Canty loses on run-rate after 10-hour marathon

Press, 31 December 1980, Page 24

Canty loses on run-rate after 10-hour marathon

PA Auckland In what must certainly have been the longest day’s cricket in New Zealand representative history, the old rivals, Auckland and Canterbury, needed nearly 10 hours to decide their first round Shell Cup match at Eden Park yesterday. The shocking Auckland weather again turned the match into an endurance test rather than a limitedover cricket match, and it was not until nearly nine o’clock last evening that the umpires finally called it off

with Auckland, 128 for five, taking the decision on the basis of a better runs-an-over rate than its rivals.

Nearly five hours were lost during the day’s play with one break of three hours almost ending the game there. This would have seen the points shared. However, the captains, umpires and match officials stuck to their guns and aided by as pleasant an evening as one could wish for, the game restarted and eventually produced a result. In the end, Auckland, with 128 for five to its credit,

after 33 completed overs, took the points. Canterbury at the same stage in its innings was 113 for five. By dusk, hindered by the lengthening shadows which crept across the ground and pitch, the batsmen soldiered bravely on even if seeing the ball was becoming increasingly difficult and eventually the umpires had little choice but to call a halt, but only after one wag had called out: “Hey you out there with the miner’s cap on, I’ve got a party to go to on New Year’s Eve.”