CRICKET

Evening Post, Volume CXIV, Issue 92, 15 October 1932, Page 20

CRICKET

BvJj'Wor our"

CASE OF BRADMAN

HONORING A CONTRACT

NEWS : AND NOTES

"Br'adman may not be a superlative .■writer, but he' is a superlative cricketer and; tin& who, in my own mind, embodies; alt the true: inspiration of cricket." That-tribute was paid recently by Ju|dge? Moule r .of, Melbourne. The writer, has had" an opportunity of personal ;touch -with Bradman,' and has no' hesitation in "saying ..that he is a thorough young' gentleman, fully alive,to his responsibilities, ever as keehon'his' cricket and just r "keen to make good in business. There is no doubt a wrong impression in some quarters as to the present unfortunate position created by the; Australian Board of Control's player-writer rule. Bradman is keen to play-in .the Tests, but is it right to expect hint- to cacrifice a considerable portion of ' his salary in. order to do so? . - : —-

When there'was a danger—it was practically a «ertainty—that Bradman ■would go to Accrington, three Sydney firms joined forces to give him a salary equal to what he was offered from overseas. And because it is a combination of three firms Bradman cannot give the chairman of the Board of Control an assurance that his sole occupation, is journalism. ' It is'fairly obvious, states a Sydney paper, that Bradman's contract was framed to meet the requirements of the Board; of Control, but apparently that body, ..under its resolution, is not prepared to allow Bradmau to play unless he throws up a good portion of his salary in order to attract, as he has ■done in the past, hundreds of pounds into their • coffers. :He has written to the chairman. of ■the Board of Control pointing out— (1) That he cannot provido a certificate that, his sole occupation is journalasm, because it ig not. (2) That Associated Newspapers.also cannot provide such a: certificate, because it would be ■untruel (3) That he has already put all'available facts before the chairmanof thpi board,, .and, in view*of the reply a-eceiyed, he is accepting the chairman's letter i that his application has - been jtefuse?. ;, v Associated Newspapers offered to release: him from his contract in so far as first-class cricket was^concerned, but le has declined to accept that release, taking", tne view that he will," in the terms ;of his contract, give full value for salary received. Thus, unless the Board! of Control delegates, who did not know the terms of Bradman's contract, \ and who apparent!^, have ; not been given'the chance to express their opinion as to his eligibility, based on such: knowledge, care to reopen the matter', the-, page'is turned on a particularly unfortunate story of\Australian cricket which should never have been jwritteh. _In cold fact,, the.-Board of .Control.did nothing to keep Bradman ' for .Australia/- and when someorie else 6topped- info' the ■breach it' deliberately [refused -to, co-operate. It- has no one fcut iitself-^to. blame .for the \ present positio'nU' "\ .-■'. ■ _ " ; According^ to , cabled advice, to-day" 'ixom- Sydney:'.there is a more hopeful outlpofc so far; as Bradman's participatibnrin the-Tests is concerned. For Br^hteiiCricket. , v Another interesting move in the direction of brighter cricket is being made in Wellington. VThia time th ye Wellington Cricket Club is. the sponsor, and it is to^ be complimented upon an action •whietis liielyj to' bring results. It requires, of course, the support of other ; clubs> and there "can be little doubt?that they will make some effort to fall into line. If only the two-.mat-ters mentioned, in the Wellington Club's invitapptf toother clubs are taken:up enthusiastically local cricket will show a decided improvement in certain directions, j The club has invited the senior captain and; club captain (or deputies) of each club to attend a meeting to be held mv the' New Zealand Loan and -Mercantile office next Friday at' 5.15 p r m. "The object of this meeting," the invitation states, is to "discuss means of brightening up local cricket, with particular reference to.incoming'batsmen coming in' promptly and quick changing of the field. It is probable ' that other matters will also be discussed; ■';... ■• "'- . ' • ■ ' jConstantine Sparkles. ( "What a pity he is only playing in jclub cricket!/' This remark was made fit Blackpool recently, when L. N. ConBtantine, the dashing West Indies player, charmed and captivated everyone present by the. sparkling'nature of his hitting. He was a member of Sir L. "Parkinson's XI, composed mostly of League professionals, captained by .Colonel Green, and was playing against Lancashire.- Booth was bowling really well and had already disposed of Pairfax and Merrittkwith only nine Tuns on ,the board, when Constantine arrived. The West Indian failed to time the Lancastrian, whose first three balls to him werewery quick off the pitch, but after that he got the measure of every one, scoring almost as he liked, and when the tea interval came Jie had x lnade 106 out of 129 in-just under 50 piinutes, his- strokes including five, sixes pnd^fourteen fours. The spectators, who had waited pati'eiitly for play to begin, were wildly enthusiastic at such a brilliant display, and cheered him to the echo. Of course, lie lofted the ball, But he took care to balloon it where the fielders were not, so that his wonderful effort was chanceV 3ess. Cecil Parkin, the ex-Lancastrian •who has not appeared for the county since 1926, again bowled and -is by no jneans a back nuumber yet, but he could jiot stop Constantino, who hit one of . ]iis deliveries a terrific clout which soared away into Stanley Park from, which jail trace of it was lostl Yet the effort .which pleased, most was a sparkling fetroke off Booth to the fine long-leg 1 boundary. He took it from his eyebrows,, timing it to the 'fraction of a second. Had he not done so he would £ow be in Blackpool Infirmary! liure of the League. There has lately been seen in the Press an advertisement inserted by a League. club offering £400, together ■with, collections and bonuses, for a professional, writes "Second Slip" jn the "Cricketer." No doubt there will be hundreds of applications, not only ;from home-born, but from cricketers abroad, for the post. The number of jthe latter who are now employed, here 5s rather alarming and the practice of engaging Dominion men, when do many 'at Home are unemployed, does not seem $o be a sound one. In other ranks of ilife the authorities do not permit such proceedings—actors, for instance, fall ■under the ban, so why cricketers should be exempt it is difficult to understand. PPhere is a certain amount of glamorir in League cricket, but he is a wise professional who sticks to his county or his country during his career. [Voce a Menace? Some interesting views on the prosfeects of some of the bowlers in the M.C.C team now on its way to Australia and New Zealand were * giveD lecontly by Alan Fairfax, the Australian international who has been playing for Accrington in Lancashire league cricket this year. "Voce will be a menace, and he will trouble Bradwan," Fairfax statsd. "If he resorts *o leg theory he will secure a harvest (of wickets in Australia. He might

prevent Bradman's phenomenal run of scores." Fairfax also remarked that the Australians we're delighted when Voce waß not chosen to play against them in 1930. - .

"Tho Australians dp uotSiko the legtrap, especiallyJLf it is speedy,".added the former Australian. "Voee's bowling is treacherous, and hevt:an make a good length ball1 fly. Ho might be- a sreal terror on the Melbourne wicket." Fairfax thought > that Brown and Mitchell would not trouble Bradman, butthat they would bo essential against the last six or seven Australian batsmen. "I inspected the Oval pitch at the scene of Bowes' preselection success," he said, "and I was astonished to find that the 'majority of his deliveries ' were pitched, twelve yards from the popping crease. This will be far too ' short on Australian wickets. Allen may cause havoc to some of the Australians." Bradman's Six Wickots.; A. cricket enthusiast in Canada writes to tho "Cricketer" 'as. follows:—"I wish to correct, a statement that Bradman, whilst playing ■ against'• a B.C. team... took six wickets with successive balls. Here, in Canada, we play an eight-ball over, and Bradman, in taking six wieke.ts, did not even do the 'hat trick.' We, as,yoxi^ no doubt know, play on matting. Mailey, when bowling, bowled at least a foot outside the matting on the leg1 side, and was breaking the ball right across the wicket." Personal Items.' ■ '■/■ , , Owing to an injury, 5". Ashenden, of the Kilbirnie Cricket Club, will not be available for match play for a few weeks. * ; , _ Jones, a Taranaki cricket representative, has joined up with the Kilbirnie Club. , ; ~ ' ~ It is unlikely that Coltman and. Hayman will be playing with Kilbirnie until'early in the New Year. There is now\a;likelihood- of M. F. Nichqlls taking his place with the Petono seniors this season., This player is a very fine fieldsman', but his services will be required most likely as wicket-keeper. . S. Wilson, who showed much promise as a cricketer at Eongotai College, is regarded as being/ worthy of a trial in the senior A grade this season. He has been attached to the Kilbirnie Clul> since leaving college.. A. Hurwood, formerly of Queensland, is playing in New South Wales this season, and, of course, is looked upon as a candidate If or the New South Wales Sheffield Shield team. He is stationed at Bathurst. , ■. -. : . Stan. Brice has had rather a bad time ofit. in hospital. Cricketers will be pleased to know, however, that he is now on the mend. F. T> Badcock, the Otago Cricket Association's official coach, is to play for Kaikorai'in Dunedin this season. An application for his'services was received also from the University Club, but the Otago Cricket»Association Committee decided' in • favour of KaikoraL J. L. Kerr, one of Canterbury's New Zealand cricket representatives, is reported to have played, a very fine innings in making 82 in Christchurch last Saturday. % His score included ten 4?s and aV6.^ Kerrt.invariably' kept/the ball on the carpet. G.Mortlock, who started the'season in Christohurch with a century, ' top? two and. a quarter hours- to make'his first -50 runs. / His "characteristically dogged" innings yielded 120 runs. W. E. Merritt, the': New Zealand who has been in Lancashire cricket this year, w due fa Wellington on Tuesday by the Tainiii from: London. C. C. Dacre,^ who has been playing for Gloucestershire,,is also expected/by the same .vessel. ! ; , The race between W. E.: Merri^t and S. F. Barnes for the honour ;of being the first bowler toiako 100 wickets in the Lancashire Cricket championship competition' this year i \vas narrowjy'won by Merritti /; :' , ; NjOteS. -■■'; ■•;'■,."•;'*.■::■'■.; ■•""" ,'' : _ The Otago. Cricket Association's- senior competition was to have been commenced this^ afternoon. • It .is expected that the senior A and B grade cricket competitions in Auckland will be started next Saturday^ Many old boys 'of Wellington College look- forward to -the opportunity each v year of meeting the present boys ur competition on .the. field of play. As usual, the cricketers I are being well jrovidpd fgX this* year, several matifties being on the programme of events to be decided at Wellington College on Labour, Day. ' ,'■ ' A move was' made at ; this week's meeting of the Auckland.Cricket Association that a sole selector be apponted. However, it received but little support, and a selection/committee of three was favoured. There was a lot for positions' on the committee, those proposed as members being Messrs. N. C. Snedden, B. Horspoolf, W. B. Smith, and H. Duncan. The unsuccessful nominee was Mr. E. HorspooL 1 No word has been received as yet as to whether Auckland is favourable to a special match being played by /its Plunket Shield team in Wellington on the return trip from the South Island. Strong disapproval, of. the professionals' action in refusing to take part in a time-limit* match with Yorkshire, after the conclusion of the ordinary county game at Bradford recently, has been expressed by the committee of the Leicestershire County Cricket Club. It passed a special resolution deprecating the attitude of its players, and a letter of regret was'sent to the Yorkshire Club. /A. time-limit match had been suggested in order^to entertain the crowd at Bradford, but the Leicestershire professionals refusedto take -part in it, with the result that the "comic" cricket became an c utter. farce and people left the ground. The Lancashire League cricket championship was won again this year by Nelson, for which club Constantine is the leading light. In all, Nelson have won the League championship on nine occasions, a record not. equalled by any other team. A St. Louis cricket team was on tour in America recently. It was led by Mr. W. H. Fowler (Forest Park Club), who is . a New Zealander, and learnt his cricket in Auckland. Although now a veteran, Mr. Fowler carries on with the game full of enthusiasm. Mercantile League. Quite a number of teams ,in the Mercantile League arranged practice matches la.sf Saturday, and, although. the games were not taken too, seriously, a pleasing indication of the cricket to come was afforded. The league is fortunate this year in gaining the services of some very promising youngsters of the. v type of Jupp and Buscoe (to mention only two), and given normal luck these players should soon find their way into the representative team. •- , Early reports of team strengths suggest that Bookers will be strong contenders, for the premier position, with James Smith's also making a strong bid. Tho latter club's latest acquisition is W. Condliffe (the ex-New Zealand wicket-keeper), who, it is expected, will be a regular player. It is always pleasing to see the "old timers" again in action, and Condliffe's advice and help, to the newly-promoted team would be of considerable assistance to them, i - State Fire, who normally would have been promoted this year, are unlucky in losing the services of two such men as Hodge and McKonzie, whilst Pastimes, who have been at tho bottom of the ladder-for the past two seasons, are overdue for a season in the lower grade. ,Kirkcaldie's, Shell, Taubman's, Pensions, Taxes Department, and GreyGreen Cabs arc all unknown quantities, brft, on reviewing the completed grading, the comniittee appears to have arrived at a fairly accurate estimate of their status. • '