Audacious Ritchie saves Old Boys from defeat

Press, 20 October 1980, Page 21

Audacious Ritchie saves Old Boys from defeat

Lancaster Park, an assertive side on the first day, Jed the A.N.Z. Bank senior cricket championship when the opening round ended on Saturday but the miserable weather which has marked these opening exchanges probably cost it an outright win and a substantial dead. All four matches were decided on the first innings, but Lancaster Park was closest to victory. Valuable minutes were lost because of bad light in mid-afternoon, and when the match still had nearly eight overs to run, the gloom ended the game with Old Boys, eight wickets down, only a few runs ahead of Park.

Sydenham, making a splendid start to the season under Bryan Salt, was also in a strong position against St Albans, and Riccarton led East-Shirley by a handsome margin. The defending champions, Old Collegians, lost eight wickets before heading off Bumside-West and there was not much more play after that decision had been reached.

The players in the two matches at Hagley Oval were luckier than the others. There were only very light drifts of rain there, often only spots. So it was frustrating for the Sydenham and St Albans players to have their start delayed until 12.30 p.m., when the Lancaster Park-Old Boys match, on the same area, had begun 90 minutes earlier.

If bad light helped save Old Boys, so did Bryan Ritchie, with the day’s ■ top score of 95 not out. It was an innings of. character, his highest in senior cricket, and it was a pity the loss of light lost him his chance of a century. Roy Gearry dominated the morning play in this match, as he took his first-day score of 30 to 87. At Elmwood - Park, Vaughan Brown went on to 70. The bowling successes-, of the day were Robert Wilson (Old Collegians) who took five wickets, and Bernie Rule (Riccarton) who captured six.

Scores.— Bumside-West 199 and 28/4 lost on the first innings to Old Collegians 201/8 dec. Sydenham 189/8 dec beat St Albans 89 and 73/6 on the first innings. Old Boys 123 and 174/8 lost on the first innings to Lancaster Park 282/6 dec. Riccarton 233/6 dec beat East-Shirley 118 and 83/4 on the first innings. Points: Lancaster Park 11.42, Riccarton 10.13, Sydenham 10.09, Old Collegians 9.81, Old Boys 5.17, Burnside-West 4.87, St

Albans 4.22, East-Shirley 4.21. RITCHIE'S DAY Only Ritchie’s assertive batting saved Old Boys from humiliation in the match with Lancaster Park.

Although the outfield was damp and slow, Gearry and Bevan Congdon went ahead steadily when Lancaster Park built on its first-day lead. There were some vintage Congdon strokes, and although Gearry had a mishap or two, he drove, pulled and cut powerfully. Then when Congdon went, Mark Chamberlain brought no peace in his time for the Old Boys bowlers. He and Gearry added 47 in 42 minutes. Gearry, timing his shots easily, had a century within his grasp, but got out because the declaration was at hand. Although Barry Hadlee and Peter Rattray gave Old Boys a second good start, there was another collapse — from 58 for none to 65 for four. In this period Chamberlain was most impressive. There was occasional awkward lift and often sharp movement off the drying pitch and Chamberlain, bowling assertively, took four for four. With an hour left, Old Boys were 146 for eight, still 13 runs behind. But Ritchie attacked vigorously whenever possible ■ and played some glorious shots ■ in partnership with Geoff Hancock, the newcomer from Wellington. It was a sort of Hancock’s half hour, as the batsman survived regular and vigorous leg-before appeals, but he hung on, determinedly as Ritchie raced towards his century. Ritchie had some bad moments

as he played and missed at Chamberlain, but it was a fine display by the little left-hander. And it was pleasant to see Lancaster Park's players, hiding their frustrations, giving Ritchie warm applause as he left the field. SYDENHAM ON TOP St Albans made a reasonably good start against Sydenham but collapsed sadly and failed to avoid following on by a single run. Most of the damage was done by lan Wilson, playing his last game for a club he has served with great distinction. He took five in the innings, for the twentieth time in 'his senior career. There was strong support from

the English professional Kevin James who, however, had difficulties with his run-up. He was no-bailed 11 times. The tidy leftarm spinner Mike Dolden also bowled very usefully. In Its second innings St Albans struggled again, although Geoff Smith brought off same strong and handsome strokes. Dolden had a long bowl, Ashley Hart completed a good exhibition of wicket-keeping, and St Albans was very much on the back foot in the last period of play Six overs remained unbowled when the game was called off. For lan Wilson, it was a moving moment when the Sydenham players stood aside to allow him to lead them off stage. He was clearly affected, and so were they. CLOSE CTRUGGLE There was a ' long, tense, struggle for first Innings points at Elmwood Park. Because of the damp pitch and Intermittent rain, play was delayed for almost two hours and it was not until afternoon tea that Old Collegians passed Burnside-West’s total. Vaughan Brown, 43 from the previous Saturday, had the look of an in-form batsman and played some beautifully-timed shots forward of the wicket. When he left: six wickets were down for 132 and Old Collegians were struggling. Then two good partnerships brought the total within reach. Robert Wilson with John Bishop scored 27 for the seventh wicket and' Wilson with Graham Gordon 28 for the eighth.

it Wilson batted with a calmness e that belied the situation. He r. showed a stubborn defence but :- was not afraid to hit the bail g and anything loose received e severe punishment. ei Chris Marks bowled bls slov, left-armers to good effect for Bumside but the rest of the y bowling was no more than ,t steady. The dropping of four O catches did little to encourage e the bowlers. Lively bowling and sharp cate ching by Old Collegians had the it Burnside second Innings in disd array and four wickets fell for k 12 runs. Then tire experienced e Peter Wallace and the promising r David Farrant saw the side to the finish at 5.30 p.m. n OBDURATE INNINGS , East-Shirley, forced to follow on after crumbling in its first innings, was more resolute at its second turn and denied Riccarton an outright win. East’s first innings total might have been even more dismal had it not been for the tenacious left hander, Keith Moorfield, who batted throughout the innings for 36 not out. Moorfield was at the wicket for 245 minutes and. after the 10-minute break, batted a further 55 minutes in the second innings. His concentration never wavered, despite the fact that between showers there were four spells of play in the first ‘ session of the second day. Alan Albertson was the only 1 other batsman to give real sup- - port in the first innings, with a 3 bright 30, although Craig Thiele - was at the wicket for 50 minutes > for his 10. Bernie Rule took bowling hon- ’ ours for Riccarton In East’s first f innings and if he looked jaded ’ in his seven overs of the second J innings, he had good reason to t be. He had maintained a lively ‘ pace through 22 overs in the first ’ innings, conceding only 32 runs c and capturing six wickets. His . cut and lift were always demanding of the batsmen. ; Rule’s opening partner, Steve : McNally, never tired at all. He 1 , kept an admirable line and 1 . length and was even able to * ’ move the soggy ball quite appre- 1 ciabiy in the air. He deserved 1 a better return. { Much interest centred on the ' bowling of David Stead. In the £ first innings, he pushed the ball j through quite quickly, mixing I seamers in with the leg spinners and wrong’uns, but as the f pitch dried out in the second t innings he was more orthodox, I getting the ball to bite and pop. : There was leg spin bowling c from both ends for 20 or more ? overs in East’s second innings, I as Mike Hamel also displayed i some crafty wrist work. I The highlight of East’s second innings was a fine 45 by Stephen c Booth. Some of his strikes were f not as pure as others, but as c time went on he showed an ad- i mirable desire to get after the bowling. Kevin Pitcher, too, gave j a minor display of shot-maktag c in a good stand with Booth. j