NEW ZEALAND CRICKET

Hokitika Guardian, 31 January 1930, Page 7

NEW ZEALAND CRICKET

REPUTATION ENHANCED. MB, DAN REESE’S VIEWS. CHRISTCHURCH, January 29. “I think we emerged from the contest with ‘fin enhanced reputation all round, and the only thing we will have to charge ourselves with is a defect which has been apparent in New Zealand cricket for years past.” The speaker was Mr Dan Reese, president of the'-New Zealand Cricket Council, who'hesitated to express. Ins personal opinions of , the actual play in the cricket test, but who was persuaded to do .so on the-ground that his long experience should qualify him to offer constructive, criticism in regard to the game. “After the/ batting display in Christchurchj” said Mr. lteese, ‘“when the English bowlers got on top and remained .there.for. the rest of the match, it was ‘most cheering to all concerned, who had a. real belief in the. batting ability of the New Zealanders, to find them showing their real form in the match just, finished in Wellington.

“The batting of Dempster and Mills, produced what must be regarded as the finest day’s, cricket in the history of the game for this Dominion. It is true that things went with the batsmen at the beginning of the innings, but' itj./was a magnificent effort against admittedly strong bowling. “Dempster, further emphasised the fact, that he is undoubtedly the finest batsman New Zealand has ever produced.. His methods are so sound and his scoring, .shots - so effective that he is capable of holding his own in any company .in- the world’s cricket' to-day. • He is possessed of real match temperament, accompanied by a - deter-. { mination which makes him. a real force . 1 on any. side. He and Mills make a remarkable pair of opening batsmen, and it is principally to them that New Zealand has been re-established in a batting sense. “But the batting in both innings was .‘ worthy of'the highest praise. It is true that ,the tail-enders in the first innings did not show to advantage, but by that time it' was a case of getting runs or getting out, for Lowry was. anxious to declare by lunch-time , ' THE BOWLING. “For some considerable time it has been the general opinion that New Zealand bowling is very weak, and generally speaking the standard throughout the Dominion is not high at tlie moment, but the efforts, of Badcoeli'and Merritt, in paticular, during, the recent match stand out as first-dass performances. Badcock’s persistent length, and the variety in his« methods of attack, were reminiscent of Relphat his best, when .he was in Neiv Zealand twenty years ago. He bowls much about the same pace as the oldtime English professional, and is just 1 as consistent in the perfect length i which he maintains. 1

“I have never seen Merritt bowl better than he did in Wellington. One must not measure his performances by the net result of wicKeis against the runs scored off him. Ihe fates were cruel to him throughout the match. He, too, bowled with a persistency (either with or against the wind) which was admirable in every respect, and it was not in.> fault that the English innings did not close quukly, and- our great opponents follow on.

“Dickinson also bowled well, even better than he was e.-.pecteu to, and it was the first time tins season that he had the help of a really last wicket. It is dear that his performance in Christchurch was not his true lorni. He has, on the other hand, lost a good deal of his pa.e, but his bowiing provided the necessary variety to Badcock and Merritt.

REAL LESSON OF THE TEST,

“But now one comes to the real lesson of the test match, and it was not a question of fielding, but of catching. in fact, the New Zealanders’ ground heluing na-s quite good throughout tlm match. There was a deplorable attack of something late on Saturday afternoon which completely robbed New Zealand of all chance of winning the match. Between lour o’clock and six o’clock that afternoon four chances were missed, three of them being simple ones and all occurring at a critical stage in the game, when the New Zealanders were definitely on top, with the Englishmen lighting hard to extricate themselves from what appeared to be an impossible position.

“During the tour of the New Zealanders in England the cables repeatedly referred to the New Zealanders’ fielding, and particularly to their bad catching. Excuses were made about the strange light and foreign ground, but here we found, on our own ground, an epidemic of catch-di opping in its worst form, and at the most crucial period of tne match.

“One felt sorry for Lowry, for he captained the side better than I have ever seen him handle it before. He seemed to have the knack of knowing just which batsmen on the English' side did not relish our slow bowling, and it was quite apparent that more than half of the English batsmen were not at home to Merritt’s slows. Lowry seemed to be fighting all the time to get Merritt bowling- at certain batsmen and surely enough the catch would come only to he dropped. “This feature of the game remains the only disappointing part of the match from New Zealand’s point of view. He bonded and batted splendidly, tbeir ground fielding, was good, but their catching was similar to what one sees in Saturday afternoon cricket. When one compares this with the soundness of the Englishmen’s fielding it is clear that this is the first lesson we receive from our distinguished visitors, It seems almost impossible for Duleepsinhji to drop a catch, and he Keeps taking two or three every innings. As a matter of fact our visitors have hardly dropped a catch in j any of the first-class matches they ' have played in New Zealand.

THIRD TEST PROSPECTS. “The third test will now be looked forward to with intense interest,” said i\lr Reese in conclusion, “and if Gilligan agrees to the council’s suggestion of extending it to four days, we should see a great struggle for supremacy. lithe New Zealanders perforin with bat and ball with anything like the form they showed in Wellington, too game will be lifted to a still higher plane in this country, ft must he renieninered, however, t int a plain Auckland wicket is probably the hardest one in New Zealand to howl on, and I we may find that neither Badcock nor j Merritt will be as successful as they were in Wellington, and that the English fast howlers, on the other hand, may be at an advantage. ’

BETTER FIELDING NEEDED MR HUGH TRUMRLE’S OBSERVATIONS. WELLINGTON, January 28. The one disappointing feature of New Zealand’s performance against the M.C.C. touring team was the missing of chances in the field, in hatting and in bowling the New Zealanders rose to the occasion, and it was unfortunate that the prospects of success were marred by errors in the holding department. •

“My advice to New. Zealand players is to sharpen up their fielding,” remarked Air Hugh Trunible, the famous Australian International player, today. Ah’ Trunible, who is returning to Australia on Friday, has seen several of the matches with the M.C.C. in New Zealand, including the First and Second Tests.

“If a man is a cricketer he wants to be a fieldsman,” said Air Trunible. “He is a wonderful help to a side if j he can field well. It is a very simple matter to get the practice, although the players mainly devote their time at tlie nets to batting and bowling. A little of that time in the field when they are assembled for net practice j would be of great advantage.” The j fielding in the matches which lie had j seen at Christchurch and Wellington was disappointing.

“Until the ' New Zealand players sharpen up their fielding,” lie said “they cannot expect to he in the first fiight of representative cricket. It is most essential that fieldsmen should be reliable and take all reasonable chances There is no doubt that good fielding * makes weak bowling strong. 'Die dropping of catches takes the heart out of some bowlers, and, moreover, you cannot afford to give first class batsmen two lives or more. Fielding is just as imporant as batting or bowling and requires just as -much practice. A great measure of the .success of Australian teams is due to their excellent fielding. They have had men specialied in particular positions on the field. In my young days I spent many a half-hour with a tennis ball up against a brick wall practising slip-fielding and 1 think that practice was a great aid to me as a slip-fieldsman.”

FIELDING PRACTICE ESSENTIAL. In again stressing the fact that all cricketers should devote a certain

amount of time to fielding practice, Mr Trunible said that it was expected of the fieldsmen that they would take all reasonable chances, but, of course they could not be expected to take imjiossible catches. It was a great inspiration to bowlers to know that they were backed up b,v good fielding, and, as an example of this, Mr Trunible mentioned how the howlers had been inspired by Jack Blaclcham in the old days. “A batsman who makes 50 runs and drops a couple of catches comes down to zero,” said the old International, “and .1 would sooner have the man who could make 20 runs and get a couple out. Fancy giving men like Trumper anil Ranjitsinliji two lives. You cannot do it.”

REVIEW OF N.Z. PLAYERS. AYith the batting and bowling performances of the New Zealanders, Mr Trunible was much impressed, and he [inid Dempster the great tribute of ranking him as a player worthy of a place in the Australian Eleven. “The performance of the New Zea-'-'nd team against the M.C.C. in tne Second Test was very very creditable,” •he said. “1 think the batting of Alills and Dempster was very fine indeed. Of course they had a little bit of luck with them in compiling 270 runs for the first wicket, but you want luck in making a score of this dimension.' Dempster, Alills, Page and Blunt are ; first class batsmen, but we did not see the best of Blunt. Some of the others are just in the making, and only require a little more experience, Demps-' ter would gain a place in the Austra-' lian Eleven if he had the same opportunities on Australian wickets, and more match piny. There is no doubt he is a remarkably sound batsman. I think Mills will go on improving. He wants to develop one or two more strokes, the drive in particular. He is. very sound on defence. Page is a good forcing bat, and never allows a bad hall to go unpunished. He also played a very fine innings in one match in Christchurch.” j

AY itli regard to the howlers, Air Trunible said that Dickinson was perhaps unfortunate in not having a higher delivery. He had the pace all right, but was a little bit on the round arm side. There was not much difference in the pace olf Nichols and Dickinson, but the former came over higher in making his delivery, and made the ball flv more. A higher delivery would make Dickinson much more effective. Badcock bowled veiy creditably. He kept a very good length, and it was hard to score off him. Merritt also bowled very well, but did not have the best of luck. During the first hour that lie was on he hardly bowled a bad ball.

BATTING IA [PROVED. “Since I was over here three years ago,” said the old International, “the batting, so far as 1 have seen, lias greatly improved. No doubt the tour to England helped the players very considerably, the experience of playing on English wickets being of great value. You will want to discover another young bowler or two for next year’s tour to England. As the wickets there are similar to those in New

Zealand, and with the experience of a previous visit, the New Zealand team should do very well on its next tour. New Zealand cricket is undoubtedly on the improve, and there is no reason why it should not turn out first-class players.”