Easy win for Australians

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33775, 22 February 1975, Page 48

Easy win for Australians

Purposeful batting and ■ very steady bowling , gave the Australian ! women’s cricket team an easy 87-run victory over a Canterbury President’s ‘ XI in a 60-over match : at Hagley Oval yester- ; day. a I : Canterbury fielded only six players normally in the ’(senior XI; its top side has been picked for the two-day J game against Australia which ! •J begins tomorrow. 1

Bev Wilson and Jackie [Potter gave the tourists a [splendid start with an opening stand of 90 in 86 minutes, after Pat Carrick, the Canterbury captain, had put them into bat.

After that Australia was in firm control of the game, despite the threat of a minor collapse after Sally Russell bowled Wilson, and Potter was foolishly run out, in the space of a few minutes. Russell was the best of the Canterbury bowlers, although she tended to over- ■ pitch the ball at times, and

it was unfortunate that she had to retire with a pulled leg muscle after taking one for eight off six overs. With both the openers , gone, Lynn Denholm and Lor- i raine Hill re-asserted the i Australian dominance in a i patmership of 84 in 75 < minutes. Hill was easily the more aggressive and her first 29 i runs included five bound- . aries, scored on both sides ! of the wicket. One of the i most impressive shots in her I 60 runs, made in only 91 i minutes, was a glorious off- i

drive to the boundary from Sue Roberts’s bowling. Canterbury’s task of scoring 208 runs — an average of only 3.5 runs an oyer — did not seem particularly difficult, but it appeared much more formidable at tea when only 21 had been scored in 13 overs. The run-rate improved slightly after tea, with Jenny McNamara and Lesley Shankland batting admirably, if not particularly quickly, but the difficulties of scoring runs in quantity from an international attack were soon apparent. Even Shirley Cowles, normally a very fast scorer, and one of the best women cricketers in the world, failed to dominate the bowling, and her 24 runs took 55 minutes.

AUSTRALIA B. Wilson b Russell .. 49: J. Potter, run out 33 L. Denholm c Cawley b Teale 30 L. Hill run out .60 R. Thompson not out .. 19 K. Price not out .. .. -4 Extras (b 4 lb 3) .. -. 7 Total (for 4 wickets) .. 207 Bowling.—Cawley, 12, 2, 39, 0; Teale, 12, 2. 35, 1; Bremner, 12, 1. 26 0; Roberts. 9,2, 42, 0; Russell, 6. 2,8, 1: McNamara. 6, O, 31. 0; Shankland, 3, 0. 19, 0. CANTERBURY A. McKenna c Potter b Weir 11 J. McNamara c Jennings b Fitz Simmons . ■ 21 L. Shankland b Blunsden 29 S. Cowles c and b Blunsden .24 J. Lawn not out ■ lo S. Roberts b Price 0 J. Cawley b Price . ® P. Carrick c Jennings b Mitchell ' 5 S. Russell not out ■ 4 Extras (b 6. Ibs> H Total (for 7 wickets) . 120 Bowling.—-Thompson, 8. 5,7, 0; Mitchell. 10 3. 23, 1; Weir, 11, 2, 20. 1; Fitzsimmons, 9. 3, la, J; Hill, 9,2, 24. 0; Blunsden, 9,6, 9,2; Price, 4,1, 10, 2.