M.C.C. TEAM ARRIVES

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 140, 10 December 1929, Page 12

M.C.C. TEAM ARRIVES

PLAYERS OF HIGH RANK

KEEN TO SHOW FORM

Bearing the appearance of all that the advance reports have said of them, the Marylebone Cricket Club's touring team arrived in Wellington to-day from Sydney—a jolly party and well pleased at having completed the final stage of their long trip from England, via Australia. They have already made a name for themselves as "a good sporting side," and it was evident from their remarks after their arrival to-day that they are eagerly looking forward to giving bright displays in their New Zealand engagements. If physique counts for anything the visiting cricketers should be capable of big things on the field of playj in the main they are unusually tall, and they average about 12st in weight. AVhile hoping, in the. words of the captain, A. H. H. Gilligan, to put up a good show, they realise that there is no easy task in front of them, particularly in the Tests with New Zealand. There was a large crowd of enthusiasts at the wharf to welcome the team, those present including Messrs. P. B. Broad (chairman) and A. Varney (honorary secretary), and other members of the Wellington Cricket Association, and Messrs. D. Reese (president), A. T. Donnelly (chairman), H. M. Taylor, D. Wanklyn, and W. H. Winsor (secretary), of the New Zealand Cricket Council. Also at the wharf were F. E. Woolley and W. Cornford, two members of the team who arrived a week ago.

PERSONNEL OF THE TEAM. 'Phe full team is as follows:— • A. H. H. Gilligan (Sussex), captain, ft batsman with an attractive style, and a fine fieldsman. G. F. Earle (Somerset), vice-captain, one of the biggest hitters in the game, and a fine field. M. J. C. Allom (Surrey), a fastmedium right-handed bowler. F. Barratt (Notts), a fast right-hand-ed bowler and a big hitter. E. T. Benson (Gloucestershire), a good wieketkeeper and a useful batsman.

E. H. Bowley (Sussex), a very sound batsman, good slow leg-break bowler, a good field. He is now undergoing 'treatment at Kotorua. W. Cornford (Sussex), a very fine •wicketkeeper and a batsman often hard to dismiss. He is the smallest member of the team. E. W. Dawson (Leicestershire), a sound opening batsman and an excel- . lent field. K. S. Duleepsinhji (Sussex), nephew of the famous Kanjitsinhji, and one of the finest stroke players in the game—a grc-at batsman and a fine field. G. B. Legge (Kent), an attractive bai.STi-.an and a good field. ;M. S. Nichols (Essex), a fast rightlaiicl'd bowler and a good left-handed batsnsin as well as an excellent field.

IS. J. Turnbull (Glamorgan), an exee.'.irnt batsman and a good field. V. E. Woolley (Kent), the greatest left handed batsman in tho game, his stroke play being wonderful; a fine slow left.-Jianded bowler, and an excellent ■lip field. . S. Worthington (Derbyshire), a fastbsc£:v.ei right-handed bowler, aud a hard-hitting batsman. d. B. Legge was married before the team left England, and his wife is accompanying him on the tour. Woolley is alao accompanied by his wife I ahti little daughter.

A BOWLER'S VIEWPOINT. . F. Barratt, the Notts fast bowler, had some interesting things to say regarding Australian and English cricket. Bowlers had a very lean time in Australia he said, owing to the "shirtfront"' wickets on which the first-class matches were played, and it was not an uncommon thing for a medium to fast bowler to see a ball pitched dead on the middle pin turned away to leg, so certain was the batsman that he could rely on the ball playing no tricks. "It is different in England," said Barratt, "not because the wickets are not good, but because the ball is doing something all the time. Owing to the perfect wickets he plays on, the Australian batsman is forgetting how to use his feet, and that is going to tell against the next team which comes in search of the Ashes. My prediction is that the Australians will get well beaten. They have the batsmen but they have not got the- bowlers. Of course, that is a weakness all over the world, but it is particularly noticeable in Australia."

The increaso in the size of the stumps osed at Home was commended by Barrat t, v.-ho said tho alteration had assisted the bowler without greatly increasing the difficulties of the "batsmen. He was not in favour of the eightball over, as it placed too great' a strain on a bowler, particularly a man who sent up fast stuff. Briefly discussing the matches played in Aus tralia, Barratt said that with a littlo more Jue.k the English team would have ! finished up with a much better record. Not once were they able to place a full-strength team in the field, and on two occasions they had had to. bat ■with only ten men. Barrett was enthusiastic about AVoolley's double century in Sydney, describing it as one of the best knocks he had seen. The team had greatly missed Bowley, who, if he had been well, would have been one of tho mainstays of the side. It was hoped that Bowley would bo available for the Test matches in New Zealand. Barratt said that, the umpiring in Australia had not been all that one might have expected, and there were at least two cases in which wrong decisions had proved disastrous to the side.

Surprise was 'expressed by the Notts professional that there was no overseas coach in Wellington. "You can't expect to develop unless you make provision for coaching," said Barratt, who went on to say that Andy Ducat, who played for the M.C.C. against Queensland, was working like a Trojan in Brisbane and getting excellent results. Barratt has not done- any coaching outside of England. He was offered an engagement in South Africa this year, "but he declined to accept it. Barratt is the biggest-built man on the side, and in Australia he was generally known as "Warwick Armstrong." CAPTAIN INTERVIEWED. Members of the team made no secret of the fact that they had had a strenuous time in Australia, where on wickets which were new 1o most of them it was not easy to settle down to the new order. Injuries and sickness to members meant a big handicap, and then there •T^feP a great deal of train travelling, *iapx>niAing to about 1000 miles per match.

". Speaking to a "Post" reporter, the captain, A. 11. 11. Gilligan, said that his team was' a very useful combination, which had come to play cricket, and to do its utmost to win its matches. ''.At the same time," he said, "we ar&> just one. of those many M.C.C. teams that go abroad and help cricket in the Dominions, and to keep up the friendly, relations between the various erieket councils and Lord's. "We shall try to play bright cricket all the way through, but there are times, of course, when a team has to play the other sort of cricket. A touring team cannot always bo giving e.vhTMtions of fireworks,

as there are times when batsmen by doing that are letting their side down. But, all things equal, if we get the pace of the wickots here we shall see bright cricket."'

The captain stated that one player whom the visitors would miss very badly in the first few matches was Bowley, who was so well acquainted with New Zealand conditions. It was the earnest wish of every member of the side i that the treatment Bowley was undergoing at Eotorua would give him a complete recovery. "With Bowley back in the side we shall be a very strong _ combination," said Gilligan. "The four fast-medium bowlers should give a good account of themselves on Now Zealand wickets, and if there is a little rain about you can rely upon Woolley tying up the opposition. The bowling strength will be even better when Bowley rejoins the team."

Although he had. played in only one match against the New Zealand*team which went to England, Harold Gilligan was very impressed with that side. Taking a lino of how they played cricket in England, he expected to" find the opposition strong here. "Of course," he added, "time will tell. Players change in years; a good player in two years may be a bad player in the next." As to Australia's prospects against England next year, the visiting captain said that there was some very fine batting talent in Australia, but the outlook so far as bowling was concerned did not appear to be so bright.