Plunket Shield

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27875, 25 January 1956, Page 12

Plunket Shield

The Plunket Shield season ended on a note of excitement. Seventeen more runs would have given Central Districts a win that would have brought it level with Canterbury on shield points. As it happened, the shield was not at stake, because even had Central Districts won, Canterbury’s better wicket average would have won the shield. Nevertheless, the narrow victory Canterbury achieved in the last few minutes of the match at Napier enabled it to win the shield convincingly, by accumulating the maximum number of points. The quality of cricket in the Plunket Shield series suffered from the absence of 14 of New Zealand’s best players from the country. Each Plunket Shield district had leading players away. Though Otago probably suffered most, Canterbury’s normal strength was substantially lowered, particularly in the bowling. But the absence of the country’s leading players gave some unknowns and some young players opportunities in first-class cricket. Canterbury tried some youngsters, to whom the experience should be valuable; and it was pleasing to see reinforcements to the team’s bowling strength drawn from South Canterbury. It would be invidious to single out particular players, because Canterbury’s success was achieved as a team; the side’s team work was displayed most effectively in the field, where the standard was better than for some seasons. But the team would be first in acknowledging and paying tribute to the special contributions of two players. The batting of the former West Indies cricketer, S. C. Guillen, was, in its skill and consistency, a class above the rest; and the captain, R. T. Dowker, not only fully justified his

place with the bat and in the field, but led the team very well. To Dowker and his team the people of Canterbury will extend hearty congratulations on the notable achievement of establishing Canterbury as the premier cricketing province in the 1955-56 season.