Dramatic senior cricket win by St Albans

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32455, 16 November 1970, Page 17

Dramatic senior cricket win by St Albans

A century of club cricket at Hagley Oval has provided enough tense finishes to fill several books. But it is doubtful if a close-fought match has produced a more spectacular finale than that with which St Albans beat Old Boys on Saturday,

No doubt there have been many occasions on which the last man has hit a 6 or lost his wicket in the final seconds of play. But St Albans brought back memories of the famous Brisbane tied test by effecting three run-outs in four balls, to snatch victory by tw o runs.

A film of it would have •old readily throughout the cricket world. In this softest and most restful of settings, it was high drama.

When the last over began Old Boys needed four runs to win, and had three wickets standing. G. W. Henry took strike to G. Walklin, and he and his partner, D. R. Hadlee, attempted to run a bye as the ball passed through to the wicketkeeper, L. Smith. But Smith got the ball back to the bowler’s end, or thereabouts, and a scuffle of fieldsmen broke the wicket before Henry had made his ground.

Hadlee drove Walklin for a single, so that A. R. Hounsell faced Walklin. He brought off a drive of fearful force, barely off the ground. Walklin made a mag-

nificent attempt at a caught and bowled, but as sprawled on the ground the ball left his hand. The batsmen were running, and A. L. Fleete, with extraordinary rapidity, got the ball and threw down the stumps from a range of 10 yards. So Hadlee had the strike again and he hit the ball firmly towards mid-wicket. His partner, G. Allen, who was backing up eagerly, but not dangerously, was sent back; but before he could get home, J. Knowles, 20 yards away, had shattered the wicket with a superbly fast, straight throw. Such matters of moment sometimes hang by slender threads. When Fleete and Knowles made their spectacular throws, here was no-one in a backing-up position, events moved so quickly. So that had either missed the wicket by a millimetre, there would have been overthrows and St Albans would have lost.

Although thoroughly in command from first to last, WestChristchurch, the other team to win outright, was kept waiting until four minutes from time before the final run and victory came over East-Shlrley.

The other two matches were drawn, but both had interesting finishes. Old Collegians lost eight wickets to Rlccarton then held on for a draw. Sydenham, needing quick runs to beat Lancaster Park, scored them at very brisk speed for a while, but then lost wickets, to finish 20 runs short and two wickets in hand.

Scores:— Rlccarton 117/7 declared and

156/2 declared, drew with Old Collegians 93/9 declared and 145/8. Lancaster Park 171 and 129/99 declared, drew with Sydenham 116 and 165/8. West-University 185 and 78/1 best East-Shirley 129 and 133 by nine wickets. St Albans 69/7 declared and 163 boat Old Boys 69/9 declared and 161 by two runs. There were some remarkable individual performances, as well as the extraordinary finish at Hagley No. 1. Principal among them was that of the EastShirley medium-pace bowler, G. V. D. Pulley, who took three more wickets to finish with nine in the innings, the largest bowling take for many a day. B. C. Irving, the Lancaster Park offspinner, had a match analysis of 10 for 103 against Sydenham, D. G. Trist took six wickets and M. L. Ryan had five. Top scorer for the day was the former Otago player, N. M. Parker, with 71 for Rlccarton. H. J. Taylor scored 55 not out for Old Collegians and B. G. Hadlee, again in impressive form, made 52 for Old Boys. West Christchurch-Unlverslty made a substantial increase In its championship lead, taking it from one point to 14. Championship points are:—

Perf. Pts Bat. Bowl. Wins Ch. Pts W.-Unlv. 5 15 20 40 Syden. 4 12 10 26 St Albans 4 11 10 25 Old Boys 3 12 10 25 East-Shir. 0 7 10 17 Riccarton 0 14 0 14 Old Coll. 1 9 0 10 Lane. Pk 0 10 0 10