Lancaster Park now has strong place in cricket

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33096, 11 December 1972, Page 19

Lancaster Park now has strong place in cricket

Lancaster Park’s strong hold on the senior cricket competition was strengthened still further when it met its closest opposition, High School Old Boys, in the sixth round on Saturday.

Lancaster Park, with -the fighting qualities and ability in depth which make the team such a powerful opponent, passed 200, bowled out Old Boys, and is in a position to make that team follow on next week. After a week of rain, the pitch contained a little more: moisture than would otherwise be normal at this time of the year. But they were still good batting strips and it was surprising that, with the exception of St Albans, rio teams scored freely. Riccarton, lying third, and the bottom-placed BurnsideWest are engaged in a close struggle, with Riccarton regaining some lost ground: with brisk batting in the last! half-hour. Old Collegians, near the] bottom though they have often played better than that, caught Sydenham going■ through a bad patch and are! in a strong position; while East-Shirley reeled in the: face of M. G. Webb’s high: pace. Scores:— Riccarton 115 and 40/1; I Bumside-West 156/9 declared. Lancaster Park 214/8 declared; High School Old Boys 111.

Sydenham 100 and 5/0; ' Old Collegians 165. I] St Albans 221/9 de- 1 dared; East-Shirley 71 /6. , Webb took all of the six East- 1 Shirley wickets to fall, in an effective answer to criticism of his j lack-lustre form of past weeks. j He was easily the outstanding bowler of the day; and only T. ' E. Cockburn (Riccarton), whose ’ five for 41 was his best since he! • transferred from the Suburban competition this season, took as 1 many as half his team’s wickets. 5 C. K. Baker returned to the;, runs, without batting convinc-J ingly. with 71 not out for Lan- ' caster Park. The onlv other! player, in a day in which indi- { viduals did not shine, to make a « half-century was G. B. Nicol (St Albansi. But one of the few ■ dominant performances was by ’ V Pollard, the East-Shirley cap- * tain, who has 38 of his team’s 71 r runs, and is still batting. Strong position t Apart from the first hour. ’ when it was set back on its heels and had to stage a fight, Lancaster Park had a comfortable j grip on its game at Hagley 1. i Lancaster Park’s innings was one of contrasts: a poor start, a, i recovery led by the captain, M. < L. Ryan, and in the end. a useful ] total and four batting poiqts. S. j ( T. Chambers posed early prob- j lems, with, his accuracy and i I movement at medium-pace, but ’ Ryan weathered the worst and,j in a two-hour innings — which < had much of the character of his < innings for Canterbury last week- j; end — he righted his team’s for- | ] tunes. 1 j Baker had a horrible time j | early, w as droped by C. L. Bull I; at nine, and could have been out|( earlier in the same over, in the 1 ; same leg-trap. He soldiered on, ! however, survived two more . < chances, and without ever being i convincing, somehow reached the|< eighties, before Ryan declared. !< Even so, Baker’s slowness after 11 more than two hours and a half t < at the wicket, was frustrating l (

for Ryan, eager to declare but I wishing for four batting points | as well. Thanks to a six by B. C. ■ Irving, that target was reached. After K. S. Chambers had • bowled four balls. Old Boys were; two wickets down, still had ■ scored no runs — and Chambers; had taken four wickets in his J last six balls in senior cricket.■ VV. R. Wilson chimed in with a| wicket in his first over, and although this heralded the only successful partnership, of 42 between B. G. Hadlee and C. L. I Bull, Old Boys were always] struggling. Hadlee was there an hour and a half. Bull for nearly two hours, and although Bull was dropped at 13, the presence of these two, in accomplished form, at least gave Old Boys some hope. But Irving wreaked dreadful damage in his eighth over, with three wickets in five balls. J. W. Calder finally succumbed after scoring three in an hour; and it was left to I. G. Taylor to take his team past 100 but still facing the prospects of a follow-in next week. Keen fielding Very sharp, alert fielding., rather than great individual feats with bat or ball, featured the game at Hagley 3. Burnside-1 West earned early its best tally of bowling points, four and a half, and this was largely because of excellent catching and run out chances that were well taken. G. R. Sherlock, who has been in particularly useful form re-’ ] cently led the way with a fine. i catch off his own bowling, and ; another in the outfield to get L. D. A. Thorn. Riccarton’s highest 1 scorer and best batsman. Apart ! from Thorn, at the beginning, and F. M. Madrussan later, Riccarton’s three-hour innings would have been a sorry affair. Burnside-West did comparatively better but had a struggle for; much of the innings. Cockburn, often quite quick but losing accuracy towards the end, re-; turned his best figures, while 1 another newcomer to senior Christchurch cricket, D. P. Rack-

lley, played a mature aggressive innings, impressive in one onlv 116. B. Bhana stayed for a very long time, in an innings which included the simplest missed catch of the season, and the best of the rest of the batting •was late, from Sherlock. But ijust as he had distinguished himself in the field, so he fell to a brilliant catch, by Cockburn. In the final half-hour of brisk batting, Riccarton virtually achieved parity, for the loss of one wicket. Accurate bowling The message from the game at Burwood Park was that Webb can bowl quickly and accurately if he likes. In a spell of 10 overs, Webb had the East batsmen reeling by the end of the day; with sustained line and length. Webb had taken all six of the East wickets to fall in its first innings. The only batman who could cope for East was the captain. Pollard, who, with contempt for the way in which his team mates were falling, planted Webb back over long on for a glorious six and magnificently square cut him for three off the next ball.

Webb was admirably supported by K. 1. Ferries; he also had the backing of good fielding.

Earlier in the day, St Albans took the upper hand in its first innings. A brisk scoring rate was maintained at the opening by L. A. Smith. J. W. Burtt and G. B. Smith all of whom played crisp shots and looked for all opportunities.

The highlight of the morning was the dismissal of Burtt, who i was magnificently run out by E. C. Parsons, who hit the wicket from cover. Later in the St Albans innings Nicol (whose 51 was his best in senior crecket and J. A. Harrison flayed the East bowlers; they I put 50 on in 56 minutes. Bowling for East, it was again Pollard who did not only the: bulk of the work, but was also the most dangerous. But with the match going I I St Alban’s way. East will have to produce more than it did on Saturday to save the game next ] week. Sydenham fails After dismissing Sydenham in i [the morning for 100 runs, the Old Collegians’ openers, G. J. Mathias and J. G. Wright began well but a break through by tlie medium pacer, C. W. Aldridge, in his second spell left the side struggling for runs for most of the afternoon.

The Sydenham batting failed against an accurate attack headed by the medium paced P. E. McEwan, who cut the ball off the pitch well to take the valuable wickets of the Thomson brothers. J. H. M. Dawson gave him good support, as did D. J. Gatenby With well controlled leg spin. Only K. D. Prusas of the Sydenham batsmen showed form and his 30 was a most valuable contribution, as was a lastwicket partnership of 32 from B. J. Salt and I. D. Wilson. Old Collegians went to 43. i without loss, comfortably, and a good score seemed likely. But nine wickets fell for 88 runs, and it was again a last-wicket stand which saved the side. Gatenby batted particularly well, playing some fine forcing shots, and M. G. Lester, who seems to move up and down the Old Collegians batting order like a yo-yo. also played capably.

Aldridge and Salt were the best of the Sydenham bowlers, who were as accurate as their opposition. But on the whole, it was a disanpointing day’s batting from both teams on a good pitch.