Lancaster Park boosts lead in senior cricket

Press, 12 January 1981, Page 15

Lancaster Park boosts lead in senior cricket

Lancaster Park, already u clear winner of the A.N.Z. Bank Cup for the first-round competition in senior cricket, won again on Saturday when one-day limitedover matches were played. This served to increase its already handsome lead and it will go into the final round next Saturday nearly 40 points ahead. St Albans also won, moving from fifth place to second, and Old Collegians, Old" Boys, and Sydenham were all beaten. Les Smith, the St Albans captain, was the day’s top scorer, with 75, and George Nicol, playing for the same side, made the only other half-century. The top bowler was Andrew Nuttall, of St Albans, with seven for 45. Wayne Wilson (Lancaster Park) had six wickets and Mike Dolden (Sydenham) and Gary Hooper (East-Shir-ley) five each. Scores: St Albans 205 beat Sydenham 134. Riccarton 133 beat EastShirley 61. Lancaster Park 13316 beat Old Boys 132 ■ Burnside-West 211 beat Old Collegians 120.

Competition points: Lancaster Park 95.34, St Albans 58.18, Old Collegians 54.95, Old Boys 54.72, Sydenham 53.38, Bumside-West 51.82, Riccarton 48.84, East-Shirley 42.97. RUN-OUTS East-Shirley had a very modest total to overtake but its Innings folded before the score was even halfway to the target. There was good, accurate seam bowling from Glen Bateman and Steve McNally and some smart fielding by the Riccarton side but there were mishaps of East’s own making. The unfortunate Alan Albertson, who played some lovely shots and seemed to be running into form, was involved in three run-outs, including his own. It was another match of lost opportunities for East: with a depleted bowling attack it had done marveUously well to have Riccarton all out for 133 in the fifty-fourth over. After a poor start, Gary Hooper found the right line and length and finished with five wickets. Hooper also fielded brilliantly at cover. Riccarton started slowly but David Stead and Lindsay Thorn began to pick up the run rate, ominously for East. Then a minor disaster struck Riccarton in the space of four balls at about the halfway stage. Stead was dropped at short mid-wicket and then Thorn was run out, backing up. Two balls later, Stead was run out by half the length of the pitch. From there, East bristled with aggression and only a solid 20 not out by John Mackie baulked it for any length of time. ONE-SIDER While Robert Wilson bowled his first spell, which brought him a wicket for two runs in six over. Old Collegians looked likely to have a good struggle with Burnside-West but from that point there was only one side in it. Burnside-West, with- steady

batting right down the order, scored 211 from its 55 overs and Old Collegians never looked like matching that total once Rod Fulton had departed. Burnside-West’s advance began with Barry Thomas, who played some splendid strokes in his 38. David Farrant, never in an apparent hurry, scored briskly and well, there were some quick runs from Peter Wallace, and the. tail-enders all chipped in with useful scores. In his first senior match Blair Finlayson held the Old Collegians’ bowling together. He was the least expensive with his me-dium-pace attack and picked up six wickets, five of them in his last six overs. Fulton looked in good form but tight bowling, astute field placing, and good catching had Old Collegians on the back foot almost from the start of the innings. Fulton took 14 in Rob Kinsey’s first over. Thereafter Kensey gave nothing away, David Farrant had a significantly economical spell, and the result was inevitable long before the last wicket fell. Peter Wallace picked up two slip catches and Kevin Collins ended Old Collegian’s hopes with a sharp leg-side catch to dismiss Fulton. ST ALBANS SUPERIOR From the opening partnership of 41 between Geoff Smith and Les Smith, St Albans gained an advantage against Sydenham and it increased it as the match progressed.

Two fine innings, first by Les Smith and then by George Nicol, ensured St Albans of a respectable total and Andrew Nuttall played his part when Sydenham set about the run chase. Nuttall bowled his left-arm spin teasingly and accurately and deserved his best figures in senior cricket. He took some punishment near the end but he was always the master and was aided by some excellent close-in fielding by the St Albans team. The Sydenham opening attack could only be described as friendly and Les Smith and Nicol helped themselves to runs with ease.

There was nothing rash or reckless about their batting: both moved into their shots confidently and played firm, positive strokes. Their aerial shots were struck so well that they cleared the boundary on five occasions. Smith and Nicol added 53 for the third wicket in only 21 minutes and a fifth-wicket stand between Nicol and Duncan Wild produced another valuable 45 runs in 53 minutes.

The Sydenham spinners, Michael Dolden and Brian Salt, plugged away and picked up eight wickets between them. However, although wickets tumbled regularly towards the end of the innings, the damage had been done at the start.

Sydenham lost Bill Thomson early and was never in a position to attack the St Albans total. George Carnoutsos batted competently for his 36 and both Ewen Spence and Brian Salt swung lustily at the end. But Nuttall held sway and dismissed both. There was very little substance to the rest of the Sydenham innings. COMFORTABLE WIN

A fifth-wicket partnership of 71 between Roy Gearry and Graham Kench was instrumental, in giving Lancaster Park a comfortable four-wicket win over High School Old Boys at Ham. The sides had identical starts on the good pitch, the first wicket falling at 42, but where Old Boys then lost wickets steadily Lancaster Park recovered after a major set-back.

This came when Lancaster Park wickets fell in the twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth overs for the addition of only eight runs but Old Boys were unable to' press home the a< Davi t d S ßull and Peter Rattray kept a steady scoring rate of three an over against the opening Lancaster Park bowlers but the advent of Wayne Wilson at the bowling crease spelt the ruin of the innings. Bowling his leftarm seamers with fine control. Wilson took the first six wickets, four of them being bowled. Only some big hitting from Gary MacDonald at the end saved the innings from complete collapse. Both Gearry and Kench batted well, hitting the loose ball hard and defending sensibly when required. MacDonald bowled his left-arm spinners ably and economically, taking three for 26 off 11 overs.