The Australian at Play 187 



nised as an Australian attribute. It would easily 

 be possible in many parts of Australia to play 

 cricket throughout the winter, and many 

 cricketers devote that season to baseball, recog- 

 nised as a summer pastime in America. Perhaps 

 nothing is more eloquent of the Australian 

 interest in sport, than the appearance of the 

 newspaper offices during the progress of an 

 Anglo- Australian cricket match. Hoardings are 

 erected on the street frontage of each office, and 

 from time to time, bulletins are posted there 

 announcing the latest scores, with full par- 

 ticulars. All day long a crowd stands before 

 each hoarding, disclosing by shrewd comments 

 an intimate knowledge of the game. The same 

 knowledge is often displayed by the much 

 abused "barracker," who yells advice and 

 reproach at the players during the course of the 

 match. It is an evil custom certainly, and can- 

 not be excused even in experts who may usually 

 be found, not as spectators, but as active ex- 

 ponents of the game. 



It is in this particular that an Australian cricket 

 crowd differs most essentially from a similar 

 gathering in England. The regular spectator 

 can hardly be said to exist, for these large crowds 

 are reserved for very special occasions. An ordi- 

 nary club cricket match does not attract more than 

 a few score of watchers, while every vacant piece 

 of land proves that the Australian, as a rule, would 

 rather play cricket than look at it. Football, 



