ON THE CRICKET FIELD

Dominion, Volume 20, Issue 51, 24 November 1926, Page 8

ON THE CRICKET FIELD

(By

“Burwood.”)

PICKING THE TEAM FOR ENGLAND

AMATEUR SELECTORS AT WORK

If the members of the New Zealand Cricket Council only knew the extraordinary amount of interest which their decision to send a team to England at the end of the present season is causing; they would have no concern regarding finance. From one end of the Dominion to the other players are hard at work at the nets getting into their very best form, in the hope that a double century or ten wickets in an innings may win them a place in the luckv fourteen to represent New Zealand' on the first tout to England. Better than this, every person with even a nodding acquaintance with cricket is jaking the keenest interest in the tour, and hundreds of amateur selectors from Invercargill to Whangarei are busy with pencil and paper choosing the team which should make the grand tour. This is all to the good of the game, as it will bring back to the cricket fold veterans and supporters Whose interest has waned with the passing years. Fired' by enthusiasm, they will at least throw a few pounds into the hat to provide the necessary finance for the trip. The Selectors.

The New Zealand Cricket Council has appointed three selectors to choose the team, and the important task lias been allotted to Messrs. W. S. Brice (Wellington), W. R. Patrick (Canterbury), and F. Williams (Otago). They are three experienced judges of the game, but one is at a loss to understand why such a large and important cricketing province as Auckland has again been given no representation on the Selection Committee. In order to ensure that the very best players are selected, it would have been better if five selectors had been appointed, giving representation to Auckland, with one man to represent the minor associations. It is somewhat strange that the New Zealand Cricket Council went p.*st the Wellington sole selector (Mr. K. H. Tucker) and appointed Mr. Brice. As the latter is being mentioned as a candidate for the team, it would have been better had he not been put

in the invidious position of perhaps having to choose himself. As already ! mentioned in this column, Mr. E. C. Beale, of Auckland, would have made an ideal selector, as he is one of the Auckland selectors, and for years past has toured the Dominion frequently with teams of Auckland colts, thus obtaining a wide knowledge of form throughout the Dominion. Merit Must Decide.

A good many people are getting nt early and publishing teams in the hope that they may be able to influence the selectors. The tour is yet a long way oil, and there may be many reversals in form before the present season comes to an end. One thing the New Zealand public will insist upon, and that is that the players to make the trip shall be selected on merit and not upon what they have done twelve > years back. In this connection it is to be fervently hoped that the mistake of selecting a captain solely because he is considered a heaven-born general will not be made. Every member of the team should earn his place by merit and merit alone. England for years ■made the bad mistake of appointing , a captain in the hope that he would 'inspire the side to deeds 'of derringVdo by his personality. Neither Tenuy'son or Gilligan were worth their places > in the English eleven, and yet Gilligan had to be played in every one of ' the Test matches in Australia simply (because he was captain of the team. It remained for the stripling Percy ( Chapman, the youngest captain who has probably ever led England, to show ./how a side should be led. Chapman is an able cricketer, and, though young, he has.had experience of Test matches ■in both Australia and England. He was not bound by hoary traditions, and would not allow old gentlemen in the pavilion to tell him what he should do on the field. Anyhow, he won the "Ashes” for England, and will probably lead the English side for some time to come. There is nothing like youth for bringing enteri .prise to bear in a battle. An Optimist.

A correspondent forwards the following team as his idea of the side which should represent New Zealand on the tour to England:—Dacre, All-

L cott (Auckland), Worker (Hawke’s Bay), Blunt, Dickinson (Otago), Cunningham, Oliver, Crawford (CanterM bnry), Dempster, Brice, McGirr, Tat- • tersall, James, Hiddleston (Welling-

' ton). - It is not necessary to explain that this optimist is a' Wellington resident. This is quite obvious from the fact that he has given places to no " fewer than six Wellington players. As already remarked, a lot of runs

: will be made and many wickets taken “ before the present season closes, when performances will have given a line on the players who are entitled to go Home. • U

$! If the team had to be selected now, ;*■' W. M. Hollings. the young ■ Welling- *' ton University player, would be pre- ' ferred to any of the six local players nominated by our correspondent. And. T again, D. R. Garrard, the Auckland i; University player,' hit up 115 not out for University against North Shore B at Auckland on Saturday last. Garrard plaved for New Zealand against s- the M.C.C. team in the three test i ■ matches in 1923. He scored 47 and 19 '■ not out in the first test at Wellington, and took one wicket for 53 runs. In the second test, at Christchurch, he scored 6 and 1. and took one for 45 and none for 22; and in the third test, at Wellington, he got 19 and 12, ' and took no wickets for 32. Garrard may be at the top of his form by i the time the team is picked. In addition to being a sound batsman, he can serve up a useful slow leg-break. The worst omission made by our correspondent is his failure to include T. C. Lowry, of Hawke’s Bay, in his team Lowiv is, without question, one of the verv ablest batsmen the Dominion possesses, and is also a front-rank wicketkeeper. As a .member of MacLaren’s M.C.C. team in the 1922-23 season, he scored 54 against New Zealand in the first test match, fit in the second test, and 130 in the third thus having the solid average of 81.66 per innings. Lowry also did exceptionally well with bat and gloves with the New Zealand team on the tour of Australia last season. He was considered one of the most successful captains Cambridge University has ever had, and as he also played for the Somerset Conntv eleven, he Jias first-hand knowledge of current English form, and would make an ideal captain for the New Zealand side. It has to be remembered that the New Zealand team which tours England will

have to play six days a week for several months, and consequently, as only fourteen men are to be taken, it will not do to take any but physically fit players, who will be able to stand up to the strain of continuous play. The' type of batsman who will make the New Zealanders popular in England are men like Dacre, Dowry, Dempster, Hiddleston, and Oliver, and the selectors should include as many forcing batsmen as possible Youtli Must Be Served.

Three seasons ago, when the University Club came cap in hand to the Wellington Cricket Association and respectfully begged to be allowed to enter a team in the senior competition, there was a great liullabaloc amongst the greybeards. “Nonsense,” they said in effect; “run away and play in your own class, little boys.” But public opinion became insistent, and at last the Management Committee had to reluctantly increase the number of senior teams to ten. Many bitter tears were shed bv the conservatives when this step had to be taken. “It will ruin the standard of senior play,” was the doleful lamentation that went up. Well, at least Midland will admit that University are entitled to wear long trousers. 1 lie students outplayed Midland in every department of the game in the match which ended in ’Varsity’s favour by an innings and 43 runs at the Basin Reserve'on Saturdav. The most pleasing feature about the display given by the students was the excellence of the bowling. When young Vietmeyer was doing so well with the ball on the first day, a spectator asked a Midland player what the youth was serving tip. “There is nothing in his bowling,” replied the Midland man; “our batsmen are getting themselves out with bad strokes.” Well, half of the team must have kept on making bad strokes, as Vietmeyer ended up with five for 50. Not onlv this, but lie captured three for 31 in the second innings. A. C. Tripe is another bowler who will greatly strengthen tlie ’Varsitv attack. He bowled very badly in Midland’s second innings, in which he secured exactly the same figures as Vietmeyer—three for 31. Holdings also bowled ably in capturing two for 20 The ball with which he got W. Baker, the Midland captain, was a particularly good delivery, ns it takes something out of the ordinary to get round Baker’s broad bat. ' It was a feather in the caps of the University trundlers to dismiss such a batting side as Midland for 123 and 102. There should be no more talk about University not being fit for senior rank after this.

Hutt’s Bowling Strength. No team ill the senior competition has such a variety of attack as Hutt possess. McGirr'and Beard dismissed Institute on Saturday for the small total of 48, McGirr taking five for 13 and Beard four for 11. Tn the follow on McGirr gave his second bowling string a chance, and McLeod, Aldersley and Nunn did so well that nine wickets were down for 55. It was here that the colt, L. Calvert, started his exhibition of hitting, which will be recalled for many a long day by all who were fortunate enough to witness it. “Why don’t you have a hit?” remarked McGirr, the Hutt skipper, to Calvert, when the colt came in eighth wicket down. “It Is no use patting them now.” Calvert evidently considered this excellent advice. He gripped the handle tightly with both hands and went for the bowling. They arc still talking at the Hutt about the display of clean, hard hitting Calvert gave as the sun was sinking last Saturday. Tn a little over the half-hour he banged up 80 runs. Some of them sailed over ' the fence and far away on to the roofs of adjoining residences. As sixers succeeded tourers at hurricane pace, the little crowd of spectators worked themselves up to great enthusiasm. The bowlers, McLeod and Nunn, were at first amused, then amazed, and finally delighted with the spectacular exhibition this resolute colt nave. , He hit 22 off one over from McLeod, and woekrd up to a grand climax by slamming 34 off an over from Nunn. The strokes ran like this: 01166446. Calvert made 80 out of 133' put on by Institute, and had bad hick to be caught by Gwilliam right on the boundary off Watson. Manv of the spectators declared that the fieldsman took the catch over the boundary. If a few more such exhilarating sitting displays could be guaranteed much biem-r crowds would flock to watch cricket. Coach in Form. F. T. Badcock, the Wellington coach, is in great form this season. Badcock has been a tower of strength to Kilbirnie this season, and it would be difficult to imagine how Kilbirnie would have fared had the coach not been allocated to them up till last Saturday. Badcock had played six innings, once not out, for 232 runs, giving him an average of 46.40 per innings, while with the ball he has captured 2o wickets for 281 runs, an average of 10.80. The Kilbirnie men are not giving Badcock the support he deserves inis season, and up to the present he has had to carry the team on his back.

Kilbirnie gave a sorry display of batting against Y.M.C.A in the match which concluded on Saturday. They fell for 101 in the first innings and 137 in the second, of which Badcock claimed 72. Admitting that Henderson, White, and Grant bowled well, the side should have clone much better. There is too much liit-or-niiss about the Kilbirnie batting. Reg. White, who has not been in his best form this season, came to light with the ball on Saturday at Kilbirnie, capturing four wickets for 23 runs, while M. Henderson took three for 50, and Grant two for 38 This four-point victory placed Y.M.C.A. in third place on the championship table. Petone Stirring Again.

The Petone team show signs of making a bid for championship honours this season. Their guide, philosopher, and friend, Stan Brice, seems to have got hold of a bottle of the elixir ol life, and is again doing well with both bat and ball. Petone dismissed Wellington for 94 on Saturday week, and then ran up 183, towards wt'ch Brice scored 51 not out in attractive style. The Petone captain again bowled well on Saturday in capturing three for 31 He received able assistance from M Nicholls, who captured three for ~9. The Wellington batting was very weak, as, apart from Monkhouse (37 jiot out), Wagstaffe (26), and Bruce (17), not a solitary batsman on the side reached double figures. The team has to relv too much upon Hiddleston, who failed

to get going in either innings in this match.

A Stirring Finish

Old Bovs deserve every credit for their win over Thorndon at the Basin Reserve on Saturday. Io make 258 on a wicket affected bv rain takes some doing, but Old Boys just managed to get there, winning by the narrow margin of four runs. It was a hard fight all the time. When James (54) and Lambert (48) were going strongly, Old Bovs appeared to have the game well in hand, but after the, dismissal of these stalwarts the fide, of battle swung round in Thorndoll’s favour again. There was a good deal of comment in the stand regarding the action of the Thorndon skipper, B. J. Kortlanir in not making more use of Hvder. The Old Boys’ batting was solid all through. Fitzmaurice, Duncan. W. Dustin, and C. Patrick all rose to the occasion in resolute style. It is not an easy matter to make runs when thev have to be made, but the Old Bovs’’ colts made them, and made them well. W- Dustin, in particular, plaved a most serviceable innings for 32 He met the good ones with the full force of the bat, and came down heavilv on the short and overpitched ones. It was left to C. Patrick however, to win the game for his side When I). Dustin, the last man, joined Patrick 40 runs were required to save the day. It was a tall order, but the colts were equal to it D Dustin defended like a Quaife, while Patrick went for the runs. Amidst the keenest excitement the score crept slowly tip, anil eventually Patrick made tlie winning hit bv off-driving L. Foley for four. He was then brilliantly caught and bowled bv Hvder, with a sterling 44 (made when runs were wanted) opposite his name. Thorndon made a good fight for it, their fielding being verv keen. The catches taken by Mason at niid-off and Caniton in the slips were rare tit-bits