THE FIRST TEST.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 December 1922, Page 5

THE FIRST TEST.

ENGLISHMEN AT PRACTICE. CAPTAINS ARRANGE DETAILS. MACLAREN’S IMPRESSIONS. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. The visiting English cricketers indulged in practice to-day, and a large number watched them with bat and ball. MacLaren said he was unable to form a definite opinion of New Zealand cricket, but he was quite sure the test match would be a hard struggle. Touching on the question of wickets, MacLaren said so far he had not. played on a good wicket in New Zealand. There was something wrong with the composition of the soil and the wickets became powdery after a few days’ batting. In England a great deal of time was spent in getting suitable soil, so that the wicket would bind. Regarding watering the wickets, he would never allow such a thing to be done, as it was against the principles of cricket as understood in England. The two captains, MacLaren and Snedden, met to-day and arranged preliminary details. A six-ball over was agreed on, there being no option, according to the M.C.C. rules, though New Zealand is playing the eight-ball over. As to rolling the wicket, it was agreed that in the event of fairly heavy rain during the progress of play,* the wickets should be rolled immediately after the termination of play, and on a dry day rolled before the commencement of play.