Western Mail (Perth, WA : 1885 - 1954), Thursday 6 April 1950, page 43


SPORTS DIARY A WORLD REVIEW

i CONDUCTED BY I

WALLY FOREMAN j

CRICKET Ian Dick's Good Batting

JN first-class and first-gracit

cricket it is usually founc that when things are goinf against the side at the wicket! at least one player will come tc light and make a good retriev ing score.

South Perth had its back tc the wall on the first day of thc A-grade final against North Perth at the W.A.C.A. grounc last Saturday, and true to this tradition it was vice-captain lar Dick, the youngest of the wellknown Dick trio, who extri-cated the side from its predica-ment with a very-soundly made

85.

At stumps South Perth hac made 186 for 8 wickets, a score that although leaving the issue very open at this stage, is suffi-ciently good lo sustain South Perth's premiership hopes, whereas but for Ian Dick ii would now have been in a very sorry plight indeed.

As cricketers go there-is not much of Ian Dick physically. He is fairly short in stature and weighs under 10 stone. Yet he wields that willow blade with an artistry that clearly shows physique as having little to dc with good batsmanship.

Ian learnt his first steps at Wesley College and was play: ing C-grade cricket at\the age of 12. As he is now ¿3 it will be seen that he has been play-ing competitive grade cricket for over ten years.

He played with the West Perth A-grade side in 1944-5 when he was 18. .

The following year South Perth was admitted to the A-grade competition and Ian transferred back to his home club, to remain with it ever

since.

In three of his four seasons with South Perth Ian has had the highest batting average. This season, not counting the final, he made 582 runs at an average of 38.1, the best aggre-gate and average in the club.

He stârted the season a bit scratchily but after making 48 against Subiaco he ran into form and in fairly close order scored 79 against Fremantle, 78 against West Perth, 111 not out against Nedlands and 62 against Bassendean. ¿

His 85 last Saturday there-fore was a fitting climax to a great season, probably the j

best of his career.

What is more the runs were made in a manner which must enhance his claims for inclu-sion in the next Sheffield Shield side.

Ian's only match in a State representative side was for W.A. colts against Hammond's last M .CC. team, when he made a bright 30 in a good stand with Wally Langdon, who made top score with 48.

With the South Perth club on tour in Adelaide about three years ago he made 95 against a South Australian side which included Bradman.

"Don was in for practice in view of an approaching Test match," says Ian, "and we gave it to him. We got him for 30

IAN DICK, vice-captain and leading South Perth batsman, who made a sound 85 against North Perth on the first day of the A-grade pennant final at the W.A.C.Ä. ground last Saturday. At stumps South Perth had scored 186 for the loss of eight "wickets. The match will be continued

over Easter.

in the first innings but in the second he made a century and never looked like getting out."

Ian Dick is well known as one of our leading hockey play-ers. He represented the State in Victoria in 1946, at home in 1947 and in New Zealand in 1948. Last year he was too busy completing his pharmacy course for any active partici-pation.

Davidson's Double

JT seems a pity that N.S.W.

cricketer Alan Davidson's feat of taking all 10 wickets and then making 157 not out against Wairapara (N.Z.) last week was not "dinkum" in the fullest sense of the word. Prob-ably it could have been but for

the actions of Australian cap-tain, Bill Brown, and coQueenslander, Len Johnson, who, in their anxiety to see Davidson achieve each feat, went out of jtheir way to make its fulfilment as easy as pos-sible for him.

Apparently Davidson bowled and batted grandly» That is not questioned. But if records of this sort are to be worth anything historically then surely they must be made strictly in accordance with the tenets of the game.

When Davidson had taken nine wickets, Johnson, who was operating at the opposite end, gave Davidson every chance, we read, by bowling at half pace to the last batsman. To put it bluntly Johnson, out of

what I believe to be a mis-

guided sense of sportsmanship,! didn't try to get the last wicket. When Davidson was batting and was approaching his cen-tury the Australian captain, Brown, according to the cable, "gave him évery chance to complete his unique double by jockeying him into the strike." Apparently, in the glorification of the individual (Davidson) the fact that a match between Australia and Wairapara .was in progress was forgotten for the time being. /

If this is to be the code then we may be approaching the time when a batsman upon reaching 99, will tacitly expect almost as his right an under

arm, or* a half-paced delivery wide of the stumps to enable him to make a certainty of his century. And any bowler who sent down a fiery ball in such

circumstances calculated to , dismiss the batsmán would be ostracised as a very bad sports-man indeed.

By all means let us strive for more of the village green, care-free atmosphere for cricket but for heaven's sake, if a record

ALL TEN WICKETS

Although securing 10 wickets

in one innings is o remarkable*, feat it savours these days of the man being bitten by the dog-it is no longer sen-sational news. Now if David-son had taken all ten wickets with successive balls there would have been something for the headlines.

According to Wisden the greatest number of wickets ob-tained by a bowler with suc-cessive balls is nine, by Paul Hugo (left arm) in a school game in South Africa, for Smithfield v Alwal North, in February, 1931. In first-class cricket the record is four wic-kets with successive balls (done several times) and in Test cricket the record is three. Many 'bowlers-particularly in England-have taken ten wickets in ail innings in a firstclass game. Perhaps the greatest feat was that of H. Verity (Yorkshire) who cap-tured 10 for 10 against Notts at Leeds in 1932.

The Australian, W. P. Howell, in his first match in England in 1899, took all ten Surrey wickets for 28 runs.

It is on record that in 1923 K. Benaud took the whole 20 wic-kets (10 for 30 and 10 for 35) in a match between Penrith Waratahs and /St. Mary's B, N.S.W. No bowler has per-formed this feat in a first-class match but several have got close to it.

is imminent let us make the*

player concerned get it hon-?

estly.

Tn most cases he would ap-; precíate this a whole lot moreT than having it thrown at him as a'gift.

Tune James for England

MISS JUNE JAMES, who

has been chosen in the Australian women's cricket team to tour England next year, is the third West Austra-lian to be chosen in an Austra-lian overseas team. Miss Mane Jegust went to England in 1937, and Miss Flo. Ireland went to New Zealand last year.

June James, who is 24, is vice-captain of Cambridge (Su-biaco) club and is an all-round player. She has been playing for Only three seasons and was introduced to the game by Miss Jess Townshend, a State player in 1936.

She has had a particularly . good season and with her fast, "

(Continued on next page).

SPORTS DIARY

(Continued from previous page) swinging deliveries has taken 46 wickets at an average of 4.03. Her batting average tor the season (club games) is 27 and her highest score 68.

At the recent carnival in Ade-laide her best bowling per-formances were 4 for 25 against South Australia and 3 for 7 against Queensland. Un-lucky on a couple, of occasions, she did not get amongst the

runs.

She is particularly smart in the held and is usually placed in slips or at fine leg.

June James has always been a lover of the out-doors. She

JUNE JAMES . . . Cambridge Club player, who has been selected in the Australian women's cricket team to tour

England next year.

is the holder of several cups for swimming gained as a member of the A.N.A. Club. Her coach was Evelyn de Lacey.

She is also a good rifle shot, a skill she acquired as a result of accompanying her father, Bert James (former wellrknown Murray-street hairdresser) on numerous shooting expeditions.

She was a transport driver during the war.

Not Hard on Hardstaff

fHE Advisory County Com-

mittee have taken a sens-ible course in the case of the Notts and England batsman Joe Hardstaff, who broke one of the county rules by playing for Auckland, New Zealand, in a Plunket Shield match. - The unanimous decision that Hard-staff erred inadvertently and should not be penalised was ac-companied by another resolu-tion that the M.C.C. should write to all overseas cricketing bodies and seek their views on the question of English players who, like Hardstaff, might be in their countries on coaching jobs taking part in their competitive games. Such wise action is typical pf the manner in which the M.C.C, one of the two ruling bodies in British sport whose constitution is entirely undemocratic, face up to their responsibilities. There is some-thing to be said, after all, for a benevolent and understanding autocracy. I