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Show IEHBL1SH CRICKETERS RETURN FROM AFRICA Have Great Respect for Prowess of the Colonial Batsmen, Bats-men, i LONDON, May 19. "I have no excuses ex-cuses to make. We wero beaten by a better side' This was Mr. P. F. War-ner'H War-ner'H roply to interviewers on board the Btearaahlp Norman at Southampton when asked to explain tho failure of his side in the test matches in South Africa. The statement expressed the sontiments of tho wholo of the party of cricketers. Tho Englishmen havo returned homo holding most flattering opinions of the crack Colonial players, and confidently arisert that they have now reached the standard of equality with the best English sides. "On matting wickets," continvied Mr. "Warner, "the South Africans aro cap-, cap-, able of beating an eleven of the callbro that we send to Australia, and especially espe-cially on the Wanderer's ground at Johannesburg Jo-hannesburg are they strong. Perhaps we should beat them here, because the tickets would suit ua, and wo should he able to ,plck our beat men at tho top of their form. But out there whero we have only a certain number to select from they certainly have the better chance of winning. Since I was last in South Africa their strength has Increased 50 per cent. Mind yon, wo had a good team, but they fairly beat uk. They are stronger in batting, bet- j tcr in bowling and ilelded just as well as we did." "But it has been stated that tho fielding lost M. U. C. the test matches." "No, nothing of the sort. Our Adding Add-ing was good, although we had no luck, if we missed a man, generally ' , he went on and made a hundred or so. Batting was our weak point. The wlck-i wlck-i cts were fast, and their bowlers got such tremendous breaks on. They broko each side of tho wicket, Schwarz doing quite this much, indicating two or three feet. On ono occasion ho pitched the ball well off my leg stump, and as I vent to play it the ball broke in and took my wicket. Such Instances were by no means rare. The place is a verltablo paradise for leg-break bowlers and teams that go out in fu-i fu-i ture ought to be well equipped with ' this class of bowler. The South Afrl-cans Afrl-cans in tho tost matches were eleven , batsmen and nine bowlers. In ono ' game Shalders, who Is not supposed to be one of the regular bowlers, went down and sent down half a dozen of the best overs I have ever seen, and I have had some experience in cricket. I most certainly think that the next South African team that comes over here should be given three test matches, match-es, Jim Phillips agrees with me: Indeed, In-deed, he thinks they ought to have five." "What Is your opinion of tho South Africans individually?' "White is the best, I should say. He is a brilliant all-around, player, and In batting has tho hitting power of Sinclair Sin-clair and the defense of Charles Fry Nourse, also, Is a very fine cricketer." "And your tcam?" "Well. Craw ford was u great success. Ho is a coming Jackson; that's my opinion. I never knew such a brilliant cricketer at his age. Denton and Fane did exceedingly well, too. Lmb and Blythe bowled cplendldly, but Lees did not have much luck. I should like to say a word about tho spcotators. They were genuine sportsmen; they applauded ap-plauded most Impartially. Ono good result of tho tour will be to encourage and stimulate South African cricketers. They wero, of course, delighted at winning, win-ning, and the effect will, no doubt, bo moat beneficial " |