RETURN OF NEW ZEALAND TEAM.
INTERVIEW WITH THE MANAGER. (press association telegram.) WELLINGTON, January 28. _Mr S. A. Orchard, manager "of the New Zealand cricket team, some members of which returned this morning, 6tated that the tour had proved most enjoyable, and could not be called uneuccessful. The members had learned many lessons from a cricket point of view. The hard grounds spoilt the New Zealanders' fielding to a certain extent. Hβ attributed their defeat at the hands of Victoria and New South Wales to the fact that the players were affected by the importance of the occasion. The bowling against them was not of a nature to account for New Zealand's poor scoring. If the matches were played over again he considered that they would do much better. The New Zealanders did not learn a great deal in bowling, and though their bowlers were knocked about, they were treated as Australian bowlers are treated every day. Some > of the team did not do. themselves justice, and could not bo expected to adapt themeelves to the Australian conditions in a month. All showed glimpses of New Zealand form, but some were not ooneistent. The Auckland members of the team and Reese, tho captain, leave Sydney on their return to-day. (sraciAL to "the tress.") WELLINGTON, January 28. In the courso of an interview •to-day Mr Orchard said:—"Sandman, in the country matches, bowled really well, but when pitted against the batting strength of Australia, was made to look easy. Bennett kept a good length, but suffered from the hard grounds, which affected his feet the same as the other men, and that took a good deal of the sting out of his bowling, but in Adelaide he was far and away the best man. By the end of the tour we could not put a sound team into tho field, which proved very conclusively the necessity for the extra man. The team was a very happy family. It was a pleasure to do what I did for them. Each appeared to do his best for the others. I should like to give a word of praise to Reese for his magnificent performance in Adelaide. It was beautiful cricket, and I think the Adelaide public was very surprised to find that we had such a batsman on our side. ' Sneddon was a most consistent batsman in the test matches, and put up some very good performances. Sandman also performed exceedingly well with the bat, and his play was very popular with the crowds. It was breezy and full of enterprise." Boxshall said that, taken all round, the tour, had been most successful. The cricket of the team was much better than the reading of the figures of matches would lend one to suppose. The match at Adelaide was a hne one. for the team included three international players— Hill, Mayne, and Crawford—and Steele, whom Mr Boxshall declares to be the best colt in Australia, and who will undoubtedly attain international honours. It was a strong eide, and the New Zealanders made an excellent fight. Robinson, Wellington's fast bowler, was a discovery. He was undoubtedly tho fastest bowler in New Zealand. The Australian wickets suited him, and he was too fast to be played on matting wickets. The Australians were impressed with him. One great player of a few seasons ago characterised him as "a coming champion." At present he lacks design. The expenses of the tour, it is understood, will be about £20 under the estimate, and tho receipts from £180 to £200 above it.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19140129.2.72.3
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Press, Volume L, Issue 14887, 29 January 1914, Page 8
Word count
Tapeke kupu
592RETURN OF NEW ZEALAND TEAM. Press, Volume L, Issue 14887, 29 January 1914, Page 8
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Press. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Acknowledgements
Ngā mihi
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries.