Canterbury faces confident cricket rival

Press, 29 January 1988, Page 32

Canterbury faces confident cricket rival

From

JOHN COFFEY

in Wellington

Wellington will not have its New Zealand representatives, Andrew Jones and Ewen Chatfield, when it meets Canterbury in their Shell Trophy cricket match at the Basin Reserve, starting today.

Jones, the batting discovery of the tour to Australia, and the hardworking medium-pacer, Chatfield, are resting from the surfeit of travelling and playing which has dulled the enthusiasm of many members of the national squad. That Wellington officials have not indulged in any arm-twisting to persuade Jones, at least, to strap on the pads is perhaps an indication of their increased confidence in the present Wellington line-up. An innings victory over Central Districts at Levin earlier this week was decisively Wellington’s best result of the Trophy series and there was understandable keenness to retain the winning team. Ironically, then, the only Wellington-resident member of the New Zealand squad playing today will be John Wright, who qualifies by place of birth to open Canterbury’s innings. The Canterbury XI will be clarified this morning. All 13 players are available. Paul McEwan is not seeking any further treatment to the damaged little finger of his left hand, and an X-ray at Wellington Hospital yesterday did

not reveal the cause of a mysterious swelling of Blair Hartland’s right hand. David Dempsey, the Canterbury captain, discovered more grass on the Basin Reserve pitch than he had expected when he checked the conditions yesterday. That situation might change by start of play, however, considering that Wellington’s guest player is the Australian legspinner, Bob Holland, while Canterbury’s bowling is spearheaded by Michael Holding, whose methods are far less subtle. If much of the grass has been shaved from the playing surface this morning Canterbury could include only Holding and Bill Lawrence to share the pace-bowling duties. That would be unfortunate for Andrew Hintz, who achieved excellent results until his leg injury and near-redundancy on the lifeless Eden Park strip. Should that occur, Hartland and Max Bremner would be disputing one middle-order batting position. Several Wellington players produced ominously impressive form in

Levin. Ervin McSweeney became Wellington’s first double century-maker for almost two decades, Gavin Larsen shared a New Zealand record fifthwicket partnership, and the only bowler with real speed, Jonathan Millmow, enjoyed his best first-class returns. Evan Gray, the Wellington all-rounder, has a special incentive to do well. Today’s match is his ninetieth for Wellington since 1975-76, one more than John Morrison’s record. The other trophy fixtures to start today are between Otago and Northern Districts at Hamilton and Auckland and Central Districts on the main oval at Eden Park. Teams for the Basin Reserve will be chosen from.— Canterbury: David Dempsey (captain), John Wright, Paul McEwan, David Hartshorn, Rod Latham, Peter Kennedy, Max Bremner, Blair Hartland, Mark Priest, Andrew Hintz, Lee Germon, Michael Holding, Bill Lawrence. Wellington: Robert Vance (captain), Bruce Edgar, Gavin Larsen, Tim Ritchie, Tony Rohrs, Evan Gray, Ervin McSweeney, lan Ormiston, Steve Maguiness, Grant Cederwall, Bob Holland, Jonathan Millmow.