WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 2015 SPORTS ‘Mongrel mashie’ still top dog for hickory holdouts

EPSOM: Before titanium, before graphite, and was surprised to see collectors play- before composites and before steel, golf ing with their clubs. clubs had shafts of wood, ideally hickory. Indeed, collectors started hickory-golf That era ended 80 years ago for most events to do something with their clubs golfers. besides look at them. Members of But it lives on today among a coterie of America’s Golf Collectors Society, founded enthusiasts who revel in their anachro- in 1970, staged “hickory hacker” tourna- nism, spurning modern clubs that promise ments before founding the Society of maximum “moment of inertia,” minimum Hickory Golfers in 2000. It has 800 mem- “cross-sectional deformation,” and other bers and a twice-yearly magazine, the Wee attributes from that twilight zone Nip. between technology and marketing. The British Golf Collectors Society, “Some people think steel shafts will founded in 1987, is about the same size. It catch on, but I don’t want to rush into it,” has a formula for converting golfers’ regu- says Philip Truett, president of the British lar scoring handicaps (the number of Golf Collectors Society. Many golfers felt strokes allowed above par) to hickory likewise a ago, when steel shafts handicaps. Golfers with regular handicaps first appeared, painted brown to look like between nine and 14, for example, get an wood. extra five strokes when playing with hick- But by the mid-1930s, steel had van- ory clubs-for good reason. quished wood, except among hardcore While modern golf clubs have extra- holdouts. Truett only plays with hickory- large sweet spots that propel a ball further shaft clubs. That is extreme, even among and minimize the errant ball-flight from hickory golfers. Most have modern clubs mishits, hickory clubs have smaller heads with steel or graphite shafts for regular and are not forgiving. The ball does not rounds. They reserve their wooden shafts go as far and slightly off-centre hits fly far for special events. afield. Among them: the annual Scottish “In hickory golf you remember your Hickory Championship, the Transylvanian good shots,” says Tony Hunt from Hickory Open in Romania, the Open de Sevenoaks, England, winner of the English France Hickory and a biennial America v Seniors Hickory Championship two years Europe event known, reverently, as the ago. Hickory Grail. The next one is in October at “In modern golf you remember your LONDON: England’s player bowls during a nets session at Lord’s cricket ground. England and New Zealand will play a two Baltusrol Golf Club in New Jersey, which bad shots.” And while modern clubs emit a Test series. —AP has hosted several professional major metallic ‘ping’ sound when striking a golf tournaments (played with modern clubs). ball, he adds, hickory clubs resonate with Just what inspires devotion to yester- a satisfying ‘woosh’. Talking stops as England tech equipment is not obvious. Typical Hunt discovered hickory golf six years golfers shell out hundreds of dollars for ago, when he spotted old clubs at a furni- cavity-backed, face-balanced, nano-alloy ture auction, bought them and tried them. carbon fibre creations, hoping for longer Later, the retiree turned his hickory hobby brace for N Zealand Test and straighter shots. Annual golf-equip- into a part-time business. ment sales total about $12.5 billion world- Today he owns more than 60 sets of wide, industry studies show. hickory clubs, which he restored himself. LONDON: With a new cricket director, coach task was to reveal that would Anderson and Stuart Broad should continue But to wood-shaft enthusiasts, it is His business, South of England Hickory and chairman, England return to the field of not be recalled, despite the mercurial right-han- their potent new-ball in home con- more satisfying to hit a hickory “mongrel Golf, hires out the sets for “vintage golf” play in the first test against New Zealand tomor- der’s career-best innings of 355 for ditions. mashie” than its modern equivalent, a five outings at courses celebrating special row following an extraordinary period of Surrey. Strauss, trying desperately to draw a line Cook made his first international century for iron. events, such as centennial anniversaries. upheaval. under the Pietersen issue which has dogged nearly two years in West Indies and is “It brought back the memory of why I Players don period dress, such as plus- leads his team into a huge English cricket since he was axed 15 months improving as a wicketkeeper and a potentially played the game to begin with,” explains fours and argyle socks. Hunt staged 20 summer of cricket which will be defined by the ago, spoke of a complete breakdown of trust. destructive number seven. former American professional Mark events last year, and did one recently at Ashes, but first up they must deal with a vibrant An angry Pietersen responded by accusing New Zealand, however, have a superb attack Carnevale, now a radio golf analyst, who the Royal Automobile Club’s Old Course in and confident New Zealand side in a two-test the ECB of deceitful behaviour and the mud- with and , how England played his first hickory round last summer Epsom (where this writer was an eager, series. slinging will rumble on. England have called up would love to have a left-arm seamer of his abil- and hopes to play in October’s World though often hapless, participant). England should be warned not to take New Yorkshire’s Adam Lyth to open with Cook. ity to call on, probably their best ever new-ball Hickory Open at Carnoustie in Scotland. “I Some rare collectible hickory clubs cost Zealand lightly. The Kiwis are unbeaten in test , Michael Carberry, Sam partnership. With the destructive McCullum and could go out there and be an artist, so to more than $5,000. But most restored hick- series since losing in England two years ago and Robson and have failed to estab- Martin Guptill at the top of the order and Kane speak.” ories sell for $60 to $150. A set with five to reached their first World Cup final in March, lish themselves as Cook’s partner and now the Williamson, a cohesive presence at number seven clubs suitable for play can be had playing a brand of aggressive and innovative 27-year-old Lyth gets his chance. three, the touring side’s looks danger- HICKORY HACKER for $500 to $600 — not much more than a cricket that has become their hallmark under The compact left-hander has a first-class ous and solid. Neil Millar, a London university profes- new graphite-composite driver. “I carry Brendon McCullum’s captaincy. average of 43.2 and 15 centuries to his name, England must front up. They must be posi- sor and hickory enthusiast, added: “There’s just five clubs-a driver, a putter and three England, in stark contrast, are in disarray fol- and England will desperately hope he has the tive and brave. Defeat by New Zealand will only a tactile aspect, the feel of the ball on the irons,” says Truett, far less than a modern lowing a dismal World Cup campaign and a dis- right temperament to compliment his natural ramp up the pressure before a bullish Australia clubhead.” set’s 14 clubs. The temptation to splurge appointing 1-1 test series draw in West Indies. ability. Otherwise, the team has a familiar look. side head supremely confident of winning Millar “stumbled into” hickory golf five on new equipment every year, he adds, is New cricket director sacked , and are an an away Ashes series for the first time since years ago at a club-collectors meeting, “out of the equation”.—Reuters coach 10 days ago and his next established middle-order while James 2001.—Reuters Langer rules out Zimbabwe brings cricket jobs to stay in WA back to SYDNEY: Former Australia test batsman Current Australia coach Darren ‘Boof’ LAHORE: The Zimbabwe cricket team landed ruled himself out of the run- Lehmann, who is contracted until the end in Pakistan in the early hours of yesterday, ning for the England and coaching of June 2017, earlier this year nominated becoming the first Test-playing nation to visit jobs by signing a two-year contract exten- his former test team mate as his likely suc- the militancy-wracked South Asian country sion with Western Australia yesterday. cessor. in six years, Lahore airport officials said. Langer had been linked with both the job “One day I’d like to coach Australia. That Zimbabwe are set to play two T20s and three of replacing , whose con- could be in 10 years’ time, it could be ODIs in a mini-series under high security tract with India expired at the end of the whenever,” Langer told reporters in Perth. World Cup in March, and the position left “I had a really good talk to Boof last involving 6,000 police and constant surveil- vacant after England sacked Peter Moores week, and he talked about his plan. “But lance by commandos and helicopters. two weeks ago. you can’t predict the future. You can’t pre- The tour is a first by a full ICC member The 44-year-old said he had been called dict how someone’s going to be in a year’s since visited in 2009, when their twice by England’s new director of cricket time. “I know this business. WA could lose team bus was attacked by RPG and machine- Andrew Strauss over the last week but ulti- the first few games next year and I’ll be a gun wielding militants, with eight people-six mately had let his “gut” and “heart” rule his rubbish coach and people will never talk police and two civilians-killed and seven head. about me in international cricket again.” players wounded. “I am flattered to be associated with His achievements with Western Australia Forced to host home games in neutral potential international coaching opportu- are all the more notable for the fact that he venues like the , the nities but the timing isn’t right for my fami- had to turn around the culture of a team Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) estimates it has ly,” he added. which had attracted more headlines for lost $120 million in TV rights and extra over- “Having spent nearly 20 years on the their activities off the pitch than their heads. road with the Australian team as a player exploits on it. Even hosting Zimbabwe will cost PCB and then coach, I respect what an enor- “Justin came into his position at a time more than $1 million, half of which is for the mous commitment it is to be away from of great challenges for the WACA,” Western visitors’ fees and expenses. Not much of the your family for almost 12 months of the Australia Cricket Association (WACA) chief outlay will be recouped by sponsorships and year.” Langer was appointed Western executive Christina Matthews said. gate proceeds. Australia coach in 2012 and has guided “His mantra of ‘character over cover- An incident-free series is seen as crucial to them to the last two Sheffield Shield finals, drives’ and his devotion to producing great Pakistan’s hopes of ending its sporting isola- this year’s domestic state one-day title and, people, not just great cricketers, has turned tion. But risks remain high and the massacre as the , the last two Big our men’s programme into a model for of 45 minority Shiites in an attack on a bus in Bash titles. Australian cricket.” —Reuters Karachi last week nearly prompted Zimbabwe to pull out at the last minute. LAHORE: Zimbabwe cricket coach (in red cap), supervises his team’s practice ses- While the March 2009 attack on the Sri sion at the Gaddafi Stadium. —AP Lankans forced the long hiatus, it wasn’t the first time a cricket team had been caught up in Pakistan’s militant violence. In 2002, 14 people died in a suicide blast outside a Karachi hotel as New Zealand and ICC set to dispense with Pakistan prepared to leave for the second Test, prompting the tour to be abandoned. batting powerplay in ODI The PCB now says it has “foolproof” securi- ty involving thousands of police to protect DUBAI: The International Cricket Council (ICC) looks some of the attacking captaincy displayed during Zimbabwe as they shuttle between their five- set to make a string of changes to the rules of the 50- the World Cup, and believes these changes will allow star hotel and Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium. overs game to redress the balance between bat and fielding captains greater freedom to both attack and The area around the venue will be cor- ball in favor of the fielding team. defend when required.” Batsmen like ’s doned off, with various security checkpoints After a World Cup of record scores by individuals AB de Villiers and Australia’s Glenn Maxwell lit up the for fans, and paramilitaries will watch the and teams earlier this year, the ICC’s Cricket World Cup with an incredible rate of scoring, particu- area around the clock with constant surveil- Committee has recommended the batting power- larly in the last few overs of their innings. The batting lance from rooftops and helicopters. The play be removed and two other tweaks to rules powerplay, which allowed the fielding team to have players will not be allowed to leave their which currently restrict the fielding team. only three players outside the 27-metre circle for five hotel without security and their movements Under the recommendations, fielding teams overs, only contributed to the inflated scoring. will be restricted within the stadium. would no longer have an obligation to have two sta- The statement said the ICC would not impose a “It is our first step towards the goal of tionary fielders in catching positions in the first 10 limit on the size of bats but would reiterate that reviving international cricket and we will overs of an innings. The committee, chaired by for- boundaries must be set at the maximum size at leave nothing to chance to make this tour mer India , also recommended international venues. Among other recommenda- safe and successful,” PCB chairman Shaharyar the fielding captain be able to place five fielders out- tions were that all no-balls in be Khan told AFP. side the 27-metre circle rather than the existing four followed by a free hit for the batsman, rather than, as for the last 10 overs of the innings. now, just for no-balls where the bowler has over- For players like Umar Akmal, Azhar Ali and “The committee (acknowledged) the attractive stepped the mark. The committee also urged match Asad Shafiq-all of whom have played more and attacking brand of cricket that was played dur- referees to consider suspensions rather than fines for than 50 internationals-it will be their first ing the tournament,” said an ICC statement. bowlers who repeatedly abused dismissed batsmen chance to represent Pakistan at home. “It also felt that there were times towards the end with a “send off,” or for physical contact between Tickets are not yet sold out, given the uncer- of an ODI innings that bowlers and fielding captains opposing players. The committee’s recommenda- tainty surrounding whether the tour would appeared to have limited defensive options available tions will be considered by the ICC board during its go ahead, but officials are reporting a surge to them. “The committee was very encouraged by annual conference in Barbados in June.—Reuters Justin Langer celebrates in this file photo. in demand. —AFP