PLUNKET SHIELD.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 24, 29 January 1912, Page 10

PLUNKET SHIELD.

CANTERBURY v. WELLINGTON CHALLENGERS BEHIND. A GOOD GAME TO WIN. fBY TELEGRAPH—PHSSS ASSOCIATION.] NCHRISTCHURCH, 28th January. « The cricket match in which Canterbury are defending the Pluuket Shield against Wellington, was resumed on Saturday in beautiful weather and upon a wicket that was fa6t and true. There was a fairly &ood -attendance, probably well over 2000 being present. The sum of £105 was taken at tho gatee. The Wellington I men shovi/ed some improvement on the firs'fc day's play, but their batting; cer1 tainly, with one exception, was' not I good enough to offer them any hope of winning the Piunket Shield against ; bowlers like Bennett, Reeee, and Mand- | man. The Wellington bowlingj how- ! ever, was very much better, and greatly j improved work was done in the field,'. as i compared with the first day. \, Gibbes wae the only batsman whose : performance conld be termed first-class, I and he compared very favourably with ; the" beet of tho Canterbury men. He ! played all the bowling confidently and I correctly, was never in trouble, and scored off nearly everything not absolutely first-class, by powerful and w«lltiiried strokes. Midlane played - a very sound but laboured innings, which, had , it iiot been for Gibbes's spiriting batting at the other end, would have been tedious. He made a few good strokes, but* let off a lot of loose balls, most of i which ho eitlier missed or mistimed. Patrick batted solidly, whilst Saunders and Brice made their runs by taking all the risks. Mahoney was lucky in even getting into double figures, and thoae who remember his batting of years ago marvelled at his retrogression. Bennett Was again the best of the Canterbury bowlere. He kept an excellent length and direction, generally making the ball do a little, and at no time could the batsmen take liberties with him. Reese made & loose start, but after a couple of overt always had the batsmen playing him.' Sandman and Hickmotfc also bowled well. Carlton was harmless, and only had five overs. The Canterbury fielding was good, but far from fauftl^ss, and some catches were dropped that should have been held. CANTERBURY'S SECOND VENTURE. In Canterbury's second innings several of ttfe batsmen gave bright and forcing displace, but Patrick was easily the, best. 4 , Hie defence was never seriously taxed, and • his scoring stroke* were marked by considerable -power and excellent timing. He scored his 44 in forty-five minutes, including a sixer,' right over the heads of the people, to square leg. Lusk again played aggressive cricket, his scoring strokes being faultlessly executed. He- made Saunders t look x like the veriest tyro. Both Patrick and Hickmott batted well, except for a short period, when Saunders hid them tied up, and they' made their runs by clean and attractive ehote. Sandman hitr ferociously. At the end of the day he and Patrick put on 42 in twentythree minutes. The "Wellington bowling watt much better than on the first day. Brice sent them in fast, and was fairly accurate in length and direction. He was difficult to score off. Saunders was expensive during, the "earlier part of the innings, but, later on, bowled really well, keeping a splendid length, and. whipping in with an off spin. He certainly had j hard luck in only getting one wi<iket, for he frequently beat the ; battmenjbad-, ly. Patrick bowled wellrjnthput^hy' luck, but Gibbes and Fenton were expensive in the few >overs they had. Steady rain fell on Saturday night, j which minimised Wellington's already slender chance of lifting the .shield. , Midlane (1) and Saunders (4) continued Wellington's innings, at 11.30, to the bowling of Bennett and Reese. The latter was short in length for a couple of overs, but the batsmen failed to profit by it. After two or three uppish strokes, Saunders put an easy one into W; Carlton's hands at mid-off. 26—3 — 16. BEST BATTING OF THE INNINGS. ' Gibbes filled the gap, and the best batting of the innings ene.ued; the lefthander afc once dropping into his stride, and trouncing anything loose. Notwith- I standing several changes in the bowling, j the runs mounted at a good rate, Gibbes getting in some beautiful strokes past cover that were very high-class. The century was comfortably passed before Hickmott bowled Gibbes, with an offbreak that kept low. 110 — 4—59.4 — 59. Biamires was all at sea to the High j ! School boy, and lifted the last ball of a I weakly-played over to Hayes at mid-off. 110 — s—o.5 — 0. Mahbney should have been caught before he had scored, W. Carlton I missing an easy catch at mid-off. Reese I again had bad luck,' for h© beat the same batsman with' r a -good one, the wicket- j keeper letting 'it go, thinking it would hit the wicket. With the score afc^ 122,- the players went to lunch. On resuming,; Bennett and Reese again had charge of the bowling, and after 1 some slow play Bennett beat Midlane.. with a tricky -ball. 133-*-6—^35. Brice, who- followed, 'Commenced briskly, and lifted one off Sandman to long-off, • where Norman -so -far "tnisjudg* ed the catch—already a hot one — as to make it difficult, and he failed to hold the ball. It made little difference, as, in, the following over, Brice was smartly caught at the wickets. .153—8—12. ' Beechey was next, but at once lost Maho&ey, who was clean bowled. 164—8—10.8 — 10. Patrick was the ingoer, and his partner sent 160 up with a nice squarecut for 4. With half a dozen singles on, Beechey stopped a straight one with his leg. 164—9— -7. Berendsen was last, and Patrick got Sandman to the on for I a 3 and two pairs, but Bennett then gjot a good one past Berendsen. The innings thus closed' for 173, having lasted j just under three hours. j With a lead of 104, Canterbury went in a second time, "at a quaiter past 3. As in the first innings, Lusk and Hayes were the opening pair. Saunders opened the bowling from the south, end, and raised an ironical laugh by appealing for l.b.w. for a, ball that- never touched the batsman's legs, Hayes playing v.» Patrick bowled from* the other end. Both batsmen were soon busy, Lusk in particular being aggressive. Saundiers suffered to the tune of 29 in five overs, and Brice, who replaced him, at once got Lusk caught in ihe slips. 40 — 1 — 29. Norman followed, and with 13 added, Hayes was given out, caught at the wickets, palpably an umpire's mistake. 55—2—17: MERRY SCORING. W. Carlton followed, .and the score moved steadily along to 70, when Brice, who had changed ends, got Carlton l.b.w. 70—3—2. Reese did not alter the scoTe, putting his first ball into the hands of Saunders at ■ slip. 70 — 4—o.4 — 0. Hickmott' & appearance was hailed with acclamation, and he set up a good partnership with Norman. Gibbes suffered to the extent of 15 in one over,, and the century went up for an hour and twenty-five minutes' play. Then Saun'lore, going on again, had both batsmen iv trouble, eventually finding Norman's wicket with a good one. 120 — 6—31.6 — 31. With Patrick in, the play livened up again. Fenton went' on for the first time> at 143, «nd just as 150 w«at> up

for two hours and ten minutes' play, he got .Hickmott l.b.w. 150—6—33. Sandman joined Patrick, and the pair proceeded to give a lively display. For th« fir«t time in a representative match Patrick lifted one over the fence, a magnificent square-leg hit that landed beyond the embankment. Crombie injured his knee in trying to save- a 4, and retired," Reese fielding for him. Sereval changes were made in the bowling, but the batsmen scored merrily with fine strokes, and when stumps were drawn the score stood at 192 for six wickets. Play will be resumed at 11.30 o'clock on Monday morning. • Scores :—: — ' CANTERBURY. First Innings > ... 277

Bowling Analysis. . Saunders took one wicket for- 72 runs ; Patrick, none for 23; Brice, fo.ur for 32 ; Gibbes, none for 33 ; Fenton, one for WELLINGTON. Firsb 'lnnings.

Bowling Analysis. Bennett took four wickets for 39 runs ; T. Carlton, none for 16; D. Reese, two for 38 ; L. Sandman, two for 39 ; K. G. Hickmott, two for 24. Hickmott bowled one no-ball. ENGLISHMEN AT PLAY. GAME AT HOBAET. WOOLLEY'S GREAT SCORE. By Telegraph.- Preii Aittelation — C«pjrifSi HOBART, 28th January. Continuing their match against Tasmania, the Englishmen gave a brilliant display of batting. Wbofley, in particular, distinguished himself, compiling 305 in 229 minutes. His score included two 6's and forty-three 4's. He and Rhodes, in partnership, lifted the' score to 206, and Woolley and Hearne together carried on the score to 254. Woolley "s ecore is a record for the tour, and beats Foster's record of 287, compiled in a Test match at Sydney eight years ago. ' ENGLAND. ' First Innings.

Bowling Analysis. Carroll took 'one widket for "83 runs; Windsor, none for 112; Paton, one for 88 ; Beddam, one for 66 ; M'Kenzie, none for 65; Martin, one for 76; Chancellor, none for 39 ; Eltham, one for 24. , • .TASMANIA. , I Second Innings.

Tasmania,! in their first innings, made 124. , SHEFFIELD SHIELD. NEW SOUTH WALES y. VICTORIA. By Telegraph.— Press Association-— Copyright. SYDNEY, 28th January. In the final match for the Sheffield Shield, New South- Wales completed their first innings for 448 runs. Mmnefct (noP-out, 216), Cotter (79), and M'Kew j (29) Were the chief scorers. Armstrong took five wickets for 104 runs ; Kyle two .for 109; Brown one for 66; M'Don- ! aid one tor 74. Victoria in their second innings have j lost six wickets for 176 runs (Kortlang 29, Brown 31, M'Kenzie 53 not ou<^. In their first innings Victoria scored 129. Minnett's play was 'brilliant and faultless. In 197 minutes at the wicket* he hit twenty-seven 4's and three 6's. Cotter was in slashing form. He played thirty-nine minutes, and knocked six I 6'e and five 4's. NOBLE'S DECISION. .WILL NOT PLAY IN TESTS. SYDNEY, 28th January. The movement to secure Noble's services • for the remaining Test matches has proved; futile. Noble, has 'finally, announced that his business arrangements will not permit of him again playing, in first-class cricket. He added that there are many younger men; let the selectors give them a chance.

Haw§on,"b Barnes"; 1 ..'; ' ... • Martin, c Bhrides," b Foster ' Windsor, b Foster „t Hudson, not out ... ." Sundries ... ... ... 9 ... '54 ... '' 4 ....' 35 ... 11 Total for three .wickets /.. 113

anneir, Ibw, b Paton lhod«6, b Martin • ... • ... Learne, c Bodham, b Eltham 'deter, c Hudson, b Carroll Poolley, not out Sundries .' ... 26 ... 102 ... 97 ... 21 ... 305 ... 23 Total. for four wickets^... ... 574

4. J. Crombie, b Bennett 4 LH. Fenton, b Reese „ . ... 0 i\ Midlane, b Bennett 35 r. V. Saunders, c W. Carlton, b Eeese 16 V. E. Gibhes, b Hickmott 59 5. 0. Blamires, c Hayes, b Hickmott 0 N. L. Brice, c Boxshall, b Bennett 12 r. G. Mahoney, b Sandman ... 10 D." M. Beechey, lbw, b Sandman ... 7 L Patrick, not out 12 5. A. Berendeen, b Bennett ... . 1 Extras ... - 15 Total ... - 173

Second Innings. EL- B. Lusk, c Blamires," b Brioe... 29 W. Hay«s, c Berendseri, b Brioe ... 17 A.. Norman, b Saunders 31 W. Carlton, lbw, b Brice 3 D. E*ese, c Saunders," "b Bricd '.'./ 0 R. G. Hickmott, lbw, b Fenton ... ■33 W. K. Patrick, not out ' 44 [}. Sandman, not, out - ... 20 Extras . ... 15 I — — Total for six wickets 192