1939-09-14 — Page 21

HONGKONG TELEGRAPH

September 14, 1939. By Ernie Bushmiller

W-WHAT

WAS THAT?

THIS THEATRE

15

AIR

COOLED

20 prett

COOLER

A30-18

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THIS

Cricket, Trevor Wignall be- lieves, is the loveliest game in the world, but there are lots of things wrong with it-particu- larly with Test cricket. In this, article he looks back on his many years' association with the game and its players, and tells you about some of the

things that are wrong.

IVERY second year England and Australia appear to

TEST

CRICKET IS A

Says

TREVOR WIGNALL

heraus.

by dismissing men who were national; shilling of their expenses is paid. When they visit England they are Bonus Of £600

It was just then, when some-

thing obviously had to be done about it, that one of my own trade had a brain-wave.

He trilled out

Whole Land In Uproar

the awful, and absolutely incor- reet, tidings that Larwood bowled for the body and

be on the brink of war. Ultimatums are issued, threats are published in all newspapers, boots and jeers ine

the not for the stumps. 111ed to The Aussie

heavens by spee- Will Smile

Intors, and it is simply the anti- cipated when Government officials have to be called in to prevent the mobilisation of the artillery.

in

Nobody had ever heard of body- line bowling until then. The term. however, was one of genlus.

It perced every Australian As though an arrow had been sped, and in a twinkling the whole land was in shouting uproar,

Larwood's life may not have been In per, but no insurance company would have granted a policy on it.

The digger of coal had to keep his when he walked the eye skimte streets. He was Kruger of the Boer War, and the German Emperor of the larger disturbance of 1914.

given a weekly allowance to enver out-of- pocket spendings,

and in addition they are hunded a bonus of £000.

The English professionals line up for their £50 per match, or £250 if they are selected for the Ave that are played in England.

•

THE profits from the Tests are extremely tasty. They are so appetising. Indeed, that they would not be turned down by a mil-

onaire.

At the close of every tour there

usually around Profits Are

100,000 to play with.

So Tasty

Long since to the conclusion that the came cricket follower is the inast docile with of all the and easily dealt sports fraternity,

An Australian will smile În a good-† sutured, cuttrinly way when he is fold by an Englishman that he is un- couth, that his ancestors were Botany Bay convicts, that he is a rotten loser, that he loathes criticism and that all the confidence tricksters of the world

either were born Sydney or Melbourne.

These attacks on his country, and the people who live in it, ore brushed Of with the quile kindly cominent that they are bright examples of English humour.

There is never a snar, never a controllers of the game in England. his shoulders and goes on starving. frown, and never the instinctive i As a trouble-creator this document movement ut muscles and ligaments Rude Cable might well have that precede the closing of tists.

4

UT let it be whispered that England can let the pants off Australia at cricket, or that a Donald stumpy showman named Bradman is not the most marvellous

maker of

runs Where It

the carth has Hurts

had, and the decks arc im- mediately cleared.

Invoking the name of Brodman to any Australian in any other manner save utter adulation is the same as inviting a swift clip on the chin.

tell con an Australian that his Wool is

is terrible, that his Sydney bridge is a pimple when contrasted

You

To add to the absurdities the rulers of erickel in Aus- tralia addressed a rude cable to the

To M.C.C.

been framed by

He will stand for hours watching balls being bowled, and if at the luncheon interval he finds no rangements have been made for him sandwich he shrugs to purchase a

ar-

WHEN 30,000 people are nd- mitted to a cricket groutid

a South Ameri- it is a safe assumption that there are can agitator, or seats for less than one-third of that by a Fuscist who wished to disturb number. the pence of a Communist.

Shocking

are

ol

Don Bradman

wood, Wilfred Rhodes, and Charles Fry.

scores, and

of wood.

hlm comfort,

CRIME

WEMBLEY SWIMMING SURPRISES

London, Aug. 20. Denmark scored a smashing suc- cess in the first event of the first session of the two-days match be- tween England and Denmark in the Empire Pool, Wembley, inst night, when Ragnhild Hveger, holder of 14 world records, won the 100 metros free style.

The Dune met the English sprint champion, Joyce Harrowby (Leices- ter). From the start Miss Harrow by led by a foot at 40 metres, then the all-conquering: Dane went on 10 win by four yards in 1 min. 0%sec.. Miss

19wby's me being 1 min.

There was a sensation when Poul Petersen defeated Norman Wain- 400 Wright by six yards in the metres free style in 5 min. 14th sec. Wainwright's time was

anin. 18 sec.

+

There was an unfortunate incident in the women's springboard contest when the champions of Denmark and and England, Asta Aggerholt

Betty Slade met halfway is through the contest. Miss Aggerbolt hit her head in a forward somersault and had to retire from the competi-

What, no Bradman? Certainly not. Oh, yes. I know all about his records,

ป

phenomenal

his nurtured showmanship. I gazed on him with frequency, on good days and bad, and almost invariably he reminded me of n nearly perfeel piece of machinery.

CRICKET has been kind totion.

Bradman. It has provided The verdict was given to Miss him with opportunities that would Slade with 110 points. not have came his way if he had John Davies got clean away from been less expert with a shaped lump Finn Jensen in the 200 metres breast stroke, with the Englishnan using a It has given well-nigh perfect butterfly stroke,

CLEVER RACE Nothing Against Him money, hero-wor- Stagnhild veger swam a clever There

100 metres Women's ship, chances to race in the Krumbles,

she beat Vivian course,

see the world, and the companion-back-stroke when but they

the Bassett-Lowke by 2 yards in 1 min. ship of those who dwell in to nover grow

17 sec. The English girl's purple. referred to a British Cabinet Minister much more than a polite whimper.

I have nothing against him. Some was 1 min, 19sec. In the 1938 season I watched the times my hat is off so loftily in his until the inst 30 metres, when she for balm to be applied.

Hveger looked across at her rivals Americans who read this may thousands who fought for admission think I am exaggerating. They are to the grounds in London and in the honour that I fear it will remain in drew nway for a galinnt win.

the stratosphere for keeps. hereby invited to share the horrors provinces. of the next Test series. What do They knew all about the shocking whe only discomforts that would make them they know of cricket Harlem cricket know?

ache in every bone before the day was over, but they were the first to show surprise when some outspoken visitor from another country wanted to know why the blankety enclosures were not burned down.

As a sport, that depends on thehaps a small point, but no man is money taken entrances, cricket, at an amateur who makes thousands a year out of his reputation for his the county kind, is dying fast.

skill with a bat, a ball, or a glove.

It shook England and Australia to such an extent that the consequent Discomforts dangerous feelings aroused had to be

I

with the two that cross the waters traila, if I had my way. at Sun Francisco, or even that his Cockney accent is unendurable, and he will give you the old grin and call up more drinks,

UT indicate that in your opinion Bratman is not a patch on Jack Hobbs ar Walter Ham- mond, and he will knock your block off.

Shrine

WOULD scrap the fixtures between England and Aus- The Tests which South Africa and the West Indies are concerned Scrap These

could be re talged, for they do no harm, bül all the England v. Australia ones are a blight and a beastly nuisance.

Tests

ΑΝ ND yet-am incurably-

fond of cricket. It is such a sweet game that I deeply regret it has to be bothered with such base They disrupt relations with more considerations as hard cash. rupidity than any pilitical con- Tests-

In the begin troversy.

ning erkeket was These Englund-Australia matches A Crime meant to be

carefully commercialised that are 80

played on mea-

the packing of totally Inadequate dows, or on similar stretches that grounds is these days almost the sole were not sheltered by tall walls and consideration.

pay-boxes.

I speak with knowledge on this topic. Austra~ Bradman's

Hans yeurned to knock my block off for years. Always because I did not bow down and worship at the shrine of The highest possible prices of Bradman.

admission are charged, and in return If only a percentage of the threats for their money onlookers are forced aimed at me by Aussies when in to endure discomforts that would their view I had shown my abysmal start riots if they were caused by Ignorance on Bradman and on municipalities, or employers. cricket in general had taken effect | I would have been blown to pieces! when I was still more or less in my youth.

a

•

SOME years ago England sent had as its captain an austere and Mint-hearted

team to Australia that

mon

。.

named Jardine, The Times

Never in the history of mankind has it been played in a shower of: rain, but that can be excused.

From its inception it has asked for the peace that passes understanding. for light breezes that fan the cheek, fur sunshine that nets as a soporific, pauses while the and for lelsured cakes and the ten can be passed

around.

THE commonest spectacle at any cricket ground on big days is that of long queues of men

Cricket must have been entirely beautiful before the guy who in- and women outside lavatories.

The nausea

these aroused by

vented Test matches between Eng- scenes

some-

land and Australia was born. Behind

times mildly

It is a pity that, when young, he alluded to in newspapers, but was not placed in a bucket of water und the ild dropped on his shameful have suited Aus- no effort is made by the people res- head. tralians down to ponsible to remedy a disgusting state a monument la ever erected to the ground. He The race-tracks of Britain are 50 him and his kind it should show was of their own breed. If a legit! years behind the

llmes, but the them in abject humiliation, with look it. In his lexicon there was 19 down because they are 100 years too! ing bitterly for the ghastly crime. mate advantage could be taken hericket grounds ought all to be torn their heads in their wet hands, weep-

they committed. Jardine was dour, determined, ancient.

and a fast bowler named Larwood. Jardine

Spat At

such word as defeat.

thick-skinned,

Jardine should

and eminently fair-

of affairs.

The most sedate and in some re-

but he affected a cap of many colours gards the most beautiful of all pas- times is disfigured and rendered;

that was cyanide of potassium to all hideous by the way it is run. whose goze it affine. The

settled

fact

That that he was striving to lead his coun- try to victory was dismissed as u

•

$ WATCH icket purely for the entertainment it af- fords. Not since I myself swung a bat for the old regiment on a con- crete wickel in the Bermudas have I cared two hoots won or who

ask only to

SNOBBERY still surrounds I Haven't

and supports it as in the

Cared

foolish exhibition of snobbery. He days when grandpa was a child. was spat at on the streets when he

wasn't booed or otherwise insulted.

The old school tle is its emblem

ARWOOD was A former Pro's

4 col-hewer from the Not-Kept Apart head.

lost

and its shield, and tradition is the be kept interested. This boing so, I poor flag which am at liberly to choose the men I waves over Its would engage if I wished to spend

a pleasant day. Amateur crie- Ability as a balamon, or fast bowler England had ever bred. ket, by which is meant the cricket bowler, would attract mo less than He could send down the hurting played by the only real amateurs in the known entertainment virtues of Larwood Was ball at ninety the men who pay their own rall my selected.

tingham district. He was the fastest

Too Fast

miles an hour. fares to get to their pitches-is a joy, No balsman but big-business cricket is in the loved Larwood, same class as a Stock Exchange deal,

the idol Bradman was none too fond of. him.

48. B

eleven would be as

M follow and it must be

His quickles were too quick; and and its declared professionals were. This Son my

Larwood was also reputed to be able

and the suspicion quickly grew that or the buying and selling of a pro- remembered that I include: only those men I saw is their prime; and perly.

Until recently its supposed amateurs whose splendour he entertainers is kept apart.

John B. Eleven Hobbs, K.-S.

Ranjitsinhjli AUSTRALIAN cricketers still Woolley, Patrol yellow fever. He disgraced the game Heaven only know why Every feld, Walter Hammond, Harold. Lar-

to pitch five deliveries out of six.on a postage stamp..

In under a month hewani Ds

popular throughout Australinus

call themselves (amateurs, Trumper, Herbert Sutcliffe, Bert Old-

time

England scored a brilliant win in He is a wonderful cricketer, and

the 4 x 100 metres men's relay race, merely shrug at those who scream when Fred Dove, who finished the that he is the greatest of

any last leg, pulled in a 2-yards lead by generation.

I do not think so, and Denmark and then went on to finish would put him behind for example 4 yards in front of Denmark's last

man.

-Jack Hobbs. *

What I simply cannot do is respect Bradman as an amateur. It is per-2.

more

TF the result of a match-wng-

the only thing that mat- tered, and I winning was infinitely. other important than any conceivable aspect, Bradman would

top my list. Don Not A Hobbs

The marvel is

that he is ever bawled. caught,

Water Polo-England 5, Denmark

High Platform Diving (Men)-),

pts,; 2, Denmark, 111.38 108.3 pts.

England,

UPSET IN TENNIS TOURNEY

Forest Hills, Sept. 13. or stumped. If the state of a game U.S. national singles tennis cham- Entering the quarter-finals of the demands stone-walling he will dig

In his heels: if his mood so dictates plonships, Welby Van Horn, the 17- the first he will smack bowlers all over the year-old player, provided

real upset of the tournament to-day district.

He is the perfect manufactured bledon runner-up, by 6-3, 8-10 0-4 defeating Elwood Cooke, the Wim- batsman--but he could never play and (7). on a wet and slicky wicket as Hobbs

Joc Hunt, the Davis Cupper, de- Surrey were in a hole. was wont to play when England or feated Frankle Parker, another US. Davis Cupper, by 6-1, 6-1, 6-1 to enter the quarter-finals. Parker put up feeble resistance."

་

Shoes Of Spun Glass Now

Harry Hupman, the Australian Davis Cup captain, defeated "Ditsy" Grant 7-5, 7-5, 6-7, 6-3-United Prees.

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