St Albans chases fourth successive club cricket title

Press, 29 September 1989, Page 30

St Albans chases fourth successive club cricket title

The lure of four successive Trust Bank Trophy two day club cricket titles has persuaded all of last summer’s champion St Albans side to return for the 1989-90 season. The Saints, which gained its third title in the last round of the 1988-89 season, will match Lancaster Park should it win again. The latter was successful four times in the 19605. St Albans will initially be without Max Bremner, who is overseas until November, but has retained the side which won its third successive two day title last season. The fast bowler, Henry Richards, who broke down with a back injury - early last season, is returning and has looked in good form in the nets and in friendly games. He will be joined by Roger Ford, also recovered from injury, Chris Harris, Mark Priest and Andrew Nuttall in the bowling line-up. Paul Rutlege will be the No. 1 wicket keeper with Rhys Cain trying to nail

down a middle order batting place. Ben Harris and Grant Lucas will again open the innings with Chris Harris, Geoff Smith, Bremner and . Priest the most likely candidates for batting places high in the order. The captain, Neil Francis, is pleased to have a settled side and strength in depth. Players like Gary Rae, who averaged 59.4 in five

innings last year, and Greg Olliver are among those likely to be promoted when representative commitments take their toll. East Christchurch-Shir-ley has gained the services of Michael Owens, a promising medium-fast bowler who took the most wickets in the suburban competition last year with Halswell, and the young all rounder, Nathan Astle, from Shirley Boys’ High School. It is also expected to announce the signing of an English professional to replace Mark Robinson, who is staying with Northamptonshire this season. The captain, Tony Gray, is hopeful that the talented all rounder, Garry Lund, will be able to play the full season, injury and soccer commitments permitting. East Shirley’s batting will again be led by Ray Jones, who averaged 54.73 in the two day competition last year, scoring 821 runs. He will be supported by the likes of Craig Gibb, Howard Morel, John Salkeld, Gary Jones, Gray and Lund. Gray, Owens, Astle, Lund, Salkeld and the English signing will probably lead the bowling with Mark Barrett, who led the wicket keepers with 21 dismissals, donning the gloves again. High School Old Boys, which finished last in the two day competition last season, has lost Blair and Paul Hartland, Peter Rattray and Dayle Hadlee. The new captain, Cran Bull, said Old Boys was obviously looking for big - improvement and believes he has a solid nucleus of players. The national youth representative, Llorne Howell, is likely to bat high up the order along with Andrew Nicol, who scored 405 runs last year. Ross Bayliss may relinquish the wicket keeping gloves to concentrate on his batting with David Bull, Brent Fleming and Richard McGuire in contention for batting places. Stu Roberts and Chris Flanagan will spearhead the bowling attack with

Richard Hadlee possibly available for early games. David Anderson is likely to be the off spinner with Nicol and Vance Thompson other front line bowling possibilities. Woolston W.M.C., which finished a commendable fifth last summer, has gained Andy Roberts, aged 19, a leg spin bowler from Northamptonshire, who is also a useful middle order batsman. The Marist batsman, Kit Perera, has also transferred. The side will again be captained by Anup Nathu, who is expecting big things from some of the younger players in the side. Nathu and Peter Sullivan, who both scored over 500 runs last year, will be batting mainstays along with Peter Kennedy, fresh from a successful winter in England. Greg Lewis, James Hadley, Tim Andrews and Russell Grant should lead the bowling attack in the absence of last year’s English import, Jerry Bramble. Lancaster Park, fourth last season, will be captained by the veteran medium pace bowler, Trevor Luke, who is in his 18th season with the club. Gains include John Radovonovich, who will vie for the wicket keeping role with Graham Kench and Wavnp Allnnrt

The batsman, John Gully, is available for the entire season and youngsters from Linwood High School, including John Wright, flesh out the squad. Losses include Greg Pierce, Dean Stanton, and Don Kars. The batting will be led by Graham Inglis, Nick Foster, Rod Latham and Pierre Flavell with Luke, Andrew Kench, Mark Chamberlain and Latham likely to front the bowling. Luke said the side, would obviously be better with another year under its belt but is hopeful of a strong showing and, perhaps, the consistency to topple St Albans. Old Collegians, fresh from second place last summer, has gained two seam bowlers in Doug McMillan and Barry Lindsay while Bill Lawrence is keen to play provided his injured back holds up.

Richard Leggat will captain the side again and. said competition would be keen for places, with second grade players pushing the more established first teamers. Hamish Anderson, who impressed late last season, will probably open with the free scoring David Bond with Keith Gardner, John Morton, Leggat, Rob Wilson, Paul McEwan and David Mills vying for places. The veteran medium pace bowler, Lindsay Forde, is back in harness along with Wayne Martin and Gary Thomas. The upper order batsman, Mike Hamel, will not be available before Christmas because of work. Riccarton has lost Stu Gambles (England), John Wilson (to Sydenham), Steve McCormick (work commitments), David Hartshorn (to Auckland) and Andrew Cavill (to

Wellington). The captain, Denis Aberhart, said the young talent in the side should allow it to be competitive with old hands like himself, David Stead and Tim Murdoch giving it a solid dose of experience. Regulars returning include Dean Lund, Dean Read, Brent Glanville, Jason Kilworth and Andrew Caddick. There have been some useful gains in Warren Lidstone, a batsman from Timaru who was in the Canterbury Emerging Players side last season, Robbie Frew, a Canterbury under 20 batsman and Gary Stead, a leg spin bowler from Shirley Boys’ High School. Sydenham has seen some big signings with Blair and Paul Hartland switching from High School Old Boys, John Wilson joining from Riccarton and Lee Germon moving from Burnside West-University, the pace bowlers along with Greg O’Reilly with the spin of Ken Julian In addition, Neil Stanley, a Northamptonshire batsman who made 60 in his county debut against the West Indies last year, has joined. He has played a handful of first class games. . Losses include Bob Carter, Ash Hart, Kevin Congdon, Wayne Pluck and Wayne Higgins. The side will be led by the Canterbury. B batsman, Darrin Murray, who will head the batting along with Stanley, Andrew Ritchie, Richard Petrie, Germon, Wilson and the Hartland brothers. Petrie, Ciaran Hartley and Sam Martin should be

balancing the attack. Sydenham could only finish ninth last year but Murray feels it has the potential to win the title. “The average age is about 21 or 22 but the players have a solid core of age group and Canterbury B experience.” Marist, which was seventh last summer, has gained David Boyle from Burnside West-University and the Northamptonshire left arm pace bowler, Simon Brown, who has given the club a verbal assurance that he is playing for Marist. Other gains include Glen Muir, a Canterbury under 20 opening bat, Marcel Le Lievre, a Canterbury under 18 bowler, John Doocey, the St Bedes’ College first XI captain and Greg Curtain, who is returning after a year’s break.

Kit Perera has switched to Woolston while Paul Bateman is having a season off. Regulars returing include Justin Boyle (captain), Greg Hills, who scored 530 runs last year, Garry Hooper, Gary MacDonald, Paul Adams, Darren Leigh, Vince Barry, Andrew Haglund and Anthony Wild. Burnside West-Univer-sity won the Trust Bank one day Cup last summer but poor returns in its games after Christmas cost it a high place in the two day competition. It has lost David Boyle to Marist and Lee Germon to Sydenham but has gained Hamish Kember, a left arm slow bowler from South Canterbury, and Andrew Hintz, who has recovered from a bad back injury. Chris Grant and Matt Everest are vying for the wicket-keeping role vacated by Germon. Regulars returning include Dave Farrant, Russell Haglund (captain), Grant Dickson, Andrew Sherwood, Steve Bateman, Steve Hawker, Jon Preston, Mark Hastings and Steve Jeffrey. Preston could miss the opening rounds as he is having a cartilage operation.