A FORGOTTEN TEAM?

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20284, 28 August 1937, Page 22 (Supplement)

A FORGOTTEN TEAM?

1912 AUSTRALIAN XI TOUR OF THE OLD COUNTRY SOME BIG PLAYERS INCLUDED How many cricket enthusiasts can | recall the Australian cricket team of 1912? The previous side captained by j Noble in 1909, is still remembered, while Armstrong’s invincibles of 1921 are never likely to be forgotten, but the 1912 tourists, who played the last Test series before the War, seem to have dropped so completely out of mind that many cricketers cannot even recall the names of the members of the team. Possibly the outbreak of war two years later has blotted out recollections of the tour, although it was undertaken under circumstances unusual enough to fix it in memory. In those days the then newly constituted Board of Control was just beginning to make its presence felt, greatly to the annoyance of the senior players of the time. Their early cricket having been played under the looser conditions of the past, when Ihe players ran the game much as they pleased, and the public took little interest in its politics, men like Warwick Armstrong, Victor Trumper, 'Clem Hill, Albert Cotter, Sep Carter. Vernon Ransford, Frank Laver and other stars of the period, resented the dictation of the Board. Friction With Board. For several years there was considerable friction, culminating in a complete break when, at tlr? end of the 1911-12 summer, the team was chosen to tour England. A number of players refused to accept the conditions laid down by the Board. It was expected that the controlling body | would climb down, but the authorities, ! none too secure in the saddle, and Just ! as unpopular with a section of the j public as with the older players, felt that, it was now’ or never. Instead of yielding to pressure, the Board’s selectors calmly ignored the men who rejected ihe conditions, and selected a team from those definitely available It comprised S. E. Gregory (captain) ; S. H. Emery, W. Bardsley, C. G Macartney. C. Kelleway, from N.S.W.; D. Smith, T. J. Matthews. W. Carkeek, <r. n. Hazlitt, from Victoria; E. B. Mayne. 11. Webster. W. J. Witty, from S.A.; C. B. Jennings and J. \V. Maclaren, from Queensland. A number of these men, star performers in their day, have somehow dropped right out. of ihe public mind. Who recalls batsman Dave Smith, for instance; Hazlif, the all-rounder; wicketkeeper Webster; Jimmy Maclaren. Ihe Brisbane fast bowler; Emery, Ihe N.S.W. trundler. or Jennings. the Queenslander, who used to open the Australian Innings with Kelleway? Bow Ting Record. One member of that team holds a record that is likely to stand. That Is Jlmmv Matthews, the Victorian, who, playing against Squill Africa at Birmingham, performed the hat-trick in each innings. The tour, not unnaturally, was a financial failure. Sir Abe Bailey, the South African millionaire sportsman, believed that the Springboks could field a team equal to either Australia nr England, and. had at last succeeded In persuading the Marylebone authorities and Ihe Australian Board of Control to try out a Triangular Tournament. A number of factors ruined It. In the first place, the weather was deplorable. and match after match was spoiled by rain. In the second, the English public showed little desire to see •their men playing an Australian team which did not include Trumper, Armstrong, Ransford. Cotter. Carter. Hill. Hordern and. Minnelt. while the matches between Ihe Springboks and the Aussies attracted no interest at all Springbok Form. The Africans showed lamentable form on the wet wickets. England, under Ihe. captaincy of C. B. Fry. nnd represented hv such men as Hobbs, Rhodes. Barnes. Jessop. Foster. Douglas. Dean. Spooner. Warner, Tyldesley and Woolley, crushed all opposition. The Triangular Tournament was a big idea, but circumstances were against it. and it is not likely to he tried again. One first-class touring tram at a time is all even the most enthusiastic cricket country can stand. try can stand. 1