A LINK WITH NEW ZEALAND

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 387, 22 June 1928, Page 10

A LINK WITH NEW ZEALAND

TIIE first of the cricket Tests between England and the West Indies will begin at the historic Lord’s ground to-morrow. In several ways, these matches will be of interest to New Zealand. First of all, the English team will be led by A. P. P. Chapman. the blond young giant, who is a brother-in-law of T. C. Lowry, the New Zealand captain. Chapman was Engand’s youngest Test match captain when he was somewhat dramatically appointed to lead the Englishmen in their victorious match against Collins’s Australians in 1926, and he is one of the outstanding personalities in English cricket to-day. The West Indies are in much the same position as New Zealand in so far as their status in cricket is concerned. These tropical islands have produced some of the most notable figures in the world of cricket. Both Lord Harris and P. F\ Warner, two of England’s former Test match captains, were born in the Indies, w hile <;. Challenor, a member of the present touring side, has been rated among the best half dozen cricketers in the world. A link with Auckland is supplied by S. G. Smith, the veteran Ponsonby player, who went to England many years ago ns a member of a West Indian side, and built up a reputation in English cricket as one of the leading amateurs of his day. A great deal of interest will attach to the performances of the English Test side in view of the Englishmen’s visit to Australia next season. For once, the famous veteran, Jack Hobbs, is not a member of the English eleven, a recent injury being presumably the reason for his omission. The Trial Match did not disclose any outstanding new talent in English cricket, but a gratifying feature was the sound form disclosed by Larwood, the fast bowler, who was under suspicion of being classed as a “crock” after a knee injury last season. Lack of a really good fast bowler of the Gregory and Macdonald type has been one of the weaknesses of English sides in recent years. So far. E. 11. Bowley has not managed to reproduce his brilliant run of successes of the previous season, which marked him out as a player with an outside chance of selection for the next English team. The Sussex professional, however, is still accounted one of the best slip fields in all England, and he has only to reproduce his old form with the bat to merit serious consideration.