MUSINGS ON TEST THAYERS.

Shannon News, 10 February 1925, Page 1

MUSINGS ON TEST THAYERS.

MORALE AND THE “ASHES.” When we take our minds back to those halcyon days when we were more or less constitutionally chosen to represent our village or our street against a neighbouring eleven, we wonder if the game was more enjoyable then than it , is now (writes Mailey, from Adelaide, in the “Sydney Sun.”) Of course the lust for conquest is probably just as intense now as it was then, but the spoils of victory in those days had a different meaning. The Test match player of to-day is conscious of a kind of national responsibility. It is only human and natural to suppose that the successful player is mightily pleased with his performance, but I think he would far rather be less successful providing his country won the ashes. He feels the responsibility. Yet I cannot see why this should take the pleasure out of the ganie.

Although English writers during 1921 said that Australians played too seriously, and appeared to sacrifice the pleasures of the game to gain a victory at any cost, I found that behind that grim and hostile determination that is so obvious in a Test .match there is a light-heartedness and a tendency to play boyish pranks when the inquisitive eye of the spectator is not able to see them. Hours of Agony. It is perfectly true that Test teams —English and Australian —come off the field looking as though they have been' through hours of agony. It matters 'not which team is in a winning position. In fact, it often happens that the side that is not doing too well is the morelhilarious. Players appear to find relaxation in some ridiculous diversion. We cannot expect to see a batsman or a bowler broadcast his feelings to the crowd when success has attended his efforts. Other sportsmen are allowed that privilege or concession.

Take the boxer. After he has been given a decision he sometimes leaps in the air and hands with himself to the four sides of the house! The correct thing to do then is to throw both arms in the air and march majestically from the ringside. Then we have another entertainer —the actor. After doming to »a sticky death in the last act, he is resurrected at the fall of the curtain to receive the plaudits of an admiring audience. I have even seen the conductor of the orchestra leap from his position and break evens around the wings in an attempt to receive the second encore.

jA.ll this- is quite legitimate, in fact so expected is it that the audience would think the show incomplete if the artist did . not respond to the ovation. “On With the Game!” Looking at the whole affair with a sober mind I doubt whether the actor is entitled .to show himself after his "death” any more than the cricketer who has been "skittled” after scoring a glorious hundred. Mind you, these thoughts are not the fruits of a jealous miud. On the contrary, my sympathies are with the persons who are compelled by an admiring audience to climb on a pinnacle and pose like a statue of ‘Victory,” Let the batsman score liis glorious Lindied or the bowler send six victims back to the dtesmig-room—l should say "On with the game and dwell not upon the sc?ue’.” The pleasure of these successes need not be ilustrated by a series of hand-springs around the oval or imaginary hand-shakes to the members’ enclosure, or to our friends in the "bob” stand. Cricketers certainty enjoy the game and never allow an opportunity of dwelling on its pleasant incidents to pass. 7 Are We downhearted? During the second Test match, in Melbourne the position was not very favourably to Australia. At the end of Satur-lgy’s play, Sutcliffe and Hobbs had defied the Australian attack for a part of two days, and the score at the drawing of stumps was more than 280 for no wickets. The greatest humorist would find it difficult to see the funny side of a position like this, in fact, to my mind, the thing looked ridiculous and both these batsmen gave promise of getting the required 600 runs without loss. Yet, when the Australians returned to the pavilion, tired, weary and footsore, one of the party started a popular chorus, and the rest of the team picked up the tune, and although the effect might not have been as satisfactory as grand opera, it was nevertheless, refreshing to know that the players did not allow the seriousness of the position to interfere with their somewhat ordinary musical capabilities. If it becomes necessary to introduce professionalism into Australian cricket, it is said that the game may lose some of its charm. This may or may not be so. If'the present. English team is any criterion', the. fallacy of this contention is obvious, for I believe that the professionals travelling with the English team really enjoy cricket just as much as the amateurs of the side.