Otago B captain ensures ‘victory’

Press, 10 January 1984, Page 3

Otago B captain ensures ‘victory’

By JOHN COFFEY lan Rutherford, the Otago B captain, batted from the start of play until the late afternoon at Hagley Oval yesterday, virtually ensuring his side of a place in the national second XI cricket championship final at the expense of Canterbury B. Such was the situation in the southern section of the competition that either team would reach the final by gaining first innings points, and Canterbury could not dislodge Rutherford until Otago was two runs ahead of the Canterbury total of 239. Not that Canterbury did not have its opportunities. Rutherford was dropped four times — twice before he reached four, and again at 41 and 82 — and the Canterbury fieldsmen simply could not afford to give such concessions to so experienced a player. It was perhaps not surprising that Rutherford should begin so shakily. When he arrived at the oval he would not have expected to bat straight away. However, one of the overnight batsmen, Kevin Burns, was suffering from an ankle injury and rested. Rutherford was pressed into service, still feeling the effects of a badly bruised right wrist, a legacy of slipping in the showers after the first day’s after his

early escapes, soon slipped into a rhythm of defending stoutly against all but the loosest of deliveries. There were a couple of lofted drives in the morning, and some attractive strokes by Steve Harrop had Otago 118 for three at lunch. When Rutherford was missed again in the first over after the resumption, the position was ominous for Canterbury. Alan Bligh indulged in some comparatively riotous living when he took 19 off successive overs from Doug McMillan and Bob Carter, but there were renewed Canterbury hopes when Bligh and Burns, who used a runner, were out with Otago still 83 runs behind with five wickets left.

However, Rutherford was ever-present and he brought up his half-century in 177 min from 147 balls. The run-rate fell even further, to an average of 1.5 per over in the fifth hour of the Otago innings, and Rutherford moved from 41 to 74 during the afternoon. He had by then found an able lieutenant in John Lindsay, and they stayed together while 59 runs were gathered for the seventh wicket. Otago was just three runs short of its target when Lindsay fell, and Rutherford soldiered on until tiredness and an excellent leg-side catch by Tony Blain overcame him.

Even then Canterbury had no relief from the hot, blustery conditions, nor encouragement from a pitch that offered the bowlers not even a hint of help. Brian McSkimming and Jeff Mawhinney held out until stumps with Otago 39 runs ahead and two wickets standing. Andy Nuttall and his medium-paced colleagues laboured with scant success. Generally, their accuracy was admirable but there was a sense of inevitability about it all while Rutherford remained so resolute. Scoreboard.— CANTERBURY B First innings 239 OTAGO B First innings R. E. Mawhinney b McMillan 25 K. B. K. Ibadulla lbw b Taylor ......... 1 K. J. Bums c Taylor b Carter 14 I. A. Rutherford c Blain b Taylor 91 S. M. Harrop lbw b Carter 28 A. W. Bligh c Smith b Nuttall. . 25 R. J. Cain lbw b Nuttall 14 J. K. Lindsay c Blain b Carter 23 B. K. McSkimming not out 23 J. Mawhinney not out . . 18 Extras (bl, lb 6, w6, nb3) 16 Total (for 8 wkts) 278 Fall: 6, 44, 112, 147, 156, 177, 236, 241. Bowling.—D. H. A. McMillan 21, 7, 51, 1; K. G. Taylor 26, 5, 55, 2; A. J. Nuttall 46, 22, 71, 2; C. W. H. Lawrence 11, 2, 24, 0; R. M. Carter 27, 10, 57, 3; A. J. B. Shipley 3,0, 4, 0.