CENTURY TO ROBERTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 2, 3 January 1931, Page 9

CENTURY TO ROBERTS.

MATCH AGAINST WELLINGTON

CANTERBURY'S FIGHTING CHANCE (By Telegraph.—special to "Star.") CHRISTCHURCH, Friday. The Plunket Shield match between Wellington and Canterbury at Lancaster Park has reached a very interesting stage. After Canterbury had made only 214 in the first innings, and the visitors had made 194 for three wickets, the chances of the home side looked slim. Wellington were all out for 351 .at dinner time to-day and the Canterbury men at the stumps had 236 on tlio board for'the loss of five wickets. The first innings deficit was 137, so Canterbury are in reality only 98 runs "to the good.", Though the Canterbury attack had taken a new lease of life, this morning McGirr . and Lowry carried' on their innings in a confident manner. Both men were at the top of their form and the display they gave was good to •watch. McGirr, especially, was forceful, scoring with clean drives and beauti-fully-timed cuts. He was accorded a great ovation wh6n his hundred went up. The partnership pat o'n 187 for the fourth "wicket, a fine performance. Lowry was scarcely less punishing than McGirr. He placed his shots well and brought off fine cuts and glides, as well as driving and pulling poAver- ' fully. He was unlucky to- fall leg before, always an unsatisfactory way of goi'ng out, before he reached his century. His contribution was 91. Both men tinade. their runs- in'good time. After McGirr and Lowry went the bowlers took charge and had the upper hand all the time. Merritt was bowling in much better style than against keeping a good length and having the batsmen guessing \ most of the time. He ran out with three wickets for 93 runs, having sent down 30.1 overs, a good performance for a slow bowler. Lester was a bowler to strike form. He had McGirr caught and bowled and cleah bowled Lama son, a mail Tvbo might have niade a lot of r&'\ ' TafeM stea*i* fes 22

overs, getting two wickets for 41 runs. Cromb secured two for 61. Cunningham was the most costly, having one wicket for 80. J. Newman, going in the second t6 last man, made a breezy 22, getting his first twenty in five hits, one of which was a fine six off Merritt. Crook and McLeod both shaped well. Canterbury's Second Innings. With a deficit of 137, it looked bad for Canterbury when Kerr, perhaps the best batsman >m. the team, was cl6an bowled without scoring. Hamilton and Roberts set out, to wear down the bowling and the runs iaraj slowly but steadily. Neither'man was steady at the start, and both had narroVv escapes.' Hamilton committed a bad error of judgment when he called for a run from a hard drive, straight to McLeod, and' threw his wicket away. It was the partnership between Talbot and Roberts which put a different aspect on the game, giving Canterbury a fighting. chance.'. The pair added 147 before Roberts was caught behind the wickets. There was some luck , for Canterbury, but the men batted well and deserved their runs. Once set Roberts batted in fine style, his driving being good to • look at. He punished McLeod, the slow bowler, unmercifully, getting four fours and a two in suc<|3ssion at one stage. His 116 earned him rounds of applause. Talbot was restrained for his 61, letting Roberts do most of-the scoring, but it was a slog that brought about his downfall. He missed, and was clean bowled by Massey. Page was going well at stumps, -with 21 to his credit. Jacobs had no lUck in this match, making his second duck—clean bowled by Crook. Cromb was associated with Page at the end. Canterbury will need a lot more runs if they are to have a -chance of a win, but there is plenty of time, and Lester and Merritt have yet to go in as well as Dorreen and Cunningham. There is an uphill chance, with Wellington batting on a four innings wicket. The visitors kept up an accurate attack all through a very hot afternoon, Lowry handling the bowlers with all his usual skill. Blundell and Massey bore the brunt of the attack, while Crook and the Newmans bore their share also. The fielding was bright in patches, but some of the ground work was ragged, and there were some missed catches. Denipster was fielding well in contrast to his work on the first day. It was noteworthy that the Canterbury' fielding was well up to standard, though Dorreen was missed from behind the wickets. Cromb took two fine catches in the slips, and Page, Kerr and Roberts' gained repeated applause for fast clean work. The province seems to have found a good fielding team at last. . Lowry, the Wellington skipper, came in for some undeserved and rather ill-natured barracking from the bank, but is perturbed him 'not at all. There was an excellent .attendance. - .