AUCKLAND’S BLACK DAY

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 302, 13 March 1928, Page 12

AUCKLAND’S BLACK DAY

Innings Defeat by Australia

GRIMMETT’S MASTERLY BOWLING

YESTERDAY was a black day for Auckland cricket, its representatives being overwhelmed by the Australian touring team to the tune of an innings and 40 runs. Langridge, the young English professional, made a great lonehanded effort to stave off the innings defeat, but scarcely one of the other batsmen could make any headway against the Australian bowlers.

TT has been suggested that as Auck- i land never did have much of a | record against Australian sides, it had no reputation to lose over the match. This airy method of disposing of a disquieting state of affairs may sound all right to the unthinking, but it is not good enough for the many close followers of the game who know that there is something seriously amiss with Auckland cricket at the present time. Admittedly, Dacre, Allcott and Mills would have made a big difference to the Auckland team, but it is futile to urge this as the reason for such a . rushing defeat. Any province must be prepared for unexpected withdrawals from its full playing strength. NOT A NEW PROBLEM Right through the season, The Sun has consistently drawn attention to the way the game has been slipping back, and to the lackadaisical atmosphere that has enveloped club cricket, which not even the presence of two most capable and popular professional players has been able to remove. Even in official circles, there was a tendency to pooh-pooh the remarks that have been made frequently in these columns, although there -were a few who discussed the position with the writer, and frankly admitted that a great deal of this candid criticism was fully deserved. There are some facts, however, that cannot be disposed of. The season, which started so full of promise, ends with Auckland minus the Plunket Shield, and on top of that, one of the most severe defeats ever inflicted by a touring team in New Zealand. CLUB CRICKET THE STARTING POINT Apart from the merit of the suggestion advanced in The Sun that this match should have been taken advantage of to build up the strength of the province with a view to the future and not the present, it can be reiterated that more life and enterprise is badly needed in club cricket. The views advanced here are in the direction of the future t and are not concerned with useless recriminations, save to drive home the lesson that many were content to take “as read.” The sooner the present system of allowing three points for an inconclusive lead on the first innings is revoked in favour of a more equitable system of points, the better it will be for club cricket. There will then be less pottering about at the wickets, and a better appreciation of the fact that a bat is not a stool-stick, but an implement for hitting a loose ball good and hard. Good as the Australian bowling was —of its kind—it did not need a cricket sage to realise that it had its limitations, and that a side of keen, aggressive batsmen might easily leave the visitors regretting that they have not a greater variety at their command to reinforce the undoubted merit of Grimmett’a consistent, heady wo:rk with the ball. Yesterday showed that even McNamee has his limitations on a wicket that is not helping the ball to “tizz” through without checking its initial velocity. GOOD MEN COMING ON As to the weakness of the Auckland bowling, that is a phase through which the game is passing, and which promises to remedy itself by the rise of young players of the calibre of Roy, Weir. Lyon and other promising trundlers. It is true, also, that to some extent the plethora of “straight up and down” medium-paced bowlers -r

in club cricket has had a stultifying influence on the batting, but it is not the whole reason for the falling away in the general standard, or the chief reason either. It is not in bowling only that young players are coming to the fore to take the place of men like Allcott, Snodden and Smith, and other names which have been a household word in f**ew Zealand cricket in recent years. Yesterday, Postles, who showed a splendid return to form in recent club matches, fully justifled the eleventh hour chance he got in the Auckland team. Free, graceful and polished, the Eden colt gave as artistic a display of batting as anyone in the match. Australians included. There was general regret at his untimely dismissal through a run-out at a stage when the circumstances warranted him in opening out on the bowling after having carefully recovered the ground lost at the start of the innings. COULD HAPPEN TO ANYONE Further than that, A. F, Weir has no reason to be unduly worried about his pair of “spectacles.” Even the best of them have this unpleasant experience at times, and there is less reason than ever for dropping a young player, who has done enough in club cricket to show us that he is a class batsman in the making. The other brother, too. looks like furnishing into a useful run-getter, apart from the fact that he has alreday made good as a bowler. At lunch-time, with two down for 113. it looked as if Auckland had a good chance of warding off a doubleended defeat, and setting the Aussies a mild task toward the close of the day's play. But they reckoned without Orimmett. And Langridgo. who

played a magnificent up-hill innings, could get no one to stay with him. A GREAT BOWLER The manner in which the ex-Well-ington representative disposed of Bowley and Cooper earlier in the piece was a vivid reminder that the diminutive break bowler ranks with Mailey as one of the two most picturesque wicket-getters in the world to-day. Later in the afternoon, he tangled up the batsmen so badly at times that, although he was easy to score off, he was ail the time tempting the batsmen into fatal indiscretions. There need be no hesitation in ascribing to Grimmett qualities of guile and bowling skill which are out of place when applie dto bowlers who simply exploit their natural bent and rely to a large extent on the wicket to do the rest. Grimmett is a “made” bowler. His action is by no means elegant, but bebehind his sinuous arm and almost convulsively twisting wrist, there is a keen, analytical brain which is all the time seeking to find the batsman’s weak points. Grimmett is a really great bowler, and we are fortunate to have seen him back on the playing fields of his own country at the height of his brilliant career. A “LIVE WIRE" CAPTAIN In Richardson, the Australian side has a keen, watchful captain, with undoubted gifts of leadership. He sets an inspiring example to his team in the field, and he is always a striking personality among a group of players, who represent one of the finest individual sides that have ever visited New Zealand. Compared with the limited resources Snedden had at his command, however, Richardson’s task throughout the match was plain sailing. The unavoidable absence of Roy was a heavy blow to Auckland, but in getting rid of the Australians on a good wicket for 431 runs, Snedden displayed all his old skill and judgment as a captain in handling a side that was sorely limited in the variety and effectiveness of its bowlers. Subsequent batting failures do not reflect on the captaincy of a player who has been a tower of strength to Auckland cricket for more years than .he probably cares to remember. OLDFIELD OR ROWNTREE? While on the subject of comparisons, it may be remarked that Rowntree fully measured up to Oldfield’s high standard. In fact, to be perfectly frank, there will be a considerable body of opinion to say that Rowntree, on the form shown in this match, was quite the equal of the Australian Eleven man. But to generalise from that is dangerous, and if the Fates (and the New Zealand selectors) are applied to bowlers who simply exploit position at Auckland next Saturday week, a battle royal between the pair would be worth the price of admission alone. As a combination, it remains to be seen whether this team measures up to some of the great sides Australia has sent abroad in recent years. The team that played Auckland includes half a dozen batsmen of Testmatch calibre, but there is a decided falling off in run-getting ability further down the batting list. Per contra, the strength of the bowling is strictly limited, and it looks as if those in charge will have a pretty problem to solve in deciding who to leave out for the tests. Unless he strikes his Australian form very soon, it is not going too far to say that Kippax may find his place under review, when it is considered that such a fine allrounder as Oxenham was not playing in Auskland. as well as a brilliant young batsman of the calibre of Schneider. Further than that, the problem of three bowlers of almost equal merit in Blackie, Morton and McNamee, with little in the way of batting to recommend them, makes one rather thankful that he is not one of the selectors of the side. Details of yesterday’s play are as follow: AUSTRALIA First Innings 431 AUCKLAND First Innings 171 Second Innings BOWLEY, b Grimmett 1G POST LES, run out 49 COOPER, b Grimmett IS LANGRTDGE, c McNamee, b Grimmett 78 WEIR. A. F., lbw, b Grimmett . . 0 ANTHONY, b Grimmett 3 SNEDDEN, c McNamee, b Morton 6 PLAYER, c and b Grimmett .. .. 0 HENDY, c McNamee, b Grimmett 16 WEIR, G. L., b Blackie 21 ROWNTREE, not out 0 Extras 13 Total .. .• ..220 Bowling.—Grimmett, 7-91; Blackie, 1-73; Morton, 1-48; McNamee, 0-43; KipMY FATHER SOLD IT IN ’7B When Mr. Baxter, the wel-known chemist, was in Nelson recently he happened to meet one of his confreres. In the course of the conversation he enquired as to how Baxter’s Lung Preserver was selling in Sunny Nelson. •‘Splendidly:” remarked his friend “Do you know that I have to get it in six-dozen lots, but I am not surprised at that. Why! my father sold ‘Baxter’s’ in ’78.” Baxter’s Lung Preserver is not an untried remedy. 'What the chemist says is backed up by users throughout New Zealand. “Baxter’s” is unique m relieving coughs, colds, influenza, whooping cough, croup or asthma. It quickly subdues the worst chest and lung ailments. When a sufferer is convalescent t.ie real tonic properties of Baxter’s Lung t Preserver build up and revitalise the weakened system. and fortify it against relapse or future attack. “Baxter’s” has been on the market for over sixtv vears. You can obtain a gen-erous-sized bottle at all chemists and stores for 2s 6d, or better still, get the family size at 4s 6d. Bachelor size. Is 6d.