Personalities In Sport

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 328, 13 April 1928, Page 7

Personalities In Sport

New Zealander who Made Good in Test Cricket

The same run, the same action, the same peculiar flick of the wrist, yet always varying, always presenting a problem for the batsman to solve. Sometimes hit for a few fours, giving the batsman the rashness born of confidence —and then, a wicket. That is C. V. Grimmett, Australia’s best bowler of the googly, and probably the finest bowler of his type in the world. Without Grimmett, the Australian bowling—judged from the performances on the present tour of the Australian side in New Zealand —would be in sore straits. It would be reduced to the status of an ordinary provincial bowling team. Though Grimmett plays for Australia he is a native of New Zealand, for he was born in Dunedin, and the people there are proud of his fame as a bowler. He did not stay long in Dunedin, howver, and played most of his schoolboy cricket in Wellington, where he was a member of the Wellington schoolboy representatives, with C. G. Finlayson, who has gained New Zealand honours for the first time during the tour of the present Australian team. In January, 1913, the same season, in the Plunket Shield match against Auckland, he scored 25 and 28 (out of 120), but took one wicket only in the whole match at a cost of 65 runs. C. Oliff took the wickets for Auckland, getting seven for 42 in the second knock of Wellington. Grimmett continued to play in Plunket Shield cricket until 1914, and then came to light in club cricket in Sydney and Melbourne after the war. He played for Victoria, but could not catch the eyes of the Australian selectors, with A. A. Mailey at the height of his powers. Finally he settled in Adelaide, and his success now is cricket history. He was picked to for Australia in the fifth Test against A. E. R. Gilligan’s team in the 1924-25 season, and at Sydney he took 11 wickets for 82 runs, receiving a cheque for £lB9 from his admirers. For South Australia against England in that season, Grimmett took seven wickets for 85 runs. SUCCESS IN ENGLAND In the 1926 season Grimmett and Mailey, the two slow bowlers, carried the Australian team on their shoulders during the tour of England. They were depended upon for the wickets, and rarely did they fail in their purpose. Their feat probably is unrivalled in cricket. Grimmett on that toLir took 105 wickets in first-class matches at a cost of 17.68 runs apiece —a performance which speaks for itself. His length was admirable. Needless to say, he headed the averages, and it is seldom that a slow bowler does so. Mailey took 126 wickets at a cost of 19.34 runs apiece. As a batsman, Grimmett is more than useful, and he is an example of the proverbial strength of the tail of an Australian eleven.

In bowling Grimmett expends more upon flight and variation of pace than upon mere break, and he uses the wrong ’un but rarely. If he can make the ball “hang” he is happy. IMPORTANCE OF PRACTICE “Practice, and consistent practice at that, is the only course for anyone who desires to make a success of slowbowling,” he said. “I started by making a mark on the ground, and either alone, or with another bowler, would bowl at this for hours, concentrating on length and run. “Anyone can learn to bowl a legbreak, but perseverance is the only thing that counts in becoming a real slow bowler. The break is only part of the art, and variations of pace and flight are more important.”