Sports Commentary

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26630, 28 November 1947, Page 9

Sports Commentary

- By The Sports Editor _

Boys’ Representative Cricket *

The Otago Boys’ Cricket Association annual matches with Canterbury will be played at Christchurch on December 16 and 17. The matches played are senior, under 16 years, and junior, under 14 years. The Biltcliff and Rix Cups are both held at present by the Canterbury Association. The matches are played alternately at Christchurch and Dunedin. Several members of the Otago representative side and many senior players have played in the boys’ representative teams at some time. The boys at present are being selected and coached by Mr Les Stewart, and he will announce the teams at an early date. The Otago Boys’ Cricket Association is faced with a heavy expenditure in sending the teams to Christchurch, as no special rates are now available for teams travelling. The secretary, Mr W. A. Rowland, P.O. Box 94, will acknowledge any support that is forthcoming. Old-timers Among those who attended the annual meeting of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association in Wellington on Saturday were Mr A. A. Marry at and Mr A. T. Davies, two former presidents. Mr Marryat has been connected with the sport for many years, and was present at a meeting presided over by Mr A. A. Paape, of Dunedin, in Christchurch in December, 1908. when the association was reorganised and placed on a more solid foundation. He held the presidency in 1912-14 and 1919-20. Mr Davies followed Mr Marryat in office after the First World War, when the sport was expanding rapidly, and he retained office for five years, during which teams of American. Australian, and South African athletes were brought to New Zealand. Both still maintain a close interest in athletics. Champions’ Second Defeat

The St. Clair A Grade women’s team, last season’s lawn tennis premiers, suffered its second defeat when it mei University on Saturday, while Kaituna remains undefeated, with a win over St. Clair among its successes. The University girls fully deserved their win. and the,final score, in favour of University by 9—5. rather flattered the St. Clair side. There were several surprises, the most unexpected being the ease with which Miss M. Pyle defeated Miss M. Robertson, 6—2, 6—2. After her victory against Miss Kerr the St. Clair player’s l performance was disappointing but was due to the superior tactics of Miss Pyle, who dominated the position throughout and controlled the style of play. As forecast in this column, Miss C. Neave is already worrying the top rankers, and Mrs C. Gilkison, third on the Otago ranking ladder, had a close win in the third set, 6—5. after first and second sets of 4—6, 6—4 respectively. Miss Neave’s judgment of the correct shots to follow to the net is faulty, but this is probably due to lack of experience. Cricket Test in Brisbane The Otago branch of the New Zealand DX Club .has been notified that the first test between India and Australia will begin at the Brisbane Oval to-day and will conclude on Thursday. Radio Australia will carry a ball-by-ball description and commentaries beamed to India ovei either station VLC9, 17840 kilocycles. 16.82 metres; or VLCIO, 21680 kilo cycles, 13.84 metres. Ball by ball descriptions will be given each day of play from 2-2.30 p.m.,*3.10-3.30 p.m., 5-ti p.m., and from 7-8 p.m., New Zealand standard time. A commentary on the d&y’s play will be broadcast at 8.30 p.m. from-VLA6, 15200 kilocycles, 19.47 metres. x

Sutcliffe’s Second Century B. Sutcliffe, the brilliant North-East Valley left-hander, scored his second century-in consecutive matches when he compiled 128 in the sedond innings of the match against Dunedin on Saturday. With Sutcliffe forcing the pace, his opening partnership with R. Jones brought the century up in 55 minutes. The New Zealand representative was dropped off the bowling of G. Tobin when he" had scored 28, but his display throughout was in keeping with his reputation. He produced a wide variety of strokes, characterised by crispness, power, and accuracy. Return to Form

L. D. Smith, the Albion-Y.M.C.A. captain, showed a pleasing return to form in the match against University on Saturday, his 67 not out, in the second innings representing one of the fastest scoring displays of the season. Smith accepted the sporting challenge of the University captain, L. C. Baker, who left Albion-Y.M.C.A. with 176 runs to get in 67 minutes. Smith and E. Watson delighted the onlookers by their exhilarating batting, and 107 runs were added for the third wicket in 49 minutes. Albion were 41 runs short of the requisite total for an outright win. Smith was particularly severe on anything loose on the leg side, and two big hits over the square-leg boundary for 6 were among his scoring strokes. He also hit five 4’s, and a stroke to fine-leg enabled the batsmen to run five.' Watson, who made 40 not out, is showing consistent form, and his running between the wickets was a big improvement on his display in the opening match. Union’s Yankee Tournament A high standard of play was revealed throughout the yankee mixed doubles handicap tournament conducted by the Dunedin Lawn Tennis Union last Saturday, as part of its gala day towards the Court Building Fund. There were many closely-contested games, and good support was given by the players. Eight courts were required for the four grades, and, the winners of each grade were found before the tournament final was played, off. The winners, Spiers and Miss J. Sharpe (Holy Cross A Grade) played well throughout the tournament. The winners of the C and D Grades, Campbell and Miss Gazzard (Kiwi) played steadily throughout, and were unlucky to be defeated in the final by 31 to 28.