Inter-Island Cricket Games Have Been Close

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28370, 31 August 1957, Page 5

Inter-Island Cricket Games Have Been Close

’T'HE decision to hold an interisland cricket match next season to assist in the selection of the team for the 1958 tour of England will be widely welcomed. Although it is more than 90 years since representative matches were first played in New Zealand, there have been dnly six NorthSouth matches, and all but the last of them were marked by particularly interesting cricket.

The first inter-island match was at Wellington in 1903-04 season, and the South Island had two Australians to thank for its victory. North scored 196 (F. R. Mason 36, J. J. Mahoney 54) and South 168 (K. Ollivier 48, J Baker 32, S. Orchard 37 not out). When North scored 156 in its second innings, C. Oliff made 49, Mahoney 31, and the former Australian test player, S. T. Callaway, took 4 for 19. When play began on the last morning South had scored 59 for five wickets, but Callaway and another Australian, H. Graham, batted most aggressively, Graham driving with tre- [ mendous power. He scored 60, - Callaway 63 not out. The famous [Canterbury *keeper, C„ Boxshall. [came in at number 10 and helped ; Callaway give South a two- • wickets win.

Second Game The second match was at Christchurch in 1921-22, and was won by North by five wickets. On a rain-affected pitch, South scored 169 (W. R. Patrick 39, E. R. Neale 37 not out; C. F. Alicott 5 for 45). After losing eight for 130, North scored 244, with Alicott (40) and W. A. Barclay <67 not out) scoring 113 for the ninth wicket G. Dickinson took 4 for 77, T. Carlton 4 for 56. In South’s second innings R. C. Blunt scored 50, Patrick 32, A. W. Alloo 35, Neale 52, D. Sandman 37. D. R. Garrard took 4 for 61, and Alicott completed a great match personally by taking 4 for 79. North finished the match with 183 for five, the aggressive J. S. Hiddleston making 68 and N. C. Snedden 37.

In 1934-35 the third match Was [ played, at the Basin Reserve, and it gave the South a fine victory. North scored 212 (E. W. Tindill 53, H. G. Vivian 49) and the . Canterbury pace bowler, S. [Andrews, took 4 for 53. South ' replied with 231 <C.' J. Oliver 58, ! D. A. R. Moloney 70, W. A. Hadlee [39 not out). North then ran up [329 (P. E. Whitelaw 57, Tindill '7O, Vivian 59. V. Sale 43; I. B. Cromb 4 for 54). This left South [ a fairly difficult task, but the team scored 313 for four wickets (K. F. M. Uttley 46, Oliver 71, Moloney 71, Cromb 43 ' not out, Hadlee 53 not out).

Pitch Changed In the last of the war-time seasons an inter-island match was played at Eden Park, but the match was a peculiar one, with a change of pitch necessary during its course. North scored 162 <W. M. Wallace 37; T. B. Burtt 6 for 67) and South 95 (Burtt 23; W. J. Wheeler 4 for 21, A. Matheson 3 for 19). North scored 194 (Wallace 60, C. Kerr 55 not out), L. A. Butterfield had taken 5 for 9 from 12 overs when he had to leave the field with an injury.. South made a determined effort, but failed by 34 runs. The team made 227 (Cromb 62. Butterfield 58, W. McD. Anderson 36. Uttley ■3O; Matheson 5 for 50). [ One of the best games in the [series was the 1947-48 match at [Carisbrook. South began with Hadlee and J. G. Leggat scoring [ 141 for the first wicket, and made

364 (Hadlee 149, a lovely innings, Leggat 53, F. B. Smith 43, D. S. St. John 47; R. McK. Murray 4 for 71). North headed this total by one run (W. M. Wallace 120, V. J. Scott 33, J. R. Reid 66, R. J. Kemp 59;"R. H. Scott 6 for 98). South declared at 371 for eight wickets (Hadlee 35, St. John 63, R. H. Robinson 77, and the youthful P. W. O’Malley an elegant 132 not out). Needing 371 runs. North lost its seventh wicket at 347, but B. Sutcliffe was in his most masterful form. With Scott (45) he scored 110 for the second wicket, and with Wallace (59) 97 for the third. Sutcliffe fairly flayed the bowling towards the end, and he finished with 208 not out, with North winning by only two wickets not long before time. The most recent inter-island game was the most disappointing. It was at Christchurch in 1954-55, when North scored 294 (G. O. Rabone 67, L. S. M. Miller 32, J. B. Morris 34, J. Guy 81 not out, I. Colquhoun 35; J. A. Hayes 4 fc. 77, A. Moir 4 for 77) and South 165 for four wickets (M. E. Chapple 71 not out, L. A. Watt 37 not out) before rain in the middle of the second day ended the match.