Tasmanian takes 7 wkts for Old Collegians

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33060, 30 October 1972, Page 21

Tasmanian takes 7 wkts for Old Collegians

Old Collegians, for so long languishing near the bottom of the championship table, made the most significant advance when the third round of senior matches began on Saturday.

Brilliant spin bowling by the Tasmanian, D. j. Gatenby, who took seven wickets in an innings for the second time in his brief Christchurch career, enabled Old Collegians to force a follow-on in their match with East-Shirley.

At the end of last season, Gatenby took seven East wickets; this time he cost only a handful of runs. And with 10 performance points and a strong position, Old Collegians has an excellent chance of moving well up the table. Old Boys established a good position against the leading team, St Albans, and the pennant holder, Lancaster Park, had Riccarton struggling for survival. In the other game, Sydenham, also making a bold bid to reverse the course of events in recent seasons, was very well placed against Burnside-West-Uni-versity. Scores.— Old Collegians 230; East Shirley 92 and 35/0.

Burnside-West 157/9 dec.; Sydenham 154/4. St Albans 150; Old Boys 121/3. Lancaster Park 232/8 dec.; Riccarton 101/5.

The Bumside-West captain, B. F. Hastings, was the day’s top scorer with 67 not out. R. W. Fulton (Old Collegians) made 64, and his teammate, P. E. McEwan, 56. M. L. Ryan scored 57, and R. M. Gearry 57 not out for Lancaster Park. For Riccarton,

the fast bowler, T. E. Cock burn, took five wickets.

Two fours were hit and a wicket taken in the first four balls of Lancaster Park’s innings against Riccarton, and that could I only mean that A. E. Collins had taken strike and fallen early. Ryan, after a thoughtful start, made the most of a comfortable pitch and scored his 57 in 101 minutes, with firm, clean strokes. Gearry often drove handsomely. He has quicker and better footwork than most of his contemporaries. K. J. Wadsworth was brisk and businesslike, and, at the end, B. C. Irving added to his not extensive list of sixes. Cockburn, again worked hard by his captain, kept up his pace admirably, and bowled a good line. P. G. D’Auvergne, who has a very good reputation as a gully fieldsman, held a fine catch to dismiss Ryan. D. W. Stead batted confidently with G. T. Barrett, and Riccarton made a good start. But Irving’s off-spin put a tight clamp on the batting. A stiff easterly wind blowing across the pitch added to the batsmen’s problems. Barrett batted 130 minutes for his 21, and D’Auvergne played an innings quite out of character — 50 minutes for two runs. St Albans falters Although Old Boys’ limited bowling resources were diminished by the absence in the morning of D. R. Hadlee, who was sitting a university examination, I. G. Taylor and G. T. Alien responded so well to this fresh challenge that St Albans struggled for runs all morning. Taylor bowled very economically in a long and tiring spell, and Allen, a much-improved bowler, moved the ball enough to make the batsmen miss quite regularly. J. M. Rushton, so often a dominating aggressor, was in three hours for 49 and J. A. Harrison batted coolly and well, but Old Boys’ persistence and the return of Hadlee, brought very worthwhile rewards. The fielding was good and M. J. Mowat .took a blinder of a catch to dismiss M. C. Leach. For the first time, M. G. Webb was rather wayward in direction and V. A. Bishop made a very bold and brisk beginning to Old

Boys innings. C. J. Stevens looked, comfortable and then B. G. Hadlee and C. B. Bull consolidated the position with some pleasant and productive strokemaking. The best of the St Albans bowlers was K. I. Ferries, who was lively and accurate. Revitalised team The last time East-Shirley and Old Collegians met, the former had won by the early afternoon and sweated out the remainder of the final cricketing day of March, leading the senior competition. The same could well happen again, but it is Old Collegians, a revitalised, eager team, which is playing like a championship contender. The team’s batting performance was dependent on two substantial partnerships but the principals in these batted with freshness and a vigorous approach. Although East-Shirley dropped too many catches early, it had Old Collegians in trouble at 30 for three. But in 47min, the length of McEwan’s entertaining Innings, he and Fulton added 91, and East-Shirley was never again in a dominant position. Although A. C. Nottingham did a sterling job of stemming the flow of runs — Old Collegians* rate was up to eight runs an over, at one stage — J. H. M. Dawson and E. H. Newton rubbed salt into the wounds late in the innings. Dawson, always a useful striker of the ball, batted 32min for his 30, and In that time, 46 were added for the ninth wicket. Fulton, in an aceomElished display of batting for two ours, hit a six and nine fours; McEwan a six and eight fours; and Dawson’s brief innings included four fours and a six. The latter also removed East’s most dangerous batsman, P. G. Coman, who was caught by Gatenby. Then that player turned bowler and destroyed the East innings. It was an astonishing display of control and technical skill, particularly for a young man of only 20, and in such an involved style of bowling as leg-spinning. Early in the innings, Gatenby concentrated on control, but as his successes became more frequent, a greater bite came into his bowling and It was, aesthetically, a delight to watch. But it did seem an awful

waste of quality on the lowerorder. Out of the debacle, only J. W. Grocott emerged with credit There were the same strokes of grace and power that feature any of his innings of any substance. And he was again in commanding touch when EastShirley followed on. Bad batting On a green, grassy pitch at Sydenham Park. Burnside-West-: University struggled for runs against the accurate, mediumpaced attack of C. W. Aldridge and I. D. Wilson, and the slowflighted bowling of B. J. Salt. The pitch, although it looked doubtful, played truly, if a trifle slowly, and it was faulty batting which was the main cause of Burnside-West-University’s small total. The exception was B. F. Hastings, who played some commanding shots off the back foot and looked an in-form player. G. R. Sherlock, in his short innings, hit some good shots in front of the wicket and his sixth wicket partnership with Hastings raised 43 in 37 minutes. Aldridge bowled with a good control of length and direction, while the evergreen Salt was as hard to get away as ever. The Sydenham second wicket pair, J. E. Larter and K. D. Prnseas, had little trouble in dealingwith the opening bowlers and the first 50 came up in just over an hour. Larter hit the ball firmly off the front foot with fine timing. Any hopes Burnslde-West-University had of a breakthrough were dashed by an aggressive innings from K. Thomson. He was particularly strong on the leg side and his 50, which included two sixes, was scored in 54 minutes.