A VICTORIAN CRICKETING TEAM.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 303, 8 September 1874, Page 2

A VICTORIAN CRICKETING TEAM.

The following letter, dated the South Melbourne Club, August 12, and/ written by an experienced Victorian cricketer to a friend in Dunedin, is published in the Daily Times :— "I notice the Dunedin papers have mooted the subject of a visit of a Victorian cricketing team to New Zealand. The paragraph has been copied into the Melbourne papers. Pending the receipt of a definite offer from your side, the subject will not receive much attention, but what cricketers I have seen are pleased with the idea ; and I y have little doubt that a very good team/ can be got ; hut as I explained to you^ and indeed as you are aware, tbequa>jty of the team entirely depends upon the time that the trip will occupy, andAt will be necessary to arrange thatit will not extend over five weeks. J If you decide upon making the off*, I would suggest that the matches th be played should be arranged in buch manner that a steamer vio Bluff, leaving Melbourne about seventeen/days after tbe team, should pick them/up at Nelson. Thia would enable yjbu to play four matches of two dayi each, leaving nine days for travellti g aod recovering from the sea voyu ;e. I cannot see how a match can be played nt Auckland on account of ll c time lhat it would take to get the c and bock to catch a steamer, unless Walliogton and Nelson be left out of the; programme ; and in arranging youjr programme you will, of coarse, pay due regard to the time occupied in travelling, bearing in mind tbat%ve w&ks\is all the team will have froni datfe o\ lea Wing Melbourne, and it rniht be, Of gourde, a matter for your discretiobs^wheiheA it would be better to play three' match-S — say-aKDunedin, Christchurch, and Auckland; x or four matches — say at Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington, and Nelson. Io arranging for steamers, I think that M'Meckao, Blackwood, and Co. would accommodate the venture by sailing with the team ou a Saturday, and following the same route upon the next Wedneeday fortnight. This would give a clear seventeen days in New Zealand, and the team would meet the steamer at Nelson. These are merely suggestions that have struck me in thinking how much can be Accomplished in the short space at command. The only thing that I have to impress upon you is that any programme that you may submit must be subject to the time named, otherwise the strength of the team will be materially weakened, if, indeed, one could ba arranged at all. There are several intercolonial matches in prospective for the coming season, viz., New South Wales, Tasmania, and Adelaide; it is therefore of importance that you should be early in the field. I would suggest that February would be a good time to leave as many of oar leading cAcieters get tbeir holidays about thatMift.., and I am confident' < that anyone who can arrange for so long a trip would prefer the New '.Zealand tour to any other. Trusting tbat .your efforts to bring about this visit will be successful.— lam, &c, W. J. Hunting, Hon. See., fc-.M.C." X • - - •