Senior cricket ends in a tie

Press, 21 December 1981, Page 19

Senior cricket ends in a tie

Three outright wins and the novelty of a tied match marked the . final day of senior championship cricket before the Christmas break. The teams which finished on even terms were Old Collegians and St Albans and it was more than just a .tie: the match ended at the last ball with a St Albans batsman trying desperately to run a bye to give his side victory. Lancaster Park, defending its championship title, was one of the winning teams but it still has Burnside-West close at its heels. East-Shirley had its third win of the season, its best performance for a long time. Results: Lancaster Park, 164 and 229/ Bdec., beat Old Boys, 90 and 139, by 164 runs. Burnside-West, 231/6dec. and 122/Bdec., beat Riccarton, 162/9dec. and 134, by 57 runs. Sydenham, 121 and 156, lost to East-Shirley, 102 and 176/6. by four wickets. Old Collegians 201 and 154/ sdec., tied with St Albans. 166 and 189.

The main individual achievements was that of David Trist (Lancaster Park), whose five wickets against Old Boys took his season's total to 52. This is almost certainly the highest bowling aggregate achieved in senior championship cricket at the half-way stage. When Bill Merritt set his season's record of 98 to 192829. he had 43 wickets at Christmas. Reg Read did better in his best season (191718). when he totalled 92. At Christmas he had captured 51 wickets. Read had the advantage of bowling against two school teams then playing in the senior competition. Chris Marks, the BurnsideWest left-arm spinner, maintained his fine form by taing five wickets in an innings and Tony Gray (East-Shirley) also took five.

For East, the English professional, Duncan Wild, played a match-winning innings of 72 not out, the day’s top score. The promising young Max Bremner scored 67 for St Albans, Geoff Wright made an invaluable 57 for Old Collegians, and Justin Boyle (Burnside-West) added 50 on Saturday, to his first-innings 69.

Peter Stubbings played his 300th senior innings for Riccarton and Peter Wallace his 200th for Burnside-West. »

Old Boys were no match for Lancaster Park at Bagley Oval and were beaten on the tick of afternoon tea. Lancaster Park ’ had established firm control of the match on the first day and its superiority was confirmed in the morning play, when Roy Gearry and Graeme Kench scored 99 in 87 minutes.

They started sedately but soon began to produce a stream of firm attacking shots. At one stage. Park's score was raised by 50 in only 23 minutes. Just before the declaration, there were some fielding flaws by Old Boys but by then the damage had been done. All the bowling, save for one over, was done by Gary Saunders and Geoff Hancock and they were very expensive. It was surprising that no use at all was made of the left-arm spinner. Gary MacDonald, who is a very tidy bowler. He had one over in the’ match: he could hardly have been more costly than the seamers.

Old Boys were left the task of scoring 304 in 265 minutes on a pitch playing much more easily than it had on the first day but the' task always looked well beyond its capabilities, especially

after two wickets were down at lunch for 12.

It was satisfactory to see Barry Hadlee showing form for the first time this summer, but not so comforting that the Shell Series batsman, Bryan Ritchie, had to retire injured. He was struck on the foot by the first ball he faced, from David Trist.

Although Old Boys went down by a wide margin, there was an excellent innings from Cran Bull. Firm on the drive, assertive of attitude, he gave his most impressive performance of the season. Saunders joined him at a depressing 52 for five but he and Bull doubled the score in 44 minutes. ’ (

Then there was the unexpected appearance of Richard Hadlee, out of the inter-island match at Alexandra with a slight groin injury. He decided to go in when he discovered that his replacement was not entitled to bat and for 25 minutes he was sheer delight. There were six fours and a six in his 32 runs. Trist was again the dominant force in the Park attack. He was lively and accurate in taking five or more wickets in an innings for the fifth time this season. WILD IN FORM An authoritative 72 not out by Duncan Wild provided the backbone in East's second innings and the side coasted to victory with an over and one ball remaining. Wild played some glorious shots, his on-driving stamping him as a player of rare ability. His innings lasted 190 minutes and included 12 fours.

Graeme Pullev unleashed two flowing shots towards the end

and he scored the winning run. Earlier,. lan Rule had again proved his worth to the side with a handy 29. and the veteran John Grocott, Craig Thiele’s replacement. showed touches of class in scoring 20. The innings started badly/ for East, with Ray Jones completing a notable double. Jones was out lbw off the first ball, as he had been in the first innings, the successful bowler again being Bob Carter.

When a Sydenham supporter later remarked that cricket was a funny game, Jones replied that he did' not find the sport highly amusing. Carter had a great duel with his Northamptonshire teammate. Wild, and he produced some fine deliveries, taking the bowling honours for Sydenham. Greg Brown's left-arm spinners looked very useful and his partner. Mike Dolden, was extremely tight-fisted. Earlier in the day, Sydenham’s batting had lasted long enough to leave East 176 to win in even time.

Tony Gray had a good bag with his demanding off-spinners, the five wickets going at moderate cost. Like Dolden later. Graeme Pulley conceded fewer runs than overs bowled. EASY WIN

In unpleasant windy conditions on the exposed Ham ground, Burnside-West won outright comfortably. needing only-10 of the mandatory 20 overs to dismiss the last of the Riccarton batsmen.

Continuing its first innings at 81 for five, Riccarton declared at 162 for nine, giving Burnside a 69-run lead on the first innings. Peter Stubbings scored a well compiled 38 before being the second of David Carroll's victims. Bowling a far better line, Carroll finished with the very good figures of two wickets for 20 off 11 overs. Bumside-West batted sensibly before lunch to the tight bowling of David Stead and Kevin Scott. Justin Boyle completed a good double by scoring an attractive

50 in the second innings A fine driver of the ball, his innings illustrated his maturity as a batsman and he will be sorely missed when he goes to Wellington in February. Kevin Scott was the best of the Riccarton bowlers, ending with the good figures of four wickets for 50 off 15 overs. He has impressed as a young mediumpace bowler who has bowled a good line and length since his promotion in the second round. Peter Wallace declared the Burnside innings closed at 122 ■for eight wickets, leaving Ricarton 160 minutes to score 192 runs for victory. Riccarton gave a poor batting display, with only Tim Murdoch showing any resistance by scoring an attractive 45 runs. Playing a watchful innings, Murdock was quick to punish the loose ball. Eight of the Riccarton dismissals were caught, with most of the batsmen paying the penalty for lofting the ball too early in their innings. Tony Farrant again bowled well for Burnside but it was the spinning pair of Chris Marks and David Boyle who claimed the wickets. Chris Marks ended with the excellent figures of five wickets for 25 off 9.5 overs. He flighted the ball very well and used intelligently the little assistance the pitch gave. TENSE FINISH

The St Albans medium-pace bowl er, Ross McNally, was, run

out off the last ball of the day to tie the match at Elmwood Park after Old Collegians had declared the second innings closed, leaving St Albans 190 to make in 90 minutes.

St Albans began the chase badly, losing the first two wickets for four runs, but Graham Moore batted sensibly and when he was joined by John Larter the scoring rate quickened. Max Bremner and Larter then put on 38 and, for the sixth wicket, Bremner and Lyn Sparks added 69.

Sparks was out in the seventeenth over and Andrew Nuttall fell almost immediately to a brilliant caught and bowled by Paul McEwan. Bremner and Paul Rutledge carried the score to 187 when both were dismissed in the second-to-last over.

With three to get in the last over, Les Watson took one off the third ball, McNally another off the fourth, and then Watson drove the fifth fiercely straight back down the'pitch.

The ball, going for a certain four, struck McNally on the forearm. He then sprigged McEwan, the bowler, bn the foot while taking evasive action. Play was held up while both players received attention. 1

McNally sprinted down the pitch as the last ball was bowled. It went to the wicket-keeper, Geoff Wright, who beat McNajjy to the stumps, and the-match was tied.

Competition points: Tot Bat Bow win L.P 18.37 21.4 58 97.77 B.-W. 16.96 21.2 54 92.16 E.-Sh. 17.48 15.2 43 75.68 Old B. 16.37 17.2 32 65.57 Old C. 14.76 19.8 21 .55.56 Rice. 16.84 15.6 20 52.44’ Syd. 14.84 16.8 19 50.64 St A. 14.22 18.0 17 ONE-SIDED 49.22