CANTERBURY PLAYS FIJI

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27279, 20 February 1954, Page 8

CANTERBURY PLAYS FIJI

CRICKET

Fast Scoring On First Day

H. APTED, W. APTED, AND S. C. GUILLEN BAT WELL

Enterprising batting, energetic ground fielding, and some good catching made the first day’s play yesterday in the match at Lancaster Park between Fiji and Canterbury the best day’s cricket of the season. More than 400 runs were scored in a most satisfying day’s play, and if some of the later Fijian batsmen disappointed the crowd when they failed to stay at the wickets they were at least dismissed in an earnest endeavour to score runs quickly.

The Fijian side was dismissed for the moderate total of 238 runs, after it had been given an exceptionally good start by H. Apted and W. Apted, who in a brilliant partnership scored 104 runs for the first wicket. Both showed themselves to be first-class batsmen, with a wide range of sound scoring shots. W. Apted, in particular, in the later stages of his innings gave a display too seldom seen at Lancaster Park. Later in the innings R. K. Mara scored a very quick 44 runs.

The highlight of the Canterbury innings of 166 runs for the loss of four wiekets was the batting of S. C. Guillen, who scored 75 not out.

The match is at an interesting stage. Canterbury must score reasonably fast if a decision is to be reached in the two days’ play remaining.

There was a fairly good attendance for a Friday, £222 being taken at the gate.

The teams are:— Fiji.—P. T. Raddock (captain), H. Apted, W. Apted, N. Tuiyau. N. Uluiviti, I. Bula, M. J. Fenn, R. K. Mara, L. Eroni, A. Driu, M. Simmonds, B. Mosese (twelfth man). Canterbury.—J. G. Leggat (captain), P. Arnold, R. T. Dowker, R. W. G. Emery, S. C. Guillen, G. Geary, R. H. Scott, B. Haworth, I. Sinclair, T. B. Burtt, D. J. Reid, G. E. Royfee (twelfth man). The pitch was fast and true, and gave the batsmen few problems, although it carried a little grass, which assisted the spin bowlers to turn the ball occasionally. The outfield was fast, and the ground generally was in first-class order in spite of the long spell of hot, dry weather. The outstanding feature of the Fijian innings was undoubtedly the batting of H. Apted and W. Apted. and it was unfortunate for the side that most of the following batsmen were not able to build on their solid foundation. H. 1 Apted in the early stages of the innings impressed as being the more competent, but with a greater share of the bowling. W. Apted later showed his true capabilities! He frequently found some unsuspected gaps in the field, and many of his runs e came from shots just out of the fieldsman's reach. His 65 runs were made in the most correct stvle, but once properly set he wasted little time in getting his runs. Tuiyau, a batsman with a distinct liking for the cover drive, played some rather unorthodox strokes, but went some way towards consolidating the opening partnership. He faced several overs from Burtt, and did not hesitate to go outside his crease to play him. He batted for nearly an hour for his 21 runs, curbing his inclination to hit out. Bula, who scored freely on his previous visit to Christchurch, played some powerful strokes reminiscent of those innings for his 18 runs. When the later batsmen were dismissed quickly it was left to Mara to bring the total to reasonable proportions. He started slowly, but as wickets fell he made some really big hits that delighted the crowd. Not all his shots were lofted, and he hit some particularly good boundaries on the leg side off Burtt. It was unfortunate that in tlie Canterbury innings Mara, when fielding in the gully, attempted a hard catch from Emery and broke a boue in the hand.

Canterbury Bowling During the morning the Canterbury Dowlers lost the initiative to the batsmen to some extent, when the swing bowlers were not very effective in the hot and almost still conditions. Scott was comparatively expensive in the early stages, but in a later spell bowled well to take three good wickets, including that of W. Apted, who was by this time proving a pioblem to Canterbury. Reid and Gearry v, ere not given much bowling, but in their few overs they were not expensive. Sinclair, who took three wickets, was able sometimes to turn the ball, and although he was punished by some of the hardhitting batsmen, he continued to throw the ball well up. Burtt had some runs taken from him early in the innings and then kept the batsmen quiet for a long Seriod, only to be punished by Mara in later stages of the innings. He worked hard to get some assistance from the wicket, and may have been unlucky to have taken only two wickets. The Canterbury bowling was backed up by some good ground fielding, and five food catches were taken. The fieldsmen were generally alert and moved into the ball well, particularly in the covers. Where Haworth again saved many runs. All the earlier Canterbury batsmen appeared likely to make runs, and encouraged by some rather ironical barracking they kept the scoring rate on even terms With the clock. Arnold batted slowly, but played few poor strokes until he was brilliantly caught by Fenn at first slip. The ball came hard low down to Fenn, who dived to hold it. Emery showed plenty of confidence in his innings of 28, and it was a surprise to see him mfs-time a shot to be dismissed leg before wicket. Dowker, too, was a little unfortunate to be run out, but he batted well to score 35 runs in a partnership with Guillen which added 78 runs, to place Canterbury in a fairly satisfactory position. The best, of Dowker’s shots were on the off side, where he scored most of his runs, and many of his late shots were neatly placed. Guillen was always looking for runs, and it was mainly his aggressive \jatting that Sut the Canterbury score well ahead of ie clock at the close of play. His driving was perhaps fhe best feature of his innings, but he scored frequently with powerful shots on the leg side. Fijians* Fielding

From the spectators’ point of view, perhaps the outstanding feature of the Canterbury innings was the ground fielding of the Fijian team. All fit men, they showed remarkable agility. Few mistakes were made, but when these did occur the speed of the recovery was such that few if any runs came from misfielding. When the batsmen managed to find a gap the fieldsmen set off after the ball at a great rate, sometimes from the other side of the wicket, to retrieve the ball when a boundapr appeared tq be certain. The Fijian bowling seldom appeared to be formidable, although the mediumpaoed bowlers frequently brought the ball through low. Driu was used more than the others, and he was comparatively inexpensive. A medium-paced lefthander, he has a somewhat unusual run up. and he managed to beat the bat more than once. Simmonds, another mediumpaced bowler, gave away some runs, but bowled Scott with a good ball. Fenn, the slow’ bowler, generally kept a good length, but appeared to concentrate too much on an off-side field. He had only one man on the on side, with four men on the off boundary, but the GuillenDowker partnership scored many runs by piercing the off-side field and occasionally pushed the ball to the on side well away from the solitary fieldsman. The Play Fiji made an excellent start when W. Apted and H. Apted, in a bright openmg partnership, scored 104 runs with seme delightful cricket. Starting cautiously, they relied on well-placed strokes for singles to score their early runs. From the start they hit the ball firmly and confidently, but it was not long before H. Apted became more aggressive. After a possible early chance high bewveen gully -and second slip, he took Sil of Scott. Sinclair, and Gearry with egant strokes on both sides of the wicket. Hitting his shots with supreme confidence, he reached 30 while his brother was 10, and at this stage he was by far the more impressive. W. Apted then came into the picture to score at a much faster rate, hitting any overpitched •all hard, and scoring many runs with str °k es to the off. Facing most bowling, he overtook K. Apted in *oruefi, when both batsmen were bat-

ting with delightful freedom. The total reached 100 after 82 minutes, shortly before H. Apted passed 50, but in the same over the batsman was out to an excellent catch by Arnold at mid-wicket off the bowling of Emery. It had been an entertaining partnership, full of bright cricket. For an opening partnership in first-class cricket to score 104 runs in 83 minutes is an all too rare experience. Partnered by Tuiyau, W. Apted continued to score briskly. Moving into his shots well, he drove powerfully, and with wristy deflections on each side of the wicket he gave one of the most accomplished displays of batting seen for some time. At 65, however, he was . out to another good catch, this time by Sinclair, at first slip, off Scott. Tuiyau, keen for runs, had reached 15 at lunch, and Uluiviti two. The total was 145 for two wickets. a most creditable effort. After lunch Sinclair bowled with the wind, and had an immediate success, bowling Uluiviti with a good ball. Bula, whose memorable innings of 63 and 120 against Canterbury on the last tour will long be remembered, scored 18 quick runs before he was well beaten by Scott. His total included a six off Sinclair, high over the covers. A few minutes later Tuiyau was also out. bowled by a good ball from Scott. Tuiyau had batted brightly for his 21 runs, his best scoring shot being through the covers. The partnership between Raddock and Fenn looked promising when Fenn square-cut Burtt for four with an effortless shot, but in the next over he tried to drive the same bowler out of the ground, only to be caught on the boundary by Arnold. In the 40 minutes after lunch Fiji had lost four wickets for 34 runs, and with them the grip on the game established by the Apted brothers. Further sharp reverses followed when Raddock miss-hit a pull shot off Burtt, to give Scott a high catch behind the wicketkeeper. Before a run was added Eroni was run out and eight wickets were down for 185 runs. Mara twice hit Burtt to the square leg boundary and used his reach in the next over with a similar shot that brought 200 up after 190 minutes’ batting. Driu, a lefthander, turned Sinclair for a well-run three, and in the next over from Sinclair Mara scored a good foilr to midwicket. The last ball of the over, however, bowled Driu after 32 runs had been added in the best partnership since lunch. Mara, with the end in sight, hit out at Sinclair. A two to the covers off the first tall of the over was followed by a straight drive for four off the third ball. Another two through the covers came before a beautiful, high, straight drive gave Mara the second six of the innings. In attempting another big hit. however, Mara was caught by Gearry at cover point. His 44 runs, scored in even time, made a valuable as well as an entertaining innings. Fiji’s total of 238 had been scored in 207 minutes.

Canterbury’s Innings Canterbury opened its innings with Arnold and Emery, who scored 19 in the 20 minutes’ play before the tea adjournment. Both dealt confidently with the bowling of Simmonds, a medium-pace right-hand bowler, and Driu, a left-arm bowler. After the resumption they carried on confidently, with Emery doing most of the scoring. After scoring 11 Arnold was brilliantly caught by Fenn at first slip off the bowling of Mara. Guillen, higher in the batting order than usual, joined Emery, who had then scored half of Canterbury’s 42 runs. Emery was in his best form and appeared to be well set when he swung hard at a ball from Driu and was out leg-before-wicket. Dowker, with a late cut for a single, brought 50 up in even time. A good partnership followed, with Guillen in his most aggressive mood scoring mpst of the runs while Dowker played himself in. Guillen made many runs with hard-hit drives which were his best strokes, but when he was in the thirties he was overtaken by Dowker. Fifty runs had been scored in 40 minutes with bright batting, with Dowker scoring well with effective shots to the off. Several times he found gaps in Fenn’s strong off-side field, but with his score at 35 he played a forcing shot off Fenn to H- Apted and moved down the wicket, only to be run out by a brilliant return to the wicketkeeper. The Eartnership had added 78 runs in a little etter than even time, to place Canterbury in a fairly sound position.

Partnered by Scott. Guillen reached 50 after 78 minutes’ batting, but Scott, playing his first representative game since the 1943-49 season; took some time to score his first run. Guillen moved on to 60 with a good four to square leg off Fenn, and the total reached 150 ar minute later, the last 50 runs being scored in 37 minutes. Seven runs later Scott was bowled by Simmonds by a good ball which all but removed the off stump.

Leggat and Guillen were together at stumps, when the total was 166. Guillen was still scoring well right up to the close of play, when his total was 75 not out. Scores:—

FIJI First Innings W. Apted, c Sinclair, b Scott 65 H. Apted, c Arnold, b Emery 50 N. Tuiyau, b Scott 21 N. Uluiviti, b Sinclair 2 I. L. Bula, b Scott 15 P. T. Haddock, c Emery, b Burtt 3 M. J. Fenn, c Arnold, b Burtt 5 R. K. Mara, c Gearry, b Sinclair 44 L. Eroni, run out .. .. 0 A. Driu. b Sinclair 8 M. Simmonds, not out 2 Extras .. .. .. 20 Total 238 Bowling O. M. R. W. R. H. Scott ..16 2 46 3 D. J. Reid ..9 3 17 0 G. Gearry .. 5 0 19 0 I. Sinclair ..13 2 65 3 R. W. G. Emery .. 6 1 22 1 T. B. Burtt ..17 2 50 2 Scott and Reid each bowled and Reid bowled a wide. a no -ball CANTERBURY First Innings P. T. Arnold, c Fenn, b Mara . 11 R. W. G. Emery, lbw, b Driu . 28 S. C. Guillen, not out . 75 R. T. Dowker, run out • • . 35 R. H. Scott, b Simmonds . 2 J. G. Leggat, not out Extras (11 byes) I 11 Total for four wickets . 166 Bowling O. M. R. W. A. Driu .. ..17 2 45 1 M. Simmonds .. 9 0 37 M. J. Fenn ..11 1 41 0 R. K. Mara ,.10 3 1 L. Eroni .. 6 0 29 0 H. Apted .. 1 1 0 0 The umpires are Messrs T. E Garbutt and H. C. Moore.