1939-05-15 — Page 23

THE CHINA MAÏL, MAY 15, 1989

CRICKET

THE WEST INDIAN TEAM "Their Methods Are More Dynamic Than Static"

A Side Of Many Talents; Plenty Of Dash And Vigour

London, April 30.

IN an age when other things besides cricket are suffering from an excess of central-heating, the West Indians bring to our cricket a breath of fresh air. Their methods are more dynamic than static; idealistic rather than utilitarian.

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I fancy that the West Indian batsman, as I have seen him, would rather be bowled trying to drive the ball to the extra-cover boundary than play an indeterminate stroke, sometimes half-described as the half-cock, and leave the rest to the umpire, writes the cricket correspondent of "The Observer.”

The bolder policy passes in these, then an undergraduate at Cambridge, days for a fault. That may be. But a slow-medium off-spinner and a grand it is a fault descended on both sider fieldsman. Four others of this team in from the most aristocratic of cricket appeared against England here ancestry, from parents who are stil 1933-I, Barrow, a sound wicket-keep- remembered and honoured in Englisher and batsman; G. Headley, one of the

and other-cricket.

four best batsmen in the world; E. A. I do not speak, for the moment, of Martindale, and L. N. Constantine. such artists as Mr. G. Challenor and Two others, L. G. Hylton, a more than G. Headley; the former now almost a fast-medium bowler, and J. E. D. Sealy regret-a desiderium-of beautifua medium-pace bowler and attractive ninyed against Wyatt's stroke-play; the latter moving in the batsman, plenitude of skill; nor of Leary Con- | M.C.C. touring team. stantine of whom (as they say) lat These are the seven, then, who have er--these are batsmen of adaptability heen. as it were, initiated. Contantine. not unaware of variation in climate. oc- Headley, and Martindale, who have, in casion, pitch: but I speak of the "gen. the nast, given intermittent service to eral award" of West Indian batsmen the Lancashire League, have signed on their average player, and I cannot for the whole trin. Constantine is the avoid reflecting whether he will this senior member. I remember him first season join our modern school of pragin 1923 at Weston-super-Mare, a cover- matists. who have learned the efficacnoint of such agility that mid-off could On that occa- of the "pendulum" stroke on chemica'sleep-where he stood. pitches, or whether he will remain asion he was not asked to howl: per- free as nature taught him and cricket haps he couldn't. He also batted not meant him to be.

far above the extras. Since then he has earned fame as a hitter of fero.

Liked By Crowds.

I fear the former and I hope the lat- ter. For I would not have the West Indian batsman alter his method of attack, his scheme of liberty. He was born for sally; not for siege, for foray, not for entrenchment, nor must be care that he has earned the name rather for Our capture than for consolidation. crowds like him the better for these We can give debatable weaknesses. him indulgence and attention for all |-- ; this. May nature give him the sun as well. I wish even that we could give him his own crowds, chattering with excitement, and depending precariously from trees.

The West Indians last came to Eng- land in 1933, led by G, C. Grant, elder brother of their present captain. They suffered two defeats and made one draw. The princival falling occurred in the batting. The bowling, especial- ly that of E. A. Martindale, whose speed is said to be undiminished, was good. But I think that the perform

the ance best remembered by both West Indians and us was the classic century of D. R. Jardine at Old Traf- ford. It was, if my memory. serves me, his last century in first-class cric- The ket--almost his last appearance."

be pitch, for once. was inclined. to flery: Hammond was cut over by rising ball, and Jardine faced an at- tack, after his own heart, with almost contemptuous ease, When at last he was caught very low and very well by Constantine in the galley off Martin- dale the crowd rose to him,

a

A Hitter Of Fame In the winter of 1984-85 R. E. S. Wyatt captained a Marylebone team in the West Indies. The West Indians won two of the four Tests, lost one and drew one. It would be easy to at- tribute M.C.C.'s failure to certain ami- able, if eccentric variations in the bat ting order but in truth the majority of our batsmen were perplexed and de feated by some remarkably fine, fast bowling.

The present team consists of sixteen pricketers. R. 8. Grant, the cantain nlaved twice in 1988 against England He was funder his brot

EDDIE PAYNTER, the Lancashire cricketer, who has just re- turned from a most successful tour of South Africa, was among the players who reported at Old Trafford, Manchester, for the official opening of the season.

to latent cunning. I hope that his zest cious audacity-he once hit a six fine leg at Lord's--and as a bowler of has not been blunted by the personal both speed and variety. The years occasions of League cricket and --the have a little impaired that speed, but. iteration of being the weekly star; for

the there is only one of his kind. by compensation, have increased

GOLF STANCE

By BEST BALL

How far apart should one keep his feet when assuming a golf- stance. There is no hard and fast rule because too many factors en- ter into the situation. A tall play- er naturally would place his feet wider apart than a shorter player to maintain good balance yet the stance for the taller player may be narrower in proportion to his height than that of the player of

GRAPHIC GOLF

BOBBY JONES

ALLOWED SMOOTHER

STROKE. N

NARROWED

STANCE. TO MAKE WIDER BODY TURN

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lesser height. The only rule that seems to meet the approval of all golfers, is to adopt a comfortable. stance. This means that at ad-

M

dress the player should feel re- laxed and this can be accomplish- ed only if the player's feet are mo- derately close together.

The result of this posture is that the player's muscles will be pliant and enable a smooth, wide body turn. There will be no inclination of the body to fall' off balance dur- ing the stroke and ruin the per- formance. In the above illustra- tion notice the width of Bobby Jones's stance in the early part of his career as compared with his His stance in the late twenties.

feet are closer together in the lat- ter stage. allowing a smoother, fuller stroke.

Wednesday.Putting Tactics.

EXCELLENT VALUE

IN

Then there is J. H. Cameron, of Cam- bridge University and Somerset, slow spin bowler and good batsman, a keen and studious player whose intimate knowledge of present-day English cricketers must be of help to his cap- tain. For the rest, until there is the benefit of autopsy and performance, the book must speak:

T. Johnson: fast bowler, left round the wicket.

arm,

E. A. V. Williams: fast bowler. J. B. Stollineyer; good batsman and leg-spin bowler, eighteen years old, the youngest member of the team.

V. H. Stollineyer: elder brother of the above, steady opening batsman.

K. H. Weekes: a wicket-keeper and a sound left-hand batsman.

H. P. Bayley: a number three bats-

man.

. C. B. Clarke: a googly bowler of promise.. v

It is said that some very good players have been left behind: but, as Cinder- ella must have såld more than once this may happen to the best of us..

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