Cricket 1910

CRICKET : a w e e k l y ' r e o o r d o f t h e g a m e . SEPTEMBER 8, 1910 . “ Together joined in Cricket’s manly toil.”— Byron. No. 8 5 4 . VOL. XXIX. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1910. o n e p e n n y . CHATS ON THE CRICKET FIELD. Mu. P. C. RAPHAEL. In many branches of athletic sport New Zealanders rank with the world’s best. At tennis Wilding can foot it with the greatest champions of the present day; a New Zealander holds the sculling championship of the world, and the opinion may be hazarded that he will hold it for many years to come ; Rugby football has no abler exponents in either hemis­ phere than the Dominion’s players, and these considera­ tions prompt one to wonder why New Zealanders so lag behind in cricket. If cricketers in New Zealand had learned the lessons taught them by visiting teams, in the same degree that foot­ ballers profited by the visit of Stoddart’s football team in 1888, New Zealand would now be challenging the supremacy of England, Aus­ tralia and South Africa on the cricket field. But cricket down under has not improved to anything like the same extent that Rugby football has, and therefore the views of Mr. F. C. Raphael, the Hon. Secretary of the New Zealand Cricket Council, on the standard of play and future prospects of the game in New Zealand will prove of interest. “ In view of the fact that in Rugby football and several other branches of athletic sport New Zealand occupies so prominent a position, why is the standard of her cricket so low?” “ There are several reasons. Cricket is a game that requires many years of practice and patient study, whilst a high state of perfection in football may be attained in a few seasons by young men of good physique and stamina, such as New Zealand possesses. It must also be remembered that with our limited population- a round million only— it can hardly be expected that we should hold our own with older countries that have a so much greater population. Then again, we have not the moneyed and leisured class that makes so much for the advancement of the game in England. Practically the whole of our players are men who work for their living, and can only play cricket in their spare time. It follows, therefore, that our opportunities for improvement are small.” “ Has the standard of play in New Zealand advanced of late years?” “ Personally, I think it has, though it must be admitted that there are those who think otherwise. To my mind there are many indications that the gap between the standard of English play and ours is more apparent than real. Take for instance the visit of the last Australian team to New Zealand. The visitors were a side that was not very far below Australian Eleven calibre. It contained no less than four of the last team that toured England — Armstrong, Bardsley, Hopkins, Whitty-and, although we did not succeed in winning a match, several sidesmade a capital fight against them. Canterbury gave them a remarkably close go — so close indeed that a drawn game was left in our favour. Taranaki, also, were unlucky iu their game not being fiuished, whilst the New Zealand team in the first Test match played a very even game the first two days, though our representatives fell away on the last and were badly beaten. Going a little further back, the last English team that toured New Zealand, although it included such well known players as P. R. Johnson, J. W. H. T. Douglas, W. B. Burns, C. C. Page, G. H. Simpson-Hayward and G. T. Branston, was twice beaten in New Zealand—once by a Canterbury Eleven and once by a New Zealand repre­ sentative team. And it may be mentioned that most of the eleven aside matches were closely contested. It is recognised that the visit of such a team does incal­ culable good to our cricket, but the expense of the under­ taking taxes our resources to the utmost. This will be readily realised when I men­ tion that the loss incurred in bringing the last team out ran into four figures.” “ What deductions as to your standard of play can be drawn from the residence in New Zealand of foreign players of note?” “ The conclusions to be drawn are, to my mind, distinctly encouraging. Relf, the Sussex professional, ranks high in English cricket, yet the best of New Zealand cricketers were not overshadowed by him to any very pronounced extent. There were batsmen in Auckland who suffered little in comparison. The same