Cricket youth

Press, 8 March 1978, Page 20

Cricket youth

Linwood High School retained its lead in the premier grade of the Canterbury Boys’ Cricket Association’s competitions on Saturday. It has 68 points, but Shirley Boys’ High School, which had its third successive outright win on Saturday, now has 62 points.

These two teams meet in the final round next week to decide the competition. Third place is shared by Bumside High School and St Thomas of Canterbury College, but well behind the leaders. They have 47 points. St Andrew’s College 31, St Bede’s College 27, Cashmere High School 26 and Xavier College five are the other teams. Linwood bated with aggression in the period before lunch and declared at the break. The 164 runs it scored in the session put it in a strong position, with four hours to dismiss Xavier College. C. Williamson batted well, taking many quick singles, and B. Davison had his second good innings of the match. Xavier worked hard to score runs and was 80 for four at tea, and later 110 for five. However D. Smith, playing in his first match for the first XI, spun out the lower order batsmen. B. Clough played a determined innings to top-score for Xavier. He returned to the crease after retiring early with an injury. Tempted by what seemed an impossible task in its second innings, Shirley achieved an outright win with only one ball to spare. Sixteen runs were required off the last over and a six off the seventh delivery won the game. Shirley was set 139. Led by B. Glanville the Shiriey batsmen attacked the bowling with abandon. Glanville’s innings included two sixes and five fours. He received good support from G. Cope and S. Gambles.

St Bede’s College started its second innings at the resumption of play and remained at the crease until 4.50 p.m. S. Mackie did well in his first attempt at open-

ing the innings, but again the foundation of the innings came from C. Kennedy. A young player, C. Hamilton, also batted creditably. G. Neilson was the best Shirley bowler. St Andrew’s had its second outright win of the season at the expense of Cashmere. Cashmere started the day at 87 for five but was out by 12.30 p.m. for 124 and forced t follow on. Its second innings had a similar collapse and the game was finished by 2 p.m. M. Power, the St Andrew’s right-arm fast bowler, playing his first match for the first XI, was the chief destroyer in the Cashmere first innings. G. Sidey and B. Finlayson took over the bowling role in the second innings, and they were supported by a high standard of fielding. On a wicket giving surprising bounce B. Farrant and D. Farrant had St Thomas’s out before lunch. R. King took two fine catches in the gully for Bumside High School. In its second innings Bumside had a slow run fate and declared at 3.29 p.m. leaving St Thomas’s 203 runs to win in 130 minutes. D.

Farrant scored a determined 43 runs and J. Porter also batted well. M. Cawthorn and C. O’Malley shared the bowling honours for St Thomas’s. At seven for two, Burnside looked in a position to win the match, but a fighting partnership between O’Malley and J. Maguire held the St Thomas’s innings together. The day’s play yielded only 199 runs — an indication of the difficulty the batsmen had in playing strokes on 'the variable pitch. Scores were:—

Linwod High School 176 and 176 for 7 declared (B. Davison 39, R. Latham 36, C. Williamson 42, R. Winkleman 21; R. Withers 3/59). beat Xavier College 106 and 128 (B. Clough 35. G. Gilmore 24. R. Withers 32; D. Smith 5/27). St Bede’s College 81 and 196 (C. Kennedy 62. S. Mackie 44, C. Hamilton 30; G. Neilson 5/44, H. Morel 3/35). lost to Shirley Boys’ High School 139 and 140/5 (B. Glanville 53. G. Cope 26, S. Gambles 26). St Andrew’s College 246/9 declared, beat Cashmere High School 124 (S. Dawson 23. S. McLeod 27, A. Masters 20; M. Power 7/46) and 39 (B. Finlayson 3/12, G. Sidey 3/10). Burnside High School 173 and 113/9 declared (D. Farrant 43. J. Porter 24; M. Cawthorn 3/35. C. O’Malley 3/28), St Thomas’s College 84 (M. O’Neill 22. D. Farrant 3/25. B. Farrant 3/19) and 68/5 (C. O’Malley 27 n. 0.; D Farrant 4/35).