A FINE RECORD

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 471, 28 September 1928, Page 6

A FINE RECORD

A.C.A. ANNUAL REPORT AUCKLAND’S CRICKET HISTORY The 45th annual report and balance sheet presented by the Auckland Cricket Association last evening is a valuable contribution to the sportsman’s library. In addition to giving a full report of last season’s activities it contains a fine record of the history of cricket in Auckland from the origin of the Auckland Cricket Association in 1881, and a complete list of office-bearers and management committees from the year 1883 to last season.

A valuable guide to club officials and kindred sports is the full list of associated clubs, with addresses of the secretaries. There is a detailed record of games played by the provincial representatives last season, and a full summary of the matches played by Auckland touring teams during their holiday jaunts. The champion clubs in the various grades are set out from the year 1885 onward. It is of interest to learn that wellknown Aucklanders still living have been actively connected with the association for nearly half a century, and congratulations must be extended to Sir James Coates and Mr. Fred Earl, K.C., on their continuous service, Mr. Earl having now completed a quarter of a century in office as president. Judge ! C. E. McCormick and Mr. Tom Macky, sen., are also prominent Aucklanders who were members of the first Auckland Cricket Association management. Mr. E. C. Beale was one of the original founders who still turns out for a game on the least provocation, while Sir Edwin Mitchelson appears as a vice-president in the second season of the association’s existence. The adoption of the district scheme in 1903-4 broke up most of the original clubs by compelling all players to join up with the club of the district in which they resided, and the scheme remained in force until 1920-21, when the “play-where-you-please” method was reverted to, and University celebrated its first entry into senior ranks by winning the championship in its first season. Auckland’s record in interprovincial games, since the initiation of the Plunket Shield contests, is a highly creditable one, the Auckland Cricket Association’s representatives having held the trophy for seven seasons, Canterbury holding it for five and a-half seasons, Wellington four and a-half, and Otago for one season only. BIG MATCHES SUPPORTED Last season was notable for the introduction of summer time, which gave an additional hour for practice and play, while the season itself was a phenomenally fine one, barely an hour’s play being lost on account of rain. The balance sheet shows a profit of £226 9s 2d on the season’s working, but net profits amounting to £287 10s 2d were received from the provincial games against Otago, Canterbury and the Australian XI. Without these welcome gates a loss of over £6O would have been incurred.

The item, “Gates, Eden Park Club Games” £BO 3s 3d, tells a sad tale of absolute apathy on the part of the public in club cricket, as this amount also includes the admission charges paid by players, and an average of something less than £ 5 a Saturday from players and spectators combined points to public interest having sunk to almost vanishing point since Eden Park became headquarters of the game. The management might well consider making a good No. 1 wicket on the Domain in front of the stand and playing a senior game there. It might do much to revive interest in the game, and attract those who find the journey to Edendale too long and too costly.

Apart from this aspect of the position, the report is an admirable piece of work, and the historical portion, obviously the result of a tremendous amount of painstaking research, reflects the greatest credit on its enthusiastic compiler, Mr. E. C. Beale.