DREAM TEAM

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21245, 16 October 1940, Page 4

DREAM TEAM

SPORTS CROSSTALK PLUM” WARNER’S CHOICE DISCUSSION WITH C. B. FRY (Times Air Mail Service) LONDON. August 18 C. B. Fry.—Well, Plum, apple of the eye of my youth, do you realise that this is our forty-ninth firstclass cricket season—yours and mine? Sir Pelham Warner.— Fortyeighth, I make it. There is old Bather Time on the top of the grand stand to corroborate. C.B.—Anyhow, you must be grateful, Plum, that your effort, mainly your own personal effort, to keep good cricket going at Lord’s has turned out such a success. P. F. W.—Yes, Charles. But there was a lot of opposition at first. As though it were sacrilegious! But the Philistine has been smitten hip and thigh. And the best of it is, all the Services with one accord have conveyed not only approval but delight. I have been very lucky in the cooperation I received, and I’m especially grateful to the various commanding officers who allowed leave for some of the players. I have had a bagful of letters. C. B.—l’m not surprised. When I passed through W. G.’s iron gates and found Lord’s looking like old times, it was quite a thrill. You have made a little oasis in all this hullabaloo.

Cricket at Home P. F. W.—Yes; and did you see what Jack Seely (Lord Mottistone) said? He said, “If we’ve got to live in an island fortress we might as well have all the fun we can inside it.” Don’t you agree? C. E.—l do. It’s just a matter of perspective. But in a minor, A’aroff way it annoys me to think of what might have been in Australia this winter. I believe we should ] have given the Cornstalks, Uncle Don j Bradman and all, a bit of a shaking, j Lots of stick for certain. And we j might even bowl them out, though ' that is more of a guess. P. F. W.—Pleasant thought, anyhow. An old Australian cricketer —l’ll whisper his name in your ear—who was in the pavilion here last week, said to me: “Sir Pelham, I’ve carried a headache all the way home in the ship, wondering how we would have got your boys out this time. With Leslie Ames seventh on the list and all these new Huttons and Comptons. Where’s our bowling, bar O’Reilly?” C. B.—Yes. But if it’s an Order of Merit I don’t put Leslie Ames seventh; I put him second—for combined power and excellence of technique. But come to that, where is our English bowling? P. F. W.—Forgive me, but I’m sure you underrate our bowling. We always do. We do not give it enough propaganda. Do you know that Don Bradman thinks Douglas Wright, of Kent, as a bowler is the coming Test match winner? He told me he wished he had him, as well as Hutton, Compton and Edrich, to play for Australia. Edrich the Batsman C. B.—Did he, now! I am glad he included Edrich. That talented lad made a lot of runs and was fatuously boomed. Then he had a long bad spell and was fatuously deboomed. Walter Hammond stuck to him and he ended with a double century in a Test match against odds.

D. F. W.—Walter says he likes Bill Edrich because he is such a value in “bits and pieces.” Can field anywhere and catch anything. Is a very useful fast bowler—one of the very fastest for four overs. May make a hundred runs as soon as look at you, and at a pinch. C. B.—And, Plum, he is Middlesex! . . . But also he is young and has done enough to prove his exceptional talent. Never shelve that sort. But our England bowlers, you were saying? p p_ w. —Yes, underrated. We have the best living fast-medium light-hand in William Bowes; Australia has not as good a fast, righthand as Kenneth Barnes. We have probably still the best slow-medium left-hander in Hedley Verity, a veteran, but I think as good as ever he was. Then young Wright. Even Don Bradman regards him as the most dangerous leg-breaker extant. C. B.—But you want another bowler, an all-rounder. p y. W.—Well, I like the brothers Pope, G. and A., of Derbyshire. Fine cricketers and keen. Then there is Philiipson, of Lancashire. C. B.—And I fancy him. too. English Bowling p. F. W.—Then, as a pure bowler there is Copson; better than ever last season and never yet fully tried out in Test matches. Again, as a slow twister, there is Freddie Brown —no one knows what he would do under an encouraging captain. Not to mention Peter Smith, of Essex, perhaps oxer slow, but good. And again, Wilkinson, of Lancashire, who started so well and then went stale, but might easily revive. C. B. —What you mean is that if all this lot came over here from Australia they would be thought positive terrors. As for our batting, no wonder your Australian friend carried a headache. What a list! Hammond. Hutton, Compton. Hardstaff and Ames —all certainties. Paynter still an undiminished force, lefthand. And don't leave out Maurice Leyl and. P p w.—l won’t leave out Maurice t : ll 1 am sure. Archie MacLaren’s dictum was, ’’Stick to the old birds till they have lost their scoring strokes or their fielding/’ C. B.—Yes, and we have some more. There is Charles Barnett, the most consistently successful of our batsmen last time down undei. I like Oldfield, of Lancashire, a fine attacking batsman. And there is Arthur Fagg. P Y\ W.—lf one wants a No. l to partner Hutton what abo’.'.t Paul Gibb? A proved man and a cool hand. And—a first-class reserve wicket-keeper. Then I have a special fancy for young Robertson of Middlesex. You’ll like him. Young, only twenty-one, with time

ahead to be an England No. 2. The Wicket-keepers C. B. —We’ve forgotten about our wicket-keepers. 1 take it Ames would keep again, and he is still tne best* in the world. They tell me that Griffiths, of Sussex, is a candidate. P. F. W.—Griffiths is good. But we can find a reserve for Ames all r.ght. Note, however, that with Paul Gibij picked as a batsman we should have a first-class reserve keeper always in the eleven; a strong argument ior his inclusion. C. B—Yes. and there is a young batsman I like* very much—J. it. Thompson, ol Cambridge. I think he is a coming top-notcher and should be kept in view. P. F. W. -I agree. But .we must not travel too wide. I like to concentrate ar.d to develop with:n at most twenty players. C. B.—Yes; and I like to see Test match teams not merely just chosen but also organised. P. F. W-—So do I. 1 d i:ke to have the men here at Lord's under coherent certification and development. But, alas! When will tne chance come? C. B. —Anyhow, talking does no harm. And you, my dear Plum, deserve well of the nation for not allowing Adolf Hitler to disturb all our ancient national institutions. P. F. W.—You include cricket? C. B.—l do. P. F. W.—Confound it! There’s that siren again. • • •