DACRE WRITES HOME

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 845, 13 December 1929, Page 12

DACRE WRITES HOME

Some Sporting Chat From the Exile in Gloucestershire MAY BE HERE NEXT SEASON IN a chatty letter from Bristol to a friend at Devonport, Ces Dacre makes some interesting comments on cricket and football in England, and the English team "which is now due in the Dominion. Ces complains of being kept inside so much during the English winter by cold and wet days, and is longing for next summer to come, when lnj will he in the full swim of county cricket, and playing six days a week with no “half-dhy off.”

There are two professional Soccer clubs in Bristol, the City Club in the second division, and Rovers in the third, but “both arc nearly at the bottom of the list. On Saturday Bristol City played Bury, which was a first division team last year, but every year the bottom teams of each grade go down, and the top teams go up. Anyway, Bury gave us ‘some football.’ The ball was never off the ground, and in a fine game Bristol lost 2— l. “Wo have a fine Rugby team here. 1 should say one of the best in the country. Their ground is a billiards table, and the dressing-rooms a treat with a big swimming bath. We have our first month’s cricket practice there. Start at 11.30 and knock off about 12, Then again from 2 till about 3. It is a shame to do any at all. “I have just been reading about the Aussies who are sure to come next year. They have no one outstanding in the bowling, and no Bardsley or a Macartney on bad wickets. We will soon see how these boys are on English wickets. Taylor was a fine bat in Australia, but on English wickets he was a failure. I think this crowd over here will be hard to beat. Kippax might do well, but the bowlers over here are great with a new ball; they do everything but make it talk. “The M.C.C. side going to New Zealand is not a good lot. Their bowling is a doubtful quantity. They have four fastish bowlers, Allom, Worthington, Barrett and Nichols, but Ted Bowley is their only spin bowler. Their batting is good. Woolley and Duleepsinhji are fine bats, and Dawson is a good one, but Barratt and Earle hit like one thing. Barrett is one of the biggest hitters I have seen. Stands firm footed, and away she goes! New Zealand ought to beat them. “The Africans were a good side, but I don’t think they were as good a side as the 1927 New Zealand was. Their batting was good, but they had no bowler to compare with Merritt. The fielding was also good, but they never looked like a team against Gloucester, and we beat them by six wickets. I just missed 50 in each innings. The second innings I got fooled. The new ball came on at 200, with all the field on the leg-side, close up. I looked for a swing and got bowled with a straight ball. “Since the cricket finished I have been over to Paris. . . . Had a week or so in. London, and saw one real football match—Arsenal and Bolton Wanderers (last year’s Cup winners). There were 50,000 there, and it was a very warm day. It was a great game. The Arsenal team cost the club £50,000 (something like the Shore). I went to see Jack and James, for whom the Arsenal paid £IO,OOO each. No doubt they are clever with the ball, but I didn’t learn anything new from them. We have good players in New Zealand if they were given the time and money to play. We are not behind them at any game. Give a New Zealand cricket team a few seasons against these counties, and we would not be far be-

hind them; and the same in football. I have not seen any better backs than Peter Gerrard, and if lie played here ho* would be a line player. The game her*» is down to a line art, and these

fellows know exactly every move. “I often wonder how things are at the Shore: the Soccer seems to have gone to the pack. I would like to have a go at it here, but my knee is the stumbling block. “Hope the Shore do well at cricket this year. I still keep following them, and all going well I hope to be with them next season. “This is the place to improve one’s cricket, and next year I am looking forward to a good season. I could do with a few months on the Shore beach and believe me, but the Shore is one of the finest spots I have seen. Only that we want more money there, it is God’s own village for living in. They don’t know how to live here, and really I don’t know how they A pound of steak costs 2s, and fruit is out of all knowledge. When I was in London I saw peaches (eating ones) marked 3s 6d each: The wife and I always have New Zealand butter and lamb It s not as good as at home, but we appreciate it.” The letter concludes with best Christmas wishes to all his old pals and friends in Auckland.