A GOOD SHOWING.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19066, 30 July 1927, Page 15

A GOOD SHOWING.

NEW ZEALANDERS IN FORM.

WEST OF ENGLAND MATCH.

(bt cabi*— pbjws AflsocuTioß—coptbisht). (AUSTBALIAff AND K.Z. CABLS ASSOCUTIOH.)

LONDON, July 28,

I After the loss of a day through rain, the match with the West of England at Exeter began to-day before an attendance of 1000. New Zealand won the toss and made a promising start, but the dead outfield took off the pace from hits and slowed the scoring down. Nevertheless, Blunt and Dempster put on 53 in the first hour. Blunt, in particular, showed plenty of enterprise till he fell to a catch at coverpoint by Harrison. Later Dempster was got rid of for an excellent 58. Lowry was dismissed by a brilliant catch'in the slips, but Dacre indulged in some hard hitting while he lasted. Mills, who went in first wicket down, was in his best form and did not appear to be troubled by the bowling., He had passed the half century and was still in when Lowry declared with six wickets down for 230. There remained nearly two hours for play, in which time the West of England lost niue for 93, against splendid bowling and fielding. Merritt kept a perfect length and varied his break cleverly, with the result that" Mcßryan and Overton were the only batsmen who could make any headway and neither of these remained very long. Scopes:— « NEW ZEALAND. First Innings.

R. C. Blunt, o Harrison, b Amory 43 C. S. Dempster, c Miles, b Bush .... 58 J. E. Mills, not out ... ... 52 T. C. Lowry, c Newman, b Folding 2 C. C. Dacre, c Miles, b Falding ... 32, M. L. Page, c Butler, b Harrison ' 15 H. M. McGirr, c Butler, b Awdry 9 W. E. Merritt, not out ... ... 9 Extras 10

Total for six wickets (dee.) 230

Bowling Analysis: Miles, no wickets for 55 runs; Mcintosh, none.for 20; Awdry, one for 8; Harrison, one for 33; Falding, two for 49; Amory, one for 29; Bush, one for 11; Newman, none for 15.

WEST OF ENGLAND First Innings.

J. C. W. Mcßryan, c Mills, b Blunt 36 G. S. Butler, o and b Page ... 6 S. W. Falding, b Merritt ... 0 —. Miles, lbw, b Merritt ... 2 A. Newman, c Page, b Merritt ... 8 W. Overton, b Lowry ... ... 20 R. D. Bush,- stpd. James, b Merritt 4 J. H. Amory, not out ... ... 15 C.-'E. Awdry, b Merritt ... ... 0 A. M. Harrison, b Merritt w. 0 R, I. F. Mcintosh, not out 0 Extras ... ... ■«. 2

Total for nine wickets ... 98

NO PLAY BEFORE LUNCH.

(Received. July 30th, 1 aim.) LONDON, July 29. There was ho play before lunch to-day.

The West of England team cannot be considered a very formidable side, although it is composed of the pick of the Western Second Glass Counties. The only first-class player is J. C. W. McBryan. Since the war he has been in the front rank of amateur batsmen. His style is neat and attractive, and he is :a very pleasing batsman to watch. He is premier, batsman for Somerset, and last: year scored 2061 runs, at an average of 35.36. S. W. Faldingis the best batsman for Devon, and last season his : figures were,sls runs at an average of 42.91. J. H. Amory, also of Devon,, captained the County last. year and headed the bowling averages with 53 wickets and an average of 12.89. It was largely as the result of the fine work of these two players that Devon secured second place in the second-class championship. C. E. Awdry headed the Wiltshire batting averages, and was third in the bowling. Awdry. Was an outstanding all-rounder at Winchester in 1924. A. Newman arid G. S, Butler were good batsmen last season,; and had averages well over thirty, while' the former was also the most successful bowler. The Miles -who is playing is probably the same one who bowled so well for the Army against the New Zealanders.

It is becoming increasingly clear that the New Zealanders are too strong for all but the first-class sides that they meet. They have completely outplayed their opponents in most of the secondclass gamesj and against the West of England they demonstrated their superiority in very convincing style. Some. surprise haß been expressed at: Lowry declaring with only 230 in the book. The explanation will probably be found in the fact that, according to the rules, he could.only declare on the first day if he did so not less than an hour and 40 minutes before closing time. In this connexion.it is interesting to recall that-in the Fourth Test match of the 1921 Australian t«am in England, _ this rule gave rise to an amusing episode. Rain on the first day had reduced the game to a two-day's match. On the first day's play Tennyson, the "English captain, declared his side's innings closed at 20 minutes to 6. The players went into the pavilion, but the Australians pointed out that in a two-days' match the innings could not be.closed on the first day within an hour and 40.minutes of "stumps." It took some 20 mm tes to convince the Englishmen that the closure could not be applied, and when the Australians filed on to the field again they were greeted with a perfect storm of hooting all round the ground. It was renewed wheri Armstrong took up the ball to bowl, and he refused to resume until the hooting had subsided. This had to be achieved by prominent officials going round the ground and explaining that'the Australians were perfectly right in their contention. It was subsequently explained that thjj Englishmen were ignorant of a recently introduced rule, whereby it was laid down that when a three-days' match was reduced to. two on account of rain tne rules for a two-days' match should aP TheW was nothing very outstanding English Usmen. It is probable hat towards the close of the f^f' would be drying and would be becoming increasingly treacherous. It e ™ eni £ S[Eitt, and to the cables the Canterbury colt must nave been in his best form. It is stated that achieve. Merritt s tauy ' . . t 99 .joined the select band.