Bowlers hold command in fifth round of cricket competition

Press, 4 December 1978, Page 17

Bowlers hold command in fifth round of cricket competition

Saturday was not a good day for the top teams in the senior cricket competition. Starting late and playing in persistent rain, the competition leader, Lancaster Park, failed to take a bowling point from Old Collegians.

Neither did it bat sufficiently well to argue strong prospects of winning the match mtright.

The second-place side, ; Burnside-West, had even I less to be happy about. Not; a ball was bowled in its I game with Riccarton, the rain at Ham being heavier and more lasting than in other parts of the city. At Burwood Park and Sydenham, there was cricket for most of the day, but it was played in miserable conditions. In all the games, bowlers held command, and young Stephen Booth of East-Shir-1 ley, with seven wickets| against Old Boys, had the! best return by any senior bowler this season. East-Shirley won a strong; position against Old Boys,: mainly through the bowling | of Booth and the batting of Alan Albertson. Old Collegians was well placed against Lancaster Park, but Sydenham collapsed against St Albans, which must now have a strong chance of regaining the lead it relinquished in the fourth round. Scores:—

Oid Boys 138; East-Shir-ley 83/2. St Albans 150/6 dec 16/2; Sydenham 55/9 dec. Old Collegians 120/2 dec; Lancaster Park 55/4. Ross McNally (St Albans) had his first spectacular success of the season, taking five Sydenham wicket with his lively bowling. This was after his captain, Henry Sampson, had lost the toss for the first time this season.

Also for St Albans, Geoff Smith scored briskly to make the day’s top score, 66. Roger Fuller (Old Collegians) also batted attractively for 64. Burnside-West and Riccarton are left in a difficult po-I sition. They have to play a two-day match next day, for there is provisionI to * penalise teams guilty of freak declarations. So the team winning the toss almost certainly field, in an effort to gain maximum bowling points; and the side batting first may feel disposed to declare early, to deny its opponent performance points, and have as much time as possible to earn them itself. A total of _1 wickets fell

I in the dismal, damp con- s I ditions at Sydenham Park 1 land although rain fell for 1 most of th- day only the a ilast 45 minutes were lost. I At lunch the umpires con- J ; sidered conditions unfit for < play but both captains v agreed to continue and in mid-afternoon the weather 1 improved. < Apart from a spot at the t south end where the ball 1 rose sharply from the slow t bowlers, the pitch was easypaced but only the St i Albans opener, Geoff Smith, 1 batted with any confidence. 1 Admittedly the heavy J outfield hindered scoring but 1 ' most batsmen were out to 1 I indiscreet shots. i ■ Smith batted with his p ; usual aggression and hit two I sizes and eight fours. His 1 I ability to loft the ball kept 1 I the scoring rate going. He 1 I was particularly strong on 1 the leg side bust also played some well-timed cuts. The best of the Sydenham 1 bowlers was the "medium- 1 paced lan Wilson but they 1 had the worst of the conditions, bowling as they did when the rain was at its 1 heaviest. 1 There were high hopes in i the Sydenham camp that • Bill Thomson would make ’ his fifth consecutive half- ■ I century. However he suc- | cumbed to the veteran Ken '■ i Ferries with his score at 18, ; the only player of his side] To reach double figures. L Geoff Brown showed determination in batting 75 ' minutes for eight runs but - lin the absence of Nicky ' ‘Dierck the innings was declared closed when the ninth wicket fell. Ross McNally bowled ac- I icurately for St Albans, keepling the ball well up and I four of his five victims were I bowled. Miles StapyltonSmith flighted his off-spin-iners well and also returned ■good figures. Sydenham came back into I the game in the final Stages, ■ i capturing tw’o wickets, but (St Albans will go into the • second day with a lead of i 111 and eight second-innings wickets still standing. EAST DOMINANT Three youngsters stole the > limelight at Burwood Park • where East Christchurchi Shirley finished the first day i of its match with Old Boys in a strong position. I' Old Boys batted first,

and the 19-year-old East; bowler, Steven Booth, used! both the moistened wicket j and poor strokes of the Oldj Boys batsmen to good effect. His right-arm medium-paced deliveries netted him seven wickets for only 56 runs. Only the 20-year old Tim Evison, batting at No. 7 for Old Boys, offered any resistance to Booth’s assault, and he was unbeaten on 40 when the innings finished. The third young player to shine was the East opening batsman, Alan Albertson. His build belied his 18 years, but he combined aggression with caution to be not out at stumps on 46, and see his side through to a comfortable 83 for two. Cran Bull won the toss for Old, B.oys and decided to bat, a decision he was probably regretting a little later. By lunch, EastShirley had captured seven Old Boys wickets for only 87 runs, and a score of less than 100 seemed quite likely. Booth had done most of the damage for East. He removed both of the opening batsmen — Dayle Hadlee for a duck, and his brother Barry for 20 — and picked up the cheap wickets of Peter Rattray and John Bierwirth as well. Bull made 21 before he, too, fell to the young bowler. Evison began his innings i just after 12 o’clock, and; was not out at lunch with I the Old Boys wicket-keeper, Bryan Ritchie. These two defied the East bowlers after lunch and put on 44 for the eighth wicket before Ritchie played all over one from Booth and was bowled. His innings of 23 added substance to a crumbling Old Boys side, and although Evison quickly ran out of partners he had still managed to score an unbeaten 40 before the innings folded. Old Boys picked up two quick wickets before tea, and could have had a third, that of Albertson. In Richard Hadlee’s first over, Ray Jones swung at a ball that came back into his body, and he was caught close in behind the wicket. Hadlee’s second over could have bagged the valuable scalp of Albertson, but Ritchie dropped the difficult chance. Dayle Hadlee’s spin bowling was introduced in the

i seventh over, and he quickly ! induced Carl Dickel to play ia ball on to his stumps. Tea. jwas then taken, but John Grocott, who scored 11 runs in over an hour, and Albertson, steered East-Shirley through to stumps and a comfortable position. FINE START Only 37 overs were possible in a rain-interrupted game at Lancaster Park but these were enough to put Old Collegians in an advantageous position against the home side. Collegians were given a great start by the openers, Roger Fuller (64) and Brian Hawkins (24), who put on 74 runs in 81 minutes to help enable the early declaration. Fuller drove most attractively on both sides of the wicket in a rollicking innings which included two sixes — one a sweetly-timed off-drive off Kit Chambers — and nine fours. . Hawkins, a young Sheffield man making his ■ senior debut, was rather ten- . tative early, as balls , skidded off the pitch, and '■ he contributed only six runs ■ to the opening stand. Later, [ though, he hit four good ■ boundaries and was looking , very settled when he had the misfortune to slip and , get run out. There was also ; satisfactory assistance from I John Phillips, who quickly [i got on with the job although J his first eight runs were all ’ singles. | The batting side kept up a . healthy average of just over , four runs an over, hone ol i the Park bowlers being parj ticularly impressive. Wayne Wilson had Hawkins in a i little trouble with his

medium-pacers but the only 1 wicket-taker was Chambers, a left-armer, who claimed Fuller’s scalp after conceding 22 runs to hin in two overs.

Hamish Wright had a rather remarkable bowling performance for Collegians, after a terrible start. He slipped right over on his back as he made his first delivery — a no ball; his second was a wide; and after 1.7 overs his figures read none for 17. Yet his filial figures were a very creditable four for 20 off four overs, as he claimed an amazing four wickets in the space of 10 balls and twice sat on a hat-trick.

Park averaged more than; six runs an over in the nine bowled with Lindsay Forde receiving a caning from Tony Collins and Dave Dempsey. However, Wright’s hostile spell removed the ad-, vantage of the scoring rate which was largely the result of Collins slamming 27 runs in 43 minutes. Two of. tie dismissals were the result of really suberb diving catches by Wright and Rod Fulton, who both had to slide forward on their stomachs. The last few overs were played in quite heavy drizzle and fading light. Wright did well to maintain his penetration without the “windscreen wipers” on his glasses for which he later expressed ;a need.

In the closing stages there was an ‘ amusing incident when Stu Cameron edged a ball from Paul McEwan over slips and his bat . shot more than a metre up in the air nearly landing on the stumps.