Two leading cricket teams straggling under pressure

Press, 13 December 1982, Page 25

Two leading cricket teams straggling under pressure

The two leading teams were both in trouble at the end of the first day on Saturday of the sixth round of the senior ANZ cricket championship. Old Collegians, the top team, was struggling against Old Bovs, after making a spectacular start to the day. Lancaster Park, the secondplaced side, has already been passed by Sydenham. St Albans, in fourth place, also had its hands full against Riccarton. Three young members of the St Albans team. Paul Rutledge, Max Bremner. and Mark Priest, were all suffering from the stomach complaint contracted by members of the Canterbury under-22 team in Auckland last week. Rutledge, the new Shell Series wicket-keeper, was on the field on,, in the opening stages of the day’s play. Scores: Lancaster Park 193; Sydenham 220-5. Burnside-West 119 and 342; East Shirley 70. Riccarton 210; St Albans 88-3. Old Boys 248; Old Collegians 89-4. Sydenham, a resurgent side this season, again had to thank its captain. Bob Carter, for showing the way. The young English professional' scored his second century of the season. Even struggle Riccarton began well, faltered, and made a minor recovery to reach 210 against St Albans. St Albans lost early wickets, but a fierce counter-attack by John Larter has left the game in a most interesting situation. Lindsay Thom and Wayne Spanjer made the most of a docile pitch, with a thoughtful partnership of 73. But they and the later batsman

could not do much with Andrew Nuttall, the tall young left-arm spinner, whose accuracy seemed to have a hypnotic effect. One who batted it out was Tim Murdoch, who followed his century the previous week with a three-hour innings of 68. He went in first wicket down, and was ptill there to share a stand of 43 for the eighth wicket with Steve McNally. Murdoch hit some lovely shots off the back foot. McNallv showed some of his old bowling form when St Albans went in but Larter was most assertive, with strong shots all round the wicket. So far he has had only 55 balls for his 48 runs. Glen Bateman had a strange bowling spell. For half of his eight overs, not a run was scored, and he captured the valuable wicket ol John Gully. From the other four. 34 runs were plundered. Fine century Carter's chanceless century for Sydenham was superbly and professionally built, the captain steering his side surely to a first innings lead over Park. Carter was ultra-watchful of every delivery, compact in defence. and he kept his score moving with well-placed shots. From time to time, and especially towards the end of the day. there were booming drives off the front foot. His century took 189 minutes, with 20 fours. He added another two fours in the final 20 minutes. Carter had an able ally in Greg Brown, who looked most accomplished in his 161-minute stay. The pair put on 109 for the third wicket. After an early wicket, Dave Dempsey's figures took a battering and Park suffered a set-back when Mark Chamberlain was forced from the attack in mid-

over for continuing to run on the pitch after being warned for this offence. Bruce Irving was the most successful and economical bowler. At the start of the day. Tony Collins and Dave Dempsey had Park off to a dashing start before Dempsey was run out after striking three fours from four balls, with majestic shots off Carter. Collins was in his best form, his blade flashing, his eye as true as ever, the timing and power in his shots carrying the ball clear of the field. He was out. however. when he cracked a slightly lofted drive straight to Bill Thomson. His 74 took 88 minutes and included 13 fours and a six. With Graham Kench. Collins put on 46. Kench providing six of those from one hit. The 'keeperbatsman, up at number four in the order, remained in fine form to bring up his half-century in 79 minutes with eight fours and two sixes. By lunch, Park had reached 181 for six, swift scoring by any standards. After lunch, the rest of the innings fell apart. Mike Dolden had 3.4 overs after the break, three of them were

maidens, and he took four wickets for five runs. Park's last five wickets had gone for 12. Before lunch, when Carter fooled Roy Gearry with a slow full toss, the Sydenham captain reached the 100-wicket mark in Christchurch cricket. It was certainly a day of high and swift scoring. Park's total was reached in 165 minutes. 140 of the runs coming in boundaries. Sydenham reached 200 in 185 minutes. Recovery Old Boys made a remarkable recovery against the competition leaders. Old Collegians, partly through resolute batting, partly because of the Old Collegians' casualties. The side was without Bill Lawrence, who has an arm in plaster. After a fiery opening spell, in which he took three quick wickets. Doug McMillan could bowl no more. He had acquired a badly bruised heel during the under-22 tournament at Auckland. Then Lindsay Forde had cramp, and he was out of the attack. Old Boys at one stage were 49 for six. The last four wickets added nearly 200. Richard

Hadlee and Dayle Hadlee added 73 for the seventh wicket in 80 minutes. Richard played some magnificent attacking shots, hitting with tremendous power Dayle. who now has more than 300 runs this season, was perhaps more correct. He. too. hit the ball hard, with some classical driving. Dayle and Garry MacDonald then scored 87 in even time MacDonald, for the first time the situation, and attacked with vigour and skill. The last pair. Geoff Hancock and Tony Davoren. rubbed it tn by making 38 together. Bowlers’ day Twenty-two wickets fell for a paltry 223 runs at Burnside Park and that was a fair indication of the standard of batting from both Burnside-West and EastShirley. Uneven at the beginning, when the ball was inclined to keep low, the pitch quietened down in the afternoon and it could not be blamed for the batting misdemeanours. The bowling was accurate and steady, but the bowlers would be the first to admit that they were flattered by the day's proceedings. There were a few brighter patches. Kevin Collins batted circumspectly for 30 and with Russell Haglund added 29 for the fifth wicket while for East. Damian D'Olivera contributed a neat 29. At the end of the day David Farrant was all application taking over half an hour to score his first run and with his captain Peter Wallace, held East out when another collapse looked imminent. The medium-paced bowlers of both sides had good returns, the best being Steve Bateman with Rob Van Zanten bowling economically for his three wickets for the day. All were helped, however, by the batsmen’s lack of application and seeming inability to pick the correct line.