Women to fore in cricket

Press, 17 January 1979, Page 16

Women to fore in cricket

Although the season to date has not been a successful one for the Canterbury Shell team, the Canterbury women have upheld the province’s cricket reputation by winning the national Hallyburton Johnston Trophy by a clear margin from last year’s champion, Wellington. That was just one of the successes that Canterbury achieved at the tournament in Auckland earlier this month. Canterbury won the catching trophy with 33 held in four games and it shared, with Wellington, the trophy for the highest run rate an over.

Canterbury’s Ann McKenna was the leading batswoman at the tournament with 408 runs and she was followed by Lesley Shankland with 330. The leading bowler was again Sue Brown, who captured 32 wickets, and McKenna won the DB Trophy as the New Zealand “player of the year.” Much of the success was due to the sound start given the team by its openers, Shankland and Vicki McGregor. They gave confidence to the rest of the team, an attribute which had been lacking in recent years.

The second-wicket partnerships were amazingly high with stands of 108, 95, 87 and one of 246 to end the tournament. In all, the team totalled 1270 runs for the loss of 40 wickets — an average of 31.75 runs a wicket. The opposing sides scored 1096 runs but lost 72 wickets — an average of 15.2 runs a wicket, a considerable difference and a tribute to the attacking ability of the Canterbury bowlers. Brown bore the brunt of the Canterbury attack and delivered 186 overs for her 32 wickets. She was well supported by Sheree Harris, who bowled 116

overs for 13 wickets, and the captain, Pat Carrick, who took the same number of wickets from 99 overs. Sue Rattray was another reliable bowler.

Margaret Alabaster set a high standard with her wicket-keeping and her encouragement to the fieldswomen helped to inspire the team.

A concerted team effort and a happy team spirit both on and off the field contributed much towards

Canterbury’s triumph. After its loss to Wellington in the second round, Canterbury struck back strongly. To be certain of the trophy, it needed to score 275 off the maximum 70 overs in its last game. The Otago bowlers suffered against the positive batting of the Canterbury players. Canterbury reached 284 for two, McKenna finishing 194 not out. The tournament next season wil be held in Christchurch and with such great depth in Canterbury club cricket at present, the province will not relinquish its title lightly.

The strength was further shown at the weekend when Canterbury won the national second Xis tournament in Palmerston North.

BATTING A. McKenna Inn 7 N.O. 2 H.S. 194* Agg. 408 Ave. 81 L. Shankland 7 1 83 330 55 D. Hockley 7 3 63 125 38 P. Carrick' 3 2 16* 37 37 S. Brown 4 2 21* 41 20.5 V. McGregor 7 0 52 125 17.8 M. Luxmore 3 1 20 24 12 K. Hadlee 2 0 7 12 6 S. Rattray 5 0 11 25 5 M. Alabaster 2 1 3 4 4 S. Storey 3 0 7 11 3.6 S. Harris *) I 3 6 3 1. Jagersma 1 0 0 0 0 Brown BOWLING O. M. 186.2 80 R. 315 W. 32 Ave. 9.84 Carrick 99 43 182 13 14.08 .Jagersma 5.2 1 16 1 16 Hanis 116.1 41 228 13 17.54 Rattray 76 18 183 8 22.88 Hadlee 25 9 34 1 34 Hockley 16 6 40 0 0 Luxmore 7 1 16 0 0 Sbankland 2 0 14 0 0