Cricket 1911

262 C R IC K E T : A W EEK LY RECORD OF THE GAME. Ju n e 2 1, 19 1 1. arise. I don’t suppose I shall ever get such a chance- But if I did I think I should find myself settling down to regular play without any difficulty.” To me it seems one of the likeliest things that Le Couteur should be asked to join some future Australian team. If he reproduces in Australia the fine all-round form he has shown in England, his chance should be an excellent one. ‘ ‘ Will you tell me something about your early cricket?” “ I was at Warrnambool Academy as a youngster, and bowled leg-breaks with some success. I made several centuries there, too. But I really don’t think my doings at school will be of much interest to your readers. The Australian schools in the country cannot be compared with the English public schools, though there are a few schools in the big cities which may be classed with them.” ‘ ‘ From Warrnambool you went to Melbourne Uni­ versity ?” ‘ ‘ Yes. I entered there in 1903 and remained till 1908, graduating before I left. I matriculated at Oxford in October, 19 08.” ‘ ‘ You are a Rhodes Scholar, as everyone knows. I should like to hear something about the manner in which the Scholarships are awarded.” ‘ ‘ Well, as you are aware, the scheme embraces Canada, the West Indies, South Africa, the United States and Ger­ many, as well as Australasia. I cannot speak with certainty as to what is done in the other countries, though I have heard that there is something in the nature of a definite examina­ tion in the States. In Australia, the chosen men are almost always recent graduates of one of the Universities. The likely candidates are marked out, so to speak, some time in advance, and are kept more or less under observation. The final choice is made by five electors—the Governor of the State, the Chief Justice, the Director of Education and two University professors. The last named may be said to be on the inside in their opportunities for judging a man.” ‘ ‘ There is, I suppose, some considerable difference between an Australian University and an English one ? ” ‘ ‘ A very great deal. Classics are little thought of in the newer countries, and the education is chiefly on the scientific side. I found that I had a lot of hard work to do here in the way of catching up in the classics. But this is not cricket, is it ?” “ No, but, after all, even among the keenest of cricket­ ers, there are many who, like yourself, are interested in other matters. Let us take cricket, however, by all means. You played for Melbourne University, of course ? ” “ Y es; both at cricket and footer—the Australian game, which is the popular game in Victoria. But I should like to say that I was never half as good a cricketer—more especially as a bowler—in Australia as I have been in Eng­ land. I don’t mean to imply that I consider myself any­ thing very great now. I have had a lot of luck. But I am sure that I have learned much in England, and that as a bowler in particular I am far ahead of what I was when I came over.” “ You were not given a place in the Oxford team at once, I believe ? ” ‘ ‘ No. I did little in the Freshmen’s match. I don’t think that that sort of game suits my temperament. There is nothing to fight for in it, except one’s own hand. I like a game in which there is really a big issue at stake.” “ Isn’t that typically Australian ? ” ‘ ‘ Perhaps. But don’t misunderstand me. I don’t put winning before everything. I think my countrymen are a little too inclined to play cricket in that spirit. They want to win, and to win fairly ; but in the strenuousness of their desire for victory, they are apt to let slip something of the charm of the game. There is nothing in Australia which in the least resembles English country-house cricket. The conditions would hardly permit of i t : but even if they did, I doubt if Australians would care for it. Even when two small townships meet out there the game is less a game for the playing’s sake than a struggle for supremacy.” Was this one of the things that Cecil Rhodes hoped for ? So I wondered. Had Oxford taught this clear-eyed young Australian, with his lean, thoughtful face, ‘ ‘ To set the cause above renown. To love the game beyond the prize ?” I hardly think so. And I fancy, too, that he must have brought over the seas with him the essential modesty that is apparent in all he says. ‘ ‘ Will you tell me how you came under the notice of the Oxford Captain in 1909 ? ” ‘ ‘ In the last week of the term I had a run of success in College matches. The team was just going on tour, and Hurst asked me to play against Surrey at Reigate. I made over 50 and was again included against Sussex at Hove, when I scored another fifty and took a few wickets. After that I was given my blue, but I did nothing much in the other games. At Lord’s ? Really, I don’t seem able to remember what I did there. I know that in the second innings we had orders to hit or get out, and that I got out.” Scores of 25 and 6 , and analyses of 0 for 29 and 2 for 20 were Le Couteur’s figures in his first University match. But it is on his doings in 1910 that his fame rests. His bowling took 10 wickets for 42 against Kent, and four for 34 in Surrey’s second innings ; he hit up 88 against the Gentlemen of England ; he ran up 73 in 65 minutes against the M.C.C. at Lord’s ; and against the Light Blues he scored 160 in 3 hours 25 minutes, and had 6 wickets for 20 and 5 for 46. “ A good deal will be expected of you this year after what you did last.” i ‘ ‘ Oh, but that is hardly fair, is it ? I had such a lot of luck. It is not likely I shall be so fortunate again.” ‘ ‘ Do you—don’t answer the question if it strikes you as rude—feel nervous before a big match ? ” ‘ ‘ I don’t a bit mind answering. I do—horribly ! 1 have been kept awake at night by worrying about it. But that all wears off when one gets fairly to work.” ‘ ‘ What do you think of the Triangular Tests ?” “ I am very keen indeed on them. Not so much as a method of deciding which is the strongest cricket nation. I want Australia to come out on top, of course ; but I ’m not at all sure it will do our fellows any harm if they have to take second or even third place. It is the sentiment of the thing that appeals to me. The meeting in friendly rivalry of the Old Country and two of her greatest children— the way in which the ordinary cricket programme is cheer­ fully subordinated to the demands of the Tests, the counties giving up their best men when required—the atmosphere of welcome and good feeling for Australians and Afrikanders alike—it all seems to me charming ! It makes of cricket something more than a mere game.” ‘ 1 Do you think the matches should be played to a finish ? ” ‘ ‘ It would be a fine thing if they could be ; but I don’t think this is indispensable. Perhaps that is because I am not exactly in love with the long drawn out games common in Australia.” ‘ ‘ Were you a googly bowler when you came to Eng­ land ? ” “ No. And I did not bowl the googly in 1909. I bowled the leg break and the ball that comes straight through with the leg-break action. It was in the Long Vacation of that year, while staying with a friend in the Isle of Wight, that I first studied the theory of the googly. We talked it over together, and practised i t ; and in 1910 I bowled it.” ‘ ‘ Incidentally astonishing Kent. How do you bowl the googly ? ” Mr. Le Couteur told me, in a few simple words that made it quite clear to my mind. But I am not going to set down those words here, lest I should set them down wrongly, and the men who have developed the theory in as many pages as the Oxford-Australian took words should scoff. ‘ ‘ You have never played for Victoria, I know. But of course you have met all the leading players of your native State in club cricket.” “ Yes, and some of them are personal friends of mine, Hazlit among them. I should like to say a word or two about Peter McAlister, a man who has hardly had justice done him. Almost ever since I can remember he has been among the best two or three batsmen in Victoria, and as a fieldsman in the slips a few years back he was simply mag­ nificent. He was put in a difficult position when they made him a selector for the team, since he himself was a candidate.