CRICKET TOUR.

Hokitika Guardian, 27 September 1928, Page 2

CRICKET TOUR.

ENGLISH TEA A! LEAVES.

SOME OF THE PLAYERS

“Good wickets and good luck!” was a parting wish flung at Chapman’s men as they left London. A wiser man would have called “Bad wickets and good luck,” for on wickets that help the bowlers the English side is almost certain to be stronger than its opponents. The reference to good wickets calls up visions of matches lasting a week. No one will be surprised it all records of high scoring are broken on this tour. The selectors’ preference for AFead over "Woolley, that aggressive and beautiful batsman, can mean only that they were determined to strengthen the purely defensive elements of the side. Mead visited Australia sixteen years ago, and his methods were then declared to be painful. “Better twenty runs from Jessop; than a century from Quaife” —this adaptation of Tennyson was written many years ago.. Yet in this year, his last, at the age of 56, Quaife made a century in his scheduled time of a little less than four hours, and what was more significant, Sutcliffe, one of England’s opening batsmen, took just as long to reach the century agai list Lancasliire. Even in England, where the threedav ?imit is the rule, the slowness of play is the subject of an increasing amount of comment. Here and there —as in a Kent-Notts match Ibis year - the sides fling a hat at fortune, and tlie spectators drink the real wine ot cricket.

(Ihapman comes from Kent, he is naturally a sporting batsman, and on tlie only occasion on which lie captained England in 1926 he set his side an example of merry vigour. He may enter the arena in Sydney and Melbourne when the crowd is half asleep from, the monotony of hearing the hall strike unenterprising hats, and hit a six with a noise like the slamming of a door on a still night. On the other hand, the system may he too much for him, and he may cotter as Woolley pottered on a critical occasion during the last tour. It will be a. dour struggle, with perhaps gigantic scoring that will remind some of prize pumpkins at agricultural shows—interesting to look at, but somewhat monstrous and no (better to eat than tlie ordinary variety. Test cricket, indeed, has become a distinct variety of the game. Jt is desperately serious, and under Australian conditions a test of endurance. as well as skill—-not a battle so much as a campaign. The most enjoyable cricket is played <ni obscuie fields; where the game is crowd-less' and care-free.