Auckland’s batsmen give Canterbury long day

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33421, 31 December 1973, Page 16

Auckland’s batsmen give Canterbury long day

(By

R. T. BRITTENDEN)

With its score of 351 for nine declared, Auckland has firm control of its Plunket Shield match against Canterbury at Lancaster Park—and hope for the home side can now be found only in the shield points table.

Auckland batted ably and attractively all through a cold, grey day and thoroughly earned its commanding position. But is is 16 points behind Wellington and must beat Canterbury to keep in the race.

So Canterbury’s prime objective will, no doubt, be to bat long enough to force Auckland into a secondinnings declaration which will keep both sides in the game. This position will arise only if Canterbury is capable of withstanding a strong Auckland attack to score substantially. It will be a difficult task, but the history of these games certainly points to plenty of excitement before the last ball is bowled.

Led by M. G. Burgess (87), J. D. Riley (79) and R. A.

Dykes (60), Auckland’s scoring rate was well above four runs an over, and it took six batting performance points, to Canterbury’s three for bowling. As he was against Northern Districts, the Canterbury captain, K. Thomson, was lucky at the toss, but this time his gamble of putting the opposition, in failed. The odds were much longer this time. The pitch was not as green and fresh as the one in the previous match, and it was unthinkable that Auckland’s batsmen would perform with the ineptitude Northern displayed in its first innings. Lack of seamers Thomson had only two seamers to use what life the pitch provided, and he had to use himself as a third seam bowler, an improvisation which underlined Canterbury’s improvidence. Further, the sending in of Auckland brought with it the probability of Canterbury batting fourth against the spin of the brothers Howarth, which could not have been an alluring prospect. As he had embarked on a policy of attack through swing and cut, Thomson had to maintain attacking fields, and this led to a rollicking rate of scoring. Auckland reached 100 in the 19th over. Of these, 95 were made in an opening stand by R. M. Harris and J. D. Riley. Harris first came to Christchurch when some of his colleagues were at kindergarten; he has become a firm favourite here. But yesterday, he was a frail figure at first. Twice C. W. Aldridge beat him badly, and when he was 2, Harris was missed in the slips off K. I. Ferries, the man who again carried the main burden of the Canterbury attack. Riley’s best But Harris emerged swiftly from the shadows and played a typically robust innings of 47, which took his tally against Canterbury beyond 700. Firm driving brought ready runs off Aldridge—27 from 21 balls. Aldridge bravely kept a full length but he was not able to move the ball as much as in the first match.

Riley, a left-hander, also scored well off Aldridge—2l from 29 deliveries —and although he, too, was defeated once or twice at the start, he batted splendidly for his 79, his best first-class score. He hit some beautiful on-side shots in an innings of just over three hours, and he drove pleasantly on the off side.

After these two came four young men who met varied success, but who might have come out of some sort of machine designed to produce stylish right-hand batsmen. Burgess, T. W. Jarvis, G. P. Howarth, A. W. Parsons—all splendidly groomed, perfectly attired, elegant of stance and style. Fluent batting Jarvis looked very much in form, and was all quiet competence until Ferries yorked him. Howarth was sound and made some very handsome strokes but not, perhaps, quite enough of them in his hour and a half at the wicket. Parsons, too, was firmly confined, batting half an hour for 2, when Auckland had an opportunity to set some sort of record for batting points. Burgess batted 154 minutes

for 87, and it needed only a few of the minutes for him to recall just how talented a player he is. His driving was free and fluent, after a couple of sketchy overs, and his footwork quick and easy. He found gaps the others could discover only occasionally, and hit 11 fours. One of them was a memorable blow. In the course of some determinedly defensive Canterbury bowling, C. M. Kirk dispensed with a slip and packed the off-side field. Burgess drove to extra cover,, clearing the field with ease—a fine, flowing shot. He gave two very difficult caught and bowled chances to Kirk, at 59 and 81, but it was a most attractive display, in which Burgess accepted the hard facts of life by running singles to the deep-set fields—37 of them. Morgan caught When R. W. Morgan, another veteran of these matches, came in, he was obliged to drive into the offside field, and Kirk, dropping the ball a shade wider, had him caught. Morgan has been a particular thorn in Canterbury’s sides and needs 53 in this match to reach 1000 in the series. Dykes, a cheerful lefthander with a flair for improvisation — once he rolled his wrists over, playing Kirk, in an attempt to hit him back-handed to the off—banged away merrily, mixing his inventive genius with strong, orthodox shots. He made his 60 — also his best first-class score—in 100 minutes. But Ferries, who had bowled for two hours and a quarter at the start, and for another hour after lunch, came back to roll up the innings. In his last four overs he took three for seven, without incurring the Canterbury Cricket Association in the cost of the new

ball available. He thus finished with five, and if ever there was a proper reward for hard labour, this was.

AUCKLAND First innings J. D, Riley b Dickel .. 78 R. M. Harris c Aldridge b Ferries 47 T. W. Jarvis b Ferries .. 24 G. P. Howarth c D’Auvergne b Kirk 28 M. G. Burgess c Wallace b Ferries 87 A. W. Parsons c Newton b Kirk 2 R. W. Morgan c Hadlee b Kirk o R. A. Dykes b Ferries .. 60 H. J. Howarth b Ferries .. 0 R. S. Cunis not out .... 8 A. R. Hounsell not out .. 1 Extras (b 6, lb 4, nb 6) 16 Total (for 9 wkts dec.) 351 Fall of wickets: 95, 137, 163, 228, 252, 252, 315, 324, 347. Bowling: Ferries, 23, 5, 79, 5; Aldridge, 11, 1, 74, 0; Thomson, 3,0, 11, 0; Dickel, 22, 1, 90, 1; D’Auvergne, 7,0, 21, 0; Kirk, 16, 2, 60, 3.