Latham and Priest destroy Northern’s Shell Trophy hopes

Press, 20 February 1989, Page 23

Latham and Priest destroy Northern’s Shell Trophy hopes

By

JOHN COFFEY

The Northern Districts cricket captain, Chris Kuggeleijn, had the Shell Trophy slip through his hands when the national interprovincial championship was completed on Saturday.

Had Kuggeleijn accepted a slips catch from the first ball faced by Mark Priest at Lancaster Park, the Canterbury second innings would have been in tatters at five runs for five wickets. Instead, Kuggeleijn had the mortification of watching from close range as Priest and Rod Latham shared an unbroken fifth-wicket stand of 252 runs — the fourth most prolific partnership in the 125 years that Canterbury has participated in first-class cricket. , When Latham declared, Northern faced the awesome task of seeking 376 runs to win the game and the trophy. After a highly-promising start, Northern’s batting disintegrated and Canterbury claimed the match by 62 runs. It was a remarkable conclusion to the representative season. The pressure on Northern became increasingly greater as Latham and Priest prospered, Auckland made short work of Otago at Carisbrook, and Wellington was always on course for a home win at Central’s expense. But Northern seemed certain to cruise home when Paul McEwan was out from the first ball of the day, and Peter Kennedy also gave the Northern wicket-keeper, Bryan Young, a catch in the next over. If the thick edge from Priest’s bat had been held securely by Kuggeleijn only Lee Germon would have stood with Latham to protect an inexperienced and unheralded (in a batting sense) Canterbury tail from the new ball. Brendon Bracewell and

Chris Cairns had all but made the breakthrough needed by Northern. But as the ball lost its shine and the day wore on all of the highlights were provided by the batsmen until well after tea. • Latham and Priest compiled Canterbury's fourth highest partnership in 125 years, the highest against Northern Districts, and demolished a 35-year-old fifth wicket record (against all comers) held by Brian Haworth and Sam Guillen at 181. • Both Latham (142 not out) and Priest (92 not out) exceeded their personal best scores at first-class level. • After the declaration David White and Young set a Northern first-wicket record against Canterbury of 118. When White was out his was the first dismissal for 370 runs. • Young (97) also achieved his highest score, and Graeme Hick took his Shell Trophy aggregate to 1228 runs to be second to Martin Crowe on the all-time list. • But Priest and Andrew Nuttall later halted the dominance of the batsmen as both recorded their most impressive first-class figures. It was a particularly auspicious double for Priest. • Lee Germon chimed in with a record of most dismissals for Canterbury in a season. The young wicketkeeper finished with 28 (25 caught, three stumped) to head off Maurice Ryan’s 25 in 1977-78. Priest was nudged out of the “man of the match” award by Latham, whose fifth century for Canterbury came after a first innings 98. Apart from Priest’s firstball escape, there was only one broken stride in his imperious march in company with Latham. When Priest

was on 21, and the total 57, Northern’s players were genuinely disappointed that Priest was not given out caught behind down the leg side. Otherwise, every thumping blow from Latham’s broad bat must have felt like a Mike Tyson body punch to the hapless Kuggeleijn. The 252-run partnership took only 219 minutes and was all the more remarkable because of the circumstances when Latham was joined by Priest — an L and P blending which fairly fizzed along. Latham offered Northern no favours in his declaration. Only once before had a side scored more than 376 to win a game in this country, Canterbury achieving 473 for six wickets against Auckland at Lancaster Park on Christmas Day, 1930, even though no individual batsman topped 80. Northern hopes were rekindled when White and Young plundered 113 runs from 18 (of the 69) overs to tea. They were comfortably in advance of the required 5.44 run-rate. The pace was maintained after White’s dismissal, Hick assisting Young to take the total to 1.99 for one in the thirty-third over. But Hick was sensationally caught by Stu Roberts, who sprinted 25m to wide long-on and Young — who had been promoted from No. 8 in the quest for brighter cricket — was victim of a brilliant catch by Peter Kennedy at short cover just three runs adrift of a deserved maiden century. Without its inspiration, Hick, Northern looked fallible. The mere mortals were plucked from the batting order by the left-arm spinners, Priest and Nuttall. When the last 20 overs began Northern was 113 runs from victory and still had six wickets, but four of those sup-

cumbed within the next six overs. Canterbury ultimately had 8.2 overs to spare. CANTERBURY First innings 343/4 dec. Second innings B. Z. Harris lbw b Cairns z-0 B. R. Hartland c Kuggeleijn b Bracewell 3 P. G. Kennedy c Young b Cairns 2 P. E. McEwan c Young b Bracewell. 0 R. T. Latham not out. . . 142 M. W. Priest not out .. . 92 Extras (b 7 lb 7, nb4)lB Total (for 4 wkts dec.). . 257 Fall: 3,3, 3, 5. Bowling.—B. P. Bracewell 19.4, 5, 48, 2 (nbl); C. L. Cairns 12, 4, 45, 2 (nb2); B. J. Barrett 14, 1, 50, 0 (nbl); C. M. Kuggeleijn 4,0, 25, 0; A. Somani 11, 0, 56, 0; S. A. Thomson 2,1, 2,0; D. J. White 1,0, 17, 0.

NORTHERN DISTRICTS First innings 225 Second innings D. J. White c Germon b Priest 62 B. A. Young c Kennedy b Priest 97 G. A. Hick c Roberts b Priest 35 C. M. Kuggeleijn c McEwan b Nuttall 43 S. A. Thomson c Kennedy b Priest 2 G. E. Bradburn c Hartland b Nuttall 30 C. L. Cairns std Germon b Nuttall 3 A. Somani std Germon b Priest 7 B. P. Bracewell c Germon b Nuttall 8 K. A. Wealleans not out. . 17 B. J. Barrett c Latham b Priest 2 Extras (bl, lb 3, nb3). ... 7 Total 313 Fall: 118, 199, 201, 219, 263, 267, 284, 296, 306. Bowling.—S. J. Roberts 5,1, 38, 0 (nb2); R. M. Ford 7,0, 50, 0; M. C. Chamberlain 4,1, 24, 0; R. T. Latham 5,1, 31, 0; M. W. Priest 21.4, 4, 92, 6; A. J. Nuttall 18, 1, 74, 4 (nbl). Umpires: R. L. McHarg and B. L. Aldridge.