WAIKATO CRICKET ASSOCIATION

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 2949, 9 June 1891, Page 2

WAIKATO CRICKET ASSOCIATION

TO THE KDtTOU. Sin,—ln reply to Mr Lang's letter which | appeared in your issue of 2nd inst., 1 must say that I was vmy nuich struck with his vnry extravagant statements. As to his charge of cowardicc, [ do not think that it is a matter to be dealt with in tlx; Press, more than that, our club does not know ivliat it is. In our secretary's first letter, the C ! >ntouts of which we adhere to in every particular, and cannot see anything raised against it which would even call fur all explanation, it was confined chiefly to results rather than to the means, for the sake of brevity, lint since Mr Lung has introduce:! some private conversation which took place, between him and our secretary, about some arrangements between them and Taupiri, and his given his account of tho disputed match at length, which is calculated to be a teproaeh on our club, 1 may be allowed to give our version of the question. Mr Ling certainly misrepresents tacts when he says that they had to wait for us to start the match, perhaps bo bad forgotten that our team, with the exception of .me or two perhaps, was waiting on the ground for the weather to clear up for hours; and it seems to me uufair that we should get the blame, especially when I had to ask him to start tho game, and having tossed with him, he kept us waiting for nearly half-an-hour before he decided which side ha would put in, as two of their principal players had just arrived. Although the weather was not tit to play cricket in, but seeing thatTuhikaramea had a strong teain, and we only had a poor .cratch oup, I did not ask to postpone the match, choosing rather to suiter what appeared to be a certain defeat, than give an opening for construing the fact into something else. l!ut contrary to our anticipations we won, ill the first innings. At this stage of the game, at the hour of o p.m., several of theTuhikaramea men wcro getting ready to go home, saying that as thcro was only an hour available it would only be giving us an innings to play on. Mr Ling then asked us if we should knock off. Being ahead 111 tho first innings it was not my place to decide, so I said : " it is for you to say, Mr Lang, but of course it will bo only fj>r a game, as it is impossibo to play two innings in an hour." In reply, lie simply said, "Well, we'll play,'' and went right away to get his men to stop. This innings (our second one) was concluded at O.li p.m. However, the exact time is of no consequence as it was never questioned 011 the ground. to this time things wont as agreeably as could be, but when some of the Tuhikaramea men came to tho ter,t they asked for the time, our secretary, who wa» keeping time, replied that it was time to draw, to which they said that there was no time fixed, and that they would claim the match, and so 011. If this was not a pre-designed proceeding—tha.*; is, before they came off the field—it appeared very much like it, for, how could tho men know that there was no time fixed if they had not consulted with Mr Lang ? What grounds Mr Lang could have for saying that they were surprised when I refused to put tho men in, is beyond my conception. On the contrary we were thunder struck when he claimed to continue the game as long as there was light, as wo had not tho slightest suspicion that there was any doubt about the time for drawing, consequently several of our men left for home as they concluded the innings. Mr Lang never offered to settle tlio matter in an amicable manner, but claimed a right to what we could only regard as a favour — extension of time —therefore with the foregoing facts, 011 principle, I refused to comply with a demand so flagrantly unjust and Unreasonable. Under theso circumstances I cannot see how any man ciuld have the presumption to say that we acted in a cowardly and unsportsman-like manner. In order to uphold my statement, of which lam almost 111 despair of being accepted as truth, as some statements are made apparently with an utter disregard for their correctness, I can say that it can be verified by every member of our club who was at the match, lam not writing with a view to claim this match, as it is undoubtedly ours, nor am I contending for the possession of the medals, as they have been abandoned but simply to remove an audacious imputation from our club, and for tho sake, 1 hope, of true and honest cticket in future. Only that I told Mr I»ing, as we did not care whether we got the gamo >r ivt he could have it, provided he could prove that wo were not right in drawing at six o'clock, he could have no ground whatever to claim the match on, and this is what he chooses to call, not giving him fair play. (rKonoi; MCKAKLANB, Acting-Captain Paterangi 0.0.