CRICKET

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22512, 21 September 1938, Page 4

CRICKET

OPENING OF SEASON SECOND SATURDAY IN OCTOBER PLAY PROBABLE ON ELECTION DAY <• October 8 has been agreed on as the opening day for the Canterbury Cricket Association's grade competitions this season. The decision was made at last night's meeting, of the management committee of the association It was decided in the meantime to make no decision to abandon play on the following Saturday, which is election day. , Mr W. L. King was again elected chairman, and two new members were elected—Mr T. Tucker, assistant honsecretary, and Mr M. Graham, representing the Old Boys Club. Committees for the season were elected as follows: A „u„ tt Competitions—Messrs C. H. Ayling, E. C. Burns, and T. Tucker. Postponements-Messrs C. H. Ayling, R. H. North, and P. J. Byrne. Minor Associations-pMessrs . Burns*, Byrne, and King- „ _ , - Delegates to the New_ Zealand Cricket Council—Messrs E. R. CaygiU (resident)) and W. L. King (special). Lancaster Park Board DelegatesMessrs Burns, King, and C. S. Thompson. e Coaching Committee—Messrs Q. »• A. Biltcliff, R. H. North, and G. H. Robertson. ... • «„„ Delegates to Umpires' Association— Messrs North, Graham, and J. L. Kerr. Delegate to Pioneer Sports ClubMr North. . . . Delegate to Greenkeepers" Association—Mr Stringer. , The meeting referred to a cornmrttee the question of what meal-times should be observed now that a reversion has been made to two-tlay matches, and a committee will also consider the allocation of points in competition matches.

SUMMER USE OF RUGBY PARK ATHLETICS TO REPLACE CRICKET EFFECT OF ALTERATIONS TO GROUND An outline of the steps leading to the relinquishing of Rugby Park by the Canterbury Cricket Association was given at a meeting of the management committee of the association last night by its chairman, Mr W. L. King. Because *of alterations being carried out by the Canterbury Rugby Union, Rugby Park would no longer ba suitable for cricket, he said, and in future it would be used for meetings by the Canterbury Centre of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association. The south ground at Lancaster Park would be taken over by the cricket association. .atoyeral important conditions were alfflihed to the transfer of Rugby Park from cricket to athletics, Mr King added. They were:— / (1) That the Canterbury Amateur •'' Athletic Association make no further application "for Lancaster Park, except that the oval be granted for Canterbury or New Zealand athletic championship meetings, or meetings for overseas visiting athletes. (2) That no coaching of athletes be held on the back ground of Lancaster Park. (3) That athletes be given the right to train on the park, as has been customary in the past, at fees to be determined by the Board of Control. "Certain Displeasure,'*

After emphasising the gratitude the association felt towards the treatment the Rugby Union had always given it, especially in the maintenance and upkeep'of Rugby Park, Mr King said that at the same time the Cricket Association was relinquishing the park with a certain amount of displeasure. The association, when it first went to Rugby Park, had taken Old Collegians off Dlmwood Park, and encouraged that club to make the new ground its home. Rugby Park had been a costly ground, too, and the association had spent a lot of money on it. "Now that the athletes are going on to Rugby Park we wish them every success." Mr King, added. "And we are vacatine Rugby Park on condition that the athletes do not come back in a year or so. and try again to get on the south ground at Lancaster Park." i The athletes would, of course, not llose touch with Lancaster Park, and ! could keep it as training .quarters, although coaching, as distinct from training—and there was a big athletic coaching plan In view—would not be permitted on the south ground. ■■■'■" "Wot Wltli Usual Courtesy"

Mr C. S. Thompson said that he did not think *+* nt in this matter of thw- future of Rugby Park the Canterbury Rugby Union had treated the cricketers with its usual courtesy. "We knew nothing about these alterations that shorten the boundaries and make cricket impossible, until the chairman heard it by hearsay," he said. The big sums of money the cricket association had spent on Rugby Park would not have been spent, he contended, if the association .had known it was only to have the ground for a few years. Other members also said that the Rugby Union should have given the association advance information about the changes; it proposed to make to Rueby Park. Answering a question, Mr King said that whether or not evening athletic meetings were to be held at Lancaster Park in the future had not been considered or discussed. In any case they were only one night a week.The meeting formally ratified the arrangement with the nark's board of control, which gives the association five match wickets on Lancaster Park.