CENTRAL RETAINS PLUNKET SHIELD Triumph For Spinners Despite Dowling’s 110

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31579, 17 January 1968, Page 17

CENTRAL RETAINS PLUNKET SHIELD Triumph For Spinners Despite Dowling’s 110

(New Zealand Press Association)

NAPIER. Central Districts retained the Plunket Shield when they beat Canterbury on the first innings at Napier yesterday. Canterbury was all out for 226 in reply to the Central Districts first-innings total of 469 for nine declared.

This left Canterbury 243 runs behind and in its second innings the score was five for 74 at stumps.

The match finished disappointingly at 5.30 p.m. after Central Districts had claimed

several early wickets and their captain, V. Pollard, sensed the possibility of an outright decision. B. Andrews ended with the excellent figures of three wickets for nine runs in the second innings, but when it looked as if the Central Districts attack might break through, G. T. Dowling and K. Thomson put up the shutters and to a chorus of slow hand-clapping and jeering, the match ended dismally. The over-all honours for retaining the shield belong to the Central Districts spinners, B. W. Yuile and Pollard.

Yuile, after scoring a fine 146, took six wickets for 68 runs in a remarkable spell of bowling while the attack at the other end netted four wickets for 28 runs for Pollard.

The highlight of the Canterbury innings was a splendid 110 by Dowling whose century came in 188 minutes and included two sixes and 14 fours.

Dowling’s innings was a fine captain’s stand, but his fellow batsmen were unable to cope with the bowling of Yuile and Pollard. Although the Canterbury intention was to score runs quickly, most of its batsmen were out attempting to save their wickets.

Dowling was out when he tried to loft a ball from Yuile and was caught after a run of about 20 yards by Pollard. Dowling was dropped on 96, but otherwise his innings was a display of unfamiliar aggression. The Central Districts fielding was a feature of the play with lightning-fast returns and neat ground handling. The Canterbury second innings opened sensationally with J. T. Ward and J. W. Burtt both being dismissed without scoring. But for the stand of Dowling and Thomson, Central Districts might well have scored an outright win.