Park in peril of losing place in final

Press, 2 March 1981, Page 17

Park in peril of losing place in final

Lancaster Park, which has led the field from the first round of the A.N.Z. Bank cricket championships in October, is in dsnger of falling at the second-last hl The last round of section play to determine the two finalists began on Saturday. 'Lancaster Park then led Old Collegians by 10 61 points. But in the big upset of.the season, Old Collegians on Saturday scored 194 for nine declared, and Lancaster Park, a_t day’s end, was struggling at 87 for oisht. Old Collegians will have to win outright, however, to have a chance of defending the title it won for the first time last seaeon. , , The other section is aiso at an interesting stage. St Albans, 6.61 points ahead of Riccarton, took a commanding position against Burnside-West, and Riccarton did well in its match with Sydenham. Both. St Albans and Riccarton will be desperately anxious to hear news of each-other’s progress when the round is completed on March 13. Scores. — Old Collegians 194/9 dec; I Lancaster Park 87/8 East-Shirley 163; Old Boys 86/5. Burnside-West 216/5 dec; St Albans 157/1 Sydenham 184; Riccarton , 113/2. Two centuries were scored on Saturday. Justin Boyle played an almost flawless innings of 113 for Burnside-West, and the Northamptonshire professional, Bob Carter, playing for St Albans, hit a vigorous 101 not out in the same match. . Wayne Spanjet (Riccarton) and Richard Leggat (Old Collegans) had half-centuries. The best bowling performance was that of Steve McNally (Riccarton), who took five wickets. BOYLES SUCCEED Justin Boyle played his finest Innings in senior cricket when he scored his maiden century on Saturday. He opened, and in a .very slow first hour lost two partners for a handful of runs, 5s the St Albans bowlers, particularly Les Watson, seamed the ball about sharply. But Boyle did not put a foot .wrong, and when he was joined iby-his brother, David, the runs came swiftly and attractively. David Boyle played many fine forcing shots, but he was outgunned on the day - by Justin, jwhose cutting and square driving, with his ability to place the ball for profit, were outstanding. Between them they put on 81 in E2'minutes. Justin Boyle then went on to a splendid century, and with his captain, Peter Wallace, scored 68 tn ..only 53 minutes before AValllace declared. The impudent Wallfee batted a full metre outside his crease to the fastest of the St Albans bowlers, Ross McNally. Boyle made his chanceless century in 215 minutes, with 14 fours and a six. Wallace’s declaration seemed a little premature, for it was essential that his side took the first-innings lead if its championship hopes were to live. But he also has to have an outright win, land so opted to keep St Albans Interested by not. batting too Jong. Les Watson was the most accurate and penetrating of the St Albans bowlers. St Albans, without its captain I.es Smith —.who injured an alia it work on Friday — made a jgreat start. Bob Carter and Rodney Moore scoring 106 for the

[. first wicket. Then Moore was ' given -not out after an appeal for ■la catch at backward short leg. ■ I But after checking with the : fieldsman, he walked — an admirable example of sportsmanship. Carter was in tremendous form. Perhaps there ■were a few ■ misdirected shots, but in the ' main- his runs came from majestic drives and fierce cuts. Already he has hit 17 boundaries. He was as strong off the back foot as he was when going forward, and Duncan Wild, a fellow professional, joined him in a oreezy partnership which .has all but extinguished Burnside-West’s prospects. SEAMERS PROSPER The Old Collegians’ mediumpacers, Robert Wilson and Lindsay Forde, bowled their side into a commanding position on the slow grassy pitch at Elmwood Park, and at the end of the day Lancaster Park was battling desperately to avoid the follow-on. ■ The Lancaster Park innings began disastrously with both openers, Tony Collins and David Dempsey, out with the total at three, and from this the batting never recovered. A seventh-wick-et partnership between Roy Gearry and Brian Andrews raised 36 runs, but that was the ■ only batting of any note in the innings. A measure of the accuracy of the Old Collegians’ bowling was that Gearry batted for 90 minutes for his 12 not out, and Lindsay Forde finished with the very good figures of two wickets for 16 off 15 overs. Of his last 10 overs, eight were maidens, and he conceded only three runs and took one wicket. AU the Old Collegians’ bowlers had successes, and the attack was supported by capable fieldtag. Earlier in the day the Old Collegians batting had gone in fits and starts. Paul McEwan batted brightly for 25, scored in slightly more than even time, but Vaughn Brow® followed him out almost immediately and a collapse on the uneasy pitch seemed likely. Richard Leggat became the anchor man of the innings, and two partnerships, one of 36 with Rod Fulton and then another of 82 with Wilson, gave the innings its substance. Leggat batted sensibly and well. He played as the situation demanded, curbing his natural aggression, but still attacking as the occasion arose. He had an able lieutenant in Wilson, who seems to have more time than most to play his shots. Some nicely timed drives forward of the wicket were a feature of his innings. • As in the later innings, most success went to the medium-pace seam bowlers, and both Wayne Wilson and Bryan Andrews gave sound performances. SWIFT START ■When the Old Boys batsmen began their innings after tea at Burwood Oval, it seemed as though they bad hones of knocking off East Shirley’s 163 in time to give their bowlers 20 minutes at East before stumps. Barry Hadlee took four, with.a majestic square cut. off the first ball of the innings, bowled by Craig Thiele, and carried on to 33 in a bright knock. There was no doubting the quality of some of the shots, especially the off-drives;’ there were others less orthodox but equally effective. The Old Boys top order has struggled this season, and some of the players obviously decided

to fight their way out of the bat. ting doldrums. Peter Rattray and Cran Bull were out driving at balls wide of the off stump early in their innings, and John Bierwirth, until the advent of. Garv Hooper and Tony Gray and the imminence of stumps, went after almost everything. Bierwirth’s bold approach' paid off, and he was .35 not out at the close of play. He played a couple of superlative drives and whenever the ball angled in towards his pads, he was quick to loft it to-the mld-wicket boundary. This last session, was highly entertaining, with flurries of shots and five wickets falling to good bowling and catching, but at the end of it, strangely, Old Boys had barely outpaced East. David Bull was at the wicket for 26 minutes without scoring, and Bryan Ritchie took 49 minutes over his six runs, although he looked assured in that time. Earlier in. the day, East failed to .capitalise fully on a sound start. Ray Jones and Keith Moorfield put on 43 for the first wicket, Moorfield and George Harper 57 for the second. But from there. East limped to 163, when it. might have looked for 200 or more. Harper made a bright 33. Including five fours, and there were some classic drives in his innings. Just as he was looking set for a big total, Gary MacDonald came into the attack with Jiis left-arm spinners and immediately had Harper in trouble. Brent Small, however, claimed the reward from the other end. For Moorfield it was a good day, but there was a hint of regret in it for him. He made his best score in, senior cricket but was out three short of 50 at a time when he must have been seeing the ball well. Moorfield began brightly, outpacing Jones, but he worked his way into a drab patch from which he coulld find little relief, He 47 took 175 minutes, and included four fours. Possibly the best, and certainly the unluckiest, of the Old Boys

bowlers was MacDonald. He flighted the ball well up to the batsmen, for the most part, but the movement he had in the air, with the arm. denied them the chance to attack. SOLID STAND A fifth-wicket partnership of 56 between John Larter and Kevin James saved Sydenham from embarrassment against Riccarton at Hagley 3. Sydenham, winning the toss and batting, began badly when Bill Thomson was run out from the ninth ball of the match. Progress was slow, until Larter and James shared their stand in 67 minutes. Indeed, the second hour of play yielded l just 19 runs from 15 overs. Larter batted slightly more than two hours for his 45, before becoming Steve McNally’s third victim. He had earlier been dropped at eight and 24. James batted impressively in his unbeaten 41. It took him 165 minutes, but apart from Larter he could find nobody to stay for

any-.length of time. McNally bowled well in patches for his five wickets, while Glenn Bateman bowled better than his figures might suggest. Wayne Spanjer and John Airey got Riccarton saway to a good start, before Airey was run'out. Spanjer and David Stead added another 23 before Mike Dolden got through'Stead’s defence. Dolden had the most work of the seven Sydenham bowlers used, and he gave little away, his 15 overs conceding just 19. Brian. Salt, the Sydenham captain, varied his attack, seldom giving the batsmen a chance to settle into any pattern. Indeed, five bowlers were used dcring the dirst 15 overs. Spanjer' battled on until stumps, when he was unbeaten on 60, scored in 130 minutes. His was an important contribution, and if at times the bowling was a little generous, his efforts have ensured that Riccarton can be fairly confident of first-innings points.