SHIELD CRICKET Canterbury In Strong Position Against Otago

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29715, 8 January 1962, Page 14

SHIELD CRICKET Canterbury In Strong Position Against Otago

Although neither side this season has brought “Wisden” researchers back from their Christmas vacation, Otago, Canterbury and a sporting Lancaster Parte pitch provided a highly entertaining day’s cricket on Saturday. At the close Otago, with seven down for 82, was still 157 runs behind Canterbury’s first innings score.

Throughout the day the bowlers enjoyed a licence denied them usually; from a very grassy, firm pitch they could make a ball lift quickly and seam sharply. And the spinners were not discouraged either, A. M. Moir being able to turn the ball quite quickly. One partnership of particular quality gave Canterbury what was, in the conditions, a most respectable score. The stand was between the captain, A. R. Mac Gibbon, and the colt, B. G. Hadlee. They made 92 together in 76 minutes of batting which deserved the classification of first-class. Hadlee, after his recent failures, won an extremely popular success with his fine and attractive innings of 86, and Mac Gibbon played his best innings for years in making 60. The gate takings totalled £192.

The teams are:— Otago: B. Sutcliffe (captain), R. I. Long, J. W. D’Arcy. L. Pearson, R. G. Anderson, A. C. Cartwright, T. Flaws, R. Hendry, A. McK. Moir, P. C. Sesnple, N. T. Woods. Canterbury: A. R. Mac Gibbon (captain), B. A. Bolton. D. Hill, B. G. Hadlee, K. Thomson, D. L. Gallop, P. Truscott, A. G. Duckmanton, J. W. Kiddey, J. England, J. H. M. Dawson. Sutcliffe’s decision to put Canterbury in after winning the toss, the batting of MacGibbon and Hadlee, and a splendid, sustained spell of bowling by Dawson were the principal items on the spectators’ agenda papers. Each of them merited debate and reflection. Reading cricket pitches is not a profitable pastime, but Sutcliffe was certainly correct if, after examination, he thought the ball would lift and cut about after pitching. Moreover, rain had left the outfield slow, and his decision to put Canterbury in was probably wise. He might quite reasonably have expected the pitch and his side’s batting to be a little better than it was later in the day. Hadlee and Mac Gibbon provided Canterbury with its bast batting this season. Against bowlers who expected the ball to do things and who were not disappointed, they got in behind it on defence, and over it on attack —virtues sadly absent from much of Canterbury's batting this summer. Mac Gibbon's 60, in 76 minutes, was his highest for Canterbury in a shield match for 11 years, and he has never batted with more power and authority. It was a truly magnificent innings. It began with a 4 off Moir—a beautiful stroke off the back foot which sent the ball scudding through the covers —a blueprint for the batting to come. Mac Gibbon, with nine 4’s in all, made his runs from only 94 balls, a remarkably high rate, and he showed that, even when bowlers have full freedom of expression, a batting recovery need not be affected by drudgery. Hadlee’s innings was slower, as might be expected of a young player in his first shield season. But its value to Canterbury could hardly be measured. He came in at the end of the first over and was seventh out after a determined display lasting 230 minutes. He gave a sharp chance off Anderson when he was 4. but it was the faintest of flaws in a stout-hearted and extremely attractive innings.

After his magnificent form in club matches and his polished, swift 27 in his first shield innings. Hadlee has been through the fire of failure, and has emerged a finer product. His run of low scores has not, fortunately, persuaded him to abandon making aggressive strokes. On Saturday he played many of the highest quality Once, when he jumped far down the pitch to off-drive Moir to the boundary, he recalled the famous photograph of Victor Trumpet; Hadlee is at only the beginning of his career, but it is clear he has the concentration, the technique, and the range of strokes to score some handsome hundreds for Canterbury. The only other innings to admire came from Bolton, who played with complete assurance and a high degree of skill. In such form. Bolton is a most attractive batsman with many good-looking strokes and the speed between the wickets to make the most of each of them. He and Hadlee scored 45 together in 43 minutes. Indeed, it was a feature of the Canterbury innings that the runs should come so fast when tie bowlers looked so dangerous. The 200 was reached in 205 minutes, but tn the last hour only 39 were added for the loss of four wickets. Fine Partnership Much of the responsibility for this lack of progress belonged to Duckmanton, who tried hard, as ever, but who found very little in the bowling which commended itself to his more aggressive impulses. The partnership he shared with Kiddey was, however, a delight, for there have been few associations in recent times so replete with inelegancies and inadvertent snicks. Hill went in the first over, to make the list of Canterbury’s opening partnerships this season read: 0, 27, 3,1, 0. 4. 1. Thomson looked fairly sure of himself, and brought off two excellent

cuts and a pull, all for 4’s, before he got a top edge to another pull and the ball, bouncing from a shoulder, lobbed up gently to give Anderson an easy catch. Otago’s bowling was hostile, and usually accurate, throughout the innings. Anderson, a very large young man with considerable reserves of energy, bowled a little too often outside the off-stump, but he was full of violent ideas and was provided with the wherewithal to implement them. His lift, often from a length, his stock outswinger, and the one he was able to cut back occasionally, posed the batsmen problems they were hard put to answer. Anderson accounted for the first three in the Canterbury order, and it was a good one, with the second new ball, which beat and bowled Hadlee.

Woods, with his soft-footed, somnambulistic swing, yielded some runs to the eager Bolton early in the innings, but gave little away after that Cartwright more the tradesman than the artist, was also very steady and he, too, moved the ball about awkwardly. Little was seen of Semple, and Long was as prudent with his bowling as with his batting. Moir bowled some alluring overs, some in which he spent runs with prodigal abandon. He defeated MacGibbon, finally, with a very slow one of deceitful curve, but he was always a danger for he always turns the ball sharply and not everyone can , distinguish his wrong’un. Duckmanton must be numbered among those who have yet to master the art. Moir has had more successes than he won on Saturday, but he could be a vital factor later in the match.

Otago, although enjoying twice as much success as Canterbury in its opening partnerships this season, has also had a succession of failures, and this time D’Arcy was out first ball for the first time in his career. Then there was some prolonged resistance 66 minutes of it by Long, who bears a strong resemblance to the hero of television westerns. Henry Fonda, but who is not nearly so lavish with his gifts. Long depended largely on a strong right hand, a small back-lift, and a strong dislike of bowling humanity. Semple was out early, inevitably beaten by a ball from Kiddey, which cut back wickedly from outside the off-stump to take the leg. Long helped Sutcliffe add 43 for the third wicket. After taking two 4’s off Kiddey with typically cultured strokes, Sutcliffe was kept

completely on the defensive. Everything he did spoke of his mature skill, but he was rather like a philosophical prime minister who can see the fall of his government is imminent, but who is unable to forestall it He went through the motions gracefully, but he was never in charge, and little wonder, for Dawson, whose bowling on an average pitch smacks more of industry than ingenuity, was able to move the ball away from him sharply. Magnificent Catch

Long was first to go, magnificently caught by Kiddey in the slips, diving to his right. Hendry was in and out and Sutcliffe, after an hour and a quarter, was neatly taken by Hill, also in slips. Pearson gave the Innings its only red blood. He was clearly not destined to last, but his bold hits in front of the wicket and some neat deflections brought him 23 runs from the 21 balls he faced. He was well caught by Thomson when he slashed one square of the wicket. Kiddey, as might have been expected, bowled well on so lively a pitch, but Dawson won most respect. He was bursting with energy in his first over, and the fire was still there at the end of the day when he was in his twentieth consecutive over. His control of direction was very good indeed, his out-swing had the batsmen playing and missing repeatedly, and from a good length he often made the ball lift awkwardly. It was an excellent performance. If the pitch sharpened Dawson’s usual bowling weapons, he could hardly have used them more effectively. The umpires are Messrs J. Reece and L. Moore. Scores:—

CANTERBURY First Innings B. A. Bolton, lbw b Anderson .. .. .. 28 D. Hill, c Long, b Anderson 0 B G. Hadlee, b Anderson .. 86 K. Thomson, c Anderson, b Woods .. .. .. 17 D. L. Gallop, c Flaws, b Cartwright .. .. 4 P. Truscott, lbw, b Cartwright .. .. 2 A. R. Mac Gibbon, b Moir .. 60 A. G. Duckmanton, st Flaws, b Moir .. ..13 J. E. England, c Anderson, b Woods .. ~ .. 0 J. W. Kiddey, c Sutcliffe, b Cartwright .. ~ 13 J. H. M. Dawson, not out .. 2 Extras (byes 6, leg-byes 8) 14 Total .. ..239 Fall of wickets: one for 1, two for 46, three for 70, four for 83. five for 191, six for 183, seven for 217, eight for 218, nine for 237.

OTAGO First Innings J. W. D’Arcy, c England, b Dawson .. .. o R. I. Long c Kiddey, b Dawson .. .. .. 25 P. C. Semple, b Kiddey .. 1 B. Sutcliffe, c Hill, b Dawson 24 R. Hendry, lbw, b Mac Gibbon .. .. .. 0 L. R. Pearson, c Thomson, b Dawson .. .. 23 T. Flaws, b Kiddey .. o A M. Moir, not out ... 6 R. G. Anderson, not out .. 0 Extras (wide 1, no-balls 2) 3 Total for seven wickets .. 82 Fall of wickets: one for 0, two for six, three for 44, four for 52, five for 54, six for 75, seven for 76.

Bowling o. M. R. W R. G. Anderson 23 6 48 3 N. T. Woods 20 4 46 2 A. C. Cartwright 23 9 45 3 A. M. Moir 18 6 59 2 P. C. Semple 1 0 3 0 R. I. Long 8 1 24 0

Bowling J. H. M. O. M. R. W Dawson .. 20 « 45 4 J. W. Kiddey A. R. Mac12 5 17 2 Gibbon .. 7 2 17 1