N.Z. CRICKETERS.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19156, 12 November 1927, Page 20

N.Z. CRICKETERS.

MATCH WITH WALES. BARNES THE BOWLER. (SPICULIT WBITTEir TO* THX PKBBS.) (By Colonel Philip Trevor, C.8.E.) No. XXI.

LONDON, September 23. In spite of their batting failure in their first innings, the New Zealajjders would have beaten Wales had time permitted, and in all probability with some case. This particular match they will remember for one particular reason. It gave them the opportunity of meeting and playing against Sidney Barnes. It would indeed have been a pity if they had left the British Isles without getting on a cricket field, firsthand knowledge of the greatest bowler of the present century. Barnes, cm this occasion, took four witkets at a cost of 47 runs. That in itself was, not a very remarkable performance, but it was sufficiently good to draw attention to the man who was responsible for it.' Now, there are enthusiastic folk in. Wales who will have it that Barnes (now well over fifty years of age) is as good a bowler to-day as ever he was. That, pronouncement, of course, is a better testimonial to the heart gJF the man who makes it than it is to his head. A similar claim lias been made in the past on behalf of other bowlers, notably, Southerton, and the fast bowler, Bestwick. In nono of these cases can it, in my opinion, be substantiated. Be that as it may this much can with truth be said: Barnes bowls well onough to-day to make any intelligent, batsman who plays against him understand how finely he used to bowl. I have called Barnes the greatest bowler of the "century. It may be that history will rank him even higher than that. His claim to greatness lies in the fact that though he introduced no new ingredient into the bowler's pie he so mixed the various existing ingredients that the concoction when he had finished it surpassed in value (though not in appearance) all other pies. Barnes had every one of the bowler's arts not merely at his disposal, but actually at his command. Therein lay the secret nf his success. Flight, direction, length, change of pace without chance of action, spin (off and leg), and up to a. point, swerve. He could and did make the ball do very much what he wanted it to do on the besE of wickets. My first intimate acquaintance with the howling of Barnes was not made on a cricket field, and I here proceed to put in print for the first time a story which it will be seen is germane to the subject in hand. Twenty Years Ago. Exactly twenty years ago I went out to Australia as manager of the M.C.C. team, which under the captaincy of the late A. O. Jones toured that country in the winter of 19071908. Barnes, who was a member of that team, was not even then in his first youth nor was that trip the first he had made to Australia as a member of a cricket team. Besides A. 0. Jones, we had two other brilliant slip-fieldsmen in that side—Kenneth Hutchings and Braund. Parenthetically, I would remark that the best of the Australian judges have long since endorsed the opinion I have ventured to express, namely, that in Jones, Hutchings, and Braund England had the strongest combination in the slips that has ever been seen.

We were not over strong in batting in that team (Hayward, Hirst, Tyldesley, and Arnold having all declined the invitation to accompany it), and we knew that much, if not. everything, would depend upon how Barnes and Fielden were supported in the slips. Our captain decided to get to work at once and on the voyage he ordered slip practice at eleven o'clock every morning. A part of the deck was netted off and this compulsory deck practice affected only six persons'—the three slip fieldsmen, Barnes and Fielden, and Ernie Hayes, who was selected to hold the bat and astutely to use its edge in order to give catches in the slips. It should have affected our wicket-

keeper, Joe Humphries, too, but unfortunately the wicket-keeping gloves had been stowed away in the hold and for the first two or three days we could not get at them. Well, I was not going to allow Joe to run the risk of hurting his hands before our arrival in Australia, so I undertook to do what I could behind the stumps until wioketkeeping gloves were available. I had never seen Barnes bowl before, and the incident of the missing wicketkeeping gloves was the means of providing me with some priceless inside information. Of course, Fielden, though he did not then "stretch himself," bowled much faster than Barnes —and now comes the point of the story. Naturally, I had a good many balls to take. To my amazement Fielden never hurt my hands and Barnes did practically every time I had to take a ball bowled I

by him. I realised then what his spin was—for, of course, it is the spinning ball which hurts a fieldsman's hands. After the first practice "Jonah." (A. 0. Jones) said to me: "Well, what d'you think of him?" I told him of the hand-hurting and I said: "If he can make the ball spin off the smooth polished surface of a ship's deck what's he going to do with it on the turf?" "Jonah" agreed that the deck e>videnoe was conclusive. And here I must ask to be forgiven yet another parenthesis. t So accurately had Ernie Hayes, sacrificing himself in the good cause, learnt to play with the edge of thebat that not for weeks after we landed could he hit the ball with the middle of it. Our slip practice was not wasted though unluckily "Jonah" (who nearly died at Brisbane) was hors de combat for more than two months of the trip. We only won one test match ana that one by .the narrow margin of one wicket. Our batting was not good enough and in the bowling Barnes got but little support. Neither in heart nor in physique was Barnes ever a Tom Richardson. He did not relish being hit, and he was always at his best when early success let him "get his tail up." Nor was he equal to the Physical strain of long spells of bowling. Still, when fresh, it may be said fairly of him that he never bowled a bad ball. Even when he delivered a long hop or a half volley that bad length ball was usually intentional. Just subsequent to playing against the New Zealanders, Sidney Barnes accomplished a really remarkable bowling performance in another match and in that one he bowled so finely that it was not surprising that those who have lately been making on his behalf the claim that he is as good as ever indulged in the "I-told-you-so" argument. For all that, my own opinion on the subject remains unshaken. At the same time I can only repeat that I am glad the New Zealanders did not leave this country without having first-hand experience of a bowler to whom cricket history cannot fail to allot a very high. if riot the very highest, place! Closing Matches. The match against the Cygnets was a holiday affair and when it was over—or rather left drawn—the Tourists journeyed on to Scarborough to wind up the festival there with a match against H. D. G. Leveson-Gower's Eleven. That match is not yet over as I write, but the New Zealanders are already more than safe from defeat- I'own that I am delighted that in batting they are ending as they began—on their top

'note. To the delight of the Scarborough crowd which ia to-day (as it has always been) an essentially cricket loving crowd (and a discriminating one at that) they knocked the bowling all over the place and scored at a fine pace. Those inveterate centnry-getters, Blunt and Mills, were at it again, and it was fine value that the public got for their money. I should be something less than human if I did not own that I am pleased that in September I have not to stand in a white sheet and cry "Pcecavi.-"' After the first match of the tour at Maidenhead I said uncompromisingly. "These fellows will knock our best bowling all over the place, and will go on doing that." Even weather, of which they had no experience, has not daunted them. For the rest, I can leave batting statistics to speak for themselves.

AN EXPERT'S ANALYSIS.

MR H. D. SWAN'S VIEWS.

(l-ROM OTO OWH COaBESPOXOTHT.) LONDON, September 21,

Mr H. D. Swan, who managed the English team of cricketers who visited New Zealand a few years ago, and who was very largely responsible for the arrangements which were made for the visit of the New Zealanders to the Mother Country, has been good enough to express his views regarding the recent tour. Mr Swan is in a position to do this because he travelled with the team to most places where they were playing. It is his opinion that in a general way they have certainly shown themselves to be a very good eloven. "Their batting," says Mr Swan, "has been a delight to watch, and comes as a refreshing change from the somewhat extremely dull cricket we are accustomed to sec in matches. As a batting side thoy compare very favourably indeed with most of the loading first-class teams, and the batting they have put up has been extraordinarily good. "The team came over an absolutely unknown quantity, and they have created a most favourablo improssion wherever they have been, both on and off the field. 'They are the most popular side from the Dominions or Colonies that have ever been over here for many years, and that is the impression I have heard on all hands from people who have como into contact with them, and they have boon a real credit to the Dominion. A Weak Point. "Bowling," continued Mr Swan, I "has been the weak point of the team, j I think- They have not had sufficient i variety of bowling. They lack a really good fast bowler, and they had to rely too much on the slow spin bowlers to get the other sides out. "On the other hand, their ground fielding has been excellent, and their catching improved as the tour went on.In the early matches they certainly dropped a good many catches, but I think that undoubtedly was due entirely to the fact that they are not accustomed in New Zealand to fielding on grounds like ours, especially Lord's, where there are all those big stands and buildings round, and it is only natural that a number of catches were missed in those circumstances. Ready for Test Matches. "Certainly, if they come again, they should have one or two Test matches,

r' , T ■ and I have little doubt that these ; could be arranged. This team £ as > ; metaphorically speaking, put New , Zealand on the cricket map of the world. So far as I personally am concerned, I regard it as a very great privilege to have been able to make arrangements for them and help them in any way, and I shall always do all I can to further the interests of New Zealand cricket over here." . Some anxiety has been expressed in connexion with* the gates, but it must be remembered that most of the counties have lost monev this year on account of the wet season. Most of them have had a tremendous drop in their takings. Looking to the Future. Mr Swan hopes that the New Zealand Cricket Council will ask another team to tour through New Zealand, sav, in about two years' time, and he hopes also that in future New Zealand will take a plac* on the list of the Dominion sides by sending teams regularly to play about every fourth year. He'thinks that 1931 is indicated as a likely date for another visit, and if arrangements are completed he hopes that some of the members of the present team will come again, for the majority of them are young. Seven or eight of them are still in their prime and should form the nucleus of a very good side. Coaches for New Zealand. Several English professionals are going out to coach in New Zealand, and this Mr Swan regards as a very hopeful sign and should help considerably to advance the quality of the game in the Dominion and to extend its interests. By the Corinthic this week L. C. Eastman (Essex) has left for Otago. Eastman is a very useful cricketer and has been an acquisition ' to the Essex County for the last five or six years, when he played as an ' amateur. He only joined the profes- i sional ranks this year. I —>— i i