Suburban Opening

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 256, 28 October 1944, Page 1 (Supplement)

Suburban Opening

TWO-DAY GAMES RESUMED

Magnificent Dilworth Recovery: Solid Seventy To Kerr: R.V. Establishes First Innings Lead

Considering the heavy nature of the rain during the night and early morning, the wickets at the Domain this afternoon were in good order for the opening of the City and Suburban season. Slow bowlers, however, did receive some assistance, especially in the early stages.All three sides that won the toss sent their opponents in to bat. The policy in each case proved successful. Manukau, the champion team, met with little resistance except from Kerr, who, in compiling the best tally of the day, showed that he has lost none of last season's form. Dilworth, thanks chiefly to a fine knock by T. N. Lynch, recently returned from overseas, staged a remarkable recovery against the weakened Brixton attack, and then proceeded to dismiss six of their opponents in the hour remaining for play. Railway was always shaded by the solid R.V. combination. Play in this series will conclude next Saturday. Stumps were drawn with the board reading: — Manukau three wickets for 44; R.V., 87 (Bracewell five for 31, Davidson four for 31); Brixton, six wickets for 39 (J. Hetherington four for 22).

Kerr in the Runs Charlie Kerr dominated the Green Lane innings to such an extent that he scored 70 of the first 95 runs, and was only dismissed by a brilliant catch at square leg. He gave a difficult chance early in the innings, but his stay of nearly two hours at the wicket was characterised by his usual display of welltimed shots all round the wicket. He hit six fours. A feature of the earlier play was a brilliant return from covers by Stace, which accounted for the fall of Butler's W An et eighth wicket stand of 21 by Wiberg and Bridger showed the latter up to advantage. Formerly a prominent player in the State Advances team, Bridger showed promise of developing into a useful batsman higher in the batting order.

New B.V. Bowlers Succeed The greatly strengthened R.V. attack obtained valuable assistance from the soft wicket, and disposed cf Railway for 59 runs just before the tea adjournment. The three new bowlers, all slow, secured eight of the ten wickets. Lan Cleal, a former A.C.A. player, and F. Bell, previously of Brixton, got three each, while Wood, late of M.T.P. and Brixton, got two wickets for 2. bor Railway, Bracewell contributed a valuable 22, which helped to stabilise the batting at a critical time. He provided R.V. with an early setback, too, by having Goldsworthy neatly caught in the slips. He got two further wickets later, but not before H. Simpson and Wood had laid the foundation for an early first innings lead.

Dilworth's Tail Wags Feature of the Dilworth-Brixton game was the last-wicket stand in Dilworth's first innings. The nartnership between Witheridge and Lynch added 60 runs when the side was at a sorry stage. Earlier Dilworth wickets fell quickly and eight were down for 30. Bunting, Longville and Mitchell proved most dan-

serous of the bowlers, Longville aking his first three wickets at no 30St. The first 50 runs took two hours to put on, but the pace quickened when Lynch joined Witheridge. Previously Taylor contributed a valuable 13. Witheridge and Lynch scored freely and Lynch reached 24 before he was smartly caught by Mitchell. Witheridge was not out for 41. Brixton went into bat at 5 o'clock.

GREEN LANE V. MANUKAU GREEN LANE.—First Innings Monteith, b Organ 8 Kerr, c Learning, b Organ 70 Farquhar, lbw. b Dunning 0 Butler, run out 1 Turner, b Organ 2 Gifford, c Rollins, b Mann 6 Wiberg, b Mann 13 Crewther, b Dunning ■ 0 Brldger, b Dunning 13 Russell, not out 1 Watta, c O'Meara. b Dunning 1 Extras * Total 119 Bowling- Dunning four wickets lor 37 runs, Mann two for 36, Organ three for 37. Hoskins RAILWAY V. R.V. RAILWAY.—First Innings Davidson, b Bell H Cranfleld, b Goldsworthy 7 Boreham. lbw, b Bell 6 Bracewell, c and b Cleal 22 Birchall, c Cleal, b Goldsworthy 1 Grant, st Hunt, b Bell 0 Benjamin, b Wood ■» Boyce, b Wood ■> Morris, b Cleal J Capper, not out J McDonald, c Davison, b Cleal 0 Extras f Total 59

Bowline: James no wickets lor 5 runs, Woolley none for 9. F. Bell three for 16, Goldsworthy two for 14, Cleal three for 10. Wood two for 2. R.V.—First Innings H.*Simpson, c Morris, b Bracewell 12 Goldsworthy, c Davidson, b Bracewell e Wood, b Bracewell Z J Cleal, not out \ Bell, b Davidson •> Cloke, not out S Extras .......-•••••• *> Total for four wickets 60 DILWORTH V. BRIXTON Scores: — DILWORTH—First Innings B. Hetherington, e Longville. b Mitchell S J Howard, St. Barrett, b Bunting 5 J. HetheriAgton, c Mitchell, b Bunting 0 Morman, c Hammond, b Longvlue • Sanderson, c Axon, b Longville « Lynch, c Mitchell, b Axon 24 Witherldge, not out 4^ Whvte 1.b.w., b Bunting " Alexander, c Longville, b Bunting £ Mitchell, b Longville " Taylor, b Longville « Extras • • ° Total 113 Bowling: Bunting took four wickets for 21 runs, Mitchell one for 25, Longville four for 23, Axon one for 19, Brown none for 15, Thomas none for 10.