Cricket Ball
p. 13 · Read in the full issue
Throwing
Where Natives Excel.
IN the February issue, our Cook Is lands correspondent mentioned that at a recent sports meeting- at Raro tonga a native created a local record by throwing- a cricket ball 105 yards, and our correspondent wondered how this compared with competitions elsewhere.
Mr. B. G. Challis, of Salamaua, New Guinea, has kindly supplied us with interesting- information on the subject.
The world’s record throw is 140 yards 2 feet, and it was established by R.
Percival on Durham Sands racecourse, in 1884. An Australian aboriginal, King Billy, is credited with a throw of 140 yards.
Natives seem to specialise at this kind of sport, for Mr. Challis considers that one of the best cricket-ball throwers in the world to-day is a New Ireland schoolboy named Lauki, who attends the Government native school at Rabaul. This boy, at the annual sports meeting last December threw a ball 126 yards.
A similar event for Europeans at the Caledonian sports meeting at Rabaul on last New Year’s day was won with a throw of 104 yards.