Cricket 1909

CRICKET: a w e e k l y r e c o r d o f t h e g a m e . FEBRUARY 25, 1909. “ Together joined in Cricket's manly toil.”— Byron. N o . 801 . v o l . xxvm. THURSDAY , FEBRUARY 25, igog. o n e p e n n y . CHATSION THE CRICKET FIELD. M e. G. P. BARBOUR. Mr. George Pitty Barbour, who has just been succeeded by Colonel the Hon. F. G. J. Foxton, M.H.R., as President of the Board oi Control for International Cricket in Australia, is an old Sydney University cricket Captain and Rugby football Blue. An M.A. and Classical Scholar of the Sydney University, he has for twenty years been Classical Master at the Sydney Grammar School, the largest Public School south of the line. Mr. Barbour is Chairman of the Great Public Schools Amateur Athletic Associa­ tion of New South Wales and is held in high esteem as one of the most genuine sportsmen ever associated with cricket, Rugby Union football, and amateur sport generally in Australia. It needed a man of his high principles, unswerving courage, and affection for cricket to help Mr. W. P. McElhone to pilot the Board of Control through the storms of the notorious cricket crises. He has made his century in Senior cricket both for his University and for Burwood, and as a captain has gained high honours. When he undertook the leadership of Burwood the side scarcely knew what it was to achieve success, and it speaks volumes for his capabilities that, in the course of a few years, he should have brought about an improvement sufficient to enable the Club to carry off the Premiership on a couple of occasions. His eldest son, Eric P. Barbour, has at seventeen years of age made his first appearance in representative cricket, having played for New South Wales against Queensland in Sydney in the first week of the present year. Asked if he has had a long connection with cricket, Mr. Barbour replied :— “ Yes; I have played cricket almost as long as I can remember, but did not get nearer the top than to be picked in a Practice XV. for New South Wales against Victoria. From my school eleven—Sydney Grammar School—I graduated into the ’Varsity team, obtaining my Blue at eighteen. At 'that time the University played past as well as present students and our team included Tom Garrett, Sam Jones, Reg Allen, and other representative cricketers — fine fellows and brave times when an unselfish love of the game itself dominated everything. Those were the jolliest of all my cricket MR. G P. BABBOCR. days—free from cares of captaincy and petty worries of Boards and Committees.” “ Did you find captaincy irksome, then? ” “ Well, to do the thing properly one’s mind must always be on the stretch, but it becomes a pleasure when you have a willing lot of workers and you feel the team has complete confidence in your judgment. To captain Burwood as I did for half-a-dozen years was easy while wre had such bowlers as Garnsey and O’Connor and such enthusiasts as Diamond and Mackay to set a standard. I shall be delighted if O’Connor is selected to visit England, for not only do I think he has been the best bowler in Australia for two or three years, but I have never captained a bowler possessed of a temperament so admirable in every respect.” “ Whom do you consider the best captain you have seen ? ” “ Of visiting teams undoubtedly MacLaren. The best in Australia, though he never captained repre­ sentative teams, to my mind was Pereie Charlton, whose fund of unorthodox experiment and initia­ tive was inexhaustible. Most captains seem to keep their stock bowlers going for from six to eight orers, hoping the batsman will get himself out. Every over Charlton used to give the batsman something to think about and never allowed him to settle down. - Instead of waiting till something happened, he forced that some­ thing to happen.” “ And about the Board of Control, Mr. Barbour?” “ An independent Board was an absolute necessity in Aus­ tralian cricket and one represent­ ing Associations alone could meet the exigencies of the position, but so fierce have been the waves of opposition from vested interests that a pilot of less skill and determination than Mr. McElhone might well have failed to make the harbour. Not that I am fully satisfied with what it has accom­ plished. It has done much good work but it has quite failed to vigorously grasp the “ amateur” nettle, a case in point being when the bogey of a guarantee induced a majority of the Board to per­ petuate the payment of £25 per Test match to “ amateurs,” though in so doing the Board broke one of its own rules. It is fondly endeavouring to lop off the hydra heads one by one when a herculean effort at the start might have buried the beast.” “ I am not one of those,” added Mr. Barbour, “ who think that present-day requirements demand a third—or neuter—