Neale s Figures

NZ Truth, Issue 1179, 5 July 1928, Page 6

Neale s Figures

ASK 'any man-inr-the-street how] many times 400 runs have been compiled for a first-wicket partnership m New Zealand cricket history and. he will probably plead not guilty to knowing, adding that it doesn't very much matter, after all. ' But E. R. ("Gar.") Neale, of Nelson, will know, and, what is more, he can't help knowing. "It's not that I try to remember these, cricket figures," he says; "I read them and they jolly well stick." * i So sure as any local stalwart puts up a good slog or bags a swag of wicltets, the local paper appears with a full list of past veterans who have performed a similar feat. "Gar" Neale has' been at work. But Neale is no mere theorist. Last season saw him compile his 1000 runs m club and representative matches, while his . "slows" can still send the bails flying. I-Ie has represented Nelson and* the South Island on numerous occasions. Off the field of sport, he still dabbles m figures, combining his profession as auditor and accountant with his duties is secretary to a host of institutions, the chief of which are the Trotting Club, the Jockey Club and the Automobile Association. They like Neale across the Straits. As one of the City Fathers, he does much towards keeping Nelson very much ,on the map.