Australia Tours New Zealand, Seeking Revenge

After losing their most recent test against New Zealand in Sydney in 1962, Australia landed a two-man team in New Zealand on 30 May with all guns blazing and thirsting for revenge. Team captain Michael Wilcox (New South Wales), a “veteran” of two previous test series against NZ though still aged only 20, was accompanied by a 19-year-old flamboyant, unorthodox South Australian talent named Murray Thomson, who had burst on the scene in 1960 by winning the Australian junior singles at age 15. Wilcox had been the team’s kingpin in 1962, winning both his singles in the 2-3 loss to New Zealand’s Murray Dunn and Alan Tomlinson. Reigning Australian Champion Victor Hirsch had been his team-mate. Thomson, notwithstanding his age, had the experience of two World Championships behind him. Wilcox had been to three.

This year’s tour lasted three weeks with test matches played in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland. All the other contests, apart from those against Otago, Franklin and North Shore, were played in provincial centres. No contests were played against Auckland, Canterbury, Wellington or Hutt Valley. This was intended as a means of developing the sport in the smaller centres but may have been ill-considered as the contests, predictably, were exceedingly one-sided. Nonetheless local interest was generated by having the touring players visit schools, give radio interviews and appear in public. And their exhibition matches were absolute blinders.

The first test was played only three days into the tour. Dunn and Tomlinson were again selected, ahead of the other leading contenders Bryan Foster and Garry Frew. Former Australian resident (and champion) Geoff Jennings, now living in New Zealand, was unavailable for the first two tests. NZ supporters flocked to Christchurch in anticipation of a close, exciting contest but the Australians opened up a 3-0 unbeatable lead by winning the first two singles 21-18 in the fourth game and the doubles (a disappointing error-ridden match) 21-19 in the fourth. With the result now decided, the players relaxed and produced some of their best table tennis. Tomlinson’s 5-game win over Thomson was a memorable spectacle, and Dunn also won his reverse singles - scoring his first ever win over Wilcox.

The second test in Wellington was won by Australia 4-1, with the visitors in fine form and the New Zealanders (Dunn and Tomlinson again) never far behind. But Wilcox’s chop was serving him well, Thomson was displaying super-fast reflexes and both players’ all round games and speed around the table were proving superior to New Zealand’s. Dunn beat Thomson for New Zealand’s only win and it was declared by all to be the match of the night: long, fast rallies with Dunn’s famous backhand finally clicking into place and Thomson’s acrobatic defence often keeping up with it.

In what could be seen as a panic move, the NZ selectors replaced Alan Tomlinson with Bryan Foster for the final test. Foster played to his full potential but by now the Australians were fully settled and the test was lost 0-5. Dunn’s form was below that of the first two tests and it was later revealed he was recovering from influenza. Nonetheless the NZ scores were respectable: of the fifteen games lost, five were by only a two-point margin.

Murray Dunn expressed the opinion after the tour that New Zealand would have been more competitive had our players been subjected to an intense period of top level match play prior to the selections for the test series, such as a top-ten round-robin. “We had known for months that the Australians were coming,” he said. “But nothing was organized by the NZ Association.”

Throughout the tour Wilcox, as the reigning Australian champion, was the more solid of the two. Formerly a hard-bat chopper, he changed to reverse-pimple sponge and mastered the loop drive with devastating effect. Thomson was more spectacular, particularly in defence, and at his sparkling best rose to even greater heights than his team-mate. He played the role of the funny man in the exhibition matches where retrieving drop-shots by jumping onto the table was just one example of his antics. His serve was also a talking point, with seemingly double-jointed fingers bending in all directions. Both players demonstrated remarkable control and use of spin.

The tourists travelled more than 2,000 miles and played provincial teams in 13 towns and cities. Included in the itinerary was a Thames Valley/Australia match played in Te Aroha - the first international table tennis event ever held in the town. And it should also be noted that the Hamilton contest, declared by Michael Wilcox to be one of the toughest outside the tests, featured a match between Murray Thomson and Robin Radford in which Mr Radford scored a very respectable 12, 9 and 18 points. Still actively involved in Table Tennis 46 years later in 2010, Robin occupies the exalted position of publisher of this 75th Jubilee Chronicle.

The tour was valuable in terms of public relations, provided further international experience for our top male players, and served as a general wake-up call regarding the future of table tennis in New Zealand. (Refer next article)

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Where Are New Zealand’s 19 and 20 Year-Old International Stars?

A lot of soul-searching went on after the visiting Australian team left New Zealand on 21 June. The fact that NZ was beaten 3-0 in the test series was not the main issue. Our players were clearly out-classed, but they were not disgraced. The alarming factor was the age difference. The 19 and 20 year old Australians had more international experience between them than the combined experience of Alan Tomlinson (age 30) and Murray Dunn (age 28), and Tomlinson and Dunn were far superior as players compared to any New Zealander in the 19-20 age-range.

It was thought that if Australia can produce players as good as Michael Wilcox and Murray Thomson at such a young age, New Zealand should be able to do the same. A long hard look was taken at the groundwork that produced those two players and, in summary, it amounted to early talent identification, intensive coaching for sustained periods, long hours of training daily and early exposure to international competition.

Murray Dunn believed the first step was to either send our best juniors overseas for coaching or to bring an Asian coach to New Zealand for several months. A very small number should be given intensive training for spells of four to six weeks. “If we could get even one player of world standing from such efforts it would be worthwhile,” he said. He believed weekend training camps for 12 juniors once a year were old-fashioned and a waste of time.

A newspaper article pulled no punches with the bold headline: “NZ Table Tennis Must Act: Scrap Ideas and Start to Build For Future”. It concluded with a stark reality: “Our juniors don’t appeal as future Dunns and Tomlinsons, let alone Wilcoxes and Thomsons”.

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Section / Post-Section Format for NZ Teams Championships Comes to an End

The Canterbury-hosted New Zealand Championships were the final resting place for Inter-Association Teams contests played in equally-balanced sections. The section winners have been progressing to a post-section knock-out draw culminating in a grand final. 6-6 draws were resolved by a count-back of games and, if necessary, points.

An Annual Meeting decision replaced this system with A, B and C Grades from next year with the grading of each team determined initially by the Seeding Committee and thereafter by promotion/relegation contests.

For the record, the final winners under the outgoing system were (men) Wellington, and (women) Canterbury.

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NZ Table Tennis Stars On Show at Rotorua’s New Multi-Sport Stadium

A selection of New Zealand’s best players (Garry Frew, Alan Tomlinson, Neti Traill [nee Davis], and Norma Attwood) were invited to play exhibition matches as part of a Sports Week celebrating the opening of Rotorua’s “Sportsdrome”.

The crowd of 900 greeted the spectacular demonstration with enthusiasm.

The stadium has 16,500 sq ft of floor space and is centrally heated by a thermal bore.

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Coaching Schools Extended For South Islanders

In addition to the regular National Coaching Schools held in Franklin (for girls) and Wellington (for boys), a special South Island school was held in Timaru for 6 boys and 6 girls who missed selection for the national schools. This policy will be exercised regularly whenever there is an Island imbalance of numbers selected for the national schools. This year only 6 of the 24 national selections were South Island players.

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North Island Champs Welcomed Back to New Plymouth

A well-organised and well-attended North Island Championships was hosted by the North Taranaki Association on 10-11 July. It was their first national tournament since 1953 when they conducted that year’s North Island event using only three tables. This year the entry numbers were triple that of 1953, and 14 tables were needed.

Alan Tomlinson and Norma Attwood won the singles, in both cases for the second year in a row.

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World Endurance Records Shattered in Three Ping-Pongathons

Two Wanganui players, Bernard Lane and Malcolm Spencer, broke the world marathon table tennis record by playing for 35 hours 20 minutes. And that was just for starters. Along came Alan Mair and Cliff Newton of Wellington who extended the record to 37 hours 21 minutes. Finally (for this year anyway) Warren Rogers of Kaitaia played for 48 hours, against a string of different opponents.

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