Canty has cricketing account to settle

Press, 26 December 1986, Page 14

Canty has cricketing account to settle

By

JOHN COFFEY

The Shell Cup is safely tucked away in the Canterbury Cricket Association’s showcase. Whether the province’s players retain that particular piece of silverware over the next 10 days will largely depend on their performance against Wellington at Timaru tomorrow.

Canterbury’s encounter with Wellington at Aorangi Park in the opening round of the national limited-over series has particular appeal — the reigning champion against the side seen as the No. 1 contender.

Good fortune, and fine weather, carried Canterbury through to the Cup victory last summer. Four sides entered the last day sharing the competition lead, and while Canterbury was comprehensively beating Otago at Oamaru the representtives of Auckland and Wellington glumly sheltered from the rain at Eden Park.

In spite of a century by John Wright at the Basin Reserve, Wellington was the only team to beat Canterbury in that campaign. At Timaru, Canterbury will introduce half a dozen newcomers to Shell Cup cricket. Wellington’s only debutant is the extremely promising 19-year-old medium-fast bowler, Jonathan Millmow, preferred ahead of David Molony and Fred Beyeler. Wellington will have the advantage of continuity. Ten of the players who assisted in the 20-run success at Canterbury’s expense are back again — the exception is Justin Boyle, whose immediate cricket future is with Canterbury B — and they have been joined by Tim Ritchie and Millmow.

One-day games against Auckland, Canterbury (both won) and New South Wales (lost) have been part of Wellington’s extensive preparation. Now that Bruce Edgar has retired from inter-

national cricket he will be able to give full concentration to Wellington’s cause. That must be a daunting thought for his opponents — Edgar already has more Shell Cup runs (1228) at a higher average (87.71) than anyone else.

The Wellington squad, to be captained by Robert Vance, is flush with outstanding individuals — Edgar, Jeremy Coney, Evan Gray, Ervin McSweeney, Ewen Chatfield and the Englishman, Paul Allott.

One of Wellington’s quieter achievers, Steve Maguiness, is poised to temporarily shoulder his illustrious team-mates aside. Maguiness has taken 39 Shell Cup wickets with his mediumpacers, equal second with one Cantabrian, Craig Thiele, and just one behind another, David Stead, on the all-time listings. But Maguiness, in turn, will have to watch out for Gray and Martin Snedden (Auckland), who have 36 wickets apiece. Canterbury will do very well indeed if it can outmanoeuvre such a highly regarded rival so early in the representative season. Most prognostications of Canterbury’s chances understandably lay heavy responsibility upon Richard Hadlee and Wright. But Canterbury has an experienced batting lineup, several players with proven all-round talents, and no lack of enthusiasm among the young quicker bowlers. Tomorrow’s other fixtures are between Auckland and Otago at Auckland and Central Districts and Northern Districts at Napier.

Auckland remains strong, in spite of the losses of John Reid (second to Edgar in Shell Cup aggregates), Trevor Franklin and Brian Bar-

rett. A fourth recent New Zealand representative, Willie Watson, has been relegated to the provincial second XI, while Mark Greatbatch (in Central Districts) and Alan Hunt (leading the B side) were also members of the 198586 cup combination. The Shell Trophy titleholder, Otago, also demands respect. Bruce Blair has returned from Northern Districts. Whatever reservations he might have about the role, Ken Rutherford is to open Otago’s batting. Carl Crafer, a rightarm, medium-paced bowler from Wanganui and a pupil of Gary Bartlett’s coaching course, has been brought into the Central Districts side in place of Peter Visser, who was not available for the cup competition. Pieter Verhoek, once a specialist batsman for Central, returns as an offspinner, while Greatbatch’s move renews his old partnership with the

Central captain, Martin Crowe. Tony Blain will open the innings and lan

Smith is to keep wickets. An offer by Lance Cairns to make himself available for limited-over cricket was not taken up by Northern Districts. Instead, its selectors have chosen two other all-roun-ders, Paul Hodder and John Derrick.

They have vastly different backgrounds — Hodder, aged 22, is from Hamilton and has been prominent in age-group teams and tournaments, and Derrick is a Welshman, a county professional from Glamorgan now coaching and playing in Bay of Plenty. Barrett should further strengthen the Northern bowling. Separating the Shell Cup from its three-day counterpart was an outstanding promotional and financial success last season. It was also highly successful for Canterbury from a playing viewpoint. On both counts it will be interesting to discover whether the standards set 12 months ago' can be maintained.