Summer Sports Season

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 786, 5 October 1929, Page 8

Summer Sports Season

BUSY MONTHS AHEAD A Prospective Review THIS summer promises to be a very busy one in sport. Apart from the usual list of club, inter-provincial and New Zealand championship fixtures, special attractions are visits from an English cricket team and touring Canadian athletes and bowlers. A short review of the prospects in each of the summer sports is given here.

Cricket Revival? 1 1 All other interest in the coming cric- — lcet season in New Zealand takes sec- —■ ond place, of course, to the visit of the Marylebon© Cricket Club side, now ■ — on its way to Australia, where several zz matches are to be played before the tour of New Zealand commences. ZZ The Englishmen, including such ZZ stars as the test cricketers, P. E. Woi- — ley, IC. S. Duleepsinhji and E. TL BowZZI ley, under the leadership of the brother of one of England’s former test skipZZ pers, A. IT. LI. Gilligan, are due to ar- — rive at Wellington on December 1. EE The side is perhaps the most jjZZ powerful one that has yet visited the Dominion from England, but ZZ New Zealand cricket has improved ZZ greatly in recent years, and the ZZ best eleven the land can turn out ZZ may be able to do what has only ZZj been done once before in the his- ~ tory of English tours to New ZeaZZ land—defeat the M.C.C. in a test - match.

ZZ Apart from the visit of the English - - men, the season in Auckland would have been a bumper one, as this year ZZ two Plunket Shield matches will be played here. Normally, Otago would ZZ have come NortlT at Christmas, and ZZ Canterbury later, hut on account of ZZ the visit from England the programme ZZ of Plunket Shield matches in New ZZ Zealand will probably need to be comZ pletely rearranged. ZZ The Auckland eleven will visit WellllT ington late this season, in an endeavour to avenge its defeat by the men of the windy city at Eden Park last year, and retain its hold on the Plunket Shield. By the time the senior championllz ship games commence, it is expected ZZ that A. F. Wensley (Sussex), the new ZZ professional player-coach who has been ZZ engaged by the Auckland Cricket Aszz sociation for the current season, will ZZ have arrived to take up the work of ZZ coaching the colts of Auckland in the place of his county comrade. E. H. ZZ Bowley, who has held the position for the past three seasons. = SUBURBAN MEN PREPARING ZZ The holding of the Walker Shield ZZ tournament for the suburban cricket ZZ associations of New Zealand chamZZ pionship will be the. main feature of the Auckland City and Suburban ZZ Cricket Association’s activities this season. ZZ Auckland won the championship at ~ Christchurch last season, when Alec Kerr, former Australian inter-State ZZ player, bowled so impressively. The contests will take place in Auckland

Harbour Board, champions for twc seasons past, will again be a formidable side in the senior A competition There should be a strong challenge from the young side which played intc second place last season, Green Lane, Ponsonby, which was strongly in the running last season, should figure prominently, and Ellerslie still has two prominent players in Arn Gedye and B. Burton. Two teams which have raised their status since last season season are W.Y.M.I. and Invicta. At present, the association has to face the problem of finding grounds to accommodate its increasing number of clubs and sides. Several competitions were curtailed last season. The association still has to remove the remainder of its debt to the coach imported from England last season, but this is expected to be accomplished with no great difficulty. There is even a chance of the engagement of a local cricketing enthusiast of standing to coach the young players in particular. TENNIS BOOMING Tennis will soon be in the boom. Although the grass courts as a rule do not open till the first Saturday next month, the hard courts are already getting under way. Mangere Central opened last Saturday, Pukeroa and

Ngataringa are setting the ball rolling ZZ today, and Campbell Park follows next For sorno time past there has been a strong move to have the New Zealand zz championships played toward the latter end of January, so that the various zz centre championships will work up to ZZ the national championships, and not, zz as at present, precede most of them, zz This will come into effect this season, z z although no date has yet been fixed. zz In anticipation of this, the ZZ Auckland championships which ZZ generally begin on Anniversary zz Day, will start on Boxing Day, and ZZ tine handicap tournament on ~ December 28, or as soon as the zz Stanley Street courts are avail- ZZ able. ~ An interprovincial match between zz Auckland and "Wellington is on the zz cards. It should be a great draw. ~ The courts at Stanley Street promise ZZ to be in splendid order this season as zz a result of the work of groundsman zz Davies. zz

It is cxi"'-"ted that all the champions z and near- -.vmpions will be out again Z this year. irtleet, Brinsden, Stedman z and Sturt have been keeping fit at zz golf, the latter scoring a notable ~ triumph at the Titirangi links recently, z E. W. Griffiths played Badminton this ~ winter, and should be in good fettle for what the veteran avows will be his final last big championship flutter. , Auckland has the two top women z players of the Dominion in its midst EE this year. The Misses Macfarlane Z have both had valuable experience abroad, and it is expected that Mrs. H. Z Dykes (nee Miss May Spiers) will be ~ playing here now that she has taken z up her residence in Auckland. % zz BUSY BOWLING SEASON = During the coming season, ~ bowlers in Auckland will face the ZZ largest and most comprehensive programme of bowling fixtures ZZ ever staged in the history of the sport. In addition to that, there ZZ will be a special treat in the shape ~ of a visit from a Canadian team. zz No fewer than 124 one-day toiirna- EE ments will be held during the season— Zj a world’s record for any one bowling zz centre. A new Centre fixture will bb ZZ an open singles competition on Decern- ~* ber 4. zz On the social side of the game three = visits from bowlers will take place during the season. They include a = party of Tauranga bowlers in November or December; the Canadian bowl- zz ers, who will commence their tour of ~ the Dominion in Auckland on Decern- zz

ber 26: and the Taranaki bowlers, who will again visit Auckland in March. Engaging the attention of no fewer than 1.004 members of the respective clubs in Auckland is the the everpopular inter-club pennant competition. In addition to this, the Thames. Te Awamutu, Tauranga and Cambridge clubs will hold their annual tournaments. The huge Botorua tournament, now rightly regarded -as one of the outstanding bowling tuornamenta of the Dominion, will also be played. The Dominion tournament will be held in January of next year in Dunedin. The date of starting is. fixed for January 13. CANADIAN ATHLETES* VISIT The 1929-30 amateur track season in Auckland will open on Labour Day, when the Akarana Club will conduct its usual meeting on the Domain. The season promises to be a boom one for the sport in New Zealand, with the expected impetus which will be given by the visit of the Canadian athletes. At present the personnel cf the Canadian team has not been definitely decided upon, but it is reported (Continued on next page.)