AUCKLAND BEATEN

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28181, 21 January 1957, Page 10

AUCKLAND BEATEN

Wellington’s Innings Win

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON. January 20.

Another great spell of bowling by R. W. Blair, who took nine wickets for 72 runs in Auckland's first innings, supported by vastly improved catching.’ and also effective bowling by L. A. Clark and E. W. Dempster in the second innings, paved the way for an outright win in two days by Wellington in the Plunket Shield match at the Basin Reserve yesterday. Blair has now taken 36 wickets in four Shield games. He needs only two to equal the record of 38 set by T. B. Burtt in four games in 1950-51.

In taking nine wickets for the second time in the same season in a shield series, Blair placed himself in a class of his own among the records. He had a brief spell in the second innings, .and a great cheer went up when he took another wicket, but he then retired to receive treatment for his thigh injury, which is not regarded as serious. Wellington thus has a splendid fighting chance in the shield competition. the fate of which looks like being decided in the match between Otago and Wellington at Dunedin beginning next Friday. Auckland’s poor batting shocked most of th* onlookers. With the usually dour and stubborn G. O. Rabone failing for the first time this season with the bat in Shield games. Auckland had few others with firstclass batting technique. D. D. Taylor stood head and shoulders above his colleagues for stroke play, but in the first innings he revealed unexpected indiscretion for a batsman of his experience in pulling a short ball from Blair right into the hands of E. W. Dempster on the square-leg boundary.

Perry’s Good Match D. L Perry had a very good match, with 78 and 46. Apart from too great a tendency for an opening batsman to flick at rising off deliveries, he played well down the line of flight. In the first innings he was yorked by Blair. In the second innings he was brilliantly caught at second slip by L. A. Clark off a ball from Blair, which moved away late from his bat.

c P l 6 r est of the Auckland batting -nu ,on S way below expectations. The first innings slump, in particular came as a jolt, as Perry and R. M. Harris, a solidly built young batsman with a ton of concentration, but few shots, took the score from 19 for one to 105. The remaining batsmen added only 58 more

In the second innings, Auckland was dealt a quick setback from which they never recovered by L A. Clark, who did not bowl in the first innings and welcomed the opportunity to have the use of the new ball, instead of Blair. Clark dismissed Rabone and Harris without score, the first two wickets falling for six runs. Tall and making good use of his powerful shoulders. Clark moved the ball both ways cleverly, and his four wickets for 46 runs off 26 overs represented a worthy effort. ♦u E ' 'X. Dem Pster, who bowled well throughout the game without much success, got three wickets—a welldeserved, if meagre, reward. Scores:—

Total •• .. ..163 Bowling

WELLINGTON First innings 332 AUCKLAND First Innings G. O. Rabone. lbw, b Blair D. L. Perry, b Blair .. 78 R- M. Harris, c Barber, b Blair 25 D- D. Taylor, c Dempster, b Blair 0 S. G Gedye, b Blair 0 B J. Postles, c Morrison, b Blair 0 W. R. Playle, c Curtis, b Blair .. T. S. Hambrook, b Dempster .. u E. Dunn, c Dempster, h Blair .. 0 B J. Sorenson, c Vance, b Blair 8 H. Moyle, not out Extras (leg-byes 5) .. ’’ 5

o. M. R. W. R. W. Biair .. 35 9 72 9 B. D. Morrison 23 8 47 0 E. W. Dempster 26 9 38 A. H. Preston 1 1 0 0 Second Innings Rabone. c Morrison, b Clark . 0 Perry, c Clark, b Blair .. 46 Harris, c Morrison, b Clark . 0 Taylor, run out .. . 18 Gedye. st Curtis, b Dempster . 22 Postles. c Barber, b Dempster Playle, b Preston . 17 Hambrook, c Morrison, b Clark Dunn c Barber, b Clark 0 Sorenson, run out 0 Moyle, not out .. in Extras (byes 5, leg-byes 1) 6 Total . 121 Bowling O. M. R. W. L. A. Clark .. 26 9 46 4 B. D. Morrison 12 33 0 E. W. Dempster 15 6 20 2 R. W. Blair . . 4 0 15 A. H. Preston 1 1 0 1