CRICKET IN THE MALAY STATES

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 115, 5 August 1927, Page 10

CRICKET IN THE MALAY STATES

AUSTRALIAN’S IMPRESSIONS HEAT IS TERRIFIC C. G. Macartney, the lamoua Au s tralian XI. batsman, gives some inter" esting impressions of cricket in th" Malay Peninsula in an article ;n the “Sydney News.” Macartney was a member of the side which TV A fus field recently piloted on a “missionar-v' trip to the tropics. "arj Generally (says Macartney), the star, dard of cricket is not high, but the™ are so many handicaps for the visitin. team to overcome that the difrerenrl in ability of the two sides is consider ably reduced. The principal handicap are light and heat. The heat effect on visiting player, i, terrific, and. whether batting of fliid ing, after the first five minutes' of olaC every man is wet through with per. piration, and he remains that way all day. Changes of clothing are necessary at each interval. * SOME USE HELMETS It is very dangerous indeed to pi aT in caps or ordinary hats between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Helmets or double “Terais”—which are reallv double felt hats—are the usual head gear, but we preferred the double Terais. because they are much more comfortable, and easier to wear w bowling. For more than half way through the five weeks’ tour, we endeavoured to discover the best hours of plav which would eliminate the hottest period of the day, and eventually came to the conclusion that those between 12 noon and 6 p.m. were as good as any. The luncheon interval (“tiffin”) usually lasted for one hour and a quarter which gave a very necessary rest. The effect of playing in such hot and humid conditions —and the percentage of humidity in Malaya runs very high —is a great strain. Fast bowlers can only be called on to do four or five overs at a stretch, before being relieved; naturally performers of a slower pace can do a little more. Batsmen scoring 50 runs have done their share, and many are distressed by the heat long before they reach that mark. GLARE IS SEVERE The light in Malaya is altogether different from anything which I hav« ever experienced. The air shimmers from the heat and gives the appearance of the atmosphere just above an asphalt road on a hot day. It is generally considered that it takes a man up to 12 months to become thoroughly accustomed to the light in Malaya. The glare on all grounds is very* severe on the eyes. I have often heard comment* about the glare fct the Adelaide Oval, but that is a mere circumstance compared with what is an every-day occurrence on the Malay Peninsula. The effect of the light and glare on our batsmen was very noticeable, but fortunately Woodfull, Andrews and Oldfield were less troubled than the others by these conditions, and wer« able to give the spectators a treat.