BAKER STARS WITH 142

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32803, 31 December 1971, Page 24

BAKER STARS WITH 142

(New Zealand Press Association)

HAMILTON. Central Districts made full use of a placid Seddon Park pitch to prove its worth after its innings defeat to Auckland, and looked more like the holder of the Shield on the first day of its match against Northern Districts, yesterday.

With a near chance-, less 142 by M. P. Baker,] and solid support from H. Sampson, D. H. Pay-! ton, and R. Pierce, Cen-i tral scored 360. i Payton won the toss and once he and Sampson had settled in, a big score always ' seemed inevitable. However, ! with Baker’s valuable contribution, Central might not ! have reached such heights. ' HiS previous best shield score was 44, but by the time he had finished driving, cutting and sweeping the seven tired Northern bowlers used, Baker had left this mark far behind. STUCK TO TASK The Northern bowlers! stuck to the task well. The!

team’s fielding was exceptional after one or two missed ground balls. Only as Baker lashed out once his score went beyond 125 did any real chances go down. R. McGill failed to hold a fierce off-drive and H. Unka just missed a catch off R. Ellis.; The wicket-keeper, L. S< Mountain, took three fine! catches, and handled to perfection great throws by B.| Dunning and J. G. Gibson to: run out M. J. F. Shrimpton! and B. W. Yuile.

Given no encouragement by the pitch, the bowlers toiled manfully. Returning to shield cricket after a two-season absence, H. Unka deserved his three wickets. He troubled both openers in the first hour and beat the. bat more often than any other bowler. T. Beatson was the most economical, and second most successful bowler. It was strange that Dunning did not give him more work.

R. C. Hooton and H. T. Schuster, opening for North-

ern, faced four overs quietly, but it was apparent that both [ A. B. Jordan and J. H. How!ell were faster than either [Unka or Dunning, and that [Northern will face a stiff (task today.