Fighting spirit shown by young cricketers

Press, 19 December 1984, Page 48

Fighting spirit shown by young cricketers

By

BOB SCHUMACHER

A hefty dollop of “true Cantabrian fighting spirit” assisted Canterbury to a clear-cut and highly creditable second placing in the national under 19 cricket tournament at Napier last week. The manager and coach of the Canterbury team, Bob Carter, was pleased by the placing. “To have only two of the boys from the winning team last year and for it to do so well was as good as I could have hoped for. It was a credit to the boys.” Only once did Canterbury make satisfactory progress at the top of its batting, and Mr Carter considered that sounder starts would have served the side better, but

he was impressed at the resilience and determination of the team. Canterbury had three wins, one loss and a draw when rain prevented the match from being completed. The loss was to the eventual champion, Wellington, and a bad period in the morning against that team cost Canterbury the competition, according to Mr Carter. It was the one instance when Canterbury was unable to recover. The intervention of rain on the second day when Canterbury met Northern Districts also disadvantaged Canterbury. Northern

needed 85 off the last 16 overs and Mr Carter doubted whether the team could have achieved that target against demanding bowling. Only 87 had been scored off the first 34 overs. Even so, Canterbury had a chance of sharing first place starting the final day. For that to happen, though, it required several form reversals; Central had to upset Northern, Otago had to stop Wellington’s winning way, and Canterbury had to thwart Auckland. It was a tall order, but Central played its part and Canterbury had an ex-

tremely gratifying and resounding win over Auckland. The breakdown came in the other match where, not unexpectedly, Wellington, to quote Mr Carter, “did a demolition job on Otago.” Canterbury did, however, supply the leading runscorer and wicket-taker at the tournament. Richard Petrie, basically a bowler, earned the right to be considered an all-rounder after a phenomenal batting display. He had five innings, had three half-centuries (two unbeaten) and accumulated 249 runs for an average of 124.5.

Mr Carter attributed much of Petrie’s spectacular scoring to his excellent temperament, application and ability to dispatch the loose ball to the boundary, or over it.

Petrie, a right-handed batsman from Shirley Boys’ High School, hit hard and straight as one Northern Districts bowler will vouch. He was struck for three sixes by Petrie in one over and Brent Fleming added another in the same over for good measure.

The Auckland bowlers also cringed when Petrie flayed them for 62 off the last eight overs. There were two sixes and six fours in that whirlwind innings and, said Mr Carter, they were big outfields. The bowling honours went to the Canterbury captain, David Hartshorn, who L

proved that right-arm legspinners, if a rarity nowadays, can be employed successfully. Hartshorn bowled 80 overs, took 16 wickets and conceded only 209 runs, an avergage of 13.0. As well, he bolstered the top-order batting with almost 200 runs at an average of 39.4. He impressed many learned observers at the tournament. He destroyed the Auckland batting. At 80 for two, Auckland was nicely placed until Hartshorn improved his figures of one for 28 off seven overs to five for 31 after 12 at which point Auckland had collapsed to 96 Jor seven. Although only 16, Mark Hastings displayed a lot of class. He has a technique and range of shots expected from a much more mature and experienced player. He is a very exciting prospect for the future, according to Mr Carter. Some of the players found it hard to match the consistency of the likes of Hartshorn and Petrie, and several would have been disappointed at their performances, but Mr Carter said all had their moments. Roger Ford who, along with Hartshorn, was a survivor from the 1983 team, had one very good containing spell of bowling and the Timaru representative, Brad Ritchie, kept the Central Districts batsmen subdued. Blair Hartland, who made several useful contributions, Richard Meaclem, who was capable of better, and Grant Hansen were mentioned by Mr Carter as players with still untapped potential who had promising careers ahead if “they are strong enough to come through." Mr Carter generously praised the sterling efforts of the North Canterbury pair, Fleming and Dean Lund, in the field. “They knew they hadn't done justice to their batting, but they saved the team runs with their exceptional fielding." The mature attitude of the Canterbury team extended beyond the playing fields. Mr Carter considered the players fine ambassadors for Canterbury cricket.