LLOYD, WADSWORTH CENTURY-MAKERS Another Batting Bonanza In Drawn First Match

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31923, 26 February 1969, Page 19

LLOYD, WADSWORTH CENTURY-MAKERS Another Batting Bonanza In Drawn First Match

(From R. T. BRITTENDEN) DUNEDIN.

Carisbrook provided a batting bonanza yesterday when the West Indies match with the South Island was drawn. A splendid century by the young Nelson player, K. J. Wadsworth, and a quite memorable double century by the tall West Indies left-hander, C. H. Lloyd, were the principal contributions to a day’s tally of 448 runs.

Wadsworth gave a delightful display. but Lloyd’s innings produced some of the best and most powerful hitting ever seen on a New Zealand ground.

Strength and timing : and grace, all were there, and he finished with 205 not out. It was. all day, simply a batting exhibition on a flawless! pitch. The South Island de-! dared at 413 for eight, and. a lead of 106. In four hours,: the West Indies ran up 306 for four, with C. A. Davis! sharing a partnership of 255; with Lloyd, who hit 25 fours and six sixes. Selectors’ Choice Wadsworth must have gone a long way towards resolving the national selectors’ concern about the wicket-keeping positions for the 1969 touring team. They have already; asked the board of control to add a sixteenth player to the party so that two wicketkeepers can be taken.

Wadsworth kept wickets far better at Carisbrook than he did in the Rothman’s tournament a* Christchurch, and although he would, be more

fully tested on a less placid pitch than Carisbrook, his performance might persuade the selection panel that he would be more than merely 1 a makeshift keeper for occasional tour matches. 1 If the board adheres to its : plan to send 15 players, he is likely to make even stronger ' the claims for a touring place by his magnificent batting yesterday morning. After K. Thomson had gone, caught and bowled from a hard but firm-footed drive. Wadsworth and G. D. Alabaster had a/ partnership of 96 in 81 minutes. |'

Left-Hander’s Joy

Alabaster played a very sou-1 and attractive innings,! and enjoyed the left-hander’s! superiority over a leg-spinner who tends to drop his length,; • as D. A. Holford did yester-; day. But it was Wadsworth!

who enraptured the spectators. Fears about his inability 1 i to play slow bowling well were proven groundless, for ■ he used his feet with swift certainty. The faster bowlers ■| were driven, off back foot or ; front, with grace and power. . Seldom has a young New' Zealand batsman shown so ■ aggressive a bent, coupled ■; with such technical proficii ency. Wadsworth batted 150 J minutes, made his 103 from ■ only 128 deliveries, hit 12 fours and two sixes, and ’ wrote his name clearly in the list of outstanding performances by New Zealanders against overseas sides. It was a remarkable per- : formance by a batsman in his 1 first season of representative •■cricket and delightful to : watch a youngster driving thei ! pace bowlers with the majesty' ’ of a Hammond. But if W’adswortb batted: ' in a lyrical strain. Lloyd. • thundered out a W’agnerian: sort of innings. The percus-

sion effects were tremendously impressive but they were produced without apparent effort.

Fast And Furious | Lloyd has an unerring eye for a gap. and through it, drives with extraordinary power. Bowling of all kinds came the same to him: he hit sixes off fast and slow, the ball skimming over the fence at a speed to defeat the keenest eye. Languid in his stance to the point of indolence, he hit hammer blows all down the afternoon, and with Davis, a willing and by no means inactive assistant, the runs went from a steady stream to i a deluge. The mechanics of the af- I fair were astonishing. Lloyd i was to 50 in 58 minutes, I

reached his century 41 min- 1 utes later, passed 150 after he ; had been pounding the bowling for 139 minutes, and at| one stage followed an assault j on Alabaster which yielded 17; i runs, by taking 16 off the 1

next, bowled by J. M. Mclntyre. In just three minutes over two hours, Lloyd and Davis had added 200 runs, the second half coming in 56 minutes.

Lloyd gave two very difficult chances, at 106 and 167 but they seemed only moments apart. Mclntyre and D. G. Trist were the suffering bowlers. Lloyd’s sixth six gave him the highest score of the tour of Australia and New Zealand. Some of the sixes were monstrous blows which sent the ball above the sightscreen at the sort of height demanded by air navigation regulations. Davis, by comparison, looked drab, but he played delightfully too. It was simply that in Lloyd’s bright light, Davis’s colours were indistinguishable. Towards the end of the day, either through weariness or a sated appetite, Lloyd slowed down to what was merely brisk scoring. But 20 minutes from time he went to 195. his personal best score and duly proceeded to his 200, in 203 minutes.

Trist’s Reward Then the flagging fieldsmen had a belated reward, Trist taking Davis off his own bowling, the stand of 255 lasting 177 minutes. And when Holford. driving at one outside his off stump, was caught behind. Trist still had the energy to leap high in exultation. The South Island bowlers tried hard enough and D. A. Hadlee, in his opening spell, was faster than anyone else in the match and bowled with accuracy. He had R. C. Fredericks out hit wicket and M. C. Carew well taken by B. E. Congdon in slips, and he alone was not put to the sword although he was out of action while Lloyd was indulging in his most violent assault. Mclntyre bad his moments, when flight and length and direction subdued the batsmen briefly’, but on a pitch still looking good for another week’s play, the bowlers were simply' not good enough to control a masterly batsman in a masterly mood.

WEST INDIES First Innings (for 8 dec.) .. 307 Second Innings R. C. Fredericks hit wkt b Hadlee 9 M. C. Carew c Congdon b Hadlee 10 C. H. Lloyd not out 205 C. A. Davis c and b Trist 69 D. A. Holford c Wadsworth b Trist ... . 0 T. M. Findlay not out . . 4 Extras (4 byes, 4 leg-byes, 1 no-bail) 9 Total for four wkts .. 306 Fall of wickets: one for 19, two for 42. three for 297, four for 297. Bowling.—D. R. Hadlee. 13, 2, 54, 2: A. R. Hounsell. 7,0, 53, 0; D. G. Trist. 11. 1, 49, 2; G. D. Alabaster. 11. 0. 87, 0: J. M. Mclntyre, 11. 2, 50, 0; B. E. Congdon, 1, 0. 4. 0. SOUTH ISLAND First Innings G. M. Turner c Kanhai b King 123 B. E. Congdon c Findlay b Edwards 12 J. W. Burtt c King b Holford 16 ■ B. F. Hastings b Davis . 85 K. Thomson c and b Holford 10 K. J. Wadsworth c Findlay b Griffith 103 iG. D. Alabaster c Carew b Griffith 31 D. R. Hadlee b King 11 A. R. Hounsell not out 14| Extras (bye 1, leg-byes 5. no-balls 12) . . 18' Total for eight dec. .. 413 Fall of wickets: uno for 15, two for 75. three for 248. four! 248. five for 275. six for 372.! seven for 383, eight for 413. Bowling.—C. C. Griffith, 15.7, 2. 64. 2; R. M. Edwards, 20, 3, 60. 1; M. C. Carew. 14. 6. 46, 0: L. A. King. 23, 4. 72. 2; D. A. Holford. 22, 0, 102, 2: C. A. Davis. 12, 1. 48. 1: B. F. Butcher. 1, 0. 2,0: C. H. Llovd. 1. 0,1, 0.