Priest included in cricket trial

Press, 5 November 1984, Page 52

Priest included in cricket trial

By

JOHN COFFEY

The outstanding batting form displayed by Mark Priest in the last few weeks has earned him inclusion in the Town cricket team to oppose Country in a Canterbury trial at Hagley Oval next Saturday and Sunday.

Priest began his season with a career-best score of 133 for St Albans against Lancaster Park B, and was only four runs short of another century against that club’s A side on Saturday. Sandwiched between those performances was an innings of 71 in the first series of trials.

In spite of having to append a long, and quite illustrious, list of players who were not available, the selectors (Messrs A. R. Mac Gibbon, B. J. Salt and C. L. Bull) have been able to choose a most capable combination. Only Priest and Garry MacDonald (Marist) have not had Shell Series experience. The inclusion of - MacDonald ahead of another left-arm spinner, Andrew Nuttall (St Albans), is the most surprising feature. Nuttall has been the leading wicket-taker at club level this summer, while MacDonald has been struggling to approach his customary strike-rate for his new club. The team is.—

Dave Dempsey (Lancaster Park, captain), Ray Jones (East-Shirley), Anup Nathu

(Old Boys), Rod Latham (Lancaster Park), Peter Rattray (Old Boys), Priest, Ken Taylor (Suburban), MacDonald, Ash Hart (Sydenham), Glenn Bateman (Lancaster Park), Craig Thiele (East-Shirley). Bill Lawrence (Old Collegians) is to be twelfth man for both teams.

Those not available were the Canterbury captainelect, Rod Fulton, David Stead, Richard Leggat, Geoff Smith, Vaughan Brown, Richard Hadlee and Paul McEwan.

Dempsey, Jones and Nathu are all candidates as opening batsmen in the Shell Series, while Rattray, who has displayed a preference for the No. 3 position in the Old Boys order, also has considerable experience in that role. Neither Jones nor Nathu has made a prosperous start to his season, and a long and productive innings next week-end would certainly do their chances no harm.

Similarly, Thiele has been struggling to find his most authoritative bowling form at club and trial levels. The dual purpose of the Town-

Country encounter should appeal to Thiele’s competitive nature, and he has able assistants in Bateman and Taylor.

Latham has been given plenty of bowling by Dempsey in club cricket, while MacDonald will be the principal spinner, ahead of Priest.

Largely because of the non-availabilities, Rattray, Hart and Thiele — who took a hat-trick — are the only survivors from the Town team which beat Country by seven wickets at Ashburton 12 months ago. Country, on the other hand, has seven who will be playing again — the captain, Phil D’Auvergne, Barry Ward (South Canterbury), Dennis Mably, John Richardson (Ashburton), Michael Johnston, James Shipley and Steve McNally (North Canterbury). They have been joined by Steve McFelin (South Canterbury), Jeff Spicer (Ashburton), Hamish Wright (North Canterbury) and David Baird (Buller).

Any Country players not available ring J. Thomson, Waipara 804.—advt.