FLEETWOOD-SMITH’S SINGLET

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 19, 23 January 1937, Page 11 (Supplement)

FLEETWOOD-SMITH’S SINGLET

Fleetwood-Smith wore through Africa a singlet he had worn through England. “My lucky singlet,” he called it, and it always w r ent on under his cricketshirt. A poor, tattered old ramnant it was, but it was the first article that Fleetwood sought when he opened his cricket bag at a new ground. It would have made a poor duster at the end, but Fleetwood-Smith would have been downcast had the day ever dawned when the “singlet” had gone astray. That reminds me of an English tour here four years ago. “Plum” Warner was one of the managers and easily the most cherished possession of the Englishman was a tattered old M.C.C. flag that had seen years of service. The folours had faded, it was almost in shreds, but none who saw it will forget the consternation of Warner one morning on the Sydney ground when the flag could not be found. “That flag has never yet fluttered on an English defeat,” said the manager, “It must be found. It must be found.” The cricket ground staff scurried in ail directions. Poor “Plum” Warner was in a frenzy and despair. He sat in the corner of the dressing room, a study in miserable desolation, but before that day was out the flag had been found and fluttered again from he pole. One of the staff, who had assisted in the search, had been using it for a boot polisher. “That old thing a flag?” asked he when the big discovery had been made.