TEST MATCH CRICKET.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1651, 18 January 1913, Page 5

TEST MATCH CRICKET.

i ,' : ■ ''■■■..'.' ■ . ..,,.;,♦. ...;..; .';■• ENGLISH UMPIRING ATTACKED. - ,--,/* ■ By Telciraph—Preso AaoclaUon-Copyrltrht Sydney, January 17:-' '".Mr. Crouoh, manager of the Australian Eleven, in hisreport on the test match tour cbmmentaon tho English umpiring. When. tho Board of Control requested the Mary-lobone'-Club,to adopt the -■ Australian, method of selecting:.umpires '■ fori the Triangular Tests, the club'replied that tho request.bad'arrived too late, but promised' 'to - tho : question,. There \. was reason;, to believe' .that in. future -test. matches-umpires would bo chosen by the Australian .method.

: With' reference :to 'the' cable message from London.yesterday, E;R, Mayne, a member 'of the last Australian/Eleven, it is explained; recently hotly criticised English". cricket umpires and tho method of .thci-r'selection. The umpires are appointed by the captains'of county teams, and in tho. majority of cases are old professional ■• cricketers. In the opinion ,of the colonials, they are disposed to' favour the Homo v toam in order to keep in favour with those controlling the appointments.

Mayne : doclaros that the umpiring in test and county matches has' been inefficient for several, seasons past, and that a radical change is absolutely necessary. He instances the case of Bardsley, given run out in the last test, and'says; that P; P. .Warner and Ranjitsinhji admitted that this' waa the worst • decision over soen. In the match against.Fry's Eleven, at Bray, Iroland, Hobbs walked clean'in front of', the stumps to a straight, ball from Hazlitt, but the umpire said "not out!" A few overs later, on Hobbs completing two thousand runs for tho season in flnsVclass cricket, tho umpire exclaimed, "Bravo!" . BaTdsley, on another sion, tried to mow a half-pitcher from Rhodes, who was bowling round tho wicket, to leg, but missed, and was given out 1.b.w.. ; •'-'( Mayne thinks incompetency is the cause 6 of bad umpiring, but many good judges oi) the other side say it ib duo to tho method of selection. • >

BOARD OP;CONTROL DISPUTE. Adelaide,' January 17. - Clem Hill does not hold out any hops of an amicable settlement, of tho trouble between himself and' other players and the Board of Control. Ho says there have never been signs of rcoonoiliation since the displacement of.W. ,W. Armstrong from the captaincy of tho Victorian eleven. ■' t . '..■ ...