Cricket 1911

90 CRICKET : A W EEK LY RECORD OF THE GAME. A p r i l 2 9 ,19 11. put it down to the excess of golf, of which he is very fond. Consistency, one of his strongest points as I knew my friend in South Africa, has been quite missing, and his bowling has been practically useless. It might appear rank heresy for me to say that even Zulch has not satisfied me through the tour. You see, I expected more of the younger members of the team. I have strong opinions of Zulch, and I hope that they will be realized. Zulch and Pearse have been slow in the field, and these young players will have learned much from what they have seen the Australians do.” “ Through Vogler being unavailable, you have had to use your other bowlers severely ? ” “ No, I think not. If any bowler has been overworked, it was Schwarz. At the commencement of the Tests, I did not know which way to turn, but luckily Llewellyn came along, and I could give Faulkner the rest that his batting made necessary. Schwarz has worked wonderfully well, and eminently successfully also. He is always cheerful, and it was truly fortunate that I found that his old accuracy had come back to him. You might be surprised, but I consider that I have not a googlie bowler on my side at the present time. Vogler and Faulkner were. They could turn the ball at will either way, and nobody could tell which way it was going to break. Now that is what I call a googlie bowler. Schwarz is not a googlie bowler in the true sense, as he bowls only the off breaking ball, and Faulkner has gradually got to that stage that he sends down a wrong ’un about once in two or three overs. At one time, Faulkner would often send in the wrong ’un. In my humble opinion, Hordern is the only googlie bowler in Australia that I have seen, and he is a real good one, too. He stuck my fellows up at the same game that they have stuck up other players.” “ Do you think that Faulkner will get the googlie ball back ? ” “ O, dear, yes. But he has reached a pitch as a batsman that his bowling will naturally suffer. You do not see the double champion keep up both departments of the game for long. Faulkner is one of our products as a batsman, just the same as the Australians revel in the knowledge that their great men are their own. Early coaching had good results with Faulkner, and I hardly think that there is much more room for improvement. Yet, he is always trying to learn something new, so I expect that some of his Johannesburg friends will suffer when he puts into use some of the great strokes that he has learned in Australia. I am very pleased to have seen how thoroughly Faulkner’s efforts have been appreciated, wherever we have been, and I was only sorry for some of our country friends that I could not play him in every game. And then there is Dave Nourse. I got into the way of relying on him for a lot of runs, and I only wish that he had been as consistent in the Tests as he has been on the tour as a whole. He is a great character, and some think him quite a comedian. ” ‘ •You expected your bowling to be the strongest point of the side? ” “ Yes, I did, but although they have done so well, the w’ickets have not assisted them. They turn the ball, very little, but the ball does not get off the pitch like it does in our own country. In South Africa we get regular “ fi7zers,” and the ball breaks ever so much more than it does on the Sydney ground.” “ Have you experienced any difficulty in placing your field for the Australian batsmen ? ” “ Certainly it has required a lot of brain work to cope with the cleverness of the batsmen, but I have been able to do all that mortal man can do. I have not varied the placing of my field from my usual course, and under the circumstances it was the best. The inaccuiate length of my bowlers would naturally suggest that tbe field was all wrong. You will have noticed that the field set for Hordern was precisely the same as I generally use for my bowlers who approach his style and pace.” “ What do you think of the Australian cricket grounds ? ” “ There is only one thing to say about the Sydney and Melbourne cricket grounds. The Sydney ground is incomparably superior to any cricket area that I have seen in any part of the world. The light is perfect, and the outfield, and, in fact, everything connected with it, is well-nigh perfect. 1 should like to have n special allotment of seats for the players on one of the great stands. I often had to send my batsmen out in the bright light just before their turn came to go in to the wickets. The seats in front of our own special room are under a rather low verandah, and one’s eyes get too much accustomed to the dull lipht there. Of course, that is a little matter, but my fellows did mention the slight inconvenience. Melbourne is another fine ground, but its compactness leads to a certain amount of deficiency in light, and then the slope of the ground there handicaps the fielder who is making for a catch, which sometimes gets lost in the crowd. Adelaide’s light is the best, there being nothing against the ball there.” “ Do you find the wickets at the various grounds of different character ? ” “ I find all Australian wickets, when the weather is fine, beautiful, and I find the Sydney pitch the most wonderful for its recovering capabilities. Our Johannesburg ground is wonderful enough in this respect, but then we have no turf at all. I can hardly imagine the Sydney wicket to be ever bad, but only better sometimes than others. I am not quite certain in my own mind if I did the correct thing in sending the Australians in on Friday.* But I do think I did the right thing at Melbourne, where there is not such a wicket in wet weather like the Sydney pitch. The different soil used in the preparation of the two pitches is, I am told, responsible for the influence of rain.” “ Have you been worried by the behaviour of the crowds? ” “ Worried indeed ! Why, I think the Sydney crowds a very happy band of people, and I thoroughly enjoyed their remarks. Cricket is not a drawing-room game, and to play without the accompaniment of cheers and groans and advice gratuitous would be to eat an egg without salt. All Australian crowds that I have seen I thought very fair minded, but at Sydney I was more taken with the people looking on because I have heard such very bad accounts of the Sydney barrackers. We get barracking in South Africa, and if what I have seen is characteristic of the Australian cricket crowd, then I have had fairy tales poured into my ear. I have enjoyed the dry humour and the ready wit of the chaps who pay the modest “ bob,” and it did not take me long to conclude that most of the spectators know as much about cricket as my own fellows. No, I have not the slighest fault to find with the Australian crowds. Talking of the crowd, I think that the presence of so many ladies at the cricket matches is a great institution, and worthy of every encouragement.” “ In Test matches one frequently sees a preponderance of luck on one side, or the other. How have you been affected ? ” “ Luck has entered into our engagements very little, and what­ ever may have been seen in any of the engagements I certainly think that we had more than our share at Melbourne in the fourth Test match. If the Australians had won the to'JS and put us in, as Clem Hill would have done, they would have made ample use .of their good fortune. But what one considers luck another does not, and cricket is such a fascinating game that the question of luck should not be associated with it.” “ You’ve had a good time in Australia? ” “ A very good time. I was warned that I would, and I do not know how we can ever return the kindnesses shown to us. It does not matter where we have been. Big cities and small towns contain the same kind of people, and they all have the same size of heart. Our trip will be very often referred to, and will, in some instances at all events, be a very red letter event. I like the country and I love the people. I think that is all a lot of nonsense about the South African having no time for the Australian, because he is an Australian. My experience in Johannesburg was that, never mind whether a man were an Australian or a Canadian, or an American, if he proved himself capable of playing the game, he was one of us. If he proved himself a ‘ rotter ’—well, what would you expect ? ” “ Have you found the travelling irksome? ” “ As a whole, it has been very com fortable; but the best journey, by a long way, is the trip from Melbourne and Adelaide. * In the fifth Test match.—E i. Cricket.