CRICKET AND GOLF

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 83, 31 December 1937, Page 12

CRICKET AND GOLF

DO THE TWO BLEND ? AUSTRALIAN WRITER'S IMPRESSIONS GRACE THOUGHT CRICKET NO GOOD FOR GOLF

Remarldng on a recent tendency (before getting the eye in) by some able batsmen to hit across a ball pitched lyell up with a bit of leg spin or swerve on it to an international ericketer, he said that he, too, had noticed it, writes J. C. Davis, in an interesting article on cricket in the Sydney Referee. "Just a passing phase," he observed. He thought it would pass aa suddenly as it had appeared. 4T think it is due to their mixlng golf and cricket. Some batsmen possess genius wk'ch makes them rlse superior to these things. Of such are Bradman, McCabe and Macartney. It does not seem to matter to them whether they mix golf and cricket, they get the iuns just the* same in their own ininiitable style. "Nevertheless," he 2 aid, "the strokes in golf and cricket, the grip, of the hat and the club are so different that I do not think your star ericketer should mix golf in the cricket season with his cricket. I'm sure it does his cricket no good. He should confine himself to cricket* ln its season, and put in his winter playing golf.H Hitting across the line of the ball referred to has, perhaps, nothing to do with mixing golf with cricket, the Referee's commentary continues. It is, of course, not general. « It is probably due to a slight weakening in concentration on keeping the left eibow itraight and with it, the bat straight The safer and more prolific stroke is to give the baU the face of the perpendicular bat With power behind it. yf$ hear many opinions on the effect of mixing golf and cricket. Some contend that it is very bad for the ericketer. Some that it is very bad for the golfer. Perhaps no hard and fast rule can be applied. No two men are alike. What may be meat for one may be poison to anothex. A great many years ago, when golf was a "young" game in this country, few cricketers took it on. It was the same in Efigland. But as it became better known, and more generally played, many cricketers took it up as a relaxation from the concentration of first-class cricket. That was so in England. Hence we often heard of the Hon. F. S. Jackson, G. W. Beldham, George Brann, R. E. Foster, G. tu Jessop, H. D. G. Levesqn-Gower, and A. E. Stoddart all playing golf very well. Some of these, of course, had a speciel gift for games. Stoddart, for instance, was a wonderful three-quarter back in Rugby Union football. And R. E. Foster was an adept at soccer football. However, most cricketers of a past generation who took up golf did sq when they were relaxing from the more arduous cricket playing, or retiring from the game. It was so with W. G. Grace and W. L. Murdoch. With cricketers these times it is different. We know that Don Bradman and Stan MoCabe are very keen on golf. So is Alan Kippax. In fact, "Kippie," in his greatest cricketing years, found golf go hand in hand with cricket. To-day he Is not playing cricket tthough he may take it up again) but he is playing golf very keenly, and quite well. W. G. Grace did not play any goif. in the hey-day of his wonderful career in cricket. He thought this was due, perhaps, to the fact that, in his part of Gloucestershire, there was no golf course. When he was getting cld in cricket he did play golf. W.G. was once asked the inevitable question as to whether golf was bad lor cricket. His experience led him to unhesitatingly reply that it wasn't. But, mark you, W.G. thought cricket was not good for golf! He said that if a golfer wished to jjay well he should not play cricket one day and golf the next, and expect to feel perfectly at home with his ckbs. W.G. got plenty of relaxation and some exercise and good fellowship out of golf, One of his stories brings In un Australian of whom we know a gieat deal, though he belongs to a period when the Bradmans, McCabes, Oldfields, Ponsfords, and other modcrn knights of the little red ball were not known. "One of the earliest occasions," said W.G., "on which I played a round of golf, was with Billy Murdoch. Nobody was fonder of a bit of fun. And a more cheery, genial companion,

under all circumstances, there, surely never was than Billy Murdoch. Billy Murdoch In the Bunker "We were digging our way round when Murdoch drove into a deep sand-bunker rather at the side of the course, A few spectators were with us, but when Billy got into the bunker he was hidden from view. We saw the ball come out with the usual shower of sand, and everyone cried, 'Well out. Good shot!' "At lunch one of the members of the club remarked on Billy's excellent recovery, saying he'd soon be a plus man at that rate. "Billy, having taken it all in quite seriously, whispered to me, Knew I couldn't hit it out, so I threw it!'"