St Albans holds lead in senior cricket

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33066, 6 November 1972, Page 20

St Albans holds lead in senior cricket

The play for the most part matched the gloomy day when the third round of senior cricket concluded on Saturday. All four games were drawn, two of them finishing well before the scheduled close and only the game between Lancaster Park and Riccarton retained any hope of a win till close to 6 p.m.

There were, however, some individual performances of merit after a day which left St Albans a point clear of Lancaster Park and Sydenham in the championship.

J. W. Grocott, a regular and reliable opening batsman for East-Shirley for 16 years, scored 100 against Old Collegians — only his second century in that long period. For the same team, P. G. Coman made a dogged 102, which should enforce his claims to return to the Canterbury team this season. The East-Shirley opners scored 160 for the first wicket and although records of this sort are not kept, it is possibly the best in Christchurch for some time. Another contender for the Canterbury team again, K. Thomson, made 114 not out for Sydenham; and J. W. Burtt (St Albans), fighting to stay in the representative team, got 90 not out in the doomed match against Old Boys. It was a good day for captains. As well as Thomson leading Sydenham to a good

score, M, L. Ryan (Lancaster Park) made 61 not out, and B. F. Hastings 67 not out for Bumside West - University. Other batsmen to pass 50 were G. T. Barrett (Riccarton) and M. H. Calder (Bum-side-West).

There were few startling bowling performances, though K. S. Chambers (Lancaster Park) finished off the Riccarton first innings in quick order and took six for 36. The next most successful bowler of the day was his club-mate, R. J. Hadlee, who took four wickets in Riccarton’s second innings. Points:—

FINE START When play began at Elmwood Park, East-Shirley was still 104 runs behind the Old Collegians first innings score but the East openers, Grocott and Coman, started comfortably and looked to have the bowling well in hand. But when Grocott was 37, and the total 58, P. E. Mc-

Ewan in the slips dropped a relatively straight-forward chance off the bowling of R. W. Fulton. This miss proved to be expensive because it was another 102 runs before the openers were separated. They put on 160 runs in 161 minutes before Grocott, who had just reached a well-deserved century, was weU caught at longon. This was his second century in senior cricket, the first being in 1963. With the dismissal of Grocott, the scoring slowed, and there was a minor coUapse when three wickets weU for the addition of 16 runs. At this stage, the Old CoUegians attack was starting to get on top, with Coman and J. W. Morris together, the runs started to flow more easily. Coman finally reached his century, which was chanceless, after batting 229 minutes—for him, very slow batting, but the value of Coman’s innings to his team was immense. The East middleorder batting did not faU as in the first innings and this enabled P. R. Joyce to declare with a very good score. Of the Old Collegians bowlers, the left-ann spinner, M. G. Lester, was the most impressive. He kept a good line and always had the batsmen watching him. Old CoUegians were left to get 166 runs to win in 95 minutes but never really looked like getting the runs, especiaUy after Fulton was magnificently caught and bowled by A. J. Simpson when the score was eight. The young East-Shirley legspinner. J. W. Morris, bowled very tidily in Old CoUegians second innings and, aided by some safe catching, finished with the good figures of three for 25.

AGGRESSIVE The Sydenham captain, Thomson, was responsible for his team’s substantial first innings lead. In a characteristically aggressive display, he carried his previous week’s score of 51 to 114 before he declared the innings closed. Thomson was particularly severe on the slow bowlers, P. A. Sharp and C. M. Kirk. He frequently scored forward of the wicket on the leg-side and reached the century in 110 minutes, and in his innings hit three sixes and 16 fours. The Bumside-West-University opening batsmen, G. T. Dowling and Calder, showed themselves to be not at aU dismayed by their side’s deficit of 78 and runs were scored at a brisk rate. Calder batted capably and Is becoming a batsman of maturity. Hastings was again in commanding form. He played some splendldly-timed shots square of the wicket and drove with power and grace. His presence at the wicket denied Sydenham any hope of a break-through. Few of the bowlers would have been sorry when rain stopped play at afternoon tea for the weU-grassed pitch, faster than on the first day, held few fears for the batsmen. There could be no criticism levelled at Ryan, for not doing his best to ensure a result. He did not enforce the foUow-on, as he could have, when Riccarton’s first innings folded quickly in the morning, then set Riccarton a fair target of 230 in three hours and a half. But with the notable exception of P. G. D’Auvergne, there appeared to be a distinct lack of interest in pursuing victory bv Riccarton. This was hard to follow, as the imperturbable Barrett was keeping one end firm and Riccarton has some useful, brisk scorers who could have made a concerted bid for the target. Only D’Auvergne, who has be-

come a very good batsman in Riccarton’s middle order, made the effort, however. And when he was out, after being the major partner in a 67-run fourth wicket partnership, Riccarton’s requirement became one of surviving the last hour. Ryan kept dangling the bait. He took off Hadlee—possibly because his pace in the gloom would have persuaded the umpires to call things off early—and used his slow bowlers extensively. But Riccarton had lost interest, and so. in time, did the game.

That he was without Hadlee in the morning, and W. R. Wilson had a muscle injury, was probably further persuasion for Ryan to decide Lancaster Park should bat again. He, himself, featured the early afternoon in which Lancaster Park batted briskly and competently to make 126 in 103 minutes. Ryan got his 50 in 90 minutes, and completed a fine double. Chambers was the other Lancaster Park player to impress himself on the game. He hit the stumps five times in the morning, and it was well for Lancaster Park, short of bowlers as it was. that Chambers was bowling with such control and penetration. BORING The other game at Hagley Oval was a tedious affair. Old Boys batted on and on into the afternoon, before calling a halt after 2.30 p.m.. and St Albans did its bit to kill the game. It has, granted, three representative opening bowlers in M. G. Webb, L. C. Sparks and K. I. Ferries. But it was too much of a good thing—or a bad thing for the spectators—that these three should bowl 67 of the 72 overs between them. J. A. Harrison, a capable off-spinner, had only five overs in the long Innings which was highlighted by no individual, but by a series of useful scores. But for Burtt, the tactics might have worked, however. St Albans lost four wickets quite quickly and only Burtt stood between Old Boys and victory for the latter. He took the fight to the bowlers early in his innings and, stroking firmly and neatly, Burtt had his 50 in 51 minutes, and nine fine fours were included in those runs. St Albans was still not out of trouble, though, and Burtt reduced to a more sedate pace as his team, with Sparks a useful participant in the fight, steadily hauled itself out of trouble. In all. Burtt batted seven minutes over two hours and had a total of 13 fours. But interest was only in passing in the latter stages and it was a relief when the game finished.

Win* Bat Bowl Total St A. .. IB 51 51 2» L.P. .. 12 n 28 Syd. .. 12 7 » 2* O.C. .. 4 n S 2U H.S.O.B. .. 6 5 »i 20} East 0 8 7 15 B.W.U. .. 4 Si 0 m Rice. .. 0 2 7 »