All-Round Strength Was St. Albans Secret

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30711, 29 March 1965, Page 14

All-Round Strength Was St. Albans Secret

(By a Staff Cricket Reporter)

St. Albans, perhaps the steadiest and the most competent team in the senior competition, fully deserved to win the senior championship for the second successive year. The team did not provide any players for the Plunket Shield side but it contained a wealth of experience in P. G. Z. Harris, S. C. Guillen and M. B. Poore; was astutely led by A. N. Bailey and possessed that requirement of modern cricket, an accurate medium-paced attack.

T. L. Jones, K. I. Ferries and A. R. Taylor delivered up runs parsimoniously and M. B. Poore and P. G. Z. Harris, who often operated under the guise of off-spinners, also were steady and accurate.

J. W. Burtt ,a leg-spinner, was like the swan among the ugly ducklings for his generous spin often gave away runs quickly but he, too, claimed his fair share of wickets. St. Albans’ greatest virtue was its ability under pressure and its policy of always seeking a win no matter how hopeless the position appeared. Brilliant Recoveries Against Riccarton it snatched an amazing victory when Burtt took three wickets in the last over, while against West-University Poore took the last wicket when three runs were needed by West for a win. West-University, a team with an array of leading cricketers, lost its chance of winning the title when it was in a favourable position in the last round, but before that it had squandered chances by failing to beat Lancaster Park and East-Shirley outright when both teams had nine wickets down in their second innings. B. F. Hastings was very much the mainstay of the team but too often the side failed to capitalise on Hastings’s performances. J. R. Veitch and G. T. Dowling regularly made useful contributions but it was left to G. A. Bartlett to bolster some unstable performances. The bowling was adequate. Bartlett, if not quite at his

best form, could be unsettling with his pace and A. C. Timpson and P. A, Sharp were a potent pair of spinners, both taking more than 50 wickets. Old Boys, a dangerous side when set a target of scoring runs quickly, had some notable wins but its attack was not quite good enough to beat a strong team outright in two days. The batting was good and the team always scored at a brisk rate. B. G. Hadlee had another good season, if not being quite as convincing as in other years, but C. J. Stevens disappointed and it was left to the experienced players, D. Hill and B. A. Bolton, and the lusty hitting of W. R. Barberel, to bring in good scores. Batting Unstable

For a team with its batting talent, Sydenham suffered some disastrous batting collapses and it was this instability which prevented it from filling a higher position.

K. Thomson had a very good season and W. Thomson, D. L. Gallop and R. W. Thomas had their moments of aggressive scoring. Potent Spinners The spinners, Gallop and B. J. Salt, were the mainstays of the attack. Both were called on to bowl many overs, mainly because Sydenham lacked an effective opening pair.

Riccarton suffered from the absence of R. C. Motz but always it was a useful side. Lancaster Park did not have enough batting strength to challenge the leading teams although its bowlers, B. C. Irving, B. Andrews, and A. G. Duckmanton, performed well. East-Shirley and Old Collegians fared miserably. The only wins they gained were at the expense of each other. Neither team really measured up to senior status although East-Shirley did perform a bit better than its record indicates.