against Notts, J when Headley made 234 not out and 1 Sealey 115. The West Indies captain, ■ Grant, won the toss at Lord’s and i Manchester. If he wins it again at The Oval he will have done the hat- ! trick and equalled the feat of F. S. Jackson, C. B. Fry, M. A. Noble, and W. R. Hammond in England v. Aus- j tralia matches. It is impressive that < L. Hutton is running true to form and i standing created in tests with Aus- ! tralia and South Africa. Still more so. is the batting of the Middlesex colt. D. Compton. Patsy Hendren regards Compton as an exceptional player and he is living up to it. Second top scorer in each match, he made 120 ajt Lord's j and 34 not out at Manchester. • * * * Hammond looks like attaining an- i other 3000 runs aggregate for a sea- ; son. He has already reached that j number three times, with 3336 hirh- j est. Last season the captain of Eng- j land totalled 3011,

He is 36 years of acre. They |a> longer in England than in \uslrali. Perhaps it is due to more criclo played there keeping them fit and i form. It may also be due in son

athletes to last it out longer at theii best or near their best. Hugh Trurnbk said more than once that it was easici to bowl for long stretches in Knglanc than in Australia because of the lesstrying climate. In any case we arc to see Hammond the Great once again in action in this counlrv.

More than one -writer of note in England discusses the need for trying out a new left-hand bowler, to eventually take the place of H. Verity against the West Indies. It is not due to any deterioration in the Yorkshire bowler (who, by the way, has taken his hundred wickets again), but to a desire for new blood, which might stifTen the “tail” in test cricket, including this season's with the West Indies. In the Sunday Chronicle, for instance, we read: “As a Kent man, I am confident that perseverance with 4 Doug 4 Wright will return England a good dividend, but when I come to that ever-constant need in an ideal team—a slow left-hander—l am in a bit of a quandary. Hedley Verity is the best of the type, but there is nothing new we can learn about this Yorkshireman. If a further experiment 'can be justified the selectors might do worse than include Emrys Davies, of Glamorgan, a good left-hand bowler, a fine bat, and a safe field. His inclusion would upset the batting order somewhat, but he would shorten the tail. Verity’s age is 34, not too old for an English bowler of his character. But the idea of developing another of his steady type is very good. England has rarely, if ever, been without a topnotch slow to medium left-hander. • • * •

Promising English Bowler At a time when England is searching for a young Test cricket bowler, attention has been drawn to P. A. MacKenzie, the 21-years-old Hampshire all-rounder, who appears to be the man to watch to take over the brunt of England's attack. Almost immediately he left school MacKenzie, who is a native of Canterbury, joined the nursery staff of the Ken-t County Cricket Club. His promise as a leg-

break and googly bowler was not doubted, but it soon became obvious to .MacKenzie, and his advisers, that he would have to play “second fiddle” to Douglas Wright, and it was this fact which influenced young MacKenzie to join Hampshire. Last -season MacKenzie qualified for Hampshire, and made two or three appearances witiiout doing anything sensational. Recently, however, he surprised Lancashire, as well as his own colleagues, by taking a brilliant 76 runs of the bowling of Phillipson, Wilkinson, Nutter, and Co., and playing another useful not-out innings when his side batted again. Like most young bowlers of this type, MacKenzie is rather area tic in his length, hut he has pluck, and can spin the ball, and Hampshire, badly in need of a bowler or two just now, mean to give him every encouragement. lie is sure to repay them. Advantage Law In Rugby The Hamilton Rugby referee this week deals with the advantage law, and writes: — "I was sitting in the stand a Saturday or so ago when I heard the following remark: ‘Well what do you think of that? The Frankton man threw the ball in from touch not straight—Old Boys got it in tlie line*»ut and their backs were away with the ball. The referee pulled up the game and gave a scrummage. lie does not know much about the “advantage law.” “Now the explanation for this is quite simple. It is not generally understood that the advantage law docs not apply to all phases of the game. In most instances where the game is being started, i.e. at the commencement of the game, and half-time, after a breach for which tlie penalty is a penalty kick, and when the ball is being thrown in from touch the advantage Jaw does not apply. Those wise men who framed the laws of Rugby football t-.ok this view: “When a -■.ini-' has to be started in a prescribed manner the law must he adhered to in every detail and so they stated quite definitely that the advantage law does not apply in the instances I ha\e

I given. This advantage law is not as simple to apply as one would think. Some games run right for the referee. When he waits for an advantage to be gained the non-offending side make no mistakes and the- game runs like a well-oiled machine. On other occasions when he allows the advantage the thing breaks down and we have the spectacle of a side gaining a very appreciable advantage after quite a simple knock-on. On these occasions 1 would ask you to be a little charitable to the referee whose job is not a simple one by any means. ‘•Let us sum up the advantage law as follows: It applies to all phases of the game except the kick-off, dropout, the penalty kick, the free kick, and the throw-in from touch. The referee applies the advantage rule by not blowing his whistle for a breach if the non-offending side gain an advantage. All in a split second the referee has to decide shall I blow, or shall I let go. But there are many more factors which enter into the matter than these. Should there be any problems which are puzzling you write to the sports editor. I will endeavour to give you a reply, but reon ember this, 1 will not criticise any of my fellow referees. State the facts as you saw them and 1 will give you the decision I would give.”

FIRST WATCH England West Indies Won by 40 i-5 .. -27 7 .. England 100-2 .. 225 SECOND MATCH 164-7* .. 133 .. Drawn 128-6* .. 43-4 . BATTING England In. N.O. II.S. Runs Avge. D. Compton ... 3 1 120 158 79 00 L. Hutton .... 4 0 190 242 00.50 .1 IlardstafT ... 3 l 70 79 39 50 W. R. Hammond 4 1 34 98 32.06 E. Paynter .... 4 l 34 75 25.00 H. Girnblett .... 2 0 20 42 21.00 A. Fagg 2 0 32 39 1 9.50 A. Wood 3 1 26 27 13.50 D. V. P. Wright 1* 0* West Indies G. Headley .... 4 0 107 209 67.05 R. S. Grant .... 4 0 47 102 25.50 J. E. it. Sealey 4 1 29 71 23.66 J. Stollme.ver .. 4 0 54 74 I8.50 K. H. Weekes ..20 20 30 18.on L. Constantine .3 0 1 7 31 10.33 E. A. V. Mart indale 8.33, L. G. Hylton 8.50, g. F. Gomez 5.50. L. Barrow 4.00, J. H. Cameron 2.00, C. B. Clarke 0.50. BOWLING England O. M. R. W. Avg. W. E. Rowes .. 69 17 176 1 1 16.00 W. Copson ..52 7 135 11 1 6.81 T. W. Goddard 7 — 5 4 2 27 00 n. V. P. Wright 38 2 161 6 26.83 II. Verity ... 30 7 54 2 7.00 D. Compton .. 0 8 West Indies R. W. Avg. R. S. Grant 39 2 19.50 R. Clarke 87 4 21.75 .1. H. Cameron 8 8 3 2 9.33 I. F. Constantine .... 156 5 31.20 I.. G. Hylton 168 3 56.00 E. A. Martindale .... isi 3 00.33 Williams 0.23, J. Sealey 0-23.