SHREWD EVE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 889, 5 February 1930, Page 7

SHREWD EVE

Croquet Encroaches on Cricket AT DEVONPORT DOMAIN Once again man is falling before the weight of the feminine onrush. The last, and up to recent times the exclusive stronghold of all that is masculine in sport cricket—is in danger of being swept away . . . At least, that is the impression one gains from a letter forwarded to the Management Committee of the* Auckland Cricket Association last evening by a member of the North Shore Cricket Club. He asked the association to take action in the threatened invasion by the Devonport Ladies’ Croquet Club of the sacred precincts of the cricket oval on the Devonport Domain. It appears from this letter that two houses near the ground are being demolished, and that the land on which they stood is to be converted into a croquet lawn. It is further alleged that not content with this (and cricket was under the impression that this land would be added to its sphere) tho new croquet lawn will actually encroach on the present cricket field. The members of the North Shore Club who notified the committee said this would spoil the Devonport Domain for cricket, and he suggested that a strong protest should be made to the Devonport Domain Board. Evidently Devonport cricketers have no desire to wield the croquet mallet instead of the willow wand.

Complications might arise also, if cricket balls and croquet balls happened to become mixed. Not even the fact that the game one Captain Mayne Reid, a famous croquet player, once declared should be cherished as the tree of life is played by -the fair sex can compensate for this’threatened invasion.

Accordingly, the Management Committee decided to bring the matter to the notice of the Devonport Domain Board 'when it meets this evening.