MOTUEKA CRICKET MATCH DRAWN

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31235, 6 December 1966, Page 21

MOTUEKA CRICKET MATCH DRAWN

Motueka made heavy weather of Canterbury’s bowling but easily survived any threat of defeat, at Hagley Oval yesterday.

Motueka, out for 171 after five hours and a quarter, followed on and had lost six wickets for 80 at the close of play. There was nothing very lethal about Canterbury’s pace bowling. R. C. Motz —until he injured a finger—and B. R. Taylor bowled tidily but were unable to extract particular life from the pitch. D. G. Trist did find a little bounce which perturbed the batsmen, but for a long time the game was somewhat static.

A left-hander, M. Heath, was careful, but brought off some firm attacking strokes from time to time, while his opening partner, R. Simpson, became the subject for a study in time and lack of motion. He batted just over three hours for 16 runs. The overthrow of the New Zealand representative, B. E. Congdon, was a disappointment, and after an opening stand of 52 in 98 minutes, Motueka lost its sixth wicket

at 84, mainly because B. C. Irving found the pitch helpful to his off-spin. Irving bowled skilfully, varying pace, length and spin, and occasionally running the ball away quite sharply. Diffident defence against him brought poor rewards—at one stage he had 4 for 15 from 16 overs. Some of the later batsmen, notably D. Burrows (who scored a century against Canterbury B last season), G. Milnes and W. Curtain showed more aggression, and Motueka’s last four wickets added 87.

The left-arm spin of J. M. Mclntyre also won respect, but it was sad to see Motz injured, so near the start of the Plunket Shield season. He has cracked a bone in the index finger of his right hand. In the Auckland test last summer he suffered a similar injury. He will not know the full extent of the Injury until the end of the week. Motueka struggled again in its second innings, although Congdon, after being troubled by Irving, made some fine onside strokes in scoring a halfcentury. Only the fact that the pitch suited the spinners allowed Canterbury to achieve a bowling rate of 18 overs an hour. CANTERBURY First Innings 307/5 declared MOTUEKA First Innings M. Heath, c Taylor, b Irving 32 R. Simpson, lbw, b Irving .. 16 B. E. Congdon, c Hastings, b Trist .0 I. R. Hampton, c Hastings, b Irving .5 I. Henderson, c sub, b Irving .. 11 D. Burrows, c Isherwood, b Taylor .. 25 M. Win, run out .. 0 G. Milne, c Hastings, b Irv. ing .34 I. Thorn, c Dowling, b McIntyre 3 W. Curtain, not out .. 19 T. Beatson, b Mclntyre .. 1 Extras (byes 13, legbyes 4, no-balls 8) ..25 Total ..171 Bowling: R. C. Motz, 13, 6, 15, 0; B. R. Taylor, 17, 7, 28, 1; B. C. Irving, 33, 16, 41, 5; D. G. Trist, 13, 3, 32, 1; J. M. McIntyre, 21.4, 8, 30, 2.

Driver Injured.—The racing driver, R. Bojes (Venezuela), was critically injured when his Ferrari crashed during the Nassau Trophy race in the Bahamas on Sunday. The event was won by M. Donahue (United States) in a Lola-Chevrolet in a record average speed of 105.65 miles an hour. S. Scott, driving a McLaren-Ford, was second. Improving.—The New Zealand University half-back, D. Hogg (Wellington), who was injured in a car accident and has been a patient in the Palmerston North Hospital for the last week, is now off the seriously ill list.

Second Innings M. Heath, lbw, b Taylor .. 7 I. R. Hampton, st Isherwood, b Irving .. 7 B. E. Congdon, c Irving, b Hadlee .. 54 I. Henderson, b Mclntyre .. 2 D. Burrows, st Isherwood, b Mclntyre .0 R. Simpson lbw, b Hastings 0 M. Win, not out .. 6 G. Milnes, not out .. 0 Extras (byes 2, leg-byes 2) .. .. 4 Total for six wickets 80 Bowling: B. R. Taylor, 10, 4, 24, 1; D. G. Trist, 6,2, 7,0; B. C. Irving, 16, 10, 29, 1; J. M. Mclntyre, 5,3, 9,2; B. F. Hastings, 4,3, 48, 1; G. T. Dowling. 2,0, 3,0: C. L. Bull, 1,1, 0,0; B. G. Hadlee, 1,1, 0, 1.