Merivale-Papanui out to retain title

Press, 23 September 1988, Page 35

Merivale-Papanui out to retain title

Merivale-Papanui will be seeking a repeat performance of its winning effort last season when the Christchurch Suburban Cricket Association’s senior men’s competition begins on October 1. Merivale-Papanui won handsomely over the other seven teams with a 24 point advantage after virtually leading the competition from start to finish. Kevin Collins led the side last year, but this year the captaincy has not yet been decided. A prominent batsman, he will be joined by Jim Knowles and Ray Smythe. Last season Knowles was the chief contributor to Merivale-Papanui’s runs, scoring a total of 650. It was in the bowling department that MerivalePapanui was particularly strong and it was fortunate to have five regular players each taking 20 or more wickets for the season. These five will all appear again this season. Ron Provan took the most wickets although Ken Stagg had the best average.

Mike Hogan was always handy, with Craig Courtis and Darryn Leigh both playing valuable roles. Leigh won the Association’s award at the end of season for the most promising bowler. There have been two losses to the team. The Middle order batsman, Rob White, who played after Christmas in the senior team has opted to try his luck at C.C.A. cricket, and Greg Mander will be transferring out of Christchurch. Those valuable players' have been lost to the runners up, Hornby. It’s former captain, Barry Adam, is another to leave Christchurch, while player coach Robert Wilson is directing his interests at

Old Collegians and the middle order batsman, Wayne Turner, is not available due to work commitments. In spite of these defections, Hornby has talented players within the club and is hoping not to be markedly weakened. It will be captained by Bob Kerr who broke the suburban record last season and scored 1028 runs. Kerr will lead the batting line up and could share the opening berth with Trevor Flutey who won the most promising batsman award. Another possible opener is Alan Gillard with Neville Shadwell, Barry Hart and Craig Nuttall all vying for middle order positions. There will be a strong competition for the bowling spots. Competing in the line up is Merv Taylor who played for Hornby about three years ago. Taylor should share the new ball with Mark Lovegrove and Mike Worley who both forced their way into the senior ranks last year from a lower grade.

Bruce Purdon and stock bowler Carl Stills will once again complement the bowling attack, with Dale Patel providing the spin if available. The third placed side, Sumner, played well during last season and consider themselves to be moulded into an effective unit for the forthcoming season. The skipper, Don Braid, is one of the stalwarts along with Owen Southen, Charlie Cross, Ray Steele, Dean Palmer and Dave Boreham. Steve Booth, who scored 517 runs last season, and Chris Louis, who has tremendous potential, will again feature. New recruits include the player coach, Glenn Bateman, who will turn out for his first full season. Bateman has im-

pressive Canterbury and C.C.A. performances behind him. A reputed big hitter of the ball is John Sansom from Lancaster Park , and he will be joined by Chris Astle, a former second grade player also from Park. Brighton’s only loss appears to be Brian Maxted, who will try his luck with East Shirley.

His loss will be compensated by the recruitment of several new players. These include the allrounder Andrew Knowles from Christchurch Working Mens Club, and two players who-have played senior cricket in Auckland. They are Kelvin Eliph, a top order batsman and Phil Monk, an opening bowler. Batsman Phil Harris is also returning after a short spell in Auckland. Harris will probably cap-

tain the team as Derek Burrell hands over the reigns.

Competing for bowling positions along with Monk, will be Mark Wilson, an under age Canterbury rugby representative and James Robinson, who played in the Ellesmere cricket competition. Other candidates for the bowling positions are Stephen Messervy, the medium pacer, Tom Greenham, and the opening bowler, Gavin Hill. Roger Hemingway will again be the wicketkeeper and he is a prospect for the Emergency Young Players team. Heathcote’s team has once again only slightly changed with regulars turning out in both the batting and bowling department. Spearheading the bowling attack will be Alf Smit, Kit Chambers and Warren Cresswell, with Steve Collier attending to the spin variation. Featuring in the batting will be Trevor Paterson, Robert Hay, Collier, Darryl Moody and Dave Ward. Pressing for all round positions are Mike Shrimpton, lan Cartwright, Ken Bryenton and an Old Collegian all rounder, Laurie Agnew. Newcomers will boost the Upper Riccarton team after last season when it sometimes struggled and fielded only nine or ten men on occasions. A big loss will be Nicky Dierck, leaving them without a quick bowler. The main newcomers to attract Upper Riccarton’s

interest all come from the South Canterbury area. Chris Dockerell, was an understudy wicketkeeper to Barry Ward; Gary Hodder is a delightful tall batsman and an opening batsman is Mike Hawke, a South Canterbury representative. Hawke is a Minister from a local parish and has a heavy workload un'til the end of October. Returning to Upper Riccarton ranks from Marist second grade is Wayne McWhirter who actually played for Upper Riccarton and captained the team when it won the competition in the 19821983 season. John Farrell who played for Sumner last season has also shown interest. Robbie Van Zanten, familiar to East Shirley and Oxford, is undecided along with David Chalklin, a regular player last season.

The stalwart’s Alan Kerr, Dave Kennedy, Colin Fenwick and Terry Caldwell will again feature as will Andrew Kennedy, Dave Stuthridge and Barry Cleverly. Richmond Working Mens Club remain in the senior competition and in it’s centenary year will again be led by Alan Henderson. He will rely on batsmen Dick Webster, Andrew Palenski, Rob McKay and Robbie Withers- to perform well, Withers, along with Roy Wesney, Malcolm Hobson and Henderson with the spin provide the nucleus of the bowling attack.

Keith Harrison will keep behind the stumps after only a sprinkling of

games with the Sumner seniors last season. He is the only new arrival to the club although a handful of C.C.A. players have created a bit of interest. The newly promoted team to the senior competition in place of the relegated Southern Districts is Halswell. It will be Halswell’s first year in the senior grade and it will field virtually the same team that won the senior B competition last year and which was second in the suburban knock out competition. Halswell bases a batting line up which is long on paper.. It has four openers to choose from with Bruce Day, Murray Emerson, Kevin Williams and the

young left hander Andrew Hargreaves. It then has a middle order attack likely to be Bruce Ridden, Wayne Burt, brother Darryl and John Nielson. The bowling department will revolve around four players. The two experienced and proven openers, Jim Bennie and Tony Pugh will be pushed hard by the quick and aggressive right arm Mike Owens. Williams will be the other change bowler. The main concern is a lack of a good spinner. Nielson will be wicketkeeping and Wayne Burt will probably the captain.