Indoor cricketers grab awards at nationals

Press, 23 September 1988, Page 40

Indoor cricketers grab awards at nationals

The Canterbury men’s and women’s indoor cricket teams picked up a bucket full of titles and awards at the national tournament held in Christchurch last weekend. Both sides were the top qualifiers from their respective finals from section play, the women going on to win the title but the men losing out to Wellington. The women’s coach, Steve Logan, should be proud of his team’s unbeaten record over the past three seasons. This season was doubly difficult. Not only were some players unavailable due to outdoor cricket commitments, others had hockey and cricket coaching week-ends,

making it hard to arrange practice times. Canterbury beat Auckland, 150-90, in the final, and later picked up all the individual awards. The top batswomen were Trudy Anderson and Jenny Turner, who were in superb touch, averaging 49.4 with scarcely an out. The promising Katrina Withers won the bowling trophy, conceding 2.6 runs an over. Turner was also named the best all rounder and the player of the tournament. Another duo to bat consistently well were Withers and Debbie Ford, who both averaged about 42. The most economical of the bowlers along with Withers were Karen le

Comber and Jenny Robertson with the excellent returns of 2.5 and 3.5 runs an over. Behind the stumps Marina Russell took a number of smart stumpings and run outs. The men’s team also had a fine tournament winning four out of five games before going down to Wellington in the final. Although beaten by a decisive margin the team had earlier reversed the result in section play. Team members later featured prominently in the individual awards. A forceful driver of the ball, Peter Steele, earned the batting trophy, while Ben Harris claimed the bowling prize and the best all rounder award.

The player of the tournament was Richard McLeod, of Wellington. The strength of the Canterbury team was its batting with valuable contributions coming from Steele, Peter Kennedy, Steve Booth and the Harris brothers, Ben and Chris. In most games the players excelled in the field with Craig Williamson, Julian Marsh and the Harris brothers prominent. The Seddon Shield teams also had a fine tournament. The men’s team proved to be the giant killers, upsetting both Wellington and Auckland, while the women’s team qualified for the semi-finals before bowing out. MARG FRANCIS