W. Thomson salutes opening of season with century

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32734, 11 October 1971, Page 10

W. Thomson salutes opening of season with century

Sydenham’s senior cricket teams have seldom been short of colourful characters with their own traditions, among them a sturdy disrespect for reputation. An indication that the club is still in good heart was given by the pre sent senior team’s performance on Saturday.

Against West ChristchurchUniversity, holder of the senior championship pennant, Sydenham ran up a total of 232 for four wickets, and the dashing left-hand opening batsman, W. A. Thomson, very nearly distinguished the season by making a century before lunch. He was 99 at the interval, -and out for 113.

And to make clear that its batsmen had not been pampered by the pitch, Sydenham took five West-University wickets for 98 by the close of an eventful first day. East Christchurch-Shirley, aided and abetted by some strangely inept Lancaster Park fielding, scored 203, but Park was safely placed at 109 for three at the close. In the two matches at Hagley Oval, the cricket was of a slower tempo, Old Boys and St Albans making only 193 in the full day. Scores were:— East-Shirley 203; Lancaster Park 109/3. Sydenham 232/4 dec.; West-University 98/5. St Albans 119/5 dec.; Old Boys 74/2. Riccarton 199/7 dec.; Old Collegians 82/4. Hagley Oval looked a picture for the start of the season, and there was a hint that the senior pitches were unusually firm

for an opening day in the fact that both the captains who won the toss there decided to bat. Both pitches played well if easily and this, allied to some extremely suspicious batting and slow outfields, kept run rates down. It was unfortunate that there were no umpires available for the senior matches at Burwood and Sydenham parks. But if there is a shortage of umpires, it is not likely to remain as acute as Saturday’s arrangement showed it to be.

Strange decision Against accurate but uninspired bowling, St Albans, at Hagley 1, produced some rather laboured batting. J. M. Ruston made a stroke or two stamped with quality, and J. W. Burtt, with 55 not out, was in extremely good early-season form. He batted two hours. The decision of the new St Albans captain, L. Smith, to declare with his side at only 119 for five, and Burtt batting so well, was a strange one. To be sure, he deprived Old Boys of further bowling performance points, but the principal object should surely be to win outright and take 10 points. With such a modest total in the books, he tome a considerable risk. D. R. Hadlee, if bowling at moderate pace, hinted that he might be a very sharp attacking bowler before long, and A. R.

Hounsell, soon to leave Christchurch. began with an impressively accurate display. For a while, the St Albans bowlers made 119 look a good total. Old Boys could make little progress against steady bowling until C. J. Stevens and B. G. Hadlee came together. They were not always comfortable, but they have given their side control of the situation. K. I. Ferries laboured diligently in a demanding spell of 15 overs, and J. A. Harrison distinguished himself with a most: athletic catch.

New bowler | Old Collegians, reinforced by the arrival of R. C. Constable, an off-spinner who has played for Auckland B, made by no means a bad start to the season. There was some sound batting by G. T. Barrett, while P. A. Stubbings, unusually restrained, made 51 Jind took his senior aggregate Beyond 2000. There was also some highly unorthodox and diverting batting from C. J. McDonald, an Otago under-age team representative, who made his 41 in 53 minutes and broke some bowling hearts. Unfortunately, McDonald pulled a leg muscle after only one over, but at the end of the day Old Collegians were recovering from a bad start.

R. W. Fulton looked a mature batsman and R. G. Wilson, who left St Andrew’s College only a few weeks ago, made a good impression in his first senior match. Constable, although taking only two wickets, will be an acquisition to Old Collegians when the pitches allow him to turn the ball a little quicker. For all his fulsome flight, he is accurate. Old Collegians have eight batsmen who have opened senior innings, and there must be high hopes that the team will give a better account of itself this season. But, as one of the team’s humorists pointed out. there are always going to be at least six players batting out of position.

East-Shirley, after a sound batting performance and a quick' break-through by R. P. McF. | Howell, finished the day with five points. Well placed j Lancaster Park, with bowling that was never more than steady —which is all that is needed at this stage of the season—collected four bowling points, and is well placed to pick up two or three batting points in the next 13 overs on Saturday. Lancaster Park had itself to blame for East-Shirley’s very useful score. P. R. Joyce, for example. flirted with fortune to an outrageous degree—he was dropped four times—but never; lost his aggressive bent. There was not the same luck attached to J. W. Grocott’s innings. however. He gave his first chance with the stroke that brought up his 50—in 130min—and there were some fine strokes in an innings including nine fours.

Lancaster Park had a shakier start to its innings, mainly because of the vigorous opening attack of Howell, especially, and A. C. Nottingham. But C. K. Baker and A. M. McKendry, though never in full control of the East-Shirley attack, righted the innings, and by the end, Baker had played himself into reasonably impressive form and was making some fluent shots. Howell bowled a good line, and afterwards, V. Pollard kept I Baker and McKendry well under control. Pollard’s counterpart, M. L. Ryan, was his team’s most

successful bowler; but both captains started their seasons without scoring—just as Pollard did last season; and that finished very productively for him. Exciting innings W. A. Thomson’s innings was exciting, one moie to be expected in the balmy days of February than the unfriendly breezes of early season. He struck hard and often at the West Christ-church-University fast attack and in particular G. R. Sherlock suffered at his hands, 19 runs being taken off this bowler’s fourth over. Thomson was one short of his century at lunch and brought up his hundred in 138 minutes. His 50 took only 53 minutes—and his innings included three sixes and 14 fours. As always, his timing was superb, and anything off

length was given summary treatment. The second-wicket partnership with his brother, K. Thomson, whose first scoring shots were a six, a four and a six, raised 87 runs in 109 minutes. I. M. Wilson and A. G. Rule, the medium-fast Sydenham opening bowlers, found life in the pitch which their opposition could not exploit. Wilson took two wickets in his fourth over with successive balls, while Rule’s third and fourth overs each produced a wicket. At 30 for four. West Christ-church-University was in serious trouble. G. T. Dowling, after a sketchy start, found his form and with A. R. G. Byrne, recovered some of the lost ground, the partnership scoring 62.