Bowlers dominant in senior club cricket

Press, 6 March 1978, Page 20

Bowlers dominant in senior club cricket

On a day of wildly fluctuating fortunes, when 14 ducks occurred, nine of them in one match and two teams managed to total 138 runs collectively in two completed innings, all four senior club cricket matches are evenly balanced after the first day of the tenth round of matches on Saturday. The competition leader, Lancaster Park, scored 199 for five wickets against St Albans, its opening batsman, Dave Dempsey, completing his third century of the season. In reply, St Albans was 147 for six. Sydenham would undoubtedly have been satisfied when it dismissed Riccarton for 70 before lunch on a: rather lively pitch at Sydenham Park. However, Sydenham could only manage 68, partly through a bad batting display but mainly because of a fine, sustained spell of medium-fast bowling by Glenn Bateman. His figures of eight for 16 off 10| overs are easily his best in his senior career and bring his tally for the season to 40. If the pitch next Saturday is in anything like the condition it was in on Saturday, Sydenham may find itself struggling to hold second place on the points table. Four batting performances stood out in the High School Old Boys — Burnside-West University match at Hagley: 3. Peter Wallace made 93 for Burnside-West out of 195 for eight wickets, being assisted by a valuable 40 from Mike Fisher; a fighting 60 by Dayle Hadlee saved Old Boys from possibly an even lower total than Sydenham’s, while his deputy, Murray Spinks, forced his way to a hard-hit and unbeaten 32. Other good batting performances came from the Old Collegians opening batsman, Robbie Deans, playing in his first senior match, who made 73; the Canterbury captain, Maurice Ryan

made an unbeaten 42; and Henry Sampson 44 at Hagley 1 and the Riccarton pair, John Ruston and Geoff Miller, made 41 and 34 respectively. The only bowler, apart from Bateman, to take fiveS or more wickets was the Sy- i denham left-armer, lan Wilson, with six for 49. Scores: Lancaster Park 199/5 i dec., St Albans 147/6. Old Collegians 198/5 dec., East-Shirley 150/7. Burnside-West 195/8 dec., Old Boys 170/7. Riccarton 70 and 86/3, Sydenham 68. LOW SCORING Keith Thomson’s decision to send Riccarton in at Sydenham Park reaped rewards bevond his wildest dreams when the side : i was dismissed by 12.30 p.m. with the total at 70. | The only real resistance came from Geoff Miller, who scored just under half the team’s total with an aggressive 34 made in 25 minutes. Miller went in with the score at 17 for five and left with the score at 56. Sydenham’s elation, however, was shortlived. A sensational collapse after lunch had half the side out for 10 and only sporadic resistance came further down, the side being dismissed for 68 Although the pitch, affected by overnight rain, gave the bowlers considerable assistance there was also some indifferent batting. Both Sydenham medium pacers, Nicky Dierck and lan Wilson, exploited the conditions to the full. Dierck in particular, made the ball lift disconcertingly and seam-about. Glenn Bateman, bowling with fine control of length and direction and supported by excellent catching, ripped through the Sydenham batting. The collapse was not due entirely as a result of the bowling; Sydenham’s batting display was even worse than that of Riccarton, but it was still a fine perfomance from Baleman. When Riccarton began the second innings at 4 p.m. the pitch held few of the terrors of the morning and Peter Stubbings and John Ruston scored freely for the second wicket in a partnership of 61. PROLIFIC PARTNERSHIP A 96-run partnership between the century-maker, Dave Dempsey, and Maurice Ryan put Lancaster Park’s innings on a sound footing against St Albans at Hagley 1, but Park had only a com-

paratively.slight advantage at the end of the day. Dempsey did not have the most highly rated of opening attacks to combat, injuries having reduced St Albans’s bowling resources. Steve Garland was promoted to first grade, with Mark Burtt having a rare turn with the new ball. Although Garland was expensive in his concession of runs, Burtt managed to wrest some life from the pitch and his two wickets in a very long spell,! one that continued after the lunch break, were fully deserved. Neil Francis and Joe Harrison provided useful support. At one stage, Park was struggling somewhat at 60 for three wickets, but Ryan’s arrival to join Dempsey more than restored the balance. Dempsey produced many fine shots, scoring regularly on the on-side and from his attractive cuts, while Ryan’s steadiness testified to his recent return to batting form.i Dempsey hit 11 fours and one six ■in his 106. Bruce Irving threatened to : break through the St Albans middle-order when he spun out Colin Attridge and Burtt with consecutive deliveries, but Graham Moore prevented the hah trick and with Henry Sampson extended the total to 97 before the fall of the fifth wicket. An unbroken partnership of 43 between Don Ambrose and Neil Francis again halted Park’s advance, and that of Irving, and the next major captaincy decision of the match rests with Geoff Smith. Should he declare the St Albans innings closed overnight, his side will have three batting points (it gained none for bowling) compared with 4.5 for Park. St Albans used three wi-x cket-keepers in the Park innings. Andrew Guillen injured a finger of the left - hand in the ninth over, Sampson substituted until lunch, taking one catch to add to the one he had previously held in the slips, and Les Smith had his turn in the afternoon. CLOSE BATTLE After a day of twisting fortunes on a particularly wellgrassed pitch at I-lagley 3. High School Old Boys pulled itself into a relatively safe position of being 25 runs behind Burnside-West on the first innings with a declaration likely at the start of playnext week. On winning the toss, the Old Boys’ captain, John Calder, sent Burnside-West into bat and would have felt his decision justified after his opening bowlers captured three quick wickets. However, a 130-run partnership between Peter Wallace and Mike Fisher gave Burnside-West a strong hand by early afternoon. Wallace’s innings of 93 included 15 four’s and took 125 minutes, his first 50 coming in 74 minutes. While Wallace attacked

the bowling, Fisher plaved a more solid innings which proved vital to his team’s effort. No other batsman reached 20. Gary Saunders took four wickets for Old Boys while Brian Ritchie took three catches and stumped Wallace, which brought him level with the record number of dismissals in a senior season, 33 by Bob Burns in 1928-29 Old Boys began disastrously, being 25 for five before Dayle Hadlee rescued the side with a fine innings of 60. Ritchie helped him add 37 but the main revival came witu the stand of 77 in 46 minutes between Hadlee and Murray Spinks for the seventh; wicket. Justin Boyle, who took eight for 67 against Riccarton in the last round, had 31 taken off three overs and Fisher 25 off four overs. Spinks and Geoff Allen added a further 31 in 28 minutes until stumps. ; David Trist bowled well for I Burnside-West, keeping a good I line and used the pitch to good l effect. AGGRESSIVE BATTING In what is virtually the battle for the wooden spoon, the match at Burwood Oval produced some aggressive batting but, for the most part, lack-lustre bowling. East won the toss and sent Old Collegians into bat on a pitch giving little encouragement to the bowlers. After the early loss of Polson’s wicket in a needless run out, Robbie Deans and John Phillips batted with force to put on 106 in a shade over even time for the second wicket. Both batsmen used their feet well and Deans in particular batted with an assurance far beyond that expected of a batsman making his senior debut. His innings, which included 10 fours and a six, came to an end when he attempted a third run and just failed to make his ground after being beaten by a Keith Hawker throw from the boundary. Stephen Booth was the best of the East-Shirley bowlers] though his line was not tightj I enough. The East batsmen were also prepared to hit the ball hard,; particularly lan Rule who; seemed to be in an almost indecent haste to conclude his innings with the most runs in the shortest time. Clive Williams, after taking 20 in an over oft Brown tried once too often and skied the ball backw’ard of the wicket. Richard Leggat plugged away on a good length, extracted a little turn and was repaid with four wickets for his trouble. In contrast to the tidy wicket-keep-ing of Graham Ripley for East, Graeme Gordon was a little erratic. With both sides anxious for an outright win to clear themselves from the bottom of the table, next week’s play should produce some adventurous cricket.