Between Overs

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30055, 13 February 1963, Page 11

Between Overs

Flattering, but to deceive. is becoming a habit with the Riccarton player, G. R. Me Aula j. On

» many occasions this season j he has looked certain to ' score well, because he has t been able to time the ball i well and use his many J good strokes. But just as ; regularly, he has been { dismissed before doing » himself justice.

In rain-affected matches on Saturday in the Malvern Sub - Association's competition. Sheffield was the only team to score points from the day’s play. Sheffield now holds a commanding lead in the competition. Points are:— Sheffield 55, Darfield 37, Hororata 36. South Malvern 32. Greendale 30, Kirwee 27.

> Although he took only i three wickets in the J match, J. W. Cahill’s perJ formance for West Cbrist- » church-University against ; Riccarton was one of his * best in the senior grade » He was really fast, and in I general bowled with much i more accuracy than he J has shown in some earlier J appearances. Cahill’s 17 » wickets this season have » cost only 20 runs each, and ‘ this seems certain to be ! his most successful sumJ mer, after a difficult ap--5 prenticeship.

I B. F. Hastings (West ‘ Christchurch • University) ‘ heads the batting aggre- » gates in the senior compe- » tition with a total of 445 ‘ He is followed by J E. 1 England (425), G T. Bar- { rett (40D. A- G DuckJ man ton (369), and J W. ; D’Arcy (335) The best » averages are those of J » Ruston (44 6), Barrett and i Hastings (44 5), M L. 5 Ryan (40 6), and England J (38.6). Most wickets have • been taken by J. W Kid- • dey (40), J H Dawson J <36), B H Hopkins (33), » W. M. Duncan (29), and SN. F Curtis (28) The ! bowling averages are head- « ed by Kiddey (11.7), D • Hill (118). Dawson (12.1), ‘ B. J Crichton (13 3) and ;B. A. Bolton (13 9) T L J Haydon, with 18 dismissals, i leads the wicket-keepers, • and D. O'Malley has most J catches in the field (10). :

J. Thomson, of Old Collegians, is a bowler whose success as a wicket taker is not pronounced but he is most difficult to score off. He has the ability to close an end up and his 80 overs this season have resulted in only 194 runs.

The three leading East Christchurch-Shirley baismen, J. G. Coman, J. D. Capstick and B. A. Haworth, are having a close contest for the

highest aggregate in the club’s senior team. To date Coman leads with 306, closely followed by Capstick (305) and Haworth (299).

St. Albans will have no difficulty in finding a replacement for T. J. Haydon, its wicket-keeper, who is in the Canterbury under--23 representative team. The team has the choice of S. C. Guillen, A. N. Bailey, and J. Ruston, all of whom are more than adequate in that position.

3. W. Kiddey, of Riccarton should have little difficulty in reaching an outstanding double in the senior grade before the championship matches end. He now needs only six wickets to bring his tally to 350. and when he scores 14 more runs he will have a senior club aggregate of 3000. Very few players have shown such all-round excellence in senior cricket

In this column last week J there was a paragraph { relating to a complaint by ; a senior batsman that his J concentration had been « affected by a wicket- 5 keeper who persisted in i talking, even when the « bowler was running in. J Last Friday the writer ; received through the mail { a copy of the paragraph, J pasted on to a piece of ' paper, with these words, J typewritten, beneath it: i ‘There is no substance of ' truth in this article. It J seems to be a pathetic » excuse on the batsman's • part reflecting bad sports- » manship.” The note, of » course, was unsigned. «

But if the batsman's J complaint needed substan- J tiation, this provided it. J In the original paragraph, ; no mention had been » made of match, or teams, • or even grounds, so the * anonymous correspondent « rather gave away the fact J that something unpleasant ’ had Indeed occurred. ; Moreover, one of the » players in the match has j since told the writer (who J has confirmed it) —that a ‘ fieldsman—one with a } sense of fair play—had J advised the batsman to { appeal to the umpires. »

Two bowlers reached personal milestones in the senior round which ended on Saturday. A. G. Duckmanton brought his aggregate to 350 wickets, and R. C. Motz reached 150 wickets.

The full value of good catching and fielding was well demonstrated by East Christchurch-Shirley at Lancaster Park. The first six batsmen were all caught, and then two runout in the Park's first innings.