Encouraging Performances In Plunket Shield Games

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28800, 22 January 1959, Page 5

Encouraging Performances In Plunket Shield Games

fJHE performances of some of the players new to first-class cricket lent considerable interest to this season’s Plunket Shield programme, and there are firm indications that the lowest ebb in New Zealand batting may have been passed. There were 20 new Plunket Shield players this summer; some of them made only one or two appearances, but several showed really encouraging form. It does not mean that New Zealand suddenly has a good array at batsmen for test cricket; it has in the past been far too easy for a player to win test status on one or two performances. But the new group, with experience in the next season or two, should develop well, and three or four of the new players, at least, should improve sufficiently, to be regarded as of international standing.

Otago Newcomers Otago had three new players, S. McKnight, a country player who opened the innings in the first four matches, made a few runs but did nothing to suggest he was a discovery, even in the rather barren cupboard of New Zealand cricket But M. R. Edmunds, the new wicket-keeper, had a tally of 13 dismissals. The Canterbury record for a season is IS, held by S. C. Guillen, and Edmunds’ was a good effort for a first season, although he had the assistance of an accomplished spin bowler, A. McK. Moir. The left-arm pace bowler, N. Woods, took six wickets in an Innings In his first match, had only 17 overs for 19 runs in his second match, and was then rather inexplicably dropped. But he returned for the vital match against Wellington, when he helped substantially in the Wellington first-innings collapse. Auckland’s newcomers were S. G. Gedye, B. Bodie and R. Sutton. Bodie played only once and little was seen of his pace bowling. Sutton, a left-arm opening bowler, did nothing really spectacular, but picked up wickets consistently. At number 11 he showed remarkable coolness, and is clearly a player with a fine temperament. Kf-wtacn *on’*cfie-gdinfe •t.uai.Bt istrahans but IB or gr e by Kurdistan—4 Wellington Wl3 and he also held Canterbury up, almost fatally. Rodney Reid

Four new players appeared for Wellington, and Rodney Reid was the most interesting of them. His medium-paced bowling was remarkably steady, he averaged 25 with the bat, and he finished the series with a hat-trick against Otago. He could become a very useful all-rounder for Wellington. L Brennan had moderate success as a batsman, J. H. Bray failed in his two games, but B. G. A, Murray, put into the side straight after the Brabin tournament in which he was so successful, started with an innings of 48 against the hard-headed Central Districts bowling. Two medium-paced bowlers ap-

peared in the Northern Districts team for the first time. J. Harper played only once, but J. Wright, after a depressing start against Wellington—one for 122 off 33 overs, with J. R. Reid thrashing all the bowling—did well against Canterbury with a match analysis of five for 103 off 42 overs. The team with most new players was Central Districts, which tried out six.

Unsuccessful

P. Coutts, a New Zealand University batsman, P. Newman, a Nelson batsman—a son qf a former Wellington representative A. Newman—and D. Armstrong, a

left-arm slow bowler, were not successful. L. Reade, also from Nelson, made two useful scores in his four innings, and although his figures were poor, G. Rose, a schoolboy from Palmerston North, impressed with the grace of his left-hand batting. The most likely Central Districts newcomer was the young pace bowler O. Bartlett, of Marlborough. His 10 wickets cost him 30 runs apiece, but at Lancaster Park he was a distinctly unlucky bowler, and he suffered similar misfortunes against Wellington. Fully fit, he is almost certainly the fastest . bowler in the country today. Greet Promise Canterbury bad only two new players. J., England kept wicket in the first match, and G. T. Dowling played in every game as ■a batsman of unusual promise. He failed badly at Otago, but a good score in each of the other four games, and his average of 32.1 put him only a few decimal points behind J. W. D’Arcy and B. A. Bolton. They finished behind the determined little A. F. Rapley, who was six times not out in eight innings, and who averaged 39.

To this grdup of new players may be added another group of youngsters with most of their cricket ahead of them—D’Arcy, Bolton, N. Thompson of Otago, Rapley and R. C. Motz, A. E. Dick, J. Sparling and the enigmatic W. R. Playle. These are the players who require encouragement and as much first-class play as possible, for on them the restoration of New Zealand's cricketing fortunes will largely depend.