THAT LORD 'S INCIDENT

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 43, 13 November 1937, Page 12

THAT LORD 'S INCIDENT

20 WIDES TO GET NEW BALL SURREY CAPTAIN CRITICISEP

A SEN8ATION FOR CRICKET, Writing in The Cricketer, of September 11, Sir Pelham Warner, the editor, states that the recent incident at Lord's when E, R, T. Holmes, the Surrey captaln, sent down 20 vyides in ordf? to obtain a new ball at 200 has naturally aroused much comment, Wltatdver may be said in favour pf the surrey captain's action it was pne which djd net ceineide with sir James Barrle's ideas of "a gopd deal of worghip pf fair play," and "a living thing, a winged wprd abput playing the game," referred to in R.V/.'s article in The Cricketer pf September 4. !The whoie affair was an undignified one with the ball fiying yards over the betsmen's head, ahd McMurray, who was fielding as a substitute, standing in front of the pavilion gate and allowing it to go past him to the boundary. McMurray, Pf cpurse, was acting under his captain's orders, and one felt yery gprfy fo? him in a situation which niust have been particularly embarrassing. One does npt like the plea, "within the law,'' coming from a former captain of Malvern and Oxford, a leader pf an M.C.C, team during a recent tour in Australasia, and now captain of a famous county and a member of the M.C.C. committee. Holmes say s, "it has heen done to me twice," but three wrongs do not make a right, and when an incident of something of the same sort occurred in Kew Zealand, we understood fhat he disapproved of it, It was not as if the Middlesex bats? men, G. O, Allen and R. W. V. Robins, had refused to try to obtain the fufi value of their hits, and we cannot believe that Holmes' tactics were in acqordance with the spirit and tradi? tion of the game. Coming from a prominent p.ersonality in the game they cannot escape criticism.

it may be that legislation, wlll be deemed necessary, but cricket will lose much of its prestige and charm it legislation has to be evoked in order to stop captains driving a coach «nd four through the laws of the game. We have in jmind changes which have been made in the law in the past, but cricket is a game in which the spirjt and manner In which it is played Shpuld be paramount. Holmes as a member of tlie committee of M.C.C. cannot be unaware of the views which the M.C.C. might be expected to hold pn such a happening, and it was unfortunate that he should have selected Lord's as the ground on which to put his ideas into practice. Bome are of opinion that what he Oid was "unfair" play; others, on the cpntrary, maintain that he was "within his rights"— but there" are many things at cricket which are within the ruies, but whiqh are "not done." Perhaps it would be best te go back to A w a?ld not ellow a new bali until the one in use is worn put. It had been a great and mgmorable game-— thi§ Surrgy and Middlesex match^and Holmes' gesture when he and lus team raised "their eaps and gave three chers for Hendren when that great cricketer came in to bat on the previous day was so charming and so appreciated, that his final action was, as it were, as if a beautiful pic? tpe had been daubed with ink; and the mateh ended on a most unhappy

We may, perhaps, be charged with sentimentalism, but cricket is more than a game, it means so much; it stands for a great deal, It is an institutjon, a part of the life of the Eng? mh people. You must have a standard — you must have an ideal. And if we. aceused of sentiment we can quote that grgat man pf letterg and lover of crieket, Andrgw Lang, who in an intrpduction to Richard Daft's "Kings of Cricket,;' wrote: "There can be no good cricket without enthusiasm, onq may ahnost say without sentiment, a quality which enriehes and ennobles hfe and gives, what life is more and more apt to lack, zest," That match was played on August 28, 39 and 31, and resulted in a win for Surrey pn the first innings. Scores: Surrey: 509 (Fishlpck 127, Barling 114), and 304 for six wickets declared (Barling 71, not out). Middlesex: 419 (Hendren, playing his last game, 103, Edrich 96), and 202 for seven wickets (Hendren a duck). The incident in New Zealand occurrew when Holmes was captajn of the 1935-36 M.C.C. team when it was playing the first. Test at Dunedin. New Zealand was dismi§_sed for 81 in the first inninjgs (H. D. Read, fast, six for 26), tp Which England replied with 653 for fiye Wickets declared (W. Barber 173, Jag, Langridge 106 not out, J. H. Park§ 100). New Zealand had lost seven wickets for 181 in the second innings when J, H. Human weilt ont, and off this only over of the games 24 wides and byes resulted. H. G. Vivian, §7 nOt pUt, had been playing doggedly for a draw after bad weather had held the Englishmen up, and there had been an appeal against the light just before: HUman was put on to bowl by Holmes. On it being dissdlowed it was elalmed that, in gympathy with the New Zeaianders, Human dcliberately bowled wides and byes to fprce abandonment pf the game by making a f arce pf it, and not to geeure the new ball at 200. As Human, now on his way ot Sydney to be married to an Australian girl, has always been noted for his captivat.ing personaUty and sportsmanship, it seems certain that nothing was. further from his thoughts than adopting a doubtful prpcedure to get another balj, as ha probably did not know how to use it before the shine went off! /