TOP TEAM CONTAINED BY OLD COLLEGIANS

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32846, 21 February 1972, Page 16

TOP TEAM CONTAINED BY OLD COLLEGIANS

In a day of generally modest scoring, East Christchurch-Shirley made the most significant advance in the senior championship. It won a strong position against Sydenham, after surviving early reverses, whereas Lancaster Park, which leads East by one championship point, was on little better than even terms with Old Collegians.

In performance points, h o w e v e r, Lancaster Park did best—it scored 8. Old Boys j scored 7, Old Collegians 7, West and East each 6, Riccarton 5, Sydenham 4, and St Albans 2. With the left-arm spinner,' C. M. Kirk, enjoying spectacular success, West reached the high ground against St Albans, and is in a position to score a significant number of points. Kirk had a hattrick and finished with 8 for 27. D. R. Hadlee saw Old Boys out of difficulties with; his five wickets. Scores:— St Albans 114; West- i University 136/4. Riccarton 181; Old Boys 161/4. Old Collegians 192; Lan- < caster Park 177/7. East-Shirley 186/9 declared; Sydenham 101/7. Outfields were slow, some: of them very thick with! grass. But there was some: aggressive batting The scor-j ing was led by J. H. Chris-i tensen (Old Boys), who is still I in, with 85. R. M. Gearry I played a fine innings of 711 not out for Lancaster Park, I V. Pollard had another good double—73 and four for 10— and for his side, East-Shirley, N. M. Pitches made 60, his second big score in recent weeks. B. Bhana (West) and P. A. Stubbings (Riccarton) also scored half-centuries. LONG BOUNDARY The leading team, Lancaster Park, was at home to Old Collegians, and tor a vital senior match the arrangements, or lack of them, were surprising. This was a match without official umpires, and the pitch used was the most westerly on the block. As new boundaries had not been marked, this producec some comfortable fours towards the embankment, but to reach the fence at the other side required a prodigious hit. Several fours were scored on the stand side; but to hit a six a man would have needed a howitzer The Old Collegians innings promised much, then declined, but was revived bj some roistering late partnerships. R. W. Fulton began with some elegant strokes, and picked up one from W. R. Wilson perfectly for a six. B. C. Irving, classed by the calendar as a veteran, ook one of the season's finest catches to dismiss H. J. Taylor. The ball, from R J. Hadlee, flew very fast and very low wide of Irving at slip, but he dived right and picked it up. P. E. McEwan put Collegians back into the game with a splendid innings of 47 In 38 minutes. His powerful driving and pulling defied the long boundary on several occasions. With A. E. R. Morten, he added 55 for the sixth wicket in only 35 active minutes. Near the end CoUegians’ new re-

.cruit from Tasmania, D J.. Gatenby—known, not unexpectedly, as “Skippy”—was with M. G Lester as 44 were added in 28 minuts of hard hitting. Hadlee bowled some good ones. Irving, not quite at his best, was treated roughly by McEwan, but he deserved better figures I than he had. A. E. Collins, typically brisk, defeated the. defensive fields, with which Collegians began, with 46 in little more than an hour. He has a praiseworthy leaning towards violence. But Park lost good wickets steadily. However, Gearry, the only one to use his feet with a show of confidence, saw his side through to its promising position. Hadlee made a few glorious strokes before being very well caught by E. H. Newton, but it was Gearry who took the eye. He droved and cut strongly, in i an innings which has so far lasted 105 minutes. Old Collegians’ resurgent spirit was reflected in the field. A great effort was made, and • although one or two catches went astray, good support was given the bowlers. T. D. Gibson turned in another useful performance, and R. J. Pither bowled his left-arm spin well. 'Gatenby, not as tidy as in his (first match, nevertheless showed what an asset he is to the side. ; He found enough turn to pursuade him to attack the leg stump quite regularly, and if it was a ' costly practice, he beat all the batsmen quite frequently. LOWEST 1 East Christchurch-Shirley recorded its lowest total for some ’time but by the close of the day I had gained the better of play against Sydnyham. There was a lack of the charlacteristic exuberance in East's . batting and with the exception 'of the partnership btween Pollard and Pitches the line-up was rather frail. This was exposed by W. M. Duncan and P. E. McKenzie as they took four wickets in the space of only three overs. However, for much of Easts* innings it was only the steady

bowling of Duncan which looked; likely to break the partnership.! He sent down several fine overs; which had Pollard tied down, i Pollard’s 'was an innings of strange variation. There was one mighty blow off the batting of McKenzie which was finally deflected by a tree; otherwise his own car would have provided the local panel-beating industry with further work. Then he had a period in the doldrums when he recorded a string of singles. However, he and his youthful partners pulled East round from a bad start of 34 for three with their partnership of 116. There were no flourishes with the batting of Pitches and he was quite steady throughout. Sydenham must have been elated in securing the wicket of the prolific scorer, P. G. Coman, who was run out needlessly early in the innings. With such a lean bowling attack Sydenham did well to restrict the scoring of East but the long grass on the outfield also assisted. After tea Pollard’s bowling played a big part in Sydenham’s collapse. His remarkable figures of four for 10 from 10 overs came from a mixture of slower off spinner to medium-paced deliveries. GOOD START Riccarton started well against High School Old Boys on Hagley Three the 50 being raised in less than even time. The openers, G. T. Straw and D. A. Dempsey, hit hard on a pitch which produced an awkward bounce but their departure brought on a collapse, four wickets falling for 30 runs. However, Stubbings and B. P. Isherwood played some fine attacking shots in a partnership of 69 but with Stubbings’s dismissal the innings virtually ended. Stubbings hit the ball well on the front foot and his batting now shows a maturity hinted at for some seasons. Keeping the ball well up, D. R. Hadlee proved the most penetrative of the bowlers and few of the batsmen played him con-

fidently. I. G. Taylor made the ball lift sharply at times, as did I. W. Calder. The experienced J. W. Kiddey struck quickly at the heart of the High School Old Boys’ batting and at tea three wickets were down for 21. It w-as left to Christensen to hold the side together and for a period runs came slowly. Christensen played some crisp shots and he found an admirable partner in M. J. Mowat. At stumps they had together scored 116 and they hit the ball to such good effect that the last 50 was raised in 14 minutes. Of the Riccarton bowlers only

Kiddey commanded any respect, his movement in the air and off the pitch demanded the closest attention. KIRK'S SUCCESS The West Chrlstchurch-Univer-sity left-arm spinner, Kirk, had a golden day on Hagley One. His first three overs were wicket maidens and in his sixth he capped this impressive perfoimance with a hat trick. Another wicket in the seventh over gave him seven wickets for 13 runs. For the St Albans’ batsmen it was a repetition of the dismal performance in the previous match against Lancaster Park. Only L. A. Smith, the captain, batted with any assurance, although a last-wicket partnership of G. J. Walklin and K. J. Ferries added 34 to put the total past 100. West Christchurch-University started shakingly with the first three w-ickets falling for 34 runs but Bhana and A. R. G. Byrne settled down and the total reached 122 before Byrne was dismissed. The diminutive

Bhana was a study in concentration at first but his batting blossomed as the total increased and he hit with fine timing. In the morning the pitch had sharp turn and uneven bounce which Kirk was quick to turn to advantage and although it played more easily in the afternoon J. A. Harrison was able at times to turn his off breaks sharply.