THE SPORTSMAN'S LOG

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 885, 31 January 1930, Page 7

THE SPORTSMAN'S LOG

poor Response The response by tennis players available for selection for a tour of Zealand has been very poor (says the “Austrlasian”). The only players available are Kalins, Sproule, and Donahoo, of New South Wales. Cummings, Hussett and Teague are doubtful. Retiring Miss Daphne Akhurst. the present holder of the Australian women’s singles championship, intends retiring from participation in singles events at the end of the next championship tournament. She-, however, will continue to play in doubles and mixed doubles. Jack Wo r rail makes the following comment in the ''Australasian” on Bradmai s mammoth cricket score: It does not follow, of course, that makers of mighty figures are necessarily the leading batsmen in the land, as other cricketers, less robust, if more classical, may be precluded by nature from feats of extreme endurance. Another Knock-Out The race of Stalky and Co. is not yet extinct, remarks a. Manchester paper. A Northern school possesses a classical master so classical that modern events pass him by, as his pupils well know. “Sir,” said one during a lesson, ‘ can you tell me the meaning of a phrase: Primo Camera?" “Hum,” said the master, “Primo, I know, but camera . . The dictionary yielded no help, so the master consulted his junior colleague, who held the secret, but later retailed with gusto the inquiry to the rest of the staff. * * # Considered to bo the best amateur player that the modern game of billiards has produced, Arthur Wardle, of Manchester, won the amateur championship of England last season. He entered for the present season’s championship, but his entry has been cancelled by the Billiards Association and Control Council, which has thus impeached his amateur status. No Postponement Otago has been very anxious during the last few days to postpone the Plunket Shield match with Wellington, which is to commence at Dunedin next Friday, and wrote to the Wellington Cricket Association asking that a postponement bo made for a week, In view of a counter-attraction. The Wellington Association, however, has replied stating that it is not possible. Already there has been considerable trouble in getting a team together for the trip South, and the North Island Association was afraid that a postponement would mean further defections. As it is the team being sent South is by no means Wellington’s strongest combination, and does not include C. S. Dempster, K. C. James, FI. A. McLeod, R. H. C. Mackenzie, or even W. Airey, each one of whom Would have strengthened the team in Borne department of the game. Hockey Tour Off A good deal of disappointment has been expressed at the announcement by the New' Zealand Women’s Hockey Association that it has had to abandon the idea of sending a team to South Africa, to take part in the Empire tournament, on account of a lack of funds (writes The Sun’s Wellington correspondent.) It almost seems that the New Zealand public is not tuo interested in such tours, as the association received very little support m its effort to raise money for the tour. A certain a mount of blame for the failure o:! the idea must, of course, be laid at the door of tbeTJoininion s hockey play ers. There has all along been an idea prevalent that if the girls wanted to go to South Africa then they should raise the money to liquidate their own expenses, but this is a somewhat unfair attitude to take up. Had all the hockey players in New Zealand entered into the proposal in the proper spirit, it would have been an easy matter to raise the money required, so that the sport itself must be blamed for its lack of enthusiasm and for the failure of the m Cramped “Roger Blunt is not now one ol the best three batsmen in the Dominion,’ remarked an old New Zealand cricket

representative, to the writer, after the second test match. Blunt’s batting in this match, especially In New Zealand’s second innings, was not nearly as good as it has been in previous years, though it was

steady. His falling-off—which should be only temporary—may not be ascribed entirely to insufficiency of practice. The interposed remark of another experienced cricketer, that Blunt will not recover his old form until he remembers that he is essentially a forward player, may hit the bull’s-eye. Ease of movement and freedom were wanting in Blunt’s scoring strokes. His old off-drive had been mislaid, and in its place was a sort of stiff-armed stroke. * * * Punishment This little story is told in an English paper about an Association football. club, by no means noted for the quality of its play, which used to be generous in the supply of free tickets to the police of the town. One match day the gateman was startled to find a prison warder accompanied by a party of 12 convicts, handcuffed together, seeking admittance. He brought the secretary, who protested that the tickets were for the privilege and amusement of the police, not for the entertainment, of convicts. “Enteraintnent, be blowed.'” answered the warder. “These are the hard cases, and this Is part of their punishment.”

Woolley’s Hoodoo Ground The Basin Reserve, Wellington, is one of the grounds that seem to have harboured a hoodoo for JT. E. Woolley's batting. In four innings on it Woolley has scored only 40 runs—o and 11 against Wellington, and G and 23 against New Zealand. Solid Page The big crowd which watched the second test match

between the M.C.C. ream and New Zealand was delighted with M. L. Page’s batting. In its alliance of stroke play and enterprise with soundness, Page’s bating undoubtedly vas excellent. It was held by many c mipetent critics that he is the best

stroke-player that M. L. Page New Zealand cricI k< t has at present, and he is a fine, level-headed skipper, too. Wanganui’s Challenge Athletics are booming in the WaI ngarnii district, and the local club lias issued n challenge to run any club in the Dominion in a two-mile relay race, each man to run half a mile. Its team consists of Pawson, Gibbons, Newton and Evans —a very strong club combination. “Tulip’s” Weakness Remarkably gifted batsman though he is, K. S. Duleepsinhji has some weaknesses in his batting—a fact for which bowlers have reason to be thankful. The most pronounced of these weaknesses is a tendency to play hook strokes with bent knees, causing the ball to go up in the air.

A Generous Offer The Canadian athletic authorities are very keen that New Zealand should participate in the Empire Games in 1932, and have offered £I,OOO to help finance the team. It seems that New Zealand will now have to decide whether a representative team shall be sent to the Empire Games or whether all efforts shall be concentrated in sending a team to the next Olympic Games. They have wheels in Germany in which people race. We knew a young man who went in for one of those races with a girl, and he’s been going round with her ever since. Consistency! A paragraph In a North of England paper, recently, said that the managers of the Australian Rugby League team in England were protesting against the strain of the team’s heavy programme. In the very next column was a statement that although the tour would end officially on January 18 the Australian team was arranging extra matches iu England and it might play an exhibition game in Paris. The Otago Cricket Association will have a loss of £4O or thereabouts on its match with the M.C.C. team. Not so bad. all things considered, says our Dunedin correspondent. The luck did not swing Otago's way. had weather and the failure of the local batsmen to save the follow-on being factors in the loss. Another seven runs made in the first innings would, it is generally considered, have meant a difference of ! £IOO in the gate on the third clay. Billy Papke, Junr. There is to be another Billy Papke in the boxing world, and he is the 18-vear-old son of Billy Papke, sen., who will be remembered as the man who once stopped the great Stanley Ivetcliel in a Los Angeles ring. Billy Papke is training the boy himself, and plans to make him a fighter as well as a boxer. Tie himself attributes his downfall to trying too much to be a boxer. Reign Ending? 1 It is thought in America by some i authorities that the reign of Bobby ! Jones as the supreme golfer of the

United States is nearly over. and that the man who will take over his sceptre is the youngster Horton Smith, who so impressed British critics. Jones, of course. is . an amateur, a n d Smith is a professional. The latter’s consist-

| ency has been amazing, and his game I is steadily improving.