CRICKET

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21726, 7 March 1936, Page 22

CRICKET

k.’ r'l” r* , l" i>• >i • ) -i. NEW ZEALAND’S GOOD Showing M.G.C. ON DEFENSIVE HONOURS OF FIRST DAY WITH HOME TEAM 1 New Zealand had the better of the • first day’s play in the fourth and final representative match against the touring Marylebone Cricket Club team at 1 Lancaster Park yesterday. Splendid bowling on a wicket that gave some assistance to the spin'bowlqrs, supported by excellent fielding, brought about the dismissal of the' Englishmen ' lor 195, and at the close of play New Zealand had made 138 runs for the loss of three wickets. The home batsI men had faced the bowling confidently ' and two of the three wickets were thrown av.ay through rash strokes. ’ l lt was a glorious day for' cricket, and a fairly large crowd saw a day’s play which, though not spectacular, •was never lacking in interest of incident. The Oval at Lancaster Park was , looking its best, the grass being probably greener than it has been at this stage of the season for very many years. The heavy rainfall of the summer was apparent in' the slow outfield,, and boundaries had to be earned by solid hits. , The underlying moisture was probably the reason for the nip the spin bowlers obtained from the pitch, but at no time could it be said that the wicket was playing tricks. Thirteen wickets having fallen on ... the first day of play, the prospects for ;.„this match being brought to a defi- , ;,nite conclusion within the three days . allotted to the , game are excellent. .; The weather curtailed play to some ~1 extent >n both the drawn matches at Dunedin and Wellington, but New / Zealand'in the former case and the . M.C.C, in the latter each had , only ( three wickets in hand to save, them, i . from defeat when stumps were drawn : lt pn the last day. The New Zealand .j.team has a great chance to-day of setting the visitors a hard task, in the . / second im. ings. If the remaining bats- ; men in this innings can consolidate the hopm team’s position, victory for New Zealand.in this match.and in the rubber will be well within the of possibility. ", Keen New Zealand Attack Only, three of the M.Q.C. batsmen . made any prolonged stand against the New Zealand attack, and the home team gave an excellent allround display. Nothing was thrown away in the field, and the few chances that , ,were offered were accepted. It says “ something for the hostility of the New Zealand bowling that seven, of the 10 ’ batsmen dismissed were clean Soiled. ' l ' As in the Wellington match Blundell started the collapse of the'MC.C. II batsmen. In this third Over, Parks, •■‘the Sussex professional, reached foreword to a ball from./Blundell well i . outside the off stump! missed, and v, Jackman had the balls off in a flash. « ■ It was as neat a piece of work be- ' hind the wickets as Lancaster Park , spectators have seen for a long time. Parks and Barber had been facing ’ f the bowling of Blundell and Roberts , very confidently up to that .time,, but ’ when Hardstaff came to the wicket

• ■there was yet another parallel to the ‘.t Snatch in Wellington. Hardstafl was dismissed by the first ball he received from Blundell—this time J clean-bowled —and two wickets were down for

nine. ~ Smith, the aggressive. Derbyshire was looking for runs " from the start, and be and Barber improved the position a little. He ‘ used his reach to get to the pitch of ‘ thfe ball and delighted the crowd i with beautifully crisp drives, down ! ! the wicket. He eventually fell to the " -first ball he received from the Welw, lingtonislow bowler, Griffiths. It was i ;; a beautiful ball, and Smith, stepping )(l out to it a little late, was completely 5 beaten., ' .... . Barber’s Fine Innings.

Barber, up to this stage, had been filling the role which his numerous in .excellent innings during the. tour have , ..made' familiar to New Zealanders—- , ( that of the solid, professional opening batsman, taking no risks blit neglect- ' ing few opportunities of scoring.. With “his Captain, Holmes, at the wicket? Barber began to open out, and from then on he scored freely with a fine range of excellent strokes. He • was particularly efficient in forcing away the good length ball off fallback foot. He gave no semblance of. a chance, "and rarely lifted the ball off the ; ground. Holmes did not stay long, scoring only two, while the energetic -' Barber was hitting up another dozen. * t . t Barber’s splendid innings came to an end with the total at ’9s=—he had , made 60 of them himself—just when ... he and Human had appeared again to '' ‘ hdve the measure of the bowlingi He " was well beaten by a ball from Roberts. which appeared to swing late. His runs, made in 87. minutes, included five boundary shots. Langridge went . with the addition of only two, runs to - the score, JSoberts’s second victim. ; A Good Partnership -Human and Sims were then associ- * i.nted in the most profitable partnership of the innings. The former had no difficulty in settling down, and his straight driving was a joy to watch. r , . He was content to wait for the right ‘ ‘ ball to hit. but when it came along " he never failed to turn It to account. He was becoming very severe on “ Cromb, and had hit nine off one over '■ from the slow bowler when he fell to i a really brilliant catch. He stepped ?,])OUt to Cromb and drove him low and - I hard down the Ditch. The bowler, . however, flung himself to the right and took a great catch with one-hand, ~, Sims then appeared to be New Zea.land’s only obstacle* and that fine . - cricketer once again played a valu- “ able innings when runs were badly * needed. Watchful as ever, he had the most correct defence to all types of ; bowlers, and he was not to be tempted 11 Into lifting the slow bowlers. Most of < his runs .came from effective leg shots. : Griffith and Baxter gave him good support, hitting vigorously when Sims , ; was unable to keep the bowling, and the total had been advanced from 156 M .fof seven wickets to 195 when Sims was finally beaten by another splendid ball from Roberts. The innings •lasted 182 minutes. Griffiths Impresses The full resources of New Zealand’s i.j attack were not required. Blundell, unaccountably, was given only one : spell y/ith the ball—at the opening of ; tne innings—and he took two wickets for 13 runs off six overs. Roberts was , f again exceptionally steady and he sent ~ i down some deadly balls, not all of which, met with their just reward. His three wickets cost only 83 runs off 18 pvers, Griffiths was watched with interest, as be has been declared New ' Zealand’s most promising slow bowler in recent years. His performance yesterday was most impressive. He has a ? very low trajectory and he varies his pace and spin well! As yet his length i.filaa. is. varied, and he sent down a * fairly high proportion of bad balls. Yet in nearly every over there was at least one ball which might mean dis- - aster for the best. of batsmen. He * broke considerably from leg and that ■ 'occasional good ball positively fizzed off the pitch. At least two men were .bowled in trying, to play balls which ■ they evidently expected to go well l fcMt-their legs. Vivian was steady but not dangerOUg, and Ehnes, the other left-hander.

, j'li y ' ' 'S 't was not called on. ~ Cromb bowled more overs than anyone else, and while the. wicket ; .was admittedly,,ope- for spin bowlingit appeared, that fee kept himself bn tOo’ long. In the afternoon, nevertheless, he seemed always likely to take a wicket and for a consider- 1 able period Human was uncomfortable to him while facing the other bowlers confidently. The--New Zealand Jelding, ihe whole/' was first-class. .The - ground work wag clean and Jhe .throwing "la noticeably improved. Cromb,--fielding-in “silly” position's, set a splendid example and was applauded for . fine stops. Jackman’s one stumping has already been referred to, and he also took an excellent catch. He allowed only one bye and altogether gave a splendid exhibition behind the (wickets. Auckland Men Hit Hard New Zealand’s very good start is, largely attributable to the, partnership! of Kerr and Wallacefor the second: wicket. They put on 60 runs .together I in as rriany minutes, Wallace being! the more aggressive and. seating 38 of! them. Both he and Whitelaw. however, threw their wickets away.- The latter haU opened very well with Kerr, scoring nicely to leg from the fast bowlers, Baxter and Head, but with the score at 22 he swung at a short ball from Read, which bumped more than headhigh, and was: well .taken, by Sims, fielding close in at square-leg. Wallace attacked the bowling from the start, and, seemed keen on knocking the fast bojwlers off their length. He hit every ball herd, even on defence, and was looking'for runs all the time. Many of his -strokes were lifted, but the majority , of them/-were well clear of the field.. The colt gave a very attractive display; interspersing his big leg bits with fine cover drives and leg glides. Over-eagerness to score, was his downfall/ for in attempting a big hit off a good-length ball from Read, he skied it/ to mid-on. There was no fieldsman stationed but Sims, making ground from square-leg very fast, took another splendid catch. Wallace was at the wickets for 61 minutes.

Vivian maintained the scoring rate, and with Kerr, added 34 runs for the third wicket He also was looking lor runs all the time, and any ball overpitched or short of a length was dealt with severely,- Good driving end square-cutting marked the Aucklander’s bright . display, his 20 runs being made in 22 minutes.

Kerr's Solid Display

Kerr, more sedate than the. Aucklanders, played ..an innings deserving the highest praise. It was. moreover, an innings played under difficulties, for indisposition had prevented him fielding while the Marylebone. Cricket Club team was at the wickets, He was a. little uncertain to Read early in the innings, but later he confidently presented the full face of the bat to every good ball, and Scored steadily with cuts, leg-glides, and on-drives. He was at the wickets for* 128 minutes in making his 62 notout, and toward the close of play was scoring freely from every bowler. Hadlee, the Canterbury colt who/is playing for New Zealand for the first time* joined Kerr on Vivian’s dismissal, and played two uppish defensive shots' off Sims. Thereafter he settled down to play out time and was facing the bowling confidently at the close of play. New Zealand had been at the wickets for 128 minutes. ,

The English . attack was good without; being really troublesome. Baxter, opened'with Parks from the north and south 5 ends respectively, but while the latte®, was steady, neither seemed ; to break the opening partner- : hip. '.When Hqad replaced Baxter both ’ seemed »' * little isaWnfetotefc ,Hyeir attempts to play . opislde, MiG' off stump. Hie expectant slip fieldsmen were rib chances, however, Parka bowled with a. teg trap, and was very steady. Wallace ' and Vivian were severe on the flower, thep;‘ Sims (rights hand) and Langridge ? (left-hand), but tWr former claimed Vivian’s Wicket when Parks took a fine catch low down at' first slip. The,Marylebone Cricket Club’s fielding was first-class. 1 * -i ■: The Scores Following are- the scores:— M.C.C. \ ’ First Innings J. K: Parks 11114, st Jackman, b

Total for three wickets .. 138 < Bowling Analysis

; , Blundell ; «. 8 W, 'Barber 1221412311111111412412 .1441112111131, b Roberts 60 J. 'M.Hardstfifl, b Blundell -.. 0 B. Smith 2112211411, b Griffiths .. 16 E.R. T.‘ Holmes 2, c Jackman, b Griffiths . ■ 2 J. H. Human 11111111141142111111 41214412, c and b Cromb 46 James Langridge 1, b Roberts .. 1 J. M. .Sims' 1312111211141114112112 1111, b Roberts 38 S. C. Griffiths, 22122, b Griffiths -. * 9 H. D. Read 1, b Griffiths 1 A. D. Baxter 4411, not out 10 Byes 1 .. .. 1 Leg byes 111 3 Total .'. 195 Bowling Analysis 0. M. R. W. A. W. Roberts .. 18.1 6 33 3 E. D. Blundell . ,6 2 13 2 I. B. Cromb ... 19 — ’67 1 H. G. Vivian .* 8 1 18 — Br Griffiths .. 17 2 60 4 • Fall of wickets—One for 9, two for 9, three for 49, four for 63, five for 95, six for 97, seven, for 156, .eight ior.167, nine for 179, 10, for 195, NEW: ZEALAND - ——- -—First’-Innings -- - -■ J. L, Rerr ,111112214112112221111141 , ■ 11141111112443, .not out • . . .02 P. E Whitelaw 11121411, c Sims, b Rehd .■. r 12 M. W. Wallace 12132222421123343, c Sims; b Read ' 38 H. G; Vivian 21114211412, c Parks, b Sims 20 W. A. Hadlee 13, not out 4 .Leg byes .. .. 2

O. M. R. w. A, D, Baxter 8 — 24,- . — J. H. parks 11 4 ' t ‘ — H. ,D. Bead 11 2 31 2 J. M. Sims 9 1 39 1 James Langridge 4 ‘1 17 — J. H. Human 1 — 3 — Fall of wickets—One for 22, 82, three for 116. two for