Decisive Plunket Shield Match Starts Today

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31576, 13 January 1968, Page 13

Decisive Plunket Shield Match Starts Today

• TT is satisfactory that the ' -*■ luck of the draw should ' bring the two strongest - Plunket Shield teams, Cen- , tral Districts and Canterbury, together in their final matches of the series. The game, which begins at Napier today, will decide the ♦ competition, Central Dis- ' tricts having 35 points, Canterbury 31, and although Wellington still has two games to play, and 15 points, it cannot now win the contest. The Canterbury players will go to McLean Park this morning without any real knowledge of what sort of pitch to expect. In recent years there have been such extremes in its behaviour that there is no knowing whether it will assist Central Districts, which bases its attack principally on spin, or Canterbury, whose chief strength is in pace •nd seam. There have been reports of the Napier pitch being a dustbowl after a day; a slow, unresponsive, dull sort of strip; and a beautifully firm, fast surface.

Canterbury will have an extremely difficult task to win this match, particularly If either of its principal pace bowlers is handicapped by injury. Central Districts has a strong string of batsmen, led by its captain, V. Pollard, whose form in Australia and New Zealand this season has been superb. The former Canterbury batsman, M. L. Ryan, has been a pronounced success as an enterprising opening batsman, and already he has scored almost 250 runs in the shield games. P. J. Courts, who •cored 152 when Central beat Canterbury by an innings last summer, has also been having a good season, and the former New Zealand representative, M. J. F. Shrimpton, returned to form with a fine innings at Carisbrook a few; days ago. B. E. Congdon does not seem at present to be the assertive player he is at his best, but Pollard, with 375 runs in the shield matches and only four times out, and with his aggressive approach, will be a most formidable opponent The batting does not end there. M. P. Baker made a very good impression when he was at Lancaster Park

last season, and he played an innings of vital importance against Auckland. B. W. Yuile and B. L. Hampton have made many good scores in shield cricket and there are runs in the rest too. Canterbury’s batting look-

ed very suspect in the earlier shield matches, but there was a welcome consolidation and consistency in the match with Otago. The sound and attractive batting of C. L. Bull came in time to solve the problem of finding a satisfactory part-

ner for Dowling; J. W. Burtt has established himself as a number three batsman to meet another particular need of the Canterbury team, and the fine batting of K. Thomson hints at a stability about the middle batting lacking earlier. The return to the team of B. R. Taylor has lengthened Canterbury’s batting and vastly increased its attacking potential. B. F. Hastings is in excellent touch and lower in the order the presence of R. C. Motz and J. M. Mclntyre puts the team on terms with Central.

When Central took the shield last season, much of the success was that of the spinners, Pollard and Yuile; again this summer they have been a powerful force, with a total of 43 wickets at nominal cost And as Canterbury has the spin of Mclntyre to supplement its pace, Central has B. Andrews to support its spin. Andrews has had two particular successes this season and a total of 15 wickets. In fielding, Central Districts may be the stronger. Throughout the series the groundwork and catching have been of high quality. Canterbury’s catching has been better this season than usual, but many costly mistakes have been made. Canterbury needs only a first innings win in this game to take the shield, for, if the teams finish with the same number of points, the competition is decided on wicket averages, and here Canterbury has a decided advantage. But it would be unfortunate if thoughts of first innings points were uppermost in Canterbury minds; it could be a fatal mistake in targets. Central Districts, if it wins, will be only the secord team to have taken the shield in consecutive seasons since the war. If it can reach this goal, it will be a worthy winner. But the course of events may be largely a matter of pitch, and toss.