PLUNKET SHIELD CRICKET

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21975, 26 December 1936, Page 15

PLUNKET SHIELD CRICKET

: * 1 PAGE’S MASTERLY j j INNINGS j I | CANTERBURY FIGHTING i FOR RUNS j | GOOD BOWLING BY VIVIAN j i After putting on more than 100 for | the loss of only one wicket. Canterbury j seemed set for a good score against ! Auckland in the Plunket Shield match which began at Lancaster Park yesterday afternoon, but a rot set in and five wickets fell for 16 runs. H. G. Vivian, the Auckland captain, was responsible for this, and at one time had five j wickets at the cost of nine runs each. I The pitch was very damp when play j started, and although the day was very I hot and close, was still slow at. the end j of play. The Auckland faster bowlers, and J. Cowie in particular, could get no help from the pitch, and A. M. Matheson and L. R. Spring held the 1 fort at one end while Vivian put up ! a marathon performance at the other. ! The cricket was very slow, the only 1 exception being when Page and Oliver set out to make some runs off the loose j deliveries of N. McMahon. The young googly bowler arrived with a great , reputation, but failed to find anything ; of a length. It is his first match in representative cricket, and he seemed to be trying to do too much with the i ball. The result was a number of full i tosses interspersed with long hops, and ' 17 runs came from two of his overs. 1 Opening Batsmen Found I. B. Cromb found a very satisfactory solution of the opening batsmen problem by sending M. L. Page to the ; crease with J. L. Kerr. The former played an excellent opening strike, being careful with the 'rood balls and watching how he punished anything : loose. Both Matheson and Spring j boiled to a leg trap with two men ' close in. and three near the boundary. I but Page hit vigorously anything well j outside the stumps, and seemed to ; have an uncanny knack of finding the j openings. I Both he and Oliver played Vivian | the right way. meeting the ball with a dead bat, as there were plenty of fieldsmen close in waiting for a catch. If the ball was pitched up they used j their feet to get out to the pitch, and I if it was not thrown well up they | would watch it all the way to the bat., ■ The type of bowling did not really i lend itself to cutting of any descrip- | tion. but every now and then Page j would send one through the slips with I a quick flick of the wrists after the ball | appeared to have passed him. This is i the shot for which he is best known, iand he took every chance of playing 1 it that came his way. | Forced by circumstances to play an I innings in which he could not open out, j Oliver suited himself to the task well, | and for 100 minutes spent his time | keeping his wicket intact. While Mc- | Mahon bowled his six overs in his I first spell Oliver showed some of his ! true form, although for the first few hits he failed to find gaps in the fields'men. With Page, he ran some cheeky tingles, but as both were on their toes and were backing up well they were I seldom in danger. Kerr was also more restrained than : usual, and although he was in for 56 minutes he did not hit a boundary. ■ All his shots were safe, and when he j went out it was in trying to force the i pace and pull Vivian to the leg bounI dary. Cromb started out to score too ■soon, and copied Oliver’s fatal mis- • take exactly. W. A. Hadlee was unfortunate in losing his wickel the first ball he played, but a study of the field should have told him that it was dangerous to try to hook Spring with his leg field. It was an excellent catch by Wallace which dismissed him. Visitors' Good Fielding R. E. J. Menzies, in his first representative game, started off playing his shots so confidently and crisply ! that it seemed that he and F. P. i O’Brien would stop the rot. He had not ; been at the crease long, however, before he also fell to Vivian. Menzies ; watched two balls pass outside his off i stump, and fearing an off break edged one through to Marshall behind the ! wickets. I O’Brien was meanwhile playing a I safe game, although he did not seem certain of some from Spring and Viv- ! ian, but frequently at the beginning of j a long innings he appears to be scratching to cover his wicket A. W. j Roberts, practically the last batsman i from whom a stand can be expected, I is going well, scoring more quickly than O’Brien, and as safely. The visitors’ fielding was good; only one very difficult chance was missed. G. L. Weir misfielded two balls early ( in the game, but apart from this and jone wild return to the wicket, no fault •I could be found with the team’s work, j Spring made a perfect foil for Viv- | ian’s bowling, and he was unlucky not i to get more wickets. These two were jthe most impressive, although Mathei son sent down some good balls. He was not given much chance to dismiss any : of the later batsmen. Vivian’s success was due entirely i to a masterly control of flight. The , pitch helped him more than any other bowler, and he made' excellent use of 1 it by varying the pace and flight of his deliveries. He alternated balls hanging ! a long lime in the air with ones which droppd quickly, so that one which appeared to be overpitched enticed the batsmen to hit. Catches in the : outfield off such balls accounted for I Oliver and Cromb. The pitch was | tricky, and some of his deliveries rose very sharply to chest high. THE PLAY I Vivian, fielding close in at midI wicket, was made to duck by a vicious j hook from Page off Matheson’s first (over. Double figures were reached i with leg glides by both batsmen. I Page was the keener to start scoring, j but was not tempted by shorter balls | on the off. which bumped badly at, ' ihnes. Cowie and Matheson had three slips each, and a man near the I fence in the gully. Vivian came on ! with the score at 25. and relieved ' Cowie, who had not seemed very troublesome. Matheson later changed to a leg attack, having a fine leg, a silly and a deep square leg mid-wicket i close in and deep, and a deepish midI cn. Both batsmen, however, scored through the cordon. . Vivian was flighting the ball very cleverly, and the batsmen were content to play him with a dead bat. He sent down three consecutive maidens to Kerr. The slowness of the scoring —only 40 runs came in the first hour—caused some spectators on the bank to barrack, but as one man advised Vivian to try underarm Kerr hooked a short one vigorously to Whitelaw, who took a good catch fairly dose-in. 42—1—17. While Oliver followed Kerr’s methed of just keeping his wicket intact. the pitch was cutting up badly, and even some of Vivian’s slows were bumping chest-high. Matheson bowled 13 overs for 22 runs before Cowie relieved him at the north end. Ho was allowed only one over, a maiden to Oliver, and McMahon was brought on

to bowl his first over in a representative game. .* McMahon’s Erratic Length McMahon was erratic at first, sending down full tosses mixed with veryshort ones. Oliver hit one or two of the cverpitched cnes. but hit them straight to fieldsmen. Page scored his fourth boundary by sweeping to leg a ball which pitched about halfway, and in the next over Oliver sent a full toss to the long-on boundary, and followed it with a four through the. covers. Page was once badly beaten by one coming straight through, and although Marshall had the bails off immediately. Page’s back foot was just behind the crease. Apart from that ball. McMahon caused the batsmen little worry, and 17 came off two consecutive overs. After that Spring, a former West Christchurch player, came on. and bowled to a leg trap similar to Matheson's. His first over, a maiden to Page, was the last before tea. and Vivian had then bowled 17 overs for 17 runs and one wicket. Play After Tea Spring was kept on after tea. and Page swung the first ball hard to the leg boundary, and two balls afterwards late cut him for three. He was now playing magnificently. He reached his 50 with a smartly-run single off Vivian, after being two hours at the crease. With a four and another single. both from Vivian. Page brought the 100 up five minutes after tea, allowing several balls from Spring to pass outside the leg stump without trying to score from them. Those on the leg stump he was quite hanpy to block. Page continued looking for balls to hit. 'and scored seven from Vivian in one over, but in the next over from Vivian he tried to drive one to the off. It rose sharply, and Matheson took a good catch. 129—2—73. Oliver played out the over. The first ball Hadlee received he pulled, and Wallace took an excellent catch high up at silly mid-wicket. Vivian then had two wickets for 40 runs off 26 overs. 10 being maidens, and Spring one for 23 off II overs. Page was in for 160 minutes, and scored eight boundaries. O'Brien joined Oliver, and scored two for a mis-hit through the slips. Another valuable wicket fell when Oliver tried to hit Vivian out of the ground, and Carson, at mid-off, topk a catch about halfway to the fence. Vivian had then three for 41. ; Cromb Dismissed Cromb was next in. and for the first few balls be received, a persistent voice from the bank advised Vivian to bowl underarm, as Cromb had used this method in a club game on Saturday. He opened, like O’Brien, with a chancy two through the slips. Vivian claimed Cromb’s wicket in his thirtieth over. It was the same ball as tiie one Which tricked Oliver, and Cromb played the same stroke. Carson took the catch about 15 yards nearer the boundary. 138—5—2. Menzies joined O’Brien, and scored a single with an off drive from Spring. The Old Boys’ colt seemed to be shaping confidently, but he fell to a catch behind the wickets, giving Vivian his fifth wicket at a cost of nine runs each. 145—6—5. Roberts and Olßrien were left to try to stem the rot, and the new batsman opened with singles from Vivian and Spring. After 19 consecutive overs, which yielded him one wicket, for 35 runs, Spring was relieved by Matheson. who bowled to a similar field. The scoring was very slow, the batsmen being content to keep their wickets intact. O’Brien gave a hard chance to Wallace at silly mid-off from Vivian. Wallace deflected the ball and Vivian just failed to reach the ball before it touched the ground, Roberts and O’Brien reached double figures about the same time. Two Changes in Attack With less than 10 minutes to go, and after he had bowled 37 overs unchanged, Vivian put McMahon on in his place. In three hours Vivian had taken five wickets lor 55 runs, 13 of his overs being maidens. McMahon sent down his first maiden to O’Brien. Roberts hit out at Matheson’s last ball, a much slower one, and it just trickled over the long-on boundary. Weir was given the last over of the day, and O'Brien took three for the fifth ball. Roberts blocked the last ball, and the day finished with Canterbury having 175 runs on the board for the loss of six wickets, Roberts being 17 not out and O’Brien 16 not out. Play will be continued at 11 o’clock this morning. The umpires are Messrs D. L. Ryan and T. Burgess. Scores:—

Fall of wickets: One for 42. two for 129. three for 131. four for 135, five for 138, six for 145.

RAIN PREVENTS PLAY OTAGO-WELLINGTOX MATCH (PBESS ASSOCIATION* TIZEOJIAi: WELLINGTON. December 25. Heavy rain prevented play being started in the Wellington-Otago PJunket Shield game. The wicket received a good soaking last night and to-day. but it should be fit for play to-morrow, provided there is no more heavy rain. REPRESENTATIVE CRICKET ASHBURTON TEAM TO PLAT SOUTH CANTERBURY The first match in the Minor Association's cricket competition will be played between Ashburton and SouthCanterbury at Timaru on January - and 2. The winners will have the right to challenge the West Coast • holder* for the shield. The following team has been selected to represent the Ashburton Association: —J. B. Nicoll (captain). P. M. Harper. J. Dillon. J. Pritchard (Ashburton), D. McKay. H. Baird. W. O’Grady, D. Stewart (Fairfield), H. Jordan. S. Kerr. B. Jack (Ki* Ora), W. Cook (Methven). AN UMPIRE FOR FORTY YEARS MR D. M’KENZIE’S RECORD * Crszss ASSOCIATION TELEGRAM.' WELLINGTON. December 25. “To Dan McKenzie, from the merabers of the Wellington Cricket Umpires’ Association, after 40 years’ service. 1896-1936.” This was the inscription on a gold watch presented to Mr D. McKenzie, who was complimented on his services to the game, both as an umpire and as an administrator. Mr McKenzie, in reply, said he wa? proud to have been the sole selector of the first Wellington team to win the Plunket Shield. He was also one of the three selectors of the first Wellington Rugby team to win the Eanfurly Shield. FRIENDLY MATCH An interesting game was played on the Hagley Park Oval between die Veterans and a team representing the Boys* Association. The Veterans, batting first on an easy wicket, made 162 runs. P. Harvey 34, W. J. Walter 30 (both retired'. E. C. Tipping 16. W. Randall 12. and J. Nee 46 not out. all batted brightly. L. Cater, four wickets for 50 runs. J. Richards one for 0, A. Trotter two for 21. and A. Bamsdale 1 for 30. bowled very well for the boys. With only an hour and a half io go. the boys obtained 126 runs for the loss of eight wickets. D. Reese 30 (retired), J. Richards 29. D Lindsay 28. and A. Bamsdale 21. were the double figure scorers, all batting very soundly. W. J. Walter, two wickets for 32 runs. W. Randall one for 25. E. C. Tipping one for 35. and J. Nee one for 2. obtained the wicketa for the Veterans. The game ended ;n • draw.

J. CANTERBURY . First Innings L. Kerr, 11121111311111, c Whltclaw. b Vivian 17 M L. Page, 1421411411111121311141211 431141111421421, c Matheson. b Vi%'ian 73 C. J. Oliver, 111114242111112214211, c Carson, b Vivian 35 w A. Hadlee, c Wallace, b Spring 0 F. P. O’Brien. 212111111113, not out .. 16 I. 13. Cromb, 2, c Carson, b Vivian .. 2 R. E. J. Mcnzics, 1121, c Marshall, b Vivian 5 A. W. Roberts. 1121321114, not out .. 17 Byes 2111 r. I.cg-bvcs. 1111 4 No-ball. 1 1 Total for six wickets 175

BOWLING, ANALYSIS O. M. R. W, J. Cowie 8 2 9 A. M. Mathcson 17 3 31 H. G. Vivian 37 13 55 5 N. McMahon 8 1 30 L. R. Spring 19 5 37 i G. L. Weir 1 3 Spring bowled one no-ball