N.D. struggling

Press, 28 December 1977, Page 26

N.D. struggling

PA Rotorua Northern Districts was struggling to hold the upper hand against Central Districts, after a late afternoon batting collapse at Rotorua yesterday. In the face of a varied Central bowling attack, Northern was 67 for the loss of four wickets at stumps, to hold an over-all lead of 121 runs. Central reached 250 for seven wickets declared on the easy Smallbone Park pitch, in reply to Northern’s first innings of 304 for five wickets declared. This was in spite of hostile pace bowling from Richard Collinge and tight spin from Cliff Dickeson. Poor batting from the top order of the Northern Districts second innings left the match evenly poised, for the third day’s play.

i Collinge was in fiery form in the morning session, rioping through the top order of the Central first innings. He ended the innings with four wickets for 58 runs, but at one stage had four for 43. Three of his wickets were from L.B.W. decisions and . all were clear-cut. Equally impressive was Dickeson, who bowled a marathon 27 overs from one end to finish with two wick- ■ ets for 69 runs, including nine maiden overs. It was Dickeson who broke both the major partnerships of the day. He trapped the Central wicketkeeper, Jock Edwards, L.B.W. when Edwards had reached a total of 62, the highest individual score in the Central first innings. Ed- , wards and Robert Anderson produced a 60-run partnership for the fifth wicket.