Best Cricket Season For Many Years

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29101, 13 January 1960, Page 9

Best Cricket Season For Many Years

YVHATEVER may happen in ’’ the match now being played against Northern Districts, the 1959-60 season must be regarded as the best for Canterbury for many years. On the basis of results, Canterbury has not done so well since the triumph of 195556, when all four games wfere won outright. In 1956-57 Canterbury was fourth with 14 points, in 1957-58 sixth with six points. In those seasons eight points were awarded for outright wins, and this has since been increased to 10. Last season Canterbury scored 22 points and was fourth. From its first four games this season Canterbury scored 25 points. But results do not tell the full story of the vitality of Canterbury cricket. The one major fault has been catching. Against Otago, and in the second innings against Central Districts, some very fine catches were taken, particularly by G. T. Dowling and S. C. Guillen. But in the first four games no fewer than 33 chances were missed. In other respects the season has given very considerable satisfaction. Aggressive Canterbury has shown that aggressive batting can restore seemingly lost situations. The captain, M. E. Chapple, has done his side wonderful service in this respect. He has scored quickly, time and again, without taking anything more than calculated risks. But there has been good batting, less regularly, from other members of the side. There was much delightful cricket in the Otago match, and the Auckland game provided many passages of sustained excitement Canterbury was well beaten by Wellington, where catching lapses again played a vital part, and where Canterbury was distinctly unfortunate to have to be first in the field with a gale blowing.

Tire bowling has been very good throughout the series. A. R. Mac Gibbon had one particularly fine spell against Central Districts, at a most vital stage of the match. R. C. Motz is a distinctly improved bowler. His performance in Wellington’s second innings, and on the last afternoon against Central Districts, were very good indeed, and be has won respect from opponents and critics wherever he has played. Moreover, four particularly valuable innings he has played point to his excellent temperament. Good Service

Chapple, B. A. Bolton and G. D. Alabaster, none of them sharp spinners, have nevertheless given their side very good service, and J. W. Kiddey has usually given the bowling its backbone. His persistence and accuracy have been invaluable. His greatest effort was

one which will look very ordinary in the score-book. At Wellington he bowled 30 overs, without taking a wicket, into a wind which often reached a speed of 70 miles an hour. It was a dreadful day for bowling, for even those bowling down-wind found it difficult to achieve a proper balance. Recoveries But Canterbury’s chief contributions to cricket this summer have been the fighting recoveries. The Auckland game provided two of them, there was a good recovery against Wellington, and in the Central Districts match Canterbury won from a very difficult position. The spirit and fierce aggression Canterbury showed in the field on <s '>turday afternoon were astonishing. j Whether ecu.erbury wins the Plunket Shield or not is of very little moment. What the side has done is to restore a proper sense of values to the game. It is time that batting of the spirit Canterbury has shown comes back into the game generally.