THE INTERCOLONIAL CRICKET DISPUTE.

Inangahua Times, Volume VII, Issue 1059, 10 March 1882, Page 2

THE INTERCOLONIAL CRICKET DISPUTE.

w With regard to the " contretemps " which recently arose at Sydney in connection with the Intercolonial Cricket Match, the Sydney Echo observes : — "It is a pity that unpleasantnesses should arise in connection with cricket matches, but if people are to be as morbidly sensitive as the Victorians showed themselves recently, it will be impossible to avoid them. Whether Mr Murdoch was right in questioning the decisions of the umpire, or whether he really questioned them at all, need not be discussed ; but that he had a right to express his opinion on the subject no fair man can deny. Off the ground the decisions of umpires are constantly questioned. Hardly a match occurs in which the merits of the action of umpires are not canvassd by players concerned. Only the other day the correctness of the decision of Mr Curtis Reid's was very freely disputed in Melbourne, and the dispute was embodied in the Argus's report of the match. Only on Wednesday decisions of the Sydney umpires were disputed, in very plain language, by one or two of the Melbourne players who were affected by them. And why not. Nobody can reverse an umpire's decision, but it would be a strange thing if nobody could convey what he thinks of it without the risk of giving offence. If a Melbourne player can question the correctness of what a Sydney umpire does, surely a Sydney ] player may question that of what a Melbourne umpire does. But even supposing that Mr Murdoch's remark was one that he ought not to have, made, what had tiie remark to do with the Cricketing Association . They were not responsible for Mr Murdoch's indiscretions. We cannot but think that, after reflection, the Melbourne men will see that they were badly advised, and that the association received somewhat scant courtesy at their hands."