Spectacular batting by Canterbury produces eight-wicket victory

Press, 15 January 1981, Page 24

Spectacular batting by Canterbury produces eight-wicket victory

By

R. T. BRITTENDEN

The cricket of Peter Coman, Brun Smith and Dick Motz is not dead. It was well and very much alive at Lancaster Park yesterday when Canterbury produced its most spectacular batting in years.

Set a target of 273 in 220 minutes David Dempsey and David Stead shared a dazzling opening partnership of 175, and Canterbury won the Shell Trophy match by eight wickets, with nearly 10 overs to spare. In an exhilarating display of powerful stroke-making, Dempsey raced to a century in 96 minutes from 89 deliveries — the fastest of the first-class season. He finished with 121. His faithful, self-effacing aide, Stead, scored an invaluable 55; then Rod Latham and Vaughan Brown put the finishing touches to a brilliant performance by scoring 57 in 37 minutes. It was the first century opening partnership for Canterbury for four years, and the highest since Graham Dowling and Maurice Ryan scored 188 against Northern Districts 10 years ago.* A tremendous success in the Shell Cup one-day matches, Dempsey had suffered a string of failures in the earlier major matches. He could not have made amends in a more forthright or convincing manner. To be sure, the pitch was his ally and so, in part, was the Wellington attack, which came apart at the seamers. The medium-pacers were not capable of containing Dempsey and that meant more work for the slow bowlers, and therefore the production of rather more overs than the Wellington captain, John Morrison could have foreseen. Wellington not unnaturally, tried to slow the over-rate as much as possible but there was no stopping a Canterbury team which must be greatly heartened by two victories in four games to go with its Cup successes. It Was a remarkable trans-

formation from the morning play to the events of the afternoon. Wellington batted on in absolute comfort, and if it was slow making its runs in the most inviting conditions, Morrison had control of the match. Brian Cederwall, sent in the previous evening to protect a couple of more renowned batsmen, might in other circumstances have sparked off a demarcation dispute. He was on duty as a nightwatchman, but acted as a full-time batsman for 226 minutes and 94 runs. Not the most elegant of batsmen, he nevertheless defended with the utmost resolution, and was quick to hit the bad balls away with finality for fours. Sometimes puzzled by the spin of Stead, Cederwall went on and on, and the longer he batted the more firm was Wellington’s control. Cederwall shared a stand of 99 with Robert Vance, who scored his fourth half-century of his series. Cederwall desered the tribute of a century for his application and resolve, but he was bowled trying to make the final runs in a hurry before the declaration. Evan Gray again batted very soundly, to bring his Shell Trophy average to an impressive 60.5. Canterbury’s bowlers were earnest, but not much more. Steve McNally however, had one particularly good spell. It was from the south end, where he had shown similar life and purpose the previous evening.

Batting on for 35 minutes after lunch, Morrison seemed to have set Canterbury a very stiff task. He asked Canterbury to score at 4.1 runs an over, where Wellington’s rates had been 2.7 and 2.5, Canter-

bury’s 2.8. No doubt the one-day match at Timaru had given him a healthy respect for Canterbury’s attacking potential, and he could not have made allowance for the inadequacies of his medium-pace bowlers Dempsey seemed to think he was still at Aorangi Park when he took seven off Stewart Cater’s first over, 14 off Cederwall’s first, and nine of the 10 Cederwall yielded in his second over, the one before he was removed from the attack. A break-down of Dempsey’s innings is revealing. Cater bowled him eight balls, for seven runs; Cederwall, 11 for 23; Gray, 32 for 23; Peter Petherick, 36 for 49; Morrison, 15 for 17 and Don Henry two for two. This was not some rustic revel in which Dempsey indulged. A couple of times he swung with a frenzy to match his inelegance, but the rest of it was superb stuff. His runs came from all round the batting, compass. Most memorable, perhaps, were the booming straight drives, and the shot off the back foot with which he hit Morrison so fiercely through the covers. It was his treatment of Petherick which commanded particular attention. The former test spinner had a sixthree field, then one of seven-two, in his attempt to stem the flow of runs. Bowling to his on-side field, Petherick’s line was on the pad or outside it. Dempsey would have none of it. He moved with easy elegance inside the line, to thump straight drives or crash the ball through the almost vacant off-side field. It was audacious, it was

probably impertinent, but it was magnificent. All the while, Stead played his part admirably. After Dempsey’s dynamic start, Stead joined in the assault, and when he was 30, Dempsey was only 34. He was still at 30 when the extraordinary Dempsey was 91. Part of this one-man performance was attributable to Gray, a fine left-armer. He kept Dempsey, for a while, to an occasional single, and Stead was left to see out the rest of the over. Stead showed admirable restraint and thoughtfulness. More than that; he hit many lovely shots on the drive, or by flicking the ball away off his pads. At tea, Canterbury was 125 without loss. The first five overs after the break yielded 41, and the result almost inevitable. When the last 20 overs started, 61 were needed. Dempsey had gone, with a rather tired attempt to hit one from Don Henry which cut back. Stead was out at 219, to a clever piece of bowling from Gray. The bowler saw Stead advancing bowled a quicker and shorter one and Stead was taken at mid-wicket. Then it was Latham, all confidence again, and Brown. It was satisfying to see Latham get his first half-century. Since the Auckland match, he has been extraordinarily consistent, but he needs a big score, and this was a delightful display. Brown, too, was in good touch again. Each had the satisfaction of hitting a six before the end, and the inevitable announcement that Dempsey was man of the match.