Lancaster Park upset

Press, 9 March 1987, Page 27

Lancaster Park upset

If Lancaster Park is to eventually gain possession of the Trust Bank Cup as Canterbury’s top limited-over club cricket team, it must wait until the final round is played on March 21.

Lancaster Park was cruising towards the one-day title with six consecutive victories. But it suffered a high-scoring loss to Burnside-West and yesterday was humbled by the lowly placed Woolston Working Men’s Club at Garrick Park.

Chasing a modest Woolston total of 110, Lancaster Park was out for only 88. It is now just two competition points clear of Riccarton and St Albans. Should two or more teams finish equal first, they will be separated on a countback of performances over the season.

Riccarton headed off Burnside-West with three balls to spare at Hagley 3, thanks to an unbeaten century by Tim Murdoch. St Albans showed minimal aftereffects of celebrating its victory in the two-day championship by beating Old Collegians comfortably in the other game at Hagley. ’At Burwood Oval, EastShirley got home against High School Old Boys with two deliveries left unbowled.

Marist accounted for Sydenham by four wickets at Sydenham Park. Results.— St Albans 194/5 beat Old Collegians 133 by 61 runs. Burnside-West 230/6 lost to Riccarton 234/5 by five wickets. Sydenham 130 lost to Marist 131/6 by four wickets. Old Boys 213/5 lost to East-Shirley 214/6 by four wickets. Woolston W.M.C. 110 beat Lancaster Park 88 by 22 runs. Points: Lancaster Park 12, Riccarton 10, St Albans 10, Burnside-West 8, Old Collegians 8, Sydenham 8, EastShirley 6, Old Boys 6, Marist 6, Woolston 6. Murdoch, concentrating on seeing his side through to a win, deserved the bonus of a personal century from the last ball of the forty-ninth over. He reached three figures in 171 minutes from 138 deliveries and was in control of proceedings even when the required run-rate climbed from an initial 4.6 to six per over. He shared a third-wicket stand of 96 runs with Steve McCormick. The seasoned David Stead was with Murdoch after the fifth wicket had fallen at 190. Earlier, Russell Haglund had needed

only 110 minutes to contribute 86 towards BurnsideWest’s sizeable total. Across the oval, St Albans was boosted by a 112-run fifth-wicket partnership between Neil Francis and Ben Harris. They hurried on 81 from the last 10 overs. When the fifth Old Collegians wicket fell at 18 and the sixth at 32 a very early finish seemed certain. But Gary Thomas, who had bowled his off-spinners very effectively, against his former clubmates, unveiled many rustic scoring shots. Thomas reached 76 (of 84 from the bat while he was in the middle) even though he faced only 60 balls. The result was clear-cut, however, because of the devastation caused by Roger Ford’s medium-fast pace and Mark Priest’s leftarm spin. News from Garrick Park that Woolston, in trouble at 75 for eight, had managed to get through to 110 because of a late flurry from Steve Payne, in company with Ken Taylor, did not alter the general sense of inevitability that Lancaster Park had the competition in safe-keeping. But Park had a disastrous slump in mid-innings, caused mainly by Gary Baxter — the only bowler to take five wickets yesterday. There were

fleeting hopes of a resurgence while Mark Chamberlain and Stu Cameron were together, but Baxter put paid to that with a catch and his fifth wicket. Old Boys had been dominant early in the match at Burwood, before a fifthwicket stand of 92 in 70 minutes between Steve Daly and Howard Morel brought East-Shirley into the reckoning. When they left, 60 runs were needed from 10 overs, and Greg Fletcher (31 not out from 24 balls) and Tony Gray (17 not out from 18 balls) completed the mission. Paul Hartland had led the way for David Bull in their 63-run first-wicket stand for Old Boys, and Hartland and Ross Bayliss kept the momentum up with 76 runs in 63 minutes for the third wicket. Although Greg Curtain’s bold half-century from 46 balls gave Marist an initial spurt, it needed 45.2 overs to overhaul Sydenham’s meagre total of 130. The rest of the afternoon was mainly notable for a highly promising spell of fast bowling from Andrew Caddick, whose first grade debut for Sydenham had been the previous day. He had Justin Boyle caught in his first over, struck Greg Hills in the face next ball, and finished his 10 overs with two for 13.