SPORT IN BRITAIN

Evening Star, Issue 21749, 18 June 1934, Page 10

SPORT IN BRITAIN

[From Our English Correspondent.]

LONDON, May 3. RACING. The race for the Two Thousand Guineas has come and gone and the question “Is Colombo a wonder horse? ” remains unanswered. Stated baldly Lord Glanely’s colt won and has a string of nine unsullied victories to her credit. If one goes beyond that he finds the critics curiously at variance. On the one hand there are those who say Colombo' did all that was asked of him; on the other, those who maintain that the victory was unimpressive. Both may be right. Colombo’s admirers point to the fact that his being mobbed in the paddock before the race could have clone the colt no good; that he drew a poor station, aucT that although his rider showed Colombo the whin he never had occasion to use it. The detractors say that if Colombo were a wonder horse, the French colt Easton would never have got within a length of hjm at the finish, that the leader's stride was shortening perceptibly towards the end, and that his general form suggested he would not stay the extra half mile required of him in the Derby. LAWN TENNIS. Perhaps the most interest in the championship fixture of Bournemouth was aroused by the attempt of the young left-hander, L. E. Hare, to gain his first important title. The Midlander earned distinction by heating the French Davis Cup player, Merlin, in an early round but lost to a more experienced man in V. B. M'Grath in the third. The “ last eight ” has been reached, and there is only one Englishman,. F. J. Perry, amongst them. The others are J. H. Crawford, V. B. M'Grath, and A. K. Quist, of Australia, R. Miki (Japan), Y. G. Kirby (South Africa), D. Prenu (Germany), and C. Boussus (France). ATHLETICS. The institution of a London to Brighton walk for members of the Stock Exchange and their staffs something like thirty years ago, gave a tremendous stimulus to road walking in England. The event has been continued annually on the Stock Exchange May holiday, and has been won by 'some very tine walkers, notably T. E. Hammond, who still figures as the holder of the twenty-four hours’ walking record. Latterly the Stock Exchange interest in its walk has flagged. Entries are falling off and are confined more every year to what one might call the “ experts.” This is much to be regretted; for in its early days one of the charms of the race was the appeal it made to men who hardly would have described themselves as athletes yet delighted in the name of sportsman. It is perhaps, evidence of the lack of new blood that the _ men who were first, second, and third in last Tuesday’s race filled the same positions a year ago. They were H. A. Hake, S. H. Schlesinger, and L. G. A. Pasfield. Hake led for practically the whole of the way, his time for the 52 miles being Bhrs 41min 33sec. This was Imiu 37sec' faster than the old record, established by T. E. Hammond in 1912. BILLIARDS. So J. Davis is going to Australia to play for the championship after all. When Davis made this announcement he did not take the world into his confidence as to whether he had received satisfactory financial guarantees or whether he is going to take “ pot luck,” believing, as he has every justification for doing, that his reputation and the glamour of his projected games with Lindrum will make it worth his while to undertake the long journey “ down under.” Davis will make the journey as the first holder of the United Kingdom championship. Right to the finish of his match with Newman for the title, the latter made desperate efforts to keep his younger opponent at bay ; but Davis was not to be denied. ‘ He got in front again with two sessions to go, and eventually won by 18,745 to 18,301. SWIMMING. Remembering how poorly our men swimmers fared at Los Angeles in the last Olympic Games,, it is good to see youngsters coming along who may help to restore our prestige at Berlin in two years’ time. In a 100yds race last week-end, the southern junior champion, F. Dove, beat P. Ristall (north-, ern junior champion) in 56sec—the fastest time ever recorded by a junior swimmer. As neither Dove nor Ristall is yet seventeen years old, one may look forward with confidence to their doing big things. CRICKET. When Lord Hailsham, in a speech of welcome to the Australians,• said that, while we were keen- on retaining the “ Ashes,’, it would not be regarded as a national calamity if we lost_them, he spoke words of wisdom. Certain writers have become almost hysterical in their fulminations on the forthcoming test matches, and the words of the M.C.C. president will help us all to keep onr sense of proportion. After all, cricket is only a game, and to look upon it as something approaching a pitched battle is tp encourage the feelings that led to regrettable features of the last tournament down under. _ We welcome our visitors, and shall delight in watching them, whether they win or lose. They arc playing their first match, against Worcester, and early impressions were favourable. It was a good performance to dismiss a county side' for 113, even if the Australians were lucky to get the Nawab of Pataudi run out for a small score. Then the visitiug batsmen got to work. Scoring at the rate of a run a minute, Don Bradman had tied the full Worcester score when stumps were drawn for the day. He may go on to register a double century, as he did in the corresponding match four years ago—his first “ knock ” on English soil. The credit of scoring the first century of 1934 must be divided between F. C. De Saram, a young West Indian playing for Oxford University, and Ashdown, of Kent. The former hit up 176 against Gloucester, and the latter 109 against Glamorgan in the opening match of the county championship season. In each case these figures were reached at five minutes past 3 on the first afternoon of first-class play. GOLF. There surely can never have been a more unexpected finish to a championship match than was seen at Formby last Saturday afternoon, when the final round for the .English amateur title was fought out between L. G. Crawley, of Bransepeth, and Stanley Lunt, of Moseley. In the morning round Crawley, who had trained carefully and practised assiduously for months, was supreme, and gained a well-deserved lead of 6 holes. Tho match looked as good as over. But Lunt had other views. He stuck grimly to his task. The ball did not always run kindly for Crawley. Indeed, at the first three holes of the afternoon round he got into

a bunker. Ho Ims such a reputation as a fighter—was he not the only English golfer to win his rna*tch in tho Walker Cup?—that few of the eager spectators imagined Crawley could lose. Lunt was still 3 down at the twelfth, but at the eighteenth (or, if you prefer it, the thirty-sixth) he had squared the match. With a fine 4he went on to register a magnificent victory. SOCCER. With the King present and a fine afternoon —there was lightning and thunder at the ground, with rain falling in sheets only a mile or two away there were the usual joyous scenes at Wembley, where the Association Cup was once more taken north. The supporters of Portsmouth must admit that the better team won, although they have justice on their side when they claim that but for the southerner’s great defensive half-back, Allen, being off the field injured, Manchester City would never have scored the equalising goal. On the other, hand, the northern side had much more of the play in mid-field and practically throughout the whole of the second half were storming Portsmouth’s goal. To assert that the losers deliberately adopted defensive tactics after scoring is wrong. They were forced into them by the prolonged pressure set up by their opponents. Except for fine goal-keeping and the intervention of the goal posts, Manchester City would certainly have won by a bigger margin than 2 goals to 1. Nearly all the league problenis arc settled." Arsenal and Chelsea shared four goals equally. This gave the former the championship and saved the latter from relegation. Two very famous clubs, the United* of Newcastle and Sheffield, must now figure for at least one season in the second division.