G. B. Smith hits fine first senior century

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33438, 21 January 1974, Page 17

G. B. Smith hits fine first senior century

A spectacular first senior century by G. B. Smith, and a declaration by his team, St Albans, before lunch were features of Saturday's senior cricket in Christchurch, the first since Christmas. Smith, who has shown marked improvement this season, played a delightful innings, and reached his century in only 115 minutes, with sixes from two successive balls.

C. K. Baker (Lancaster Park) also scored a century, and B. G. Hadlee (Old Boys) made 95. Others who scored well were P. R. Joyce (EastShirley), 84; D. S. Banks (Old Collegians), 70; and L. A. Smith (St Albans), 51. The outstanding bowler was the young Old Collegians left-arm spinner, R. Pither, who took six wickets.

Scores were: Riccarton 169; Old Collegians 211/5. Lancaster Park 219/3 dec; Burnside-West 112/6. St Albans 175/3 dec; EastShirley 220. Old Boys 197/8 dec; Sydenham 118/5. PARK ON TOP After weathering a difficult) period when the fresh, green; pitch allowed considerable movement off the seam Lancaster! Park took control against Burn-nide-West at Lancaster Park, and Is now in a position to continue Its dramatic march from the bottom of the table. A. M. McKendry started (lowly, but hit some very fine •quare drives and cuts, although

| a lush outfield reduced the value! of many strokes. Baker began; |briskly.' and maintained steady! : pressure on a Burnside-West at-. tack which declined in quality' after a useful start. Baker had a few mishaps and misdemean-1 ours, but with splendid attacking shots went to his second! senior century in 155 minutes.! He hit 13 fours. Lancaster Park took four bat-1 ting points, Burnside-West none; for bowling, it was a vast improvement on Park’s 35 against; Burnside in the first round. For a while. G. T. Dowling > was in commanding form, but he; lost touch a little and his prob-! lems were shared by his team-! mates. J. Lindsay looked useful,! until he was brilliantly thrown! out by M. Smith. G. A. Bartlett! bit one magnificent cover drive! off W. Wilson, but the left-arm. bowler was generally on top. Near the end however, R. K. Allen batted with an air of authority; and Burnside-West is not yet done. HADLEE IN FORM B. G. Hadlee gave a masterly display for Old Boys, once he had survived some anxious early moments. He drove handsomely and hit 10 fours in an innings of 169 minutes. For Sydenham, C. W. Aldridge bowled with great heart, and wrung more from the Hagley Park pitch than anyone else.' Sydenham batted badly, and was fortunate that no more than five wickets fell to the Old Boys’ medium-pacers. Eight catches were missed in an innings which so far has lasted 29 overs. St Albans, mainly through the Smiths, took six batting points!

11 at Burwood Park, East’s bowling i! seldom having such a hammer- ■ ing. It was a key match — St i Albans leads East by half a point — but J. A. Harrison’s dar- ! ing declaratoin left East very | much in the match; it has a firstinnings lead of 54. But St Albans has already collected 10 points ! from the match, East-Shirley 4). G. B. Smith, with riotous livI ing, reached 88 swiftly, then twice hit V. Pollard over midwicket. His lefthanded partner, : L. A. Smith, never one to loiter ! without intent, also drove vigi orously as they hammered out an opening stand of 139 in 93 : minutes. It was, to be sure, a ! splendid batting pitch, but the ! holding outfield checked the ball. ’ Some good bowling by L. C. i Sparks put East-Shirley on the back foot, but Joyce, enjoying a little luck here and there, hit very hard. He did not have G. B. Smith’s range of shots, but was very strong on the on-side, and reached his 50 in 80 brisk minutes. He was in only two hours for his 84. RIOT OF RUNS Aggressive batting by P. G. D’Auvergne posed a threat to Old Collegians at Elmwood Park. D’Auvergne, a recent Plunket Shield success, hit two sixes, and made his 45 in 50 minutes. But i he was the only batsman to make particular progress against . the spin of Pither. The young left-hander found a little turn, bowled accurately, and was supported by intelligently placed fields. Old Collegians gave one of their best batting displays for a . long time, and so far have scored ! at better than five runs an over.

D. S. Banks played outstandingly well, reaching 50 in an hour with good, strongly-hit strokes. R. W. Fulton, back from Northern Districts, shared a stand with Banks of 68 in 51 minutes. P. E. McEwan, joining in the general revelry, hit 22 in an over from D’Auvergne and made his 39 in 3Y minutes; and finally J. G. Phillips and T. H. Mackie underlined their team’s superiority, Old Collegians took only 95 minutes to take the score from 50 to 200 —. and it was vastly entertaining.