At the Crease

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 22, 26 January 1924, Page 19

At the Crease

BREAKING RECORDS

FINAL SHIELD MATCH

OTAGO FIGHT HARD AGAINST WELLINGTON.

SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP.

REPRESENTATIVE FIXTURES.

February 8, 9, 11—Wellington r. New South Wales, at Wellington. February is, IS-New South Wales v. South

Canterbury, at Ashburton. February 15, 16, „ IS—New South Wales Vi

Otago, at Dunedin. February 19, 20—New South Wales v. North

Otago. at Oamaru. February 22, 23, 25—New South Wales v.

Canterbury, at Christchurch. February 2(i, 27—New South Wales v. SouthCanterbury, at Timaru. February 29, March 1, 3—New South Wales v. New Zealand (First Test), at Christchurch. .March 7, 8, 10—New South Wales v. New

Zealand (Second Test), at Wellington March 12, 13—New South Wales v. North Taranaki, at New Plymouth. March 14, 15—New South Wales v. Wanganui, at Wanganui. " March IS, 19—New South Vales v. Hawkes Bay, at Napier. March 21, 22, 21—New South Wales v. Auckland, at Auckland.

(By. " Not Out.")

The Plunket Shield contest, for 1923----24 is over, and it will go down^in cricket records as tlie most notable- since the trophy was first competed- for in 1907. Wellington have secured possession of the shield by winning all three games with the other major'provinces. The successes-over Auckland and Canterbury have already been dealt with. There were sensational events in those two games, but they were not to be compared with the doings 'in the match against Otago. In the matter of scoring the Otago-Wellington match was one of the greatest on record; in fact, only once previously, according to tlie records showiyu. "Wisden's Almanack," has a greater aggregate of rims been registered. ; In the 1908-9 season' New South Wales and Victoria piled up an aggregate of 1911 runs for 34 wickets. Otago and Wellington in the match, concluded on Wednesday, scored 1905 runs for the loss of 40 wickets. It was a wonderful performance, in which the outstanding .feature was, perhaps, tlie magnificent fight put up by Otago in the Jinal innings. The> Southerners required 641 runs to win the match, and the way in which they set out on a task that appeared to be quite hopeless, particularly as three very productive innings had already been played, was something to wonder at. Before the first wicket fell almost one quarter of the required number of runs had been obtained, and after the fifth wicket had fallen the score was.taken past the 4CO .mark. '.Rarely had there been such a performance" in the cricket world. T.he task proved too great, but before tlie final-wicket {ell, Otago hackpufon 495 runs-^a feat that has^ never1 previously been., accomplished W ftew. Zealand.. Heavier scoring in "a fourth innings has only, beqnrecarded on three occasions. In 1896. Cambridge University made 507 for seven wickets in tlie, fourth- innings of. the .match .with. JyI.C.C. and Ground at Lord's; in 1900 the Players made 502 for eight wickets against the Gentlemen, at Lords; and in 1907-8. New I South. Wales made 572 against South Australia, a t Sydney (the rpcord score for a fourth innjnga). Otago's great effort was evidence enough of the fact that Wellington needed somewhere near a thousand runs' for both innings to be on the safe side. All followers of the game will take off their hats to Otago for the great fight the Southerners put up against Wellington, and the winning,side is to be lr-hly complimented upon its success against such staunch opposition. Among several excellent partnerships during the match were two or three which are records for Plunket Shield cricket, while Wellington b aggregate score of 1025 is also the highest obtained ainca the competition was started. Yet another record was established in the number of individual centuries scored in the match. There were seven in all—W. A. Baker (Welliiigton 143, 8.-J. Kortlang (WeftngHiddlestoij (Wellington) 150,- J). C. Colin? {7^i eliJng^?> 110' and M'Mullan (Otago) 111. With all those special "fe*, tures the ganje is undoubtedly one of the most notable that has ever been played The average per wicket for the match was 47.62, Wellington's average per wicket being 51.25 and Otago's 44.00. Ihe batting figures suggest that the bow ing was lamentably weak. There is no doubt that the bowling, as a whole, throughout the Dominion, is sadly in need of strength. , In regard to the match at Dunedin, the excellent state of the wicket must not be overlooked; it suited the batsmen and they made full use of it.

■Wellington's batting figures,' in spite of the collapse against Canterbury, read exceptionally well'for this season's shield matches—42.sß per wicket. The averages for the four provinces are i-^-

AVERAGE FOR.

INDIVIDUAL AGGREGATE.

In connection with individual performances in Plunket Shield matches it is worthy of note that J. S. Hiddleston by his fine score of 150 in Wellington's second innings against Otago, now heads the batting aggregate. He has scored more, runs than any other player in Plunket Shield matches. Hemus, of Auckland had the largest total (1341), but iiiddleston has now scored a greater number of runs in 29 visits to the crease as against 39 innings by' Henius. The leading aggregate scores, arenas follow :— „.,„ , „ In. N."O. H.S. Tl. Hiddleston (W. ' ■• " *ni °;) ■ •• 29 1 163 1399 Hemus (A) „. 39 3 143 1341 Patnek (C.) 49 3 118 1331 Snedden (A.) 33 2 139 1210 Smith (A.) 21 1 256 1077 Blunt (C.) 24" 1 116 1000

The next Wellington player on the list of aggregates is ,W. 'A. Baker, with 826 runs for 29 innings (twice not out). The centuries by Baker and M'fiirr jn Wel-

lington's first innings at Dunedin were the first obtained by those players in Plunket Shield matches. B. J. Kortlang has the splendid average of 60.60 for Plunket Shield matches.

SHIELD BATTING AVERAGES.

The complete individual batting averages for the Plunket Shield matches this season are as follow :—

SENIOR COMPETITION.

The absence of Wellington's main bowlers in Dunedin enabled batsmen to have a day out last Saturday, and good totals were registered in all the senior matches. The largest score of the season, as far as. club cricket is concerned, was compiled by Wellington, who remained at the crease lang enough to put 431 runs' on the score-book. A double century came off Wagstaffe's bat at the Basin Reserve, the Wellington wicketkeeper giving a brilliant all-round display of batting- He soon got into his stride, and ■ scored . briskly all round the wicket, completely mastering the weakened V.M.C.A, attack. His effort was ably seconded by Bruges, who is a play, er likely, to make runs at any time. After surviving; one or two chances, Bruges went on to reach 105, partnering Wagstaffe in a brilliant fourth wicket effort, which resulted in the addition of 2i9 runs to the total. Bruges and WagStaffs were the only membera of the Wellington'team to jnak'e a stand; a fact that makes the performances all the more creditable. The V.M.C.A. team sadly, missed the services of their two star bowlers, Mat: Henderson and Re-. j White who were participating in ..the Pluuket Shield match at Dunedin, and the eight bowlers that were tried achieved only a small- measure of success! Haughey and Cox, who captured four and three wickets, respectively, were the most successful as far as wicket-taking was concerned, but their averages were' lby no means good. Condliffe, the/Y.MIC,A. wick-etkeeper, who /was. unable to take a place .in the"' Wellington," representative team,, gave'a leiwwkabla " display behind the sticks, the total extras being only thirteen, . In view of the huge total compiled by. Wellington,- thatfigure speak 3 volumes in praise of Condliile as a keeper, and makes his inability ii P. artlei Pate in representative matches all the more a matter for regret. YM . L.A. went to the crease late in the afternoon, faced with a big task, more severe in view of the . fact 'that Wellington's bowling strength had riot been weakened to any great extent: They started off slowly, Francis and Sugden being content to watchjthe. balls carefully, Ld at tue drowns of stumpa no wickets had fallen for,- 30 runs,. five of which were added per medium of extras. Napier and Lewis the latter a promoted junior, bowled well during the few' overs that were sent down, and the latter was i* r tto tr6nb]e the batsmen with nis last pnes.•■--Spectators at the Basin Reserve also found much that was of interest in the match between Hutt and Old Boys, and hey were treated to a sound display of batting by the members of the latter toT.Cfl 0 r er 4 e-,fortunate in be «S able krf Aul ,Strlu ke °n a &Isi'^A wicfcHlV A3 th? u? h tbere wa* little that was brilliant.about the display given by Old fh7t S'^ 6 fl Q1 wa!> aUch tp'iEdicate that the club has the services-of batsmen of the right type. Stainton topped the score with 5.2, and others Who did well with the bat were Bull, who is a' nlTfi"n ST f s well as a briUi»t point field; Barclay, JopUn, wh 0 has struck form in recent matches, and Duncan. The Hutt- bowling was never impressive, and L . Beai-d, whose performances this season have been very pleasing was plainly off colour. The two wickets that he captured were expensive, and Nunn's t&ree wickets were also taken at the cost of many runs. M'Laren, who was making his first appearance in the senior rinks, after a successful season as a junior, was not given a chance until late in the innings and he clean-bowled Joplin with Si good ball.

Hutt did not commence their reply ra a very promising fashion, and when stumps were drawn three valuable wickets had lallen for the rather „ small total of 76 runs which, would have been considerably less had it not been for a bKght piece of batting by M'Laren, who decided to take a chance with the bowling. His tactics proved successful for a time, but the inevitable came before very long. He attempted to hit one of Morton s slows out of the ground, but as so. often happens, he miss-hit the leather, and placed it into Joplin's hands. Hughes, who was one of the opening batsmen, had placed 30 runs to his credit when play finished for the day, and he was unbeaten. Lockett and H?f n /mi iV" get goin S- Although ±iutt still had one or two good batsmen w> go to the crease,, the chances of Old Boys looked very bright at the end of the day Hutt.will miss v M'Girr and Watson, both of whom are liable to make runs when their side has its back to the wall .

Crrcketers generally will join'in congratulating Thorndon on their good total of 360 against Institute, who, as far as bowling is concerned, were not affected by the Shield jnatch. An outstanding performance was that of Martin, who batted nicely and placed 138 runs to his credit before he succumbed to Foley. Martin, who has shown exceptional promise since- his promotion from a -lower, grade, had good support from Phillips, the Thorndon captain (who •gaya a glimpse of his true, form by compiling 64 runs), Ken. Mason, and Legg rat £ wh£ has been the mosfc consistent of the Thorndon batsmen this season). lhe Institute bowling was again disappointing to a degree, Massey, with three 49, being the only trundler to finish up with a fair average. Institute started out on their big task with confidence, and Banks and Nelson, «v two ojjening batsmen, placed 50

runs to their, side's credit without the loss of a wicket. With any degree of good fortune, Institute should be able to make a clp3e fight of it. Opinions that Petone would be the team to upset Midland's series of successes did not prove to be very sound, ,for the suburban team, taking first strike on the Hutt Recreation Ground failed miserably with the bat, and coujd score no more than 109 runs, a quarter of which went to Finlayson. Midland replied with a total of 226, which, considering the absence of Baker, ■was satisfactgry. That fine veteran, J. Hutchings, placed' yet another century to his. credit, and one begins to wonder when this player will stop scoring runs. His was the only performance of outstanding merit in the innings, although Bruce and J. W. Hutchings helped matters along with useful totals. Finlayson again had success with the leather, his four wickets costing 56 runs. Midland appear to be safe-for another victory, and there is little chance of their position being disturbed in any wiry.

SEVEN HITS^-42 BUNS.

While Wellington were putting the finishing touch to a tall scoring performance in their first innings at Dunedin, and, the Otago batsmen wero making an exceptioaally fii}Q reply, R. C. Blunt, of Canterbury, was calling the attention of.Chnstchurch. enthusiasts to something sensational on his pai;fc. ' The best of' Blunts cricketing, qualities hare not been seen in Wellington, but there is no doubt that the Ripqarton player ie a batsman of high class. In tlie club competition last Saturday he was at his best, as. will be seen from the following extracts from the "Sun" :—ln an innings against Ricqarton, which returned him 266 runs—tha. highest individual Bcore made for several seasons in Christchurch—this brilliant West Christchurch. batsman hit seven sixes in one over. . This astounding feat is surely without parallel. Australia and New Zealand^ are, of course, the only countries where" the feat would be possible, because they have, adopted the system of. eight, -instead of six, balls to an over. Blunts seyen hits put 42 runs on his score, this being the total for one over. As ball after ball sailed over the boundary, the spectators at Hagley Park gasped wjth ■amazement. Yet, such is human nature., when the umpire had signalled over, the! applause for Blunt was comingled wjth, '"barrack" directed at the -blushing bowler., X R; Caygill. Blunts hits were! not mighty swipes, bat examples of glorious timing, which sent the ball sailing high and far. Hardly did he seem to. open liis shoulders at all. The balls, were not really loose—ljhey merely lacked, devil. Tlie first ball Blunt pulled over the boundary. The second was a classic hook shot, and so was the. next. The fourth ball, tossed on the leg stump, \vaß of good length, and the batsman took no chance. He patted it to the on. The spectators sat back, thinking the performance was over. But they, stiffened again when Blunt off-drove the. next ball over the fence.' And the'next was on-driven to a tremendous height, clear of the fence to the first line !of trees. It was an inspiring shot. The bowler sent the last ball of the over over two feet out on the off. Blunt, walked- -across and • whipped it in a straight drive well over the hedge. In his innings Blunt hit 12 sixes, and made: 23 other boundary hits. The : total of 265 was obtained after a stay of 170: minutes. At 13 he gave what seemed: a fair stumping chance, and-at 112 he, was dropped by J. L. Powell at. longon5. He threw away his wicket in jumping out to_C. T. Rix, being stumped.

West made the huge total of 508 runs —the highest in grade cricket for years, —in the remarkably'short space of 216 :rriiniites, ' It was wonderful scoring.' The first 100 took 55 mfoutes, the second 105 minutes, the third 145 minutes, and the-total 216 minutes.

'POSSIBLE" NEW ZEALAND TEAM.

An opinion regarding {he selection of the New Zealand team is contained in the "New Zealand Herald." "The personnel of the New Zealand team for the first Test match is creating keen in-: terest," says the writer. "Auckland, on. present form, should have four players in the side —S. G. Smith, R. Rountree, C. Dacre, and E. Allcott. 'Wellington should be represented by Hiddlestcm, Collins, and Kortlang; Canterbury by Blunt and M'Beth, and Otago by Worker and Shepherd. Much, however, depends upon latest form. Some surprises may be created by the omissiW ot the name of N. C. Snedden, the Auckland captain, but it i s understood that ha is not available for the^Test match fixture. On form Snedden is well worth his, yplace in the team. If special bowlers are required to suit the wicket, WeUington may be looked to for the' services of M'Girr, Brice, or Bernau; Canterbury may supply another in Read "or Sandman, ,while Otago has Casey, Torrance, and Dickinson, the latter an exHigh School cricketer, who is a good fast bowler. In the field New Zealand should be especially well Berved with Dacre, Worker, Shepherd, and others of equal calibre. In wicket-keeping the team will be at its best with Rountree who is nva class by himself at present! j xt ' c University, Auckland ■and New Zealand representative cricketer, who ha s been under medical attention for some time, has made a good recovery and was available for the University eleven for the first time this sea2"J"? n match again Ponsonby on Saturday. As a slow bowler, Garrard has few equals, and if he strikes form ne should be considered for the Test matches against New Sonth Wales."

A BETTER OPINION.

A year has now passed since A. C. MacLaren led an M.C.C. team through New Zealand, and, m recalling that tour the now speaks a little more highly of the Dominion's cricket and cricketers than was the case towards i the close of the tonr. Writing in "The Cricketer" he states :-"This Christmas annual reminds me that it was this time last year that we were playing abroad in bouth Africa, the while an HCC* eleven were playing the State of Aust'raha and New Zealand. The tour in Australia provided mnch food for thought whereas the cricket in New Zealand was more or less what was expected from our point of, view, although the New Zealanders showed glimpses of high-class cricket on more than one occasion and ' with more experience in first-class cricket would not be long in showing better form than against us in their coun try. There are some first-class players right enough in their best eleven, and some of our first-class counties would most assuredly go under, should they contemplate a visit to this country which I hope they will do before lone "' The foregoing reads mnch better than the remarks made by A. C. MacLaren on arrival in Sydney from New Zealand that "a 'New Zealand side in England with matches against the weaker counties would uplift the game—a few victories, and cricketers in the Dominion would take heart."

It is stated that New South Wales's first innings against South Australia provided a record in that the highest individual score was 15. The nearest approach to this total was when A. Clarke made 18 in the New South Wa.'es total of 62 at Sydney in January, 1892. On iio other occasion has the highest individual score been below 20. J. H. Pellew made 21 for South Australia at Adelaide in Docembor, 1506, when the total of the innings was 61,

, uuinann win. Midland ,., 2 Hutt : 2 Petone l Old Bon 0 V.M.C.A 1 Wellington 1 Institute 0 l'Uorndon 0 ISC ID. win, I,. 2 1 1 2 2 2 S 2 1 8 1 ■ 3 2 8 8 i 0 1 Ch. Pt5. 11 11 19 D ! J 6

Wickets Total „„. , I*ost. Runs. Av. Wellington ... 56 2385 42.58 V tilf? J •••• fi0 2034 33.90 Auckland 50 1586 31.72 tantorbuiy 60 1210 20.16 AVERAGE AGAINST. Wickets -Total . \, , Taken. Buns. Av. Auckland 60 1789 29.81 Canterbury ... 46 1432 31.13 Wellington ... 60 1874 3123 60 2120 35.33 NET AVERAGE. Wellington ... 11.55 Auckland ...... 191 Otago (minu6) Canterbury ... —10.97 (minus)

Name. g> § S.; . " I S BI I I R. do R. V. Worker (0.) 6 — 172 515 85.83 J. S. Hiddleston (W.) .. 6 — 163 509 84.83 D. C. Collins (W.) .... 6 — 127 364 60.66 B. J. Kortlane (W.) .. 6 — 134 318 63,00 J. Shepherd (0.) 6 — 92 307 61.16 H. M. M'Girr (W.) .... 6 1 117 248 49.80 S. G. Smith (A) .,5 — 79 248 49.60 C. C. Dacre.(A) S — 88 246 49.20 A. H. Anthony (A.) .... i 1 87 137 45.66 Kev. E. 0. Blamires (O.) 0 — 133 271 45.16 f- M'L«od (A.)-.; i 1 52 134 44.66 J. M'Mullan (O.)) 6 — 111 242 40.33 5; E- -?! u,nt <C-> 6 — I"* 238 39.06 W. A. Baker (W.) .... 6 — 143 231 38.50 H. E. Burton (A.) .... 5 — 47 167 33.40 C. Oliver (C.) ....\... 6 — 47 167 33.40 E. H. L. Bernau (W.) .. 3 — 65 95 31.66 C. Holland (W.) ... 4 1 54 05 31.60 K. E. Frater (A.) 4 1 43* 91 30.33 N. C. Snedden (A.) .. 5 — 68 150 30.00 SI. Henderson (W.) ....'2 1 SO* 30 30.00 g- Orr (W.) 4 _ 69 113 28.25 K. Cherry (D.) 2— 35 56 28.00 K. James (W.) 5 2 45* 80 26X6 J. Young (C.» 6 2 33* 88 22.00 A. I. Trving (A.) 5—34 105 21.00 A. W. Alloo (O.) 6—68 121 20.10 W-R- Patrick (C) .... 6 — 30 120 20.00 ', g- C- Alloo (O.) 6—30 115 19.16, D MK. Sandman (C.) 6—37 114 19.00; W- p. Brico (W.) ..... 5 2 25 57 19.00C. Allcott (A.) '.. 5 2 19. 56 18.66 A. Knight (O.) 4 — 45 73 18.25 H. Gilespuj (A.) 5 - 61-82 16.40 A. Galland (O.> 6 — 44 97 16.16 C. S. Dempster (W.) .. 6 — 69 91 15.16 H. Watson (W.) ....... 2 — 29 28 14.50 A. C. Fuller (C.) 2 2 12* 13 13.00 W. Cunningham (C.) ..6 1 17* 62 12.40 M. K. Boon (C.) i - 28 47 11.75 C. G. Crawford (C.) .... 2 — 22 22 11.00 C. Chadwick (O.) 4 1 16 33 11.00 £• f,V.,(lPe80r y (W .... 6 — 87 61 10.1G H- Wilson (A.) 5 1 17 37 9.25 §• D'ckenson (O.) ..2 2 6* 8 8.00 K. C. Talbot (C.) .... 6 - 20 43 7:10 R. C. Tornuice (O.) .... 4 2 7* 11,5.50 n" \r:« MUtre^ (A° •• * ' 1 8 16 5.33 h.r. whrto1^.)-::":: I - I I 1$ V\.K. Douglas (O.) .... 4 1 5* 5 1.66 — Duncan (O.) 2 — 3 3 1.50