DISMISSED CHEAPLY.

NZ Truth, 15 March 1924, Page 9

DISMISSED CHEAPLY.

New Zealand Fails To Get Going. After the rolling, the wicket was commencing to play easier, but that usual pair of successful opening batsmen, Baker and Hiddleston, failed to stay together any length, of time. The ■'latter made a good stroke to square leg off Hendry's first ball, but Ratcliffe was m the way and accepted a neat catch —a bad beginning. The; Rev. Blamires was next and after Baker had added a couple Charlie Macartney got a good one past the Dunedin-man and clean bowled him. Bert Kortlang filled the breach and. scored, a single off the last ball of the over. Both batsmen •found it very hard to make runs off the- splendid length kept by. the bowlers and. play., had. been: .in;>progress,- 25 ' minutes when !10 appeared : on v the board, and four of them were; byes' The bowlers must have been put wise to, Hiddleston's and Baker's weakness close m at short leg,.as Ratcliffe. caught Wiri there, making the second wicket to Hendry. Three good wickets for 11 was no£ very encouraging to the large crowd who had now gathered on the ground. McGirr joined the ex-Australian and both players settled down to business, and at the luncheon adjournment were not out with 14 arid 15. On starting again at 2 p.m. one run had only been added when ,Hendry clean bowled McGirr, who had shaped well during his short stay at the wickets. Worker, the successful Otago batsman, had a short stay, being clean bowled by Hendry, .who was keeping a splendid length" and Varying his pace, first ball. Smith came m and narrowly missed being caught out off Hendry. He made an uppish stroke* bet ween cover and midoff and both fieldsmen hesitated as to who would go for the catch, 'the result being the ball dropped between them. However, after Smith had made eight he hit out at Macartney and Ratcliffe took the catch at mid-on, making his third for. the innings. Dacre,. the hero of the first test, ma&e his appearance at the wickers* and was applauded for a nice drive to the boundary off Hendry. Kortlang was now scoring faster and by the aid of a pretty square leg hit to the boundary off Macartney brought his score up to 30. Dacre, on again facing Hendry, drove him high over the bowler's head tb the boundary, much to the delight of the crowd, which must have been m the vicinity of ten thousand. But just as everyone was expecting to see some brilliant batting the little Aucklcinder had a go at one on the qff from Hendry and, . touching It, was beautifully caught by Oldfield 'behind the wicket. James was next, but had , the bad luck to get a trimmer from Hendry first ball. He made room for Mat Henderson, who snicked the first ball just out of reach of the fieldsman, Hendry just missing the hat-trick, Kortlang, who had, been playing very quietly, lilt out at Macartney, driving him'for three:'-' On facing Hendry he endeavored to do the same, but sent the ball straight back to the bowJer, who made no mistake. Kortlang played a stubborn and useful, innings. McBeath, the last man, rattled up seven quickly, but soon fell a victim to; Hendry, being clean bowled and N.Z. was all out fon the meagre total of 89 runs. '•.-.■■. Ono. cannot account for the collapse of the N.Z. side. Certainly it was not the wicket, us' it was very much easier than When Punch, v O!dfield and Mailey were batting. It was .Impossible to • blame the wicket as no£ one batsman lost his wicket to a bumpy or shooting ball. Dacre appeared to be the only player to attack the bowling and outside a flash of brilliancy by McGirr and a most useful innings free from blemish by Kortlang, the batting of the home side was extremely disappointing. Macartney had his field placed admirably, and, the ground fielding and returning of the N.S.W. team was good, while Ratcliffe showed that apart from being an excellent wicket-keeper he is a very reliable field, securing three catches.