CRICKET.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 215, 16 October 1909, Page 6

CRICKET.

(By 'Third Slip.") From latest information available the Urenui Cricket Club, as regards Cup cricket, is now. a thing of the (past, arid it is with great .regrelt that this has •to be chronicled. It must make a considerable difference in the, .management .of the Thursday competition, and make the idea, of having two-day matches quite unfeasible. With 'an entry of five teams, and, in consequence, having to run a bye "each round, J. think that t'ae several captains would find it a very difficult undertaking to keep their teams well in hand and enthusiasm sustained. Given a bad wicket on the .first day of a two-day match, .there would be evei-y likelihood of the bowlers getting to work in real earnest, and of the match being finished right out on the first day. Should such, a thing happen to a team that lias a bye in thte next • round, the result would be that that team would havu to wait four weens before playing its next .match. I think' that, for this reason alone, the Cricket Association should think twice 'before deciding on the two-day match project. Of course, if they could find another team to enter the competition, well and good, .as I am a firm believer in livo-dny nva't'ches .when an even number of team's is competing, but I bjlievs many will concur with me when.l venture the opinion that it would b= harder than ever to eustain the enthusiasm necessary to keep a team well ud to "concert pitch" through a season ot five or .six months. 1 .hear that the Inglowood Club will be .without the services of Gudgeon, O'Byrne. and lmnan. This trio will he a great loss to the 'dub, but several ct last \ ear's juniors should be .worth a (rial, and .possibly might adequately fill the gap. There is nothing like encouraging young blood, for the oldtimers •must give way at sonic time or another. Australia has set us an unparalleled example of this bv the inclusion of Hansford, Bardslcy, and Macartney in the last .Australian I cam, and how well was its choice '(justified.. As a result of the welcome rains of Ins't week,the Recreation Sports Ground i'i looking very bright and green. A certain s'liiall band of enthusiasts is wonting vigorously at iilling-in and top-(iies-ing, and if the cricketing community could see their way clear to allow the "round to have a few weeks' further rest they would find this small act of self-denial well .repaid in the long run.

I «m not jil'tempting to excuse tae ■Sports Ground Coin'iiiittco as a. body, for I am of opinion that this work should have lieen put ill hand several ■wnks ago; but 1 guess it's a case of ■'better lute than never," and I triui that cricketers will realise th« inestimable benefit the ground will gain by a loav 'more weeks' rest and careful supervision. ,

If it could be arranged to play a'l Thursday ina'ttlles before Christmas at. Wait.ira and Inglewood, the ground would lie in lii*•»-class order by the lime it was needed for representative matches. .

Our visitors from ,Aus'triilia und elsewhere could not possibly take away a better i.n>]iH.-si»n of like ground than i,i it in the order ii must be by the end of tl.c year, and Ibis appears to me .a good menus of indirectly pushing cricket ahead in Taranaki. As a nuiter of fiu'd. il Hvould be a

very direct means, and as our grounds improve s n must our standard of batting and ground fielding improve. The poor bowlers would probably suffer in conscquenee, but as lliey so rarely get much consideration that would not matter very much.

At this juncture I cannot do better than quo'le the 'ollowinft extract from the English Observer:—"Naturally we have the highest admiration for our kinsmen from Australia, for their splendid co-operation, for their individiul skill, for the sagacity of their captain, for the genius of their two left-handed batsmen; but in the Empire there is •room enough for the Australian school and tho English school of cricket. Amid the discoiiililure of the Tests the -rlais may be put to the blind eye; tho striking signal from the lamenting admiral is unseen. Our faith in the cricket of our public schools is unfaltering... The whirligig of time will bring us again our A. G. Steels, our Alfred Lvtteltous, our Charles Studds, our Waikere, our Webbes, our Sloddarfs, and our Craeos; From the Players' ramp we ■still expect 'more Lohmanns, and Lockwoods, and llichardsons, and Shrewsburys, a'nd Alfred Shaw*, and Ted Peates, and Bobby Abels, and J'ohimy Briggs. Wailing for the losses in the i Tests marks the man who knows not how to lose. The cricketer's faith is rather of ,the light: '•'Grow old along with me, The best is yet to be! 'lt may be useless ( 0 compare past and present cricket; custom may change, but the n;iirit livc'th. The cton'iilics have only to nurse the real .cimatcurism to retain chivalry in the 'championship of three-day matches. And -so the pluv of ll:rd, Mason, .and Townsend has been a life-giving tonic if or the grandest of all games—English cricket." Rumor had it that AVarrcn Bardsley, 'lie "star," lra'd been induced to remain behind in the Old Country and throw in his lot ivith Northamptonshire. This, howcTer, has been emphatically denied by diaTdsJcy, who asserted that he had not even, been approached on the matter, adding that a thousand pounds a week would not linducc him to rema'n in England at present, attractive IhoiHi it is. °