PLUNKET SHIELD.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLVII, Issue 10810, 4 January 1927, Page 6

PLUNKET SHIELD.

CANTERBURY v. WELLINGTON. HOME DEFICIENCY OF 645 RUNS. (Per Press Association). CHIUSTCHURCH, This Day. The Plunket Shield match between Canterbury and Wellington was continued at' Lancaster Park yesterday. The weather was fine and the wicket in <>ood order. There was a good attendance of spectators, especial 1 -- in the afternoon. - It was a disastrous day tor Canterbury, who, in reply to Wellington's big t;;tal of 483, scored only 107 in their first innings. Instead of making Canterbury follow on, Wellington decided to bat again, and at stumps they had scored 264 for the loss of eight wickets. Alreadj Canterbury are faced with a deficiency of 645 runs. W. R. Patrick and 31. L. Page were the onlv Canterbury batsmen who plaved the Wellington bowling at all confidently. Patrick was top scorer with 32. M. Henderson, Wellingtons fast left-hand bowler, had played havoc among the earlier batsmen, but Patrick showed how his deliveries should he dealt with, and in one over he scored 16 off' Henderson, including three square cuts to the boundary. D. J Mcßeath and Patrick were in .for the last wicket, and Patrick was run out in an attempt to get the bowling. Page again batted well for a total of 30° C. Oliver made 16, and G. R. Gregory 10. None of the other Canterbury batsmen reached double figures. Henderson took four wickets for 29 runs, W. S. Brice three for 19, and H. M. McGirr two for 31. McGirr took the first two wickets, clean bowling F. Woods and C. G. Crawford. R. de R. Worker was top scorer in the visitors' second innings. He made 70, but he was lucky to reach that total, as he gave several chances, one or two of them quite easy. He scored slowly, especially at the start of his innings, and on the whole his display of batting was not impressive. "A. M. Rollings, the Wellington colt, was 45 not out when stumps were drawn. He opened scratchily, and appeared nervous. He would have been out when he had scored a couple if Crawford had not dropped an easy catch off Cunningham. Onr-e he got set Hollings batted much more impressively, and ho brought off several nice scoring, shots. i K. C. James played another sound innings for 44, F. T. Badcock had a short but lively knock for 29, and J. S. Hiddleston made 25 by good battins. Canterbury's fielding was below standard, and the dropping of catches became rather monotonous. But for these missed chances Wellington's second innings score would probably have been a good deal less. R. Read, ' W. Cunningham and Mcßeath all bowled steadily for Canterbury, but support in the field was lacking too frequently. The match will be resumed to-day. WELLINGTON. First innings ... -. 48S Second Innings. ; J. S. HiddlesTon, c Page, b Cunningham ... ... ... 25 ; B. J. Kortlang, b Cunningham ... 9 H. M. Lambert, b Cunningham ... 0 C. S. Dempster, lbw, b Read ... 13 H. M. McGirr, b Read 6 R. de R. Worker, lbw, b Mcßeath 70 K. C. James, c Oliver, b Mcßeath 44 [ A. M. Hillings, not out 45 F. T. Badcock, c Boon, b Read ... 29 W. S. Brice, not out ... ... 7 Extras ... 16

Total (for eight wickets) 264 CANTERBURY. First Innings. F. Woods, b McGirr 5 C. G. Crawford, b McGirr ... 1 G. R. Gregory, c James, I) Henderson ... 10 M. L. Page, c Hiddleston, b Henderson 30 M. Boon, b Henderson 0 C. Oliver, c Hollings, b Brice ... 16 D. Sandman, b Brice 2 R. Read, b Brice 2 W. Cunningham, e James, b Henderson 0 W. R, Patrick, run out 32 D. J. Mcßeath, not out 3 Extras 6 Total 107 Bowling Analysis.—H. M. McGirr took two wickets for 31 runs, F. T. Badcock none for 22, M. Henderson four for 29, and W. S. Brice three for 19.

AUCKLAND v. OTAGO. A FREE SCORING DAY. DUNEDTN, January 3. The Plunket Shield match between Otago and Auckland was continued this morning in beautiful weather and on a perfect wicket. Otago's innings was continued by Shepherd and A. Allco. to the bowling of Matheson and Alcott. Alloo found the latter troublesome, but Shepherd, who was showing glimpses of his best form, played fairly confidently. Clouting Alcott" to the fence, lie received a gift of four from the throw-in by Dacre. At 171, Bowley took up the bowling in place of Alcott, who relieved Matheson. three of the latter's four overs being maidens. Shepherd drove Bowley straight to the fence, and square-cut the next for a quartette, and after both had added single Shepherd again drove the Englishman to the pickets. Fifteen came off this over, which was the most expensive of the game so far. Alloo brought the second century up after 190 minutes' play. Shepherd was then 'aught by Gillespie, his 4G taking 67 minutes. 202-5-46. Scores:— AUCKLAND. First Innings ... ... * ... 155 Second Innings. Bowley, c sub., b Torrance ... 85 Mills, run out 34 Cooper, not out 55 Gillespie, not out 19 Extras 19 Total (for two wickets) ... 212 OTAGO. First Innings. I Blunt, e Dacre, b Bowley ... 60

Knight, c Daero, b Cooper ... 58 Cherry, lbw,' b Matheson. - ... 22 Dickinson, lbw, b Bowley ... 6 Shepherd, c Gillespie, b Bowley ... 46 A. W. Alloo, b Alcott 48 BLnmires, run out 62 ii. C. Alloo, lbw, b Matheson ... 0 Zimmerman, c Bowley, b Matheson 2 Torrance, b Bowley ... ... 19 Green, not out ... ... ... 9 Extras ' ... 10 Total ... ... ... 336 Bowling.—Matheson three for 82, Bowley four for 110, Alcott one for 49, Cooper one for 30, Player none for 47, Dacre none for 14.