NATIONAL SPORT.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 2480, 14 September 1922, Page 4

NATIONAL SPORT.

ENGLAND IN THE DOLDRUMS

BUT CRICKET ON. (By F.W.T. in The Sydney Sun). LONDON, Jniy RL English sporting men are not 'the giants they were. Very few championships remain in this country, and there , are not so many brilliant s coming on as would suggest that m tne near future the Englishman will take the proud place he formerly occupied in the domain of sport. The Australians were supreme at cricket, and it is only stating the accepted judgment to declare that any one of the three Davis Cup representatives from Australia would defeat any of the English players at Wimbledon. Kingscote is the only man of the whom battalion of them who would be likely to extend even the weakest of the three singles players. None of the others would have a chance, and this is written deliberately knowing that Campbell took one set from the new champion. The general public which accepts most things at their face value regarded that success as an indication of Campbell s strength. It was nothing of the kind. Before the match I had a long talk with Patterson, and he outlined the tactics he intended to pursue. He was not altogether elated at a description of him printed in one of the papers—“The navvy of tennis. . . . with the limbs and face of a prizefighter, and he went to the court with the fixed determination of showing the English tennis crowd that he could play the “pretty” game of cuts and lobs just as well as tlieir own players. Cricket seems to be suffering from the same trouble just now- as lawn tennis —it is in the doldrums. The men who are the giants of the game are the men who have been before the public for five, ten, fifteen, and in isolated cases twenty years. There is apparently no one in sight likely to dispute with Hobbs the batting supremacy of England. SOME YOUNG BOWLERS. More young men are found amongst the bowlers. Apparently the strength of bowlers is eaten up much more quickly than the strength ol batsmen. Nevertheless one of the old brigade heads the list at present, the evergreen Wilfred Rhodes, whose age generosity forbids me to chronicle. Having a season to his liking he has enjoyed himself as only a successful bowler can. Then comes a boy, F. B. R. Browne, of Cambridge, whose delivery confounds the critics. They are debating whether or not he delivers the ball off his right foot, and though some hold that he does not photographs certainly show that lie does. Angus Mackay who, ten or fifty years ago, played for Bendigo, had a similar delivery. Another of the younger brigade follows, Macauley, of Yorkshire, who bowls medium pace right hand, and is nearly good enough to represent England. There are several other young men amongst the bowlers, but a keen judge like Sydney H. Pardon, editor of Wisden, laments that no one of the highest class has yet appeared. “Parkin,” he says, “has shown again and again that he can go through a moderate side, but against first-class batsmen his success is small. His various devices have become too familiar and no longer cause much trouble, at any rate not on good wickets. ‘WARNER’S POINT OF VIEW.

The best review of the state of cricket in England was one which Warner gave me when I dropped in on him in the office of The Cricketer, a very excellent weekly of which he is editor. “The trouble with English cricket,” he said, “is that we havn’t got over the war. A lot of our promising bowlers were killed, and though a number of youngsters are coining on they have, not yet reached their pinnacle. Then again the war changed the whole life of the country, and men who before the war would have been able to play the game to the exclusion of everything else find that life is a serious business and they have to work. “But we are going forward. In two or three years we will be pretty good and the Australians will not have it all their own way when we meet again. The older brigade are the pillars of the game at present, but there are some very promising lads coming on. There is 'Macauley, for instance, the most promising bowler in England. He is a fast medium, who varies his pace well, and altogether he comes very near the pre-war test match standard. Loudon, an amateur playing with Essex, is probably the best bowler in England on all wickets, and other first-class amateurs are G. T. S. Stevens, who has not been able to play very often this season, H. Ashton, Fid dian-Green, a very excellent batsman, and J. L. Bryan, a magnificent bat. What is more, they can field, and the importance of this branch of the game is recognised since the last visit of the Australians.

“The policy of the English cricket authorities is to give the younger men a chance. They have the equivalent of a general staff, and if a promising young player is noticed he is indexed "as a possible test match' man of two or three seasons ahead. The quest is for active men, the belief being that the young man of 26 is better than the same standard man ten years older.” I asked Warner how he viewed the* action of Macdonald and O’Keeffe in taking up League cricket. He viewed it with grave disfavour, and he said that though it is impossible to interfere with the freedom of contract of the individual, the use of the strongest moral suasion should he tried. The League is not under the control of the M.C.C., and Warner points out that it would be possible for it to buy up all the best players in the world, if it became rich enough.