DOMINION CRICKET TEAM

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 43, 6 March 1937, Page 14

DOMINION CRICKET TEAM

GLANCE AT PRESS OPINION CRHICS ARE AFRAID OF THE " TAIL" SELECPORS HAVE CREATED SOME SURPRISES ,

Preag op&iorts on t&e New Zeeland crielbt te&m chosen to totir dreat Britain this year indieate th&t the erities were unprepared for the "Sarprise" the geleetouss had ih store. Auckland m surprised and Steriily oiitieahj Cahtertay likewfee. Ot&go cdStenfS itself with Sa0ng that there are mt&6 msr$*te& seleetions Mt the. side mll prohably ffionld itself inte & good one. There is a general feeling of dmppoihtment at Galliehan '(Manawatu) aot getting a place. ■

There will be considefable surprise and some criticism over several of f&e latest seleetions, more particularly in connection with, the choice Of the Mellington, rlght-hand bowler, B. Griffiths (states the Christchurch Star-Sun). Griffiths won his New Zealand cap for the first time last year against the Marylebone team. He bowled with distfnct skffl at timeS, but his seven wickets in the Tests cost 29 runs apiece. At the C6iiclusion of the tour E. R. T. Holmes, the English captain, said of hiin: "Griffiths is a gemline spinner with nip oSt the pifcK, but he will have to have more control of leiigth, if he ever wishes to reaeh the fcighest cfess." Unfofturiately, Griffiths' control of fcfflgth is poorer this season than it was last, so much so that his captain, 3. R. Lamason, of Wellington, mahe Ihe remark recently: "Griffiths' stock hflit seeias to be the full toss." In this season's Shield games, Griffiths' seven wickets have cost 43 runs apiece. He is a tfier, and the selectors' gamble may yet prove justified. They feel that a right-hand bowler is essential in the team; hertce the in* terest in the form shown by GrovCs and Sharp- at Dunedin. Weir, of ' Auckland, is also rather fortunate to gaih selection. He was included in the Second Test team against M.C.C. last year, but showed poor batting form and was droppSdThis season he made 1S8 runs in the Shield matches, fishing, up with the sound average of 84. weir'S maift value is that he is a tottgh batsman in a tight corner. He is also a medium-paced bowler. However, his place would have been better filled by either Cromb or Gallichan, both of whom are deddedly unlucky to mlss the trip. Cromb's omission is hard to anderstand. Were a New Zealand eleven chosen for a Test in New Zealand to-day he should be one of the first chosen. The New Zealand team's bowling in England is liable to sufier from lack of variety and a minimum of hostility. This apparent weakness could have been remedied to a very large extent hid Mulcock, the Canterbury inswing bowler, been included. Acebrding to leadlng New Zealand cricketers whd have played In England, his puzriing type of deliveries should secure many wickets in matches against coiinty teams. This season Mulcock ha* taken thirteen Shield wickets for 24 runs apiece. Donnelly, the nlneteen-year-old Taranaki player, apparently wins a place in the ride because of his youth and promise. He can scarcely be said yet to have.earned it. SShat Auokland Thinks, it can be said safely that the personnel ti the New Zealand cricket team to tour England has created a deal of surprise and disappointment, says the Auckland Star. One promineat old player of Auckland, seeing1 thi selection, declared at once that foUr o£ the chosen players would not get a place in the Auckland representative team. Dunning, Griffiths, Donnelly and Kerr were the players he named. He argued that Kerr's form this season, plus a question of failing eyesight, should have disqualified the Canterbury man. He looked on Dunning as an old man in cricket, not so good a bowler as A. M. Matheson, of Auckland, and "not half as good a man" as an all-rounder. He eoiisidered Griffiths' displays in this year's representatlve cricket as Without merit, and Donnelly as a player who had not yet demonstrated fully - tMt he was in interprovincial class. In his opinion Matheson and Whitelaw, of Auckland, Elmes, of Otago, and Gallichan, of Manawatu, would have been better seleetions. This criticism just about sums up the general view, though some are o£ opinioh that Parisloe, the Wellington fast bowler, and Matheson, of Auckland, were the two most unlucky candidates. It has to be remembered that the selectors' main problem was getting ane adequate variety and quality in attack, combined with the declared policy of favouring young and imtjrovins players of desirable char-

acter for such a tour. Obviously restrictions tied the selectors' hands. ,They got partly on the way to the solution with Weir and Dunning (though most critics would have preferred Weir and Matheson at this stage), and then had to have a slow spin bowler and a sharp fieldsman, both young. It looks as if at this stage they gambled on Griffiths and Donnelly. It might just as easily have been Lamason, of Wellington, and Sharpe, of Canterbury, and they piight have been better seleetions. If a New Zealand team were seleeted to play the M.C.C. in New Zealand this week it is almost a certainty that Lamason would be preferred to Kerr, and that Whitelaw, Matheson, Parsloe and, perhaps, Sharpe would go down as emergencies before Griffiths, Donnelly and Dunning. Otago's Opinion. Whils the team as announced perhaps contains some "surprise" seleetions, it may be expected to mould spent some three years in England, during which period he played fpp

p Itself into a.ride that will reflect credit on the Dominion. It is a sound batting eombination — possibly stronger in this department than ih bowling or flelding- Of the i4 players three are left-hahders — Vivihn, Carson and Dohhelly— and there is no very marked tapering off as the "taii" is reached. Four of the playerS — Page, V|vian, Kerr and Weir — were membets of LoWry's • team Whicli toured England in 1931. Three members df the side bat and field in glasses— Kerr, Hadlee, aiid Maloney. J. A. Dunriing, the only Otago player to secure inclusion, has given flne service to his province iil many Plunket Shield matches. He has just Cntered his thirty-fourth year. A mediton-paced bowler with an Off bfeak, he Is accurate and tifeless, and has taken no fewer than 109 wickets in Shield games — -a feat prohabiy nOt accomplished by more than half a dozen other players. He is a moderately good forcing batsman, being irtore than Useful as a tail-ender, and Whiie his BigHest SCore in Shield matches is 46, he has on numerous occasibns made vhluable scotes Of r6UM about 36 towaTds the close of an innlngs. He first played in Dunedin in the 1923-24 season, and then

Oxford Universlty without obtaining his "blue." On his return to New Zealand he played in Auckland in the 1928-29 season and became j. member of the provincial side. Since then he has continuously represented Otago in ihe Plunket Shield series. He played for New Zealand against Jardine's team itt Auckland in 1933— - the oceasiort on which Hammond made his record score of 336 (not out) against a Dominion side. The Feeling in Taranaki. . It Is evident that in filling the last places in the Dominion side the selectors looked for a capable right-hand slow bowler of the Merritt type and for a Consistent medium-paced stock bowler to support Roberts, says the Taranaki Daily News. For this reason such good all-rounders as J. A. Dunning were called upon. E. W. Tindill, 27 years, was a member of the 1935 AU Blacks and is a sound batsman - wicketkeeper. He made 133 for Wellington against Auckland and bagged four victims in one innings. J. Cowie , 25-year-old Aucklander, is a medium-fast bowler of powerful physique who won his New Zealand cap last season. J. A. Dunning, 33-year-old Otago representative, is an all-rounder and good stock bowler who has done fine woric in many Shield games. ' In every New Zealand team there is a surprise selection, and B. Griffiths, Wellington, appears to be this year's effort. A good right-hand slow bowler and a medioere bat, he has been given a chance to prove himself. G. L. Weir, 28 years old, is a consistent all-rounder with big mateh temperament who was a member of the 1931 team in Eneland.

Manager and Captain. The New Zealand Cricket Council has announced that M. L. Page has been appointed captain, and Mr. T. C. Lowry manager of the team. The New Zealand team will sail from Wellington on March 27; and Will play 37 matches, including some in Scotland and Wales. The dates of Tests are: — June 26, 28, 29.— At Lord's. July 24, 26, 27. — At Manchester. August 14, 16, 17.— At the Oval. Of the 1937 team Page is the only actual player who accompanied the 1927 side on its pioneer tour of the Old Country; while Kerr, Vivian and Weir accompanied Page when he went Home again in 1931. Lowry was captain on both occasions, and manager in the second year. Mr. Douglas Hay was manager 10 years ago. The 1937 New Zealand selectors are: Messrs. H. B. Whitta (Canterbury, ehairman), N. C. Snedder, (Auckland), J: McMullan (Otago), Isittd A. W. Duncan, ^Wellington),