CRICKET

Evening Post, Volume CV, Issue 23, 28 January 1928, Page 24

CRICKET

■V "NOT OUT" KEEN INTEREST PLUNKET SHIELD FINAL VISIT OF AUSTRALIANS The final match of this season's series for the PJunket Shield, at present being played between Auckland and Wellington at the Basin Reserve, is attracting very keen attention, and with this important fixture taking • place there were no Wellington Association competition games to-day. As has already been pointed out in "Tho Post," Wellington's prospects of regaining possession of the Shield, now held by Auckland, are particularly good. Auck- i land's chance of holding the trophy depends upon whether the northerners can register a very substantial win over Wellington, as this will be necessary in order to make their net average better than that of the local team. It is on the net average that possession of the trophy is decided in the event of two or more teams registering the samo number of wins. With the Plunket Shield contest over, interest will be directed more kenly to the visit of tho Australians. During the week tho New Zealand Cricket Council announced an amended itinerary for the tour, but it has effected very little, if any, improvement to the programme. Wellington's dates for a match with the visitors have been put forward to tho 17th, 18th, and 20th February, which means that tho first of the important matches of the tour will be played in Wellington. The Australians are due to leave Sydney about the 10th February, and on the day following their arrival here they are to play their first match of the tour at Nelson. The two Tests will not be played at the end of the tour, and tho visitors will be required to travel from Auckland straight through to Dunedin between the Tests, which are being played in those centres. This arrangement is not likely to appeal to the visitors, and it will no doubt affect New Zealand's chances of getting the best side for both games. The programme, as amended, still provides for a majority of two-day games with minor provinces, and in that respect, as previously pointed out, it is not likely to have a very strong appeal to the Australians. Certainly it will give them a chance of visiting many places in the Dominion, but in the matter of preparing them for the big Tests with the Englishmen next season the arrangement is open to much improvement. The completion of the fifth and sixth series of senior games in Wellington on Saturday and Monday last accounted for some changes in the positions of the teams. Institute retain their place at the top of the ladder, though their run of victories terminated with a drawn game on Monday. Old Boys sustained their- first defeat last Saturday, but pulled up two points on Institue when tho latter drew with 'Varsity on Monday. Thorndon have not only "broken their duck," but have registered two sucecssivo wins. The position of the teams is now as follows:— 4pt. 3pt. , _ Wins. Wins. L. D. Its. IQltttnto '•••*»-».«.. 2 3 0 1 18 Old Boys ........... 2 s i o 17 Midland 1 n 2 <> 13 University »........ 2 1 2 1 j» Petone „,..».....,. 1 2 2 [ n H«*t 1 2 :; . » io Thorndon ......... 0210 1; Kilbirnie .......... 0 2 10 « Wellington > 0 1 11 ;t V.M.C.A. 0 0 li 0 0 Thorndon and Midland. The sterling partnership between Phillips and L. Foley was not broken before Thorndon, in their match with Midland, had gained a lead on the first innings. This pair did exceedingly well for their side, and it was very pleasing to see Phillips again credited with a score of some account. But for :i bad stroke he might have gone on for a century. Down on tho first innings, Midland set out for a recovery, but they appeared to be further endangering their position until Baker came on the scene. The Midland captain was quickly, into his stride, and to . his fine record in local cricket he added another century. Midland declared in the hope of disposing of Thorndon a second time, but the latter were not to be dismissed lightly, Roberts playing a hand which proved a big stumbling-block to Midland. . This player put the seal of victory for his side—the first win for Thorndon this season. The Foley brothers and Phillips bowled with success for Thorndon, Judd and Grant were, as usual, Midland's principals, with Baker providing an effective change. 'Varsity and Old Boys. A score of 435 was a big hurdle for Old Boys to face in their match with University, and with James, Lambert, and Tucker away, matters looked none too promising for them. Parsloe made quite a fair stand in the effort to keep Old Boys' unbeaten record intact, and Patrick later came to light with one of his best performances in senior cricket. Otherwise Old Boys could not hold out against the 'Varsity attack, in which Greig, Vietmeyer, and Hollings were the principals. With but a moderate total, and beaten for the first time this season, Old Boys iad to follow on, but this time they succeeded in avoiding an outright defeat, Burt and Dustin shaping particularly well, and others also holding out to sortie purpose. Hat* and Midland. Although several members of the Hutt team placed the side well on the road to success in tho match with Midland on Monday, the "tail" could not keep up tho good work, and a total of 217 gave Midland reasonablo prospects of success. Midland, however, did not fare too well, and it was left to a junior D player, Lawton, to rise to the occasion and bring off a well-merited victory. Lawton, in compiling 88, played one of the best knocks registered against Hutt this season, and he met the bowling so confidently that his scoring efforts included a couple of hits for six. Hester also played a valuable hand, and shared the batting honours with Lawton. Acceptable contributions came from Baker and' Turvey. In the bowling, department, Judd was again on the job for Midland, adding another good performance to his grow--1 ing list. Grant and Baker were his best assistants in attack. The greater part of Hutt's score was made by Warnes and Ross, who are making good in local senior cricket, and Tattersall, who has an excellent record for consistency. M'Girr was away with the representative team in Dunedin, and his absence was felt by Hutt, for whom this fine all-rounder rarely fails with both bat and ball. Beard kept up his good record, and Aldersley took a more prominent part than usual in the attack. Burko also bowled well. Kilbirnie and Wellington. Play on the second day of the Wel-lington-Kilbirnie match at Kilbirnie was far more interesting than on tho first day. Kilbirnie, well placed at the end of the first day's play for a win, put on 329 runs in their first innings, which terminated at about 4 o'clock. Wellington recovered in their second innings, and had lost only four wickets for 251 at 6.45 p.m., when it was decided to declare the innings closed. Batting honours for the day went to V. Christopherson and Burton, who both narrowly missed reaching th.c century. Aotoded in Barton's scorq of 99 weie^

four 6's and eleven 4's. This player's display was in line with those which made him prominent in Shield cricket a few seasons ago. V. Christophorson gave one of his best displays hi senior cricket. Kilby also showed somo of his true form in making 55 not out. Korshaw and Whitwcll batted creditably. Of those who performed well in the bowling department Cousins stood out at a trundler of no mean capabilities. His form this season is little short of that required for a place in Wellington's representative team. Institute and Fetone. Interest in the Petone-Institute game was sustained right to the end by the decision of A. Cate, captaining the Pctone team vice Brice, to send Institute to the wicket again after his side had established a lead of 166 runs. Although there was small chance of a four-point win going to either side, the possibilities of the game were re-opened. The finish of Institute's first innings gave the Petono bowlers something of a shock from the manner in which the last men treated the attack. Aitken (22) was in no hurry, but Burt (30) put his runson quickly. The deficiency of 43 runs was made up in less than half an hour. Finlayson again proved Petone's most effective bowler. Batsmen rarely score freely off him, and he bowls practically tirelessly. The occasional ball which "breaks back makes batsmen chary about using their pads to his left-hand, round-the-wicket deliveries. Eeyling has often proved a good change bowler, and in this ■ match he bowled very well, taking five wickets at a cost of 54 runs. The Potone batsmen got on to the bowling in a very decided fashion in their second innings, the scoring being fairly evenly divided. Patrick topscored with 47, while Wilson (43 not out) and Finlayson (40) were not far behind. Of the seven Institute bowlers tried, Bryant, two wickets for 19 runs, came out with the best figures. With Massey absent, the Institute • team is by no means' strong in bowling. Bright as had been the batting of the Petone men the spectators expected, anil received, even better when Dempster and Bilby set out to wipe off the deficiency. Both batsmen jumped right into their stride, and lost few, opportunities of adding runs. Dempster's rate of scoring was twice that of his partner, and. he had notched 64 when the latter was dismissed with 31. The quality of Dempster's innings was revealed in the fact that although he was scoring at a great rate he never made a shot which looked like putting the ball into a fieldsman's hands. Petone and Wellington. Lack of time prevented a decision being reached in the Petone-Wellington match, although the suburban team was well on top at the finish. Petone surprised their supporters by their batting in the early part of the day. With all except one man reaching double figures, the total was sent up to 349. A. Finlayson was easily top scorer •with 93 to Ms credit. Of these he scored 92 before lunch, and then appeared well set for a century. A century from Finlayson would be very popular in view of his early departure for Otahuhu, and would cap a series of consistent scores. A feature of Petone's innings was the batting of the promoted junior players. B. Fleet opened the innings and scored 19, J. Hamilton followed and put on 28, while later in the list H. Martin hit up a solid 46. Simpson, three wickets for 53 runs, had the best average of the Wellington bowling, although Cousins, three for 111, bore the brunt of the attack. Airey and Whyte sent Wellington well on their way by putting on 90 runs for the first wicket, but with the exception of Burton, they proved tho only ones to cope effectively with the bowling. Burton (30) made a good stand, but was caught by Capstick a few feet from the bat at point. Finlayson again headed the bowling, taking five wickets for 54 runs. Once he had got the upper hand of the batsmen, he packed the field around close, more than one batsman falling to purely defensive strokes. Institute and 'Varsity. Several good batting efforts in the Institute-University match at the Basin Eeserve on Monday and little of note in the way of bowling performance prevented any decision being reached, both teams having to be satisfied with a point apiece. Dempster was again in splendid form for Institute, and he knocked up 150 in masterly fashion, executing his strokes with any amount of polish and making his runs very freely despite the kenness of the field. Banks, Baumber, Prince, and Bilby also helped the score along, and when 310 had been compiled for nine wickets the innings was closed. Institute then made fair progress towards success when they captured some 1 wickets at fairly small cost, but the position was steadied up for 'Varsity by Mackenzie, who tvis again in excellent form. Mackenzie played a fine innings for 88 not out, his effort settling any hopes of Institute getting a win. In any case there were several run-getters pn the 'Varsity side who did not bat. Bryant bowled with fair measure of success for Institute, and Hollings, M'Leod, Leys, and E. Tripe each took two wickets for 'Varsity. Old Boys and Y.M.O.A. Without the services of Lambert, James, and Tucker, Old Boys did not present very strong opposition to V.M.C.A., and when they were disposed of for 178 some prospects were held out of V.M.C.A. registering their'first win. Old Bovh have to thank their actingcaptain, Duncan, for success, as this player did excellent service in the batting department, and was successful with the ball. A splendid batting effort when matters were going none too well for Old Boys enabled Duncan to reach the century, and but for this Old Boys' score would have been poor indeed. J. Smith and Browne both made commendable attempts to place V.M.C.A. in line for a win, bat generally the Bupport given to them was of little account. Near the end of the innings there was still a chance of V.M.C.A. reaching the desired mark, but the opposition attack was handled well enough to settle the issue when V.M.C.A. were 30 runs short of Old Boys' score. Coupland did well with the ball for V.M.C.A., and is now showing up to better advantage in this department, which is weakened by the absence of Henderson. White was also an absentee on Monday. There is much enthusiasm for cricket in Marlborough's holiday resorts, and not a few Wellington people have happy recollections of matches arranged during their visits to the Sounds recently. One of the "tests" played at Kenepuru Sound, brought to light not a little talent ' from Wellington, although, except in tho case of one of the players, it has not been availed of in local cricket. A team made up mainly of Wellington players brought off a meritorious victory in this "test," despite the fact that the local. side had spent a good deal of time in preparing a wicket which gave them added confidence in their ability to beat the visitors. This wicket, by the way, offered a solution to the big problem in cricket nowadays of disposing of the tall-scor-ing habit. One of the trundlers to show what could be done on such a wicket was J. O'Sullivan, a well-known Wellington amateur athletic official, and in addition to getting seven wickets he also top-scored with E. Telford, another Wellingtonian. Their side, which also included A. G. Barnett (secretary of the Wellington Harbour Board), Phillpotts (a Marifit player), Wright, and Q^iheav, bjr 79 runs to 63.