WEEDONS CRICKET CLUB

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27150, 21 September 1953, Page 7

WEEDONS CRICKET CLUB

ANNUAL MATCH WITH CHRISTCHURCH TEAM

One of the oldest cricket clubs in New Zealand, the Weedons Club, which has maintained its identity for 73 years, entertained a team from Christchurch, led by J. C. Saunders, on Saturday. The Weedons recreation ground, on which the match was played, has been used by the club for more than 60 years, and two of the earliest members, Messrs J. Curragh and J. Hampton, recalled on Saturday that when the first concrete pitch was put down 32 years ago, club members nad worked, by the light of lanterns, until midnight to finish the job. The club’s first pitch was only pared ground, the tussocks being shaved off to leave a smooth area of earth.

This enthusiasm must be a characteristic of the club. For the last four years, it has played a match against a Christchurch team at the beginning of the season, and has made the occasion, for the players, their children, friends and families, much more like a lavish Christmas party. Two of the busiest of the organisers were Messrs Curragh and Hampton. Mr Curragh has been secretary of the club for more than 60 years. At 80 he still takes a keen interest in the game and his club. Mr Hampton, a youthful 75, has been playing for the club for 60 years, and is still a very active member.

The Christchurch team included four international players: A. R. Mac Gib-f bon and M. B. Poore, members of the team to tour South Africa, T. B. Burtt and J. A. Hayes, as well as a sprinkling of senior players. Weedons, however, scored 90 for the first wicket, R. Tilson and T. Watson both making many good, aggressive strokes. Weedons totalled 154, and Saunders’s XI lost half its wickets for 80 before some vast hitting by Hayes, and an enterprising innings by R. Thomas put it ahead.

Scores:—Weedons 154 (T. Watson 25, R. Tilson 62, C. Chatterton 24, L. Manion 22: Hayes three for 13, W. J. V. Hamilton one for 17, Burtt one for 22, Mac Gibbon one for 14, G. Pidgeon four for 16); Saunders’s XI 224 (Thomas 65, Hayes 60, Poore 20, R. T. Brittenden 18, Mac Gibbon 15, Pidgeon 11, D. Coombes 11; A. Prouting two for 33, R. Tilson one for 22, A. Hulston one for 37, Watson one for 20, J. Crawford one for 4, C. Tilson one for 1).