Cruel twist robs Vance of century

Press, 30 December 1988, Page 34

Cruel twist robs Vance of century

PA Wellington Fate in its cruellest form deprived Robert Vance of a merited century as Wellington beat Auckland by 20 runs in a Shell Cup cricket match at the Basin Reserve yesterday. Two incidents late in Vance’s unbeaten innings of 99, an innings which was the cornerstone of Wellington’s total of 196 for 5, smacked of fate in one of its more callous personations. When he was 96, batting with Grant Cederwall in the 37th over of Wellington’s shortened innings, Vance took two runs from a shot. Those runs would have taken his total to 98 with nine balls remaining, but the umpire, Fred Goodall, indicated Cederwall had not made his ground on the first run and called one short.

By extrapolation, Cederwall’s minor error cost Vance his second century in Shell Cup games. Vance, who moved from his regular place as an opener to number three, still had a chance to bring up his century in the dying moments of the innings. He took strike on 99 to the fifth ball of the final over and needed only to place it into any gap in a deep-set field to achieve the single which would have brought his century. The in-swinging delivery from Danny Morrison took Vance’s pad, the batsmen crossed for a leg bye, and Vance lost the cfri kp WELLINGTON E. Gray c Crowe b Gillespie 8 B. Edgar b Morrison ... 60 R. Vance not out 99 G. Cederwall b Gillespie. 2 T. Ritchie run out 1 E. McSweeney c Kelly b

Inside sport, page 20

Morrison 6 Extras (nb3, w4, lb 6, b 7) 20 Total (or 5 wkts) 196 Fall: 13, 183, 187, 188, 196.

Bowling; S. Gillespie, 7,0, 33, 2 (nb2); D. Morrison, 8,2, 27, 2 (w2, nbl); W. Watson, 8,0, 38, 0 (w2); J. Bracewell, 7,1, 28, 0; D. Scott, 6,0, 37, 0; D. Patel, 1, O, 20, 0. AUCKLAND R. Reid b Beyeler 8 P, Horae run out 20 D. Scott c Cederwall b Chatfield 55 D. Patel c McSweeney b Chatfield 34 J. Bracewell c Beyeler b Chatfield 4 J. Crowe c Chatfield b Larsen 5 M. Pringle run out 22 S. Gillespie c and b Cederwall 3 S. Brown ran out 6 D. Morrison b Larsen. . . 2 W. Watson not out 1 Extras (Ibll, w5) 16 Total 176 Fall: 20, 43, 119, 126, 138, 141, 146, 173, 175, 176. Bowling: E. Chatfield, 8. 0. 20, 3 (w2); J. Millmow, 2,0, 11, 0 (w2); F. Beyeler, 8,1, 27, 1; G. Cederwall, 8,0, 32, 1; E. Gray, 5,0, 25, 0; G. Larsen, 6.5, 0, 50, 2 (wl).