NEW DAY BRINGS CONTRAST Docile Batting After Delayed Start

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30947, 31 December 1965, Page 15

NEW DAY BRINGS CONTRAST Docile Batting After Delayed Start

(By

R. T. Brittenden)

From being a Tower of Babel on Wednesday afternoon, Lancaster Park assumed an almost cathedral calm yesterday when Northern Districts proceeded unspectacularly to 238 for eight wickets against Canterbury, in the 310 minutes’ play possible after the late arrival of the visiting team.

The cricket was not without interest, but it was certainly unexciting, and when all was done there were not many shots to remember.

Northern Districts showed perseverance, with a succession of useful partnerships, and its total, if not large, has given it a very lively interest in this game, for yesterday afternoon the Canterbury off-spinner M. L. Ryan was turning an occasional ball sharply enough t o whet the appetite of the Northern Districts bowler, N. Puna.

The game did not begin until 12.45 p.m. because of the travelling delays on Wednesday. The Northern Districts team left Tauranga on Wednesday afternoon by bus for a trip of two hours and a half to Frankton Junction. There they caught the express to Wellington, which did not number sleeping cars among its attractions. Straight from the station to the airport, straight on to an aircraft, and from Harewood, straight to Lancaster Park, unfed and unwatered. Little wonder a respite of an hour or so was arranged. But it was Canterbury which looked as if it had been out all night. The pace bowling was not good this time, and the fielding too wasraither as it had been on the first day of t’ e Auckland match. Six chances were missed, some of them difficult ones, but not all of them expensive. But it was a disappointing display by a team which the previous day had taken a firm step forward towards retaining the Plunket Shield. Little Gained The pitch looked grassy, but played well. Canterbury’s bowlers wasted far too much time and energy digging the ball in to it in search of lift. Perhaps the hip-high ball looks venomous and spectacular, but it does not achieve very' much when it is pitched about half a length. It may be that the persistent dropping of length by Canterbury yesterday was an echo of the warfare with Auckland, for in that game, on a rather livelier pitch, the short-pitched flier and the bouncer were far too commonplace. Canterbury suffered a grievous loss with the Withdrawal of R. C. Motz, nursing a thigh muscle injury sustained in the field. It is unlikely that

Motz will be able to bowl again in this match.

W .J. Mitchell was unable to come to Christchurch through illness, and J. A. Beuth came into the Northern Districts team. P. A. Sharp is again twelfth man for Canterbury. The teams are:— Northern Districts.—B. Sutcliffe (captain), E. C. Petrie, G. V. Giles, W. P. Bradburn, H. T. Schuster, J. Bailey, N. Puna, M. C. Pocock, K. Kennedy, J. A. Beuth and B. Dunning. Canterbury.—B. F. Hastings (captain), B. G. Hadlee, I. R. Hartland, K. Thomson, R. C. Motz, G. A. Bartlett, B. R. Taylor, G. W. Henry. M. L. Ryan, D. L. Gallop, and J. M. Mclntyre. Welcome Again It was good to see Sutcliffe at Lancaster Park again, for if he did not play the fast bowlers with his former elegance, he struck some swift and telling blows. The silver tongue of Sutcliffe’s batting oratory has enraptured thousands of New Zealanders, and it is not yet stilled. Yesterday he tended to spar at the many short-pitched ones bowled to him, but from time to time he square cut with fine timing. Bradburn played a masochistic sort of innings, taking thump after thump without apparent concern. He gave a most courageous display lasting 143 minutes, with some strong on-side strokes bringing runs. With the assistance of what seems to be Canterbury’s regular supply of no-balls and byes, these batsmen started at a jaunty pace— 22 in the first 15 minutes—and their opening partnership of 68 took them only 80 minutes. Sutcliffe fell to yet another brilliant catch by Thomson, this time at extra cover. Mclntyre deceived Giles with flight and bowled him and then disposed of Schuster with a full toss. When Motz threw one up to Bradburn the surprise was too much, and it bowled him, making Northern Districts 102 for four. ■ Forceful Play The solidly-built left-hander, Dunning, made the most positive contribution of the day from either side. He punched the ball hard whenever a forcing stroke was possible, and he took 14 from one over by Mclntyre, with two fine fours and a magnificent 6 hit high on to the embankment near the scoreboard. Bartlett bowled him with a beauty but Bailey and Petrie scored 46 together before Mclntyre persuaded Bailey it was possible to hit a ball at least halfway to the Cashmere Hills; he missed. Petrie is an anonymous little batsman, but it is not simply for attendance that he has won the prize of having the highest aggregate for Northern Districts in its Plunket Shield years. He chops a ball away there, deflects it there and from time to time gathers in runs with a square drive, made on the move. More than that, he concentrates and he tries desperately hard. He did an excellent job for his side yesterday for after Bailey had gone he had Puna help him add 37 for the seventh wicket. Petrie plays his shots extraordinarily late, but effectively.

Short But Tried Canterbury took the new ball about 20 minutes before stumps, and Taylor claimed Petrie’s wicket with it, but Northern Districts came out of the day rather better than Canterbury. Although he bowled too short to allow the ball to do anything, Motz was again a tremendoues trier. He was bowled from the start of play

fur two hours and a half, save for about 15 minutes. Bartlett started badly, but was considerably better later and Taylor was not the bowler of the previous morning. Mclntyre did very well. His teasing flight worried the batsmen, particularly the more firm-footed one, and he turned the ball quite appreciably. He might easily have had a far better return.

But for a bowler who indulges in the subtleties of left-arm spin, Mclntyre is remarkably ingenuous when he decides to bowl a faster one, for he then comes charging in as though going to a fire. Ryan bowled quite usefully but Gallop, who had a chance to earn himself a long bowl, lost his length early. The fielding did not help Canterbury. Sutcliffe, at 11, gave Bartlett, at gully, a very difficult chance, with a firm slash, off Taylor. Bailey, when nine, gave Mclntyre a return catch which was dropped: Bailey, at 21, was missed by Taylor at slip off Gallop; Petrie, when 12, snicked a catch past Taylor at slip off Mclntyre; Puna, at six, was missed by Gallop, at slip, off Ryan and he was dropped by Hartland in the slips off Bartlett the ball before he was caught there.

The drain of extras is a telling one. So far, Canterbury’s opponents this season have made 589 runs off the bat, and Canterbury has added 99 to that total. It is not the fault of the young wicket-keeper, Henry, who has launched himself into space unavailingly more often than Cape Kennedy ever knew. The no-ball habit of Bartlett, in particular, but also of Motz and Taylor, is not helping the team to settle down.

Perhaps some reaction to the excitement of the Auckland game was inevitable, but there was a dreadful period in mid-afternoon yesterday when the bowling was illdirected, the extras were coming, and the side seemed to lose its grip, with the throwing also declining in standard.

The hours of play today are from 10 a.m. to 6.15 p.m., tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 5.35 p.m., with an extra halfhour available if requested by either side. Canterbury could use it—for fielding practice.