Canty fails to press home advantage

Press, 27 January 1988, Page 64

Canty fails to press home advantage

From

JOHN COFFEY

in Auckland

Canterbury’s cricketers failed to capitalise on a match-winning advantage on the second afternoon of their Shell Trophy game against Auckland at Eden Park No. 2 yesterday.

After achieving a handsome first innings lead of 132 runs, Canterbury was poised to complete its assignment in quick time when Michael Holding claimed the wickets of Phil Horne and Steve Brown. But instead of facing a simple task of tidying up today, Canterbury could be in for a desperate struggle on a deteriorating pitch. Auckland, thanks to Trevor Franklin and Martin Pringle, is only four runs behind and still has eight wickets intact. Canterbury’s extensive pre-season preparation obviously did not include the Mike Tyson course of never giving your opponent a chance to get out from under. Auckland would have been down for the count had the catches offered by Franklin (when he was 39) and Pringle (on 20) not been spilled. Both of those potentially disastrous fielding indiscretions came from David Hartshorn’s bowling, though the left-arm spinner, Mark Priest, caused most uncertainty in the minds of the Auckland batsmen. It was surprising that Holding — who, in a cricketing sense, has a knockout potential every bit as lethal as Tyson’s — was not called back to bowl late in the day. Holding and Franklin, who is seeking a third century in consecutive matches against Canterbury, will have much to do with the outcome of the match. But the new ball is still 30 overs away. There is an abundance of turn, albeit slow, available for Hartshorn and Priest to chip away at an Auckland batting line-up that has been brittle most of this summer.

Once he had seen Holding off, and apart from the difficult return catch to Hartshorn, Franklin looked ominously sound.

His value to Auckland has been in terms of time as well as runs; there were no grumbles from the home supporters that Franklin spent almost three hours over his halfcentury. Pringle is probably the more vulnerable of the overnight batsmen, even if he shared fully in their unbroken 88-run stand. Of those to follow, only Bill

Fowler has exceeded 30 more than once this season.

The failure of Canterbury’s bowlers to place their side in a position of dominance served to devalue the outstanding batting deeds of Paul McEwan, Peter Kennedy, Andrew Hintz and Bill Lawrence. The threat imposed by Danny Morrison was blunted from the start of play. Kennedy sweetly drove the first two balls of the day for boundaries, while McEwan exerted the upper hand over Richard de Groen at the other end.

Seventy-two runs flowed in the first hour, though Kennedy, having recorded his third first-class halfcentury, was stranded by a ball from Fowler, a leftarm spinner, which turned even more than was expected on the worn pitch. Their partnership of 101 runs in 117 minutes assured Canterbury of first innings points.

Lee Germon was run out on the third lap before Hintz assisted the gritty McEwan take Canterbury comfortably ahead. Because of his hand injury McEwan had to improvise, and most of his runs yesterday were from leg-side hits. He eventually had the bad luck to play on. McEwan’s departure might have had the Auckland opening batsmen mentally preparing for another bout with Holding. But the Canterbury fast-medium men, Hintz and Lawrence, had intentions only of exceeding their terms of reference. Both Hintz, whose previous highest first-class

score was 20 not out, and Lawrence, continuing on from his 24 against Otago, achieved career-best scores while together in a partnership worth 75 runs in 94 minutes. They rather humbled the Auckland spinners, of whom only Fowler proved competitive, then tarnished not only the second new ball but also the reputations of Morrison and the promising de Groen. Hintz was at the crease for 145 minutes and was totally convincing as he laid back or moved confidently out to drive through the off-side, hit forcefully to leg, or cut with fluency. The gem among his 11 boundaries was a cover drive, at Morrison’s expense, which could have been borrowed from Vivian Richards. The extra cover fence also had a particular attraction for Lawrence, who has left Holding as the unchallenged No. 11 in the order. Holding justified his ranking by being dropped from the first ball he faced. There was to be no storybook finish to the day for Lawrence, who finished Auckland’s first innings on a hat-trick. But he did have the consolation of bowling very well, beating Horne outside the off stump three times in one over. AUCKLAND First innings 204 Second innings P. A. Horne c Hartland b Holding 14 T. J. Franklin not out ... 56 S. W. Brown lbw b Holding. 5 M. R. Pringle not out .. . 42 Extras (b 5. Ib2, wl, nb3)ll Total (for 2 wkts) 128 Fall: 25, 40. Bowling.—M. A. Holding 12, 1, 26, 2 (nb3); C. W. H. Lawrence 5,1, 8,0; M. W. Priest 18, 7, 34, 0; D. J. Hartshorn 15, 4, 43, 0; A. J. Hintz 4,2, 6,0; R. T. Latham 1,0, 4, 0. CANTERBURY First innings (125/4) P. E. McEwan b FowlerllB P. G. Kennedy std Kelly b Fowler 59 M. W. Priest c Kelly b Fowler 13 L. K. Germon run out . . 2 A. J. Hintz std Kelly b Fisher 62 C. W. H. Lawrence b Fisher 33 M. A. Holding not out . . 1 Extras (b 7 lb 9, nbs, wl) 22 Total 336 Fall: 176, 198, 203, 246, 321, 336.

Bowling.— D. K. Morrison 29, 7, 84, 3 (nb2); R. P. de Groen 16, 2, 72, 1 (wl); I. D. Fisher 17, 2,3, 56, 2 (nb3); M. J. Bradley 8,0, 38. 0; W. P. Fowler 26, 9, 54, 3; A. J. Hunt 4,0, 16, 0.