FOUR DOWN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 59, 11 March 1930, Page 8

FOUR DOWN.

' WELLINGTON'S INNINGS. SCORING STEADILY. TWO WICKETS GO CHEAPLY. e LOWRY AND McLEOD IN. ii (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) i( WELLINGTON, this day. e In more ways than one,. Wellington's , prospects for the final day of the Plunks ket Shield matfcli were not very promiss ing. Having fourth strike on the wicket, ? they were faced with the tasTc of making 428 runs to reach Auckland's grand f total, and they had eight wickets in r hand. This '.vas a big hurdle, but there " was also the alternative of playing out t time —another six hours. This, too, was 1 a big proposition. The weather, though - fine, was keen, with a fairly strong Y southerly wind. There had been some rain overnight, 2 but it had had little effect upon the ' wicket. In the early play this morning, ' however, it was noticeel that some of the deliveries rose sharply, and this state 5 of affairs made Wellington's problem greater, and improved Auckland's prospects of dismissing Wellington before the end of the day. This must be done 8 if Auckland is to retain possession of the Plunket Shield. Wellington were f determined to battle hard in their effort to deprive Auckland of an outright win, D but after half an hour's play to-day, . two more wickets had been lost. At stumps yesterday, Wellington had made 76 runs with the loss of two wickets. Play was resumed at 11.5 a.m. Holl lings (32) taking strike to Allcott, who bowled with the wind from the southern ii end. His first delivery was cut for a single, after which Foley saw out the .. remainder of the over. Wensley was the other bowler, and Hollings playel him confidently without scoring._ No runs y went against the bowler in Allcott's 5 next over, but a leg bye and four byes e went to the Wellington account. b Foley survived an appeal for lbw in Wensley's next over, from which he a netted two runs. For a defensive stroke e by Hollings off Allcott, the batsmen ran a single,, and in doing so took a big risk. Another of Allcott's deliveries went right through to the boundary without being touched, and a further addition to the score was a three by Foley, from a stroke through the slips, off Wensley. Slow for the Spectators. Although the batsmen were on the defensive?runs were coming steadily, and Foley reached 20 with a single to the on. Proceedings were slow, out the ' local players were playing the game for . their side. Hollings' resolute stand came to an l end when he was beaten by a ball from J Allcott. He had kept his end up for ! nearly two hours, in which he made 34 ii runs. 94 —3 —34. I Lowry was next, and he soon made a t couple of singles, while Foley also added to the score. Foley was then tempted a by Wensley, and in hitting out was d caught by Gillespie _at cover. Foley s s innings had lasted 5o minutes. 98-4-Bowling Treated Cautiously. s The next batsman was McLeod, and g both he and Lowry found that matters l- were none too good, with balls rising h sharply from the pitch. A singles by n Lowry and four more byes carried Wel'f Union's score beyond the century mark, d The innings had then been in progress o 145 minutes. The bowlers were getting plenty of work on the ball and they l > were treated very cautiously. Runs were scored at intervals, Lowry making one II stroke for two and McLeod also getting a two as well as two singles. Lowry then forced a ball from Allcott through point to the fence, and McLeod followed *' up with a big hit off Wensley, the ball r " travelling to the fence. Lowry ran to 10 double figures in turning a ball from the left-hander, Allcott, to leg for two. He ie later drove a ball from Wensley hard to .. the pickets. With the score at 125 a bowling J change was made, Allcott giving way n to Anthony. Allcott had had 23 overs, 10 of which were maidens, and he had k taken one wicket for 21 runs. Extras Mounting Up. 0 From the new bowler McLeoel obtained a single, the result of a hit to leg. He reached double figures just afterwards with a single off the Auckland coach. Extras were mounting up, and two more brought the total to 30. Wellington's score at this stage was 129. g Scoring Rate Increased. x Without taking risks the batsmen 11 made steady progress, and occasionally y dealt heavily with a delivery. McLeod l " hit one ball from Anthony hard to leg for "four, anel Lowry drove one from s Wensley through mid off to the s boundary, and later got another away ® to leg for three.- These and other runs made the total 144, at which Wensley e was relieved by Allcott. The coach had e taken one wicket for 32 runs in 27 overs, , 14 of which were maidens. Allcott's first over against the wind e was scoreless, and after it Matheson was d brought on to bowl with the wind. Mce Leod met the change by scoring a single d to cover point, Lowry forced the next y ball hard to the fence, and followed up, i- with a single to leg, making WTellingt ton's total 150 for 195 minutes' batting, h Each batsman scored another single if from Matheson's first over of the day, and there was a smartly run single in Allcott's next over before four more d byes went to account, e i n Matheson's next over there was an l 1 appeal for a catch behind the wickets d when Lowry made a stroke, but no '* answer was necessary, as the wicketkeeper dropped the ball. A beautiful r cover drive by Lowry sent the ball from c > Allcott speeding through cover to the [• boundary, and with another stroke to L " cover the Wellington captain reached 5 -' 40. McLeod turned a ball neatly to leg, £ and passed 20. 1, Four for 184 at Lunch. The partnership was doing well, and it had produced 75 .runs when Lowry made a fine carpet drive to the boundary. The pair had been putting on runs at the rate of one per minute. A shot to fine leg by Lowry off Matheson yielded two runs, and McLeod collected four with a hit to leg off the Auckland captain. There were other strokes for singles, and in one case McLeod had to k move speedily to get to his crease, s The last "over before the luncheon n adjournment was taken by McCoy, who replaced Matheson (one for 40 in foure teen overs). Lowry scored a single from the last ball of the over, making the e total 184 for four wickets (Lowry 49, McLeod 26).

At 2.30 p.m. the score was 204 for four wickets. Scores: — AUCKLAND. First innings •_ " Second innings (for four wickets) 304 Aggregate 787 WELLINGTON. First Innings 253 Second Innings. Ross, b Matheson ® Cameron, b Anthony 1° Ho Hinge, b Allcott 34 Foley, c Gillespie, b Wensley .... 21 Lowry, not out 49 McLeod, not out Extras 36 . Total for four wickets 184