Otago’s new, young team shines in Shell debut

Press, 18 December 1976, Page 56

Otago’s new, young team shines in Shell debut

Bv

R. T. BRITTENDEN

Any sympathy among the cricket public for the Otago Shell series team anil its loss of key players must have disappeared yesterday. Its young and relatively untried side, under a new captain, gave such a good account of itself against Canterbury that it is clear it is well able to stand on its own feet.

After stemming a Canter-, bury batting onslaught of I spectacular proportions, > Otago yielded 323 runs for the capture of eight wickets, in the 75 overs limit now ) and a half, Otago raced to 99 without loss, with an ex-1 citing inn.ngs from a tittle' left-handed beginne-. Stuart taming dav s plat, with the scoring at better than a run; was a pointer to a much! more satisfactory season, in weather and in performance,; than *be previous one. Wa»ren Lees. Otago s captain. and a cricketer of stature after his splendid performances in Pakistan and India, showed judgment in having Canterbury bat first'

.alter he had won the toss.i Throughout the morning, i there was a quite lively; bounce and movement for) the seamers; and he was wise not to let Canterbury; seam bowlers loose on it. By the time Otago batted, its; malice had disappeared. ■ Canterbury, with Peter ;Coman in his most roll- \ iicking form, threatened to; •take complete charge of the: game. Missed in the slips! when only one, he took off! on one of those incredible; charges that only Coman can conceive. But there was fine batting; from Barry Hadlee and; David Stead, useful perform-' ances from all the others —; how long is it since every [ Canterbury batsman to appear has reached double figures? The onlv sombre moment

in a joyous day came first; i the players in both teams lined up' and stood in silence) in memory of Ken Wads-; worth, the’ gifted New Zea-1 land playei who, earlier in! the year, had played his last] innings at Lancaster Park —• a century against. Otago. ! Coman . there is only one of him. He did some dreadful, almost suicidal tilings but hammered Otago with a stream of glorious shots. He must be incredibly hard to bowl at. The ball of perfect length, carrying with it all the craft of centuries of cricket, may wel] end up over the fence at square leg. On the other hand, it might Just as easily become a one-; bounce four backward of] point. It was not a lucky morn-; ing for Otago. None of the] misadventures brought profits for the bowlers and Coman, in his most exciting mood, raced to his 50 in 49 deliveries. Just about everyone thought he had got there in 41 balls; but there had been a short run which ■had escaped the attention of .all but the vigilant scorers.

While a somewhat incre.iiulous Barry Hadiee watched; Coman’s vigorous perform-1 ]ance — he took 33 from : three overs by Richard] I Webb — Canterbury raced; |to 50 in the seventh over,! ]and half an hour. These two! ) averaged more than 50 tn] ] their opening stands last I season. This time it was 77; in 50 minutes, before Coman | was bowled, making a shot] [designed to despatch the ball! into the next parish. [ After a diffident start,! !Hadlee’s batting blossomed,: land he played a beautiful in-l inings, marked particularly! by graceful, well-timed ! drives. But Otago fought its | I way back into the game, | chiefly through Philip ] Morris, whose bowling was ; tighter, better-directed than I that of his colleagues. Bevan i Congdon, Brian Hastings and Murray Parker batted long ’enough to give the impresision of establishment, but they all departed: Hadlee too.

An impressive 100 tor one became 164 for five, with ■ Otago’s steady bowling supported by ground fielding of [almost fanatical ferv »ir. In 'this refreshing display of !eager aggression, Patil Facoory and McCullum were outstanding.

Then it was Canterbury's turn to progress. Sound but most attractive batting by Stead and Maurice Ryan gave Canterbury 63 for the sixth wicket in even time. Stead drove very firmly ard Ryan kept a close watch on

ithe tactical situation. It iv«> : the need to hurry thing: | along that cost him his w, cket. At 260 for eight Canterbury was none tot [well placed, but there was [another revival, this one [from Dayle Hadlee and Step [hen Boock. Hadlee’s ability with tin ba. was no new discovery Boock exceeded all ex pectations. He made sere few errors, played some very good shots, and wa< alert to every change in his situation. They scored 58 to gether before the new rules brought them in to the stand. Morris was the best ot Otago’s bowlers, but after a costly first over Brian iMcKechnie was often dangerous, with unite sharp movement off the pitch or in the air. Lance Cairns had some good overs, but was played with considerable comfort. Webb, although having to pitch fairly short to get lift, was sometimes more dangerous than any: his figures were verv unflattering. [ It was splendid to see a I player as young as McCullum so willing to play (strokes, so early in an in- ] nings. His cutting of the [short ball, his firm pushes through the covers went; | with a commendable display lot sound temperament. | But with his 58 not out he: [has posed Otago some prob-; ] lems. He is really in the side! .[on appro, because of Robert! i Anderson’s absence. He is! ] due to lead an Otago Brabin[age team in a tour of New; , i South Wales on Januarv l.i ,]But Otago may not be able ■ Ito afford to lei-him go. I His senior partner, lan ! ■ Rutherford — a veteran of | ■| 19 — batted coolly and well, , I save for a couple of nervous 1 1twitches at the ball oasstng [just outside his off stump. ! Otago made a splendid start, but the runs came a little too easily. The Canter- ’ bury attack lacked thrust ; and devil, pace or con- - viction. ! But it was a delightful day’s cricket — so many 1 good strokes, such fiuctua--1 tions in fortune, such attacki ing dispositions most of the] day by Lees, and a splen- ' did example by Boock of] how to make leg-byes a tell-] , ing factor in the batting! ' accounts.

It was a pity no-one hit straight enough to have a six or a four into the sight- | screens. They are new ones, lof aluminium backing: and when someone hits one of [them, it is going to be like a clap ot thunder. *