"ASHES" QUEST.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 224, 21 September 1928, Page 7

"ASHES" QUEST.

CHAPMAN CHEERED.

Horseshoe And White Heather

For Luck.

ENTHUSIASTIC SEND-OFF.

(Australian and N.Z. Press Association.)

LONDON, September 20.

There was tremendous enthusiasm at Victoria Station at the departure of the English cricket team for Australia. Hundreds of enthusiasts assembled at the entrance to the station at 8 a.m.

Many young girls admiringly watched the, arrival of the captain, A. P. F. Chapman, half-an-hour before the train departed, and he was immediately surrounded by the crowd. Chapman, who was wearing a sprig of white heather, blushed furiously and laughed outright when a girl audibly expressed her admiration.

Mr. P. F. Warner, the famous Middlesex batsman, and the selectors chatted with Chapman as the crowd surged toward the barrier, while P. G. Fender, J. W. Trumble, the old Victorian player, and Sir Granville Ryrie, the Australian High Commissioner, wished the team bon voyage. The crowd warmly greeted each player as he arrived, shouting out best wishes and using their nicknames. A few minutes before the departure of the train Hobbs rushed along the platform, weariilg a large white heather horseshoe buttonhole. Over 1000 people were crowded beside the Pullman car. The photographers had a very difficult task in taking the team. The members assembled laughing, and looking tanned and very fit. When the West Indian cricketer Small handed Chapman a huge gilt horseshoe bound with the Marylebone colours and tied with white heather, Chapman hung it on the carriage door, amid rotfsing cheers. Then he. put his head through the horseshoe amid redoubled cheering. The crowd called for a. speech from Chapman, who smiled in reply. As the train started to move one man shouted: "Good wickets and good luck! Keep the ashes!" "You bet we will," replied the players. "Make a century in every Test," was a remark made to Hobbs, which caused applause. As the train steamed out the crowd cheered wildly, and hundreds of people ran along the platform. The cricketers at the windows waved till the train disappeared. Among the well-known cricketers at the station were Arthur Gilligan, Nigel Haig and Lord Harris. While Mead was endeavouring to reach his carriage a wag shouted out: "Let him get in. They will never get him out." The members of the team are:—A. P. F. Chapman (Kent), captain; J. C. White (Somerset), vice-captain; D. R. Jardine (Surrey), J. B. Hobbs (Surrey), H. Sutcliffe (Yorkshire), E. Tyldesley (Lancashire), W. R. Hammond (Glouces' tershire), M. W. Tate (Sussex), M. Leyland (Yorkshire), H. Larwood (Notts), L. Ames (Kent), A. P. Freeman (Kent), E. Hendren (Middlesex), C. P. Mead (Hampshire), G. Duckworth (Lancashire), S. J. Staples (Notts), and G. _ Geary (Leicestershire).

CRICKET TESTS. Australia Decides On Selection Committee Of Four. TEAMS FROM OVERSEAS. (Received 12 noon.) SYDNEY, this day. The Australian Board of Cricket Control decided that there shall be four on the selection committee for the forthcoming Tests against England. The names have not yet been announced. It was also decided to invite West Indies and South African teams to visit Australia between 1929 and 1932. WIVES NOT BANNED. MRS. CHAPMAN IN PARTY. (Australian Press Assn. —United Service.) (Received 1 p.m.) LONDON, September 20. Thousands farewelled the cricketers at Folkestone quayside, including Ames' old school chums. Mrs. Chapman was excited at the prospect of getting to her home in Hawke's Bay, New Zealand, and joined her husband, with whom she was photographed on arrival at the quayside, with a horseshoe round her neck.