Grandstand finish to senior cricket championship series

Press, 28 March 1983, Page 21

Grandstand finish to senior cricket championship series

In nearly 80 years of senior championship cricket, on its present basis, no better curtain-fall to the season has been provided than Saturday’s play.

Old Collegians won the senior championship by beating East-Shirley, with a margin of nine runs and only six balls to spare; Lancaster Park, needing only a first-innings win over Sydenham or an outright victory to take the A.N.Z. Bank title for the third successive year, failed narrowly on both,counts; Riccarton beat Bumside-West Christchurch with nine wickets down, and a leg-bye from the last ball.

It was intoxicating fare for the cricket fan. In the last few minutes, not only did Old Collegians win its second championship in nearly 50 years of senior play; Sydenham went from fifth to third, its best result in several years, and Riccarton lifted its position from seventh to fourth.

If there was autumn in the air, no evidence of it was seen in the positive play of nearly all the teams. It was high summer again. The top scorer for the day was David Boyle (BurnsideWest) with 72, but there were also half-centuries from Paul Rutledge (St Albans) his first in senior cricket, Bryan Ritchie (Old Boys), Graeme Kench (Lancaster Park) and Kevin Congdon (Sydenham).

Perhaps the most meritorious of them all came from Gary Jones, not long out of Shirley Boys’ High School, and playing his first senior cricket match. He made 60 at a most critical stage of the game, an innings which almost took his side to victory. The Old Collegians spinners, Richard Leggat and Vaughan Brown, each took five wickets in an innings, and contributed heavily to their side’s championship victory, but the bowler of the day was undoubtedly Tony Farrant (Burnside-West) who took 11 wickets against Riccarton, six in the first innings for only 16 runs. Results.— Burnside-West 212/5 dec. and 136/7 dec. lost to Riccarton 142/9 dec. and 207/9 by one wicket. Old Collegians 219/9 dec. and 145/6 dec. beat EastShirley 189 and 166 by nine runs. St Albans 223/9 dec. and--177/5 lost to Old Boys 229/7 dec. on the first innings. Lancaster Park 197 and 149 lost to Sydenham 199/9 dec. and 150/5 by five wickets. Final points were: Old

Collegians 63, Lancaster Park 59, Sydenham 45, Riccarton 42, East-Shirley 40, Old Boys 38, St Albans 35, Burnside-West 32. Tense cricket A close-contest atmosphere prevailed throughout the day at Sydenham Park, where the home team, with five wickets in hand, needed only 30 runs for the first innings lead. Lancaster Park needed the first innings points to take the title. Sydenham advanced quietly but surely until the score was 181. Then Greg Brown was felled by a full pitch from Mark Chamberlain, which hit him on an unprotected head. It was a most unhappy accident, but after it Lancaster Park was very much back in the game. Two superb catches by the wicket-keeper, Graeme Kench, had the seventh wicket down — the eighth if Brown was not to bat again — but a quirk of fate decided that Kench would then let through four byes which gave Sydenham its narrow lead. Chamberlain bowled with hostility, working up a useful pace and finding awkward lift. Lancaster Park thus had to win outright if it was to retain the championship, and its policy was quite clear from the first over, in which David Dempsey twice hit Bob Carter for sixes. Tony Collins and Kench subsequently hit two sixes each, but if Kench again impressed as a fine batsman — he reached his 50 in 46 minutes — Sydenham 1 bowled and fielded well. It was an auspicious occasion for the wicket-keeper, Ash Hart, who held three catches and made two stumpings. Miles Dolden and Stu Simpson bowled effectively, and so did Carter who, after conceding 23 in his first two overs, took three for 20, including a truly brilliant caught and bowled to dismiss Rod Latham. Sydenham needed 148 in about 44 overs and never really looked in danger of defeat A fine opening stand between Kevin Congdon and Bill Thomson, realised 58. Although handicapped by a damaged Achilles tendon, Thomson batted with skill and circumspection. Congdon made some fluent, forceful shots in a most convincing innings, and Carter gave a brief, brilliant farewell to his season with Sydenham.

Nostalgic tinge It was fairytale stuff at Burwood Oval, and it was not difficult to find a nostalgic throwback. Eighteen years ago, a young fellow who batted pretty well, and bowled medium-pace, went straight into the East-Shir-ley senior team from the Shirley Boys’ High School first XI; in his final round, the same sort of thing happened. Then Graeme Pulley, the senior member of the East team, and Gary Jones, the i'unior, found themselves ratting together with the team in a parlous position. A team score of 79 for seven, with 176 required, was really a no-win situation, especially as young Jones had to face a hattrick ball from Vaughan Brown. He survived it; was dropped from the next; hita six from the ball after that, and the fairytale was on the way. It did not have a storybook ending. In cold, hard facts, Pulley was caught on the boundary after the pair had added 64, and there was a whiff of victory in the balmy air of Burwood Park. Craig Thiele whacked things along before he, too, was caught in the deep; Peter Grigg did his job, too, then Jones, ironically, was bowled from the final ball of the penultimate over. East, otherwise, would have needed nine from the final six balls, assuredly to be bowled by Vaughan Brown. So ended a splendid match. East was set a daunting task, given that it was without its outstanding batsman, Damian d’Oliveira, and in dire straits. But it found in Jones someone who could "join the hit parade, for after that early let-off, he played a magnificent innings, rich in character and courage. It was one of the most good-humoured and friendly of matches, given that a top-of-the-table situation leaned heavily on the result. Richard Leggat, the Old Collegians captain, knew full well that striving for the win was preferable to settling for the draw, and he responded by opening with Brown and giving himself a long stint. . East-Shirley, best personified by Jones, but with the gutsy Pulley, the doughty Thiele, and exceedinglyhandy Robbie van Zanten, responded bravely to the challenge. Earlier in the day, EastShirley looked to have every prospect of taking the first innings lead it required to finish second.

Until van Zanten ran himself out, going on the strength of the shot, EastShirley looked comfortable, and he and Howard Morel had 74 together for the fourth wicket.

Then the middle and tail succumbed to the spin of Vaughan Brown, not at all flattered by his figures, and Leggat, who perhaps was. The Old Collegians’ second innings looked like a limited overs affair, as the batsmen slogged their way to 145 in 105 minutes. Roger Fuller, two sixes and four fours in his 57 minutes, one of the big hits the first to clear the 2%-year-old pavilion, led the way. Paul McEwan, who, like Brown, walked when not given out, and Graham Sercombe, also played noble parts. In the face of this battering, Pulley bowled superbly well. Last-ball finish A leg-bye off the last ball of the match gave Riccarton victory over BurnsideWest on a good batting pitch at Burnside Park. With eight wickets down, Riccarton needed three runs from the last over. Steve McNally was caught off the second ball, the next two yielded two runs and then from the last Glen Bateman and John Mackie dashed through for the winning run. Two good partnerships contributed to Riccarton’s win after the first three wickets had fallen for 31 runs, and the chase for 207 in two hours and 20 overs seemed out of reach. David Stead and Peter Stubbings scored 50 for the fourth wicket and then Gary Straw and Steve McCormick put on 51 for the seventh. Both the veteran Stubbings and CcCormick batted well. Stubbings played some fine forcing shots while McCormick was severe on anything loose. An attractive innings from David Boyle, who ran briskly between the wickets and played some niee legside shots, allowed Burnside to declare to attempt the outright win. The best performance of the day, however, came from the Bumside mediumpacer, Tony Farrant. In his first three overs of the day he took five wickets for five runs and his morning’s return was six for nine.

He capped this with another fine spell in Riccarton’s second innings, taking five wickets which gave him match figures of 11 for 57 off 30 overs.

Drawn game The match at Hagley I

ended at 5 p.m., and that event was a strong possibility from as early as lunchtime, when Old Boys were still 24 runs short of taking first-innings points. It took until after 2 o’clock for Old Boys to head St Albans and from there, St Albans had some batting practice to end the season. Old Boys had been keen to get the preliminary proceedings over by lunch, but some tight bowling from Andy Nuttall and Lyn Sparks prevented that. David Kerr added only four to his overnight score, but Cran Bull moved from 20 to 48 in elegant fashion. He walked after a good, sprawling leg-side take by the St Albans wicket-keeper, Paul Rutledge. Bryan Ritchie moved vigorously enough into the forties, but there he was stuck for a long time, seeing little of the strike. He had added 57 with Bull in a fine partnership, but he had to wait until after lunch to bring up his half-century. His 52 not out came in 137 minutes, with eight fours. When St Albans batted a second time, Rutledge was promoted to an opening place, with Geoff Smith. Smith scored a bright 24 and Rutledge went on to make his highest senior score, and his first halfcentury. Rutledge and Mike Fullen enjoyed some of the slow bowling, using good footwork to get on the drive. John Larter scored 24 in an hour, bringing up his 600th run for the season with a four. Earlier, he lost the ball, temporarily, with a huge six over mid-wicket. John Gully had some sort of bet on with Garry MacDonald, and he must have come out richer, for he finished the match with a four and a six off MacDonald.

At times Gulley refused to run after making shots; he was interested only in boundaries.