p, noted that 11- and 12-year-old kids can vary drastically in size. "The more the players at a younger age can work on their skills, beside

This interview was conducted in 2012I played my first game for North Melbourne when I was 16 and my last when I was 46.I only broke a finger once, the little finger on my right hand. I had that when I was picked for my first Test. I went to see my doctor on the way to the MCG and said can you shove a needle in it. I played my first two Test matches with those two fingers taped together.Any time I wasnt playing cricket, I worked for APM, Australian Paper Manufacturers. I started there when I was 16 and eventually I got to the stage when I had toured once everywhere and the thought of missing out on the accountancy future didnt appeal to me greatly.I was Lakers tenth wicket at Manchester. The photo that somebody sent me, Laker and the keeper and everybody is up in the air appealing and Im already walking off the ground! I knew I was plumb.I got to know Bradman quite well. He used to always go to the cricket at the Adelaide Oval and sit in the same chair. He used to invite me home for dinner on Saturday night. I think it was probably to keep his ear and eye on Australian Paper Manufacturers shares! He was always easy to get on with. He knew as much about APM as I did, and I was the head office accountant. He was just that sort of bloke. He would read something and it was there forever.My brother Dick played football for North Melbourne. He got five Brownlow Medal votes. I was on North Melbourne Football Clubs list in the mid-1940s but it was at the time that I knew I was going somewhere in cricket.I made a hundred against New Zealand. It was called a Test over there but I dont think it was recorded as a Test here.Bill Lawry was probably the best captain I saw. Every time I saw him captain a side he did something good and smart. I reckon Ian Chappell was about a ten times better captain than Greg.We got dudded by the curator [at Old Trafford in 1956]. We didnt hold it against Laker. He didnt have anything to do with the pitch. He just bowled extra well on a pitch that was perfect for him. Tony Lock didnt bowl well enough.I played baseball for Victoria too. I played against the United States Navy. All these Yank sailors came out and we played them at Junction Oval. One of the Yanks belted our pitcher the length of the St Kilda Oval. He could have crawled around his hands and knees and got a home run, instead of which he ran like mad, jumped the last couple of yards in the air and landed on the home plate. He never moved again. He died on the spot.Healy was the best of the recent keepers. He could bat too.I went to New Zealand as vice-captain. The manager was an older bloke called Clyde Smith. He was president of the first club I played with in Tasmania. He nominated me as captain of vice on the trip to New Zealand, and until he died he was still calling me that.If I was looking for a batsman to bat for my life, Arthur Morris and Bill Lawry would be line ball.I happened to have been appointed manager of the 1977 tour, when the lid blew off World Series Cricket.The rules have changed a bit. The boundary line worries me a bit - some of them are 30 yards inside the fence. Where thats going to finish up nobody knows.I spent maybe six years running the bar at North Melbourne Cricket Club, as a non-drinker. The first beer I had in my life, I was 23. It was Dicks 21st birthday. Our father took his three sons into the city - got a leave pass from Mum, because he wasnt allowed to drink at home - and bought us dinner, with beer, at some pub or other, and then he took us to the Tivoli, which had some pretty dicey girls dancing.I always had something to fall back on. The board of APM had issued an instruction that if Maddocks was playing cricket, he was to be paid half his salary as well. That happened all of my cricket life, I was paid half my salary by APM even though I wasnt there most of the time. We flew to the West Indies and came back by ship. We went to England by ship and stopped off in Sri Lanka, which was then called Ceylon. We played a match there, at Kandy. It took us a few hours drive to get there and back and how we didnt kill dozens of people, Ill never know. The road went through all these villages and theres kids all over the place, old people on walking sticks, and the bloody taxi drivers that took us went straight through the middle.I think the players that went with Packer would have been left out on a limb if it had gone on. I think the players who stuck with the board and the states would have won that fight in the long run because Packer would have got sick of paying all that money.Dick died when he was 40, from a heart attack. He was the unlucky one.We started a table-tennis club at North Melbourne and one of our opponents was Frank Sedgman. He was a kid, getting into tennis. We got to know him quite well through table tennis.Footwork is the most important thing for a wicketkeeper. If your feet are right, everything moves with it.Mum told a good story for years about her first day at a Test match. She was sitting up in the old Grey Smith Stand and some smart-arse in the crowd expressed the opinion that I would never hold my place because I drank too much. My mother was sitting there knowing that I hadnt had a drink! She said it was the hardest thing shed ever done not to turn around and say something.It all started with North Melbourne Football Club. In 1932 I was six years old. I was the middle one of three boys. Dad took the three of us to North Melbourne and signed us up as junior members. Ive been there ever since.Karl Alzner Canadiens Jersey .Y. -- Jayna Hefford scored the winning goal Friday as Canada survived a scare with a 4-3 win over Sweden at the Four Nations womens hockey tournament. Jeff Petry Canadiens Jersey . Bjorn, who had a 36-hole total of 8-under 134, made a testing six-foot putt to save par on the 16th and a birdie on the 17th before bogeying the final hole after a misjudged approach shot. American Kevin Streelman was in second place after shooting a 69. http://www.canadienssale.com/authentic-maurice-richard-canadiens-jersey/ . He was followed closely by David Clarkson, donning red, seconds later. Clarksons actions one night earlier, leaping off the bench in defence of Kessel during a pre-season game against the Buffalo Sabres, will cost him the first 10 games of the regular season. Jacques Plante Canadiens Jersey . Pettersen, winner of last years Evian Championships, had nine birdies and three bogeys, holding off a series of challengers led by Marion Ricordeau of France. The second-ranked Norwegian made her season debut after missing the LPGA Tours opening event last month in the Bahamas because of a shoulder injury. Guy Lafleur Canadiens Jersey . General manager Jarmo Kekalainen told Aaron Portzline of The Columbus Dispatch on Friday that he wants to see Gaboriks contributions go beyond the scoresheet before considering a long-term deal for the soon-to-be unrestricted free agent. CHARLOTTETOWN -- The game of hockey will soon change for peewee-level players across the country after a vote by Hockey Canada on Saturday that banned bodychecking. Hockey Canadas board of directors overwhelmingly voted to eliminate bodychecking for peewee players at its annual general meeting in Charlottetown on Saturday, with only the Saskatchewan Hockey Association voting against. The decision comes in the same month that both Hockey Alberta and Hockey Nova Scotia did away with bodychecking for its peewee players, who are usually 11 and 12 years old. Quebec had also previously banned it. Debate over when to allow players to start hitting has inflamed emotions on both sides of the argument for years. But research that came out of Alberta last year showed there was a three-fold increase in the risk of injuries for peewee players who check in Alberta, compared to those in Quebec where bodychecking is not allowed until bantam. Paul Carson, vice-president of hockey development for Hockey Canada, said safety was a key factor in the boards decision. He said reaction at the meeting was mixed, but most thought it was the right move. "While some would be reluctant because of their traditional beliefs of the game, they also understood that the safety and the area of skill development were critical issues to consider," said Carson on Saturday. Kelly McClintock, general manager of the Saskatchewan Hockey Association, maintains that bodychecking is a skill that should be taught to children as young and eight and nine. "Our membership has always been very strongly in favour of having bodychecking as early as possible," he said. "Its always been a pretty emotionall discussion.ddddddddddddquot; He said the association was disappointed, but not surprised that the motion passed. The changes will take effect in the upcoming 2013-14 hockey season, which begins in September. Hockey Canada said the board has agreed to develop a bodychecking standard for coaching, to be implemented in the 2014-15 season. But McClintock says thats putting "the cart before the horse." "For us it was probably a little bit more of a concern over the process, that it happened very quickly in the last three weeks to a month," said McClintock. "I think we have to look at the process that we follow when were going to do something like this." Halifax Mooseheads coach Dominique Ducharme, who is in Saskatoon for the MasterCard Memorial Cup, noted that 11- and 12-year-old kids can vary drastically in size. "The more the players at a younger age can work on their skills, beside wondering about getting body checked and body weight and height difference, I think maybe (in) the long run it might just help develop players with even better skills," he said. But Mooseheads forward Stefan Fournier said bodychecking teaches players an important aspect of the game at an younger age. "When youre a peewee hockey player the games not as fast. It teaches you to learn to keep your head up when youre skating around. That kind of stuff does limit head injuries," said Fournier, a day before hitting the ice at the Memorial Cup final against the Portland Winterhawks. "The games fast and if you have your head down for a split second you can get caught." By Aly Thomson in Halifax and Joshua Clipperton in Saskatoon ' ' '