North Canterbury Ready For Hawke Cup Challenge

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30610, 28 November 1964, Page 11

North Canterbury Ready For Hawke Cup Challenge

TTNBEATEN last season in 1 its first year of competition, the North Canterbury Cricket Minor Association qualified to meet Nelson in a Hawke Cup challenge match, which will be played at Nelson on December 4, 5, and 7. With Nelson having a long record of successful cup defences, North Canterbury is expected to have an uphill fight, particularly as it will be weakened by the absence of two of its last year’s representatives, the wicketkeeper, R. A. Hopkins, who went on tour earlier this year with the New Zealand cricket council XJ, has transferred to Wellington, and one of the selectors, the former Auckland player, R. ,1. Booker, is nursing an injury to an achilles tendon. It will be interesting to see how the North Canterbury players stand up to the strain of a three-day match, as the cricket of most of those in the team is restricted to Saturday interclub competitions with a few representative fixtures being played on two consecutive days. North Canterbury is a strong batting side, however, with scoring strength down to No. 10. A major problem for the challengers will be in getting the strong Nelson batting side out and much will depend on the support given the bowlers by the fielding which is regarded as safe, although some fieldsmen may be slow in getting to the ball in a prolonged spell of fielding.

Whatever the outcome of the challenge, however, it will be a valuable experience for the North Canterbury team, especially the younger members. The team will be captained by A. F. Wright (Malvern), who succesfully guided the team through its first season last year. Highly

experienced in representative cricket, Wright is a forceful middle-order batsman and headed the representative averages last year with figures of more than 70. He is a useful left-arm slow bowler also and had the second best figures for the team last season.

The brunt of the bowling attack is likely to be borne by P. Blakely (Malvern). He is capable of sustaining his medium pace deliveries for long spells and for good measure he can be a stubborn tail-ender in the batting. He has played his way in to the team with consistent performances.

A former South Canterbury representative, R. Farrant (Malvern) is an attractive opening bat and a good close to the wicket fieldsman. A fluent batsman. R. McAllister (Ashley) played his way in to the teain this season. He has a wide range of strokes and has been scoring particularly well in Ashley club cricket and he is a brilliant fielder. One of the older members of the team. C. Merrin (Ashley) is an aggressive left-

hand lot and an excellent slip fieldsman. In a Hawke Cup elimination match he scored a century against Marlborough last season. Also in the team is Merrin’s 19-year-old son, Russell, who is the side's only fast bow’ler. He is the youngest member. Another of the younger group is M. Moorhead (Ellesmere), a useful all-rounder, who is a right ann medium pace bowler. He is expected to develop well with the added experience he will get in the North Canterbury team.

An aggressive right hand bat but capable of stubborn defence if the situation demands, P. Mullins is a reliable fielder too with representative experience with South Canterbury and Canterbury B. Playing in Ashley for the last tw’o seasons, A. F. Rapiey is the former Canterbury Plunket Shield off-spin bowler. A fine fieldsman, he has put up some good performances as a lower order batsman as well.

Another all-rounder is I. Sail (Ashley), who is a middle order batsman, medium-pace bowler and a very reliable slip fieldsman.

He was successful with both the bat and ball last season. A twin brother of the captain of the side, G. T. Wright, is a former Canterbury Plunket Shield batsman. He will be the team's wicket-keeper. Another member of the Wright family, N. Q. Wright, has played for Canterbury B and is a solid right-hand bat. He earned selection with some good performances in trial matches earlier In the season. Twelve players have been named for the challenge match but a decision will not be made on who will be twelfth man until the team is at Nelson.