“The Boys From The Country” In Plunket Shield Cricket

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 80, 29 December 1936, Page 5

“The Boys From The Country” In Plunket Shield Cricket

All-Round Athletes Prominent For Otago and Wellington (By THE WATCHMAN.)

QNE feature of the Plunket Shield teams this season is the appearance of players who are either domiciled in or else' first distinguished themselves in minor association areas.

The Wellington team includes D. A. R. Moloney, a former Otago representative, who now lives in Manawatu and N. Galiichan, an old boy of Palmerston North High School, who gained all his early cficket experience in Manawatu, to which province he has been invaluable in matches for the Hawke Cup. L. Spring, a member of the Auckland Plunket Shield team, is another old boy of Palmerston North High School, a hue cricket nursery, where the boys receive excellent coaching from Mr. W. P. Anderson. W. Carson, another Auckland representative, is from Gisborne High School. E. J. Dunning is from Rodney, North Auckland, and N. McMahon, the slow bowler, comes from Te Awamutu. K. F. M. Uttley (Otago) first played representative cricket for Wairarapa, and J. C. Scandrett (Otago) still represents Southland when not required for more important engagements by Otago.

The Pride of Southland. J. C. Scandrett, the Southland member of the Otago Plunket Shield team, is 21. He is a left-hand batsman with some fine performances’ in the past two or three seasons.

In 1334-35 he made 71 against a strong Otago team at Invercargill and 49 against Manawatu in a Hawke Cup match at Palmerston North. Last season Tie played for Otago against Auckland and Canterbury. His best match was against Canterbury, when he made 14 and 18. He did not play against Wellington. His performances this season include 103 against Central Otago in the country week tournament played earlier in the month in Dunedin. The “Dunedin Star” recently commented of him: “Scandrett is perhaps inclined to go after runs too quickly before seeing the ball properly, but he has the strokes at command, is a brilliant slip field, and useful slow bowler who deserves encouragement. If minor association players are to be encouraged, here is one deserving of it.”

Auckland’s Boy Bowler. When the Auckland Plunket Shield team proceeding to Christchurch and Dunedin reached Te Awamutu his old cricket associates in Te Awamutu were at the station to present a set of pads and gloves to Noel (“Tiny”) McMahon, the boy bowler, who was taken straight from the senior. B grade to the representative team. He learned his cricket at the local school, and has made rapid strides into the representative team since he was induced by E. C. Beale to leave his home town and live in Auckland. K. F. M. Uttley, .another Otago representative, was a pupil of Wairarapa Boys’ High School when his father was principal, and he played for Wairarapa against the English team led by A. H. H. Gilligan in 1929-30, contributing 19 not out toward a second innings wore of 144 by Wairarapa. . Since attending Otago University he had had opportunities of better class cricket, and has been a regular member of Otago teams in matches for the Plunket Shield. He had a successful season in 1934-35, when his scores included 39 against Canterbury, 20 and 11 against Wellington, and 02 and 14 against Auckland. He was selected to play for the South Island against the North in Wellington, and made 30 in the second innings for South. Last season his scoring was not so consistent, his best total being.6l against Canterbury.

Hanke’s Bay Father and Son. JI. A. O’Brien, the Hawke’s Bay player, who has not been included in the Wellington Plunket Shield team this season, has now scored over SOOO runs in senior cricket. This feat has been performed by onlj- four players in Hawke’s Bay, and one of them is Jlat O’Brien’s father, J. J. O’Brien. Jlr. F. F. Cane, an industrious collector of cricket statistics in Hawke’s Bay, is responsible for the following particulars: H B Lusk, a New Zealand representative from 1899-97 to 1902-03, scored 9494

runs at 34.3 an innings, J. J. Olßrien, 5667 at 22.6, M. A. O’Brien 8103 at 37.2, .and F. F. Cane 8100 at 26.0. Mat O’Brien has, of course, enjoyed greater opportunities of distinguishing himself than did his predecessors, for owing to his wider field of activities, to the end of last March, he averaged as many as 20 innings a season. Relying more upon week-end cricket, Lusk averaged less than 14, O’Brien 17 and Cane 15. If he continues on at the same rate Mat O’Brien should reach his 10,000 runs in 1938 at an age when he might conceivably set out on a second 10.000. His great season was 1932-33 when for Hawke's Bay he made 95 and 13 not out against Wairarapa, 22, 32 and 100 not out against Wellington, 21 and 45 against Otago. 39 and 30 against North Otago, and 33 and 137 not out against Canterbury, and for Wellington 23 and 61 against Auckland, 26 and 11 against Canterbury and 25 against Otago. Playing for Wellington the following season he scored 58 against Auckland, 3o and 20 against Otago, and 76 not out and 28 against Canterbury. Despite innings of 73 and 37 in the Town v. Country match, he did not play for Wellington the following season, but last year he helped to win the Plunket Shield by making al against Otago and 36 against Canterbury.

New Year Games. The Auckland team will go to Dunedin after its match with Canterbury to meet Otago at New Year, and Wellington will play Canterbury in Christchurch on January 1,2, 4 and 5. Wellingtons match with Auckland will be at Auckland on February 12, 13, 15 and 16. Wellington is the present holder of the Plunket Shield. The system of scoring in Plunket Shield matches is—Outright, win, eight points;'outright loss, none; .win on first innings, four; loss on first innings, two- tie on match, four each; no resuit after six hours’ play, four each. In the event of a tie between two or more teams the shield is awarded on averages. Auckland and Canterbury have each held the Plunket Shield nine times. Wellington lias held the trophy eight times and Otago twice.

Shield Match Sidelights. The Wellington-Otago Plunket Sine Id teams included some good all-round athletes, including E. W. Tindill (New Zealand Rugby representative), E. G- McLeod (New Zealand hockey representative) L. Groves (New Zealand Soccer representative) and J. R. captain of Wellington at both Cricket and Rugby... Both Wellington and Otago were led by schoolmasters, J. IE Lamason (Wellington) being on the staff of Wellesley College and J. A. Dunning (Ota"o) of McGlashan College. .. . Twenty-seven of the 64 runs scored from J. A. Dunning in Wellington s first innings were from the bat of D. A. R. Moloney. Moloney played every bowler who was tried, and hit 30 from L. Grot es, 13 from F. H. Badcock, seven from R. Silver, eight from C. J. Elmes, three from G. McGregor and three from A. R. Knight. . . E._ W. Tindill, in scorin'- 40, made eleven with strokes on the leg side behind square leg and seven on the leg side in front of the wickets, nine through the slips, ten by off-drives (including a four) and three by a square cut. Five appeals for l.b.w. were refused in Wellington’s first-innings, three being against D. A. R. Moloney, who moves across the wicket for many of his strokes, A. R. Knight, in Otago’s innings, was given not out to an appeal by E. D. Blundell, an experience which does not fall to many players, for the Wellington bowler does not often appeal, and when be does the batsman usually takes a walk.

Jack Lamason was dismissed l.b.w. in Wellington’s innings by a ball which was pitched so short that he shaped to hook it, but it kept low and bounced two or tliree times, striking him on the back foot. ... C. Parslbe bowled F. T. Badcock with a ball which pitched outside the off stump and came in at great pace, striking th© middle stump. The one which disposed of F. Kerr was another super-ball, pitching on the leg stump and striking the top of the off.