CRICKET

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 151, 23 December 1926, Page 12

CRICKET

PLUNKET SHIELD

OTAGO-WELLINGTON MATCH.

Early in the New Year the first selection of players to represent New Zealand on the tour to England is to be /-made, and for that-reasou there is added interest in. the . Plunket Shield matches to be played during tlie Christmas and New Year holidays. Followers of the game in Wellington will be favoured with an opportunity of seeing the chosen of Otago and Wellington inaction, and this match should provide some of the best cricket of the series for the Plunket Shield, now held by Wellington. A very strong side has been selected to represent Wellington, but the Southerners are hopeful of repeating their success of last season, when in a keen match the following scores were registered: Wellington 270 'knd 150, Otago 23? and 182 for five wickets. Welington, however, should be a much harder proposition on'this occasion, and with the conditions right they.-should not be so easily disposed of as in Dunedin last season. Indications point to heavy scoring, especially if most of the Wellington players strike their best form with the bat, as, all but two or three are capable of -making centuries. Wellington _ team in last season's match was:—Hiddleston, Kortlang, Tattersall, 'M'Leod, M'Girr, Collins, Badcock, Banks, Henderson, Dempster, and Brice. For the match commencing at the Basin Reserve at 2 p.m. on Christmas Day Hiddleston, Kortlang, M'Girr, Badcock, Henderson,* Dempster, and Brice are again required, while the selector has also calledTupon Lowry, Worker (who played for Otago last season), James, Hollings, and Lambert. The team appears to be one of the best that has ever been selected to represent Welling-' ton. The match is to be played to a finish.