CRICKETERS END TOUR

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27306, 24 March 1954, Page 11

CRICKETERS END TOUR

Drawn Game At Melbourne [From the Special N.Z.P.A. Correspondent with the team! (Rec. 10.30 p.m.) MELBOURNE, March 23. The New Zealand cricket team ended its overseas matches with a creditable draw against Victoria at the Melbourne Cricket Ground today and the side’s acting captain, Sutcliffe, further distinguished himself with another century, his third in the three games the New Zealanders played in Australia.

New Zealand, 91 for. three at the close of play on the third day, took the second innings score to 312 and set Victoria the impossible task of scoring 257 in 115 minutes. When play ended, Victoria had made 108 for four wickets. ,

Sutcliffe’s innings was not one of his greatest, but it was a very spectacular affair after it had opened quietly. With Reid, he shared a partnership of 149 for the fifth wicket, during which runs came thick and fast. At one stage they added 50 in 19 r inutes, quite the quickest scoring of the tour.

It wc:; this partnership which deprived Victoria of its last chance of victory and although Sutcliffe could not be blamed for ensuring that Victoria was not given any real hope of hitting off the runs, he might have closed his innings and given his own bowlers a slightly better chance of making an impression on the opposition. For the first half-hour of the morning, Hill and Johnson held the whiphand over the batsmen and Sutcliffe scored only one run in his first 25 minutes. In this period, Mac Gibbon’s wicket was lost, but as soon as Reid joined Sutcliffe the sun shone for New Zealand. Only 86 minutes remained before lunch and the first half of this period was quite critical for New Zealand, but in that time 130 runs were scored. Sutcliffe and Reid First, Johnson was hit out of the attack and Hill made to yield runs more freely than hack seemed possible after his first few sharp overs. Cormack was hammered with real ferocity by both batsmen. In one over they took 13 runs and in the next 19, each man hitting a six. Sutcliffe’s was a towering straight hit and Reid’s one of extraordinary length. It went between mid-off and extra cover like a well-hit brassie shot and had just started to lose altitude when it crashed into the seats.

Sutcliffe took just over three hours to reach his century and inevitably his innings was splendid with the lovely strokes which he makes without any conscious effort; but it was far from a sound innings and perhaps half a dozen times he could easily have been out when he chanced his arm and found fortune his ally. It was a most useful innings for his side and although it was an exciting display, it did not compare for sheer quality with his innings at Adelaide. Reid scarcely put a foot wrong and he again hit the ball with certainty and tremendous force. To score 224 runs in the match at such speed with so few hints of fallibility against an attack including two test bowlers, was a wonderful curtain call by Reid, who was throughout the tour so often at the top of the bill. In all, Sutcliffe and Reid batted together only 97 minutes for their 194 and they were out almost together. By that time New Zealand was in an almost impregnable position, but it was good to see Overton batting, to watch him hit a four past mid-off and to note that in his fifty-fifth first-class innings he had brought his aggregate to within five runs of his first 100. Cormack capitalised on the eagerness of the later batsmen and Hill was never as easy to hit as the others. Victoria’s second innings was nothing much more than a formality, although Overton, given the new ball for a change, defeated Hallebone with a late inswinger. Towards the end the cricket became quite frivolous, in spite of the setting and in a gloomy light the batsmen risked serious injury in attempts to hit bowlers whose claims to fame are quite obscure. And so the overseas part of the tour ended with a touch of autumn in the air. When play finished 15 minutes early because of the light, about 100 Australian Rules football players swarmed on the ground and were busy kicking and running among the cricketers as they walked off the field. It gave a touch of finality to the proceedings which could not have been better arranged had weeks of thought been spent on it. Scores: — NEW ZEALAND First innings • ■ • • .. 367 Second Innings J. G. Leggat, lbw, b Hill . • • 34 F. L. H. Mooney, b Lambert • 11 M. 3- Poore, st L. Maddocks, b CorB. Sutcliffe, c Lambert, b Hiil .. 117 A. R. Mac Gibbon, lbw, b Hill .. 13 J. R. Reid, c Lambert, b Hill • • 64 T, S. M. Miller, b Cormack .. 18 J. E. F. Beck, b Dean .. .. 12 E. W. Dempster, c Johnson, b Cor-

mack .. •• •• 14 I. B. Leggat, c Dean, b Cormack .. 9 G. W. Overton, not out .. ..8 Extras (byes 3, leg-byes 3, noball 1) •• •• •• 7

Total • • • • 312 Fall of wickets: one for 14, two for 25, three for 87, four for 101, five for 250, six for 251, seven for 273, eight for 288, nine for 298. Bowling: H. Lambert, 13 overs, 3 maidens, 37 runs, 1 wicket: A. Dean, 5,0, 19, 1; P. Cormack, 18.5, 1, 101, 4; I. Johnson, 24, 8, 71, 0; J. Hill, 23, 5, 77, 4. VICTORIA First innings . • • • • • 423 Second Innings J. Hallebone, b Overton .. •• 2 H. Lambert, c Reid, b Poore .. 28 R. Maddocks, retired hurt .. ..3 J. Shaw, not out .. .. 53 J. Chambers, c J. G. Leggat, b I. B. Leggatt .. .. •• J L. Numa, b Miller .. .. •• 6 L. Maddocks, not out .. .. 13 Extras (leg-byes 2) .. -.2 Total for four wickets .. 108 Fall of wickets: one for 3, two for 47, three for 49, four for 88. Bowling: Mac Gibbon, 5,0, 8,0; Overton, 6. 3,8, 1; Poore, 7,2, 39, 1; I. B. Leggat, 5,0, 15, 1; J. G. Leggat, 1,0, 6,0; Miller, 2,0, 15, 1; Beck, 1,0, 5, 0.