Next Australian Eleven

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 868, 11 January 1930, Page 12

Next Australian Eleven

PLAYERS KNOCKING AT THE DOOR Sheffield Shield Fonn Reviewed TH-E following survey of Australian cricket at the moment 1 by that noted authority, “Not Out,” in the Sydney “Keferee,” is of special interest in view of the approaching tour of England by an Australian XI.

Unexpected things, with a touch of the thrilling, are happening in cricket, one after the other. Some are shocks, and all are likely to provide the Australian Eleven selectors with food for thought when they are seated round the table to discuss and determine on the fifteen for England. By the time the selectors do meet officially, they will have much more data than the public has at the moment. Many players besides those who participated in the trial in Sydney are knocking at the door of the committee, some with some insistence. The Sheffield Shield cricket at Adelaide, New South Wales, and South Australia, revealed the lack of pugnacity in the New South Wales bowling. «» This was expected when the names of the team were made known in Sj'dney two w T eeks earlier. It was felt that the selectors were providing a knotty problem for the captain to unravel on good wickets—that is, to dismiss the opposing sides cheaply enough to win even with his strong array of batting. What pugnacity there was in the bowling was further weakened by mishaps to Hooker and Campbell. Still, no sportsman could begrudge South Australia her feast of rungetting. seeing how pluckily her men have faced similar ordeals time after time for many years. They have never wilted under the stress of this sort of thing, or of defeat. Hone and Pritchard were applauded on this side for their solid stand. The former, a newcomer in first-class cricket, has already run into three figures twice against New South Wales. Pritchard, on the other hand, is thoroughly salted in big cricket, has won a reputation for consistency, and is not strange to the pleasure of making centuries against New South Wales and \ ictoria. ,A' or ,f s °™ e years now he has been one of those left-handers who would ?® ' vor , th something to a county team hlv-r> He has been just a shade eiow the Bardsley-Ransford stan- . otherwise higher recognition bis t° hil «- especially if liancy iWs. ,learer l ° bril ‘ YOUNG BATSMEN So " th "’ales point of recovered afreeable teature was the I* ' b -, the younger batsmen after the stars of youth had had their wings that Pe ?i ch ® a f L ly -. Allsopp demonstrated tnat the talk in Sydney about his knowing nothing about slow bowlin~ was premature. And McCabe, who ha! many admirers m Sydney and country, played another fine innings. Davidson showed, too, that he is a run-getter in his own crisp and unconventional manner when the acid test is on him. For the first time A. Marks failed to get a start m first-class cricket. One cannot recall any young player ever having scored more regularly in his first two seasons of first-class cricket. Last season he made 57, SG, 17, 92 and 26 when promoted after compiling a century in the Inter-State Colts’ match against Victoria. This season he made 46 and 51 against Queensland at Brisbane, 38 and 26 against the M.C.C., and S 3 and 13 in the Trial, so it was his turn to go cheaply. Whitfield’s batting, after success in the other matcla, is encouraging, following,

as it did, good bowling, in which he captured three for 67.' All these matters, allied with the good-at-the-pinch cricket of Rigg and a’Beckett in Melbourne, are piling up facts and data for the selection committee. If D. Bradman continues in the form he has been showing in first-class cricket he will reach the thousand aggregate again this season, for he has .already made 710 in seven innings. For a similar number of dismissals, A. Jackson has scored 602 runs. A bonny pair. (This was written before Bradman put up his record score.) BOWLERS ON TOP Though the Victqria v. Queensland match did not atract the Melbourne crowds, the cricket was most interesting, viewed from a distance. The upper hand held by the bowlers seemed novel to most people. For the time being the cry for changes in the game gave place to a feeling that the terrible bowlers had the batsmen in the palm of their hands. Variations in the fortunes of the teams, with the bowlers on top, such as this game produced, show the fallacy of the average contention that cricket should be changed to suit the idiosyncracies of each generation, who fancies the old game began with and will end with it. The mishap to W- M. Woodfull, in a cricket sense, is a national affair. It handicapped Victoria, but Woodfull is more than a Victorian. Concern as to the nature of the injury was wider than the State boundaries. When the news went round that the doctor expected all to be right again within four weeks, there was a general feeling of satisfaction. VICTORIA'S GOOD WIN Victoria had the better side, but victory does not always go to the better side. This time the Queenslanders made a gallant fight, but their run-getters did not rise to it as the bowlers did, and the home team was set too few runs to make at the finish. Only two innings exceeding 30 were played for Queensland, and these by young ones in R. Levy (50) and W. Gough (68). The bowlers who did the damage for Queensland are also on the youthful side, Thurlow having taken eight for 137 and Hurwood four for 75.

This, allied with the fact that Rigg and a’Beckett got the runs at the second innings pinch for Victoria, and that a’Beckett, with four for 25, shared in the bowling triumph, speaks well for Young Australia. We read so much that is exalting to Old Australia that it is very enlivening to find th© younger men rising to it in the moment of crisis. Ironmonger, six for 74, and Blackie, seven for 68, kept up the end of the veterans for Victoria. Blackie, who continues prominent as a wicket-keeper, is an amazing chap for getting batsmen out l.b.w. —he dismissed three in this match.

W. H. Ponsford has been written down a “failure” in this engagement, yet he top-scored in the first innings with 28.

He is paying the penalty of having made so many colossal scores. Most people forget that cricket has its vicissitudes as well as its high peaks. They expected him to continue the 200, 300, and 400 innings.