CENTURIES TO BAKER AND ROBERTS

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 21, 26 January 1931, Page 17

CENTURIES TO BAKER AND ROBERTS

THREE GOOD SCORES

MIDLAND, PETONE, AND HUTT

SATURDAY'S PLAY

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCES. Batting. Baker (Midland)..- Is<> Eoberts (Pctone) *. !« Ross (Hutt) -. ?j BißEar (Butt) • ■'] Ward (Kilhlrnio) x -■* 51°, Hutchtngs (Midland) J Dustln (Midland) ]- ■^Siguiflos not out. Kowling, Harrison (University) five tor 01 Toley (Institute) • «v° <o'. s3' Aim (University) f°»r for bt> For. the coinmoncemcnfc of Hie sixth Fories of matches in the Wellington Cricket Association's senior competitions, the ■weather was dull and threatening on Saturday, afternoon, and a shower of rain caused play to be suspended for about half an hour on the city grounds and for a slightly longer period at the Hntt. The shower served to clear the atmosphere, however, and conditions later in the,afternoon left little to bo desired. The wickets favoured the batsmen rather than the bowlers, and in three of the four senior matches good scores were regis°The outstanding batting performance was the fine score of 166 by W. A. ("Wiri") Baker for Midland against Old Boys at the Basin Reserve. This was Baker's twentieth century in local championship cricket, and places him one ahead of K. H. Tucker. Baker has been batting as well as ever this season, and on Saturday he. rattled on' the runs at a fast rate, placing his shots to all parts ot the field with supreme confidence. Baker received good. assistance from Dustm, Hutchings, and Shepherd, the former Hawkes Bay player. Baker's batting gave confidence to his partners, who also went for the bowling freely, and Old- Boys had a far from enviable time in the field. Duncan finished up with the best bowling figures. , On the other wicket Pelone, who were making their first appearance at the Basin this season, batted all the atterTioon against Institute for 252 runs. The mainstay of the batting was E. Roberts, who opened the innings and was not disposed of until he had scored 149. Roberts was fairly slow for a start, and his scoring right through was not as quick as Baker's, but towards the close of Jus inn-, ings he was collecting his runs at a good rate. He andSpence did some bard hitting at one stage at Foley's expense, but the slow bowler persevered and finished up with a useful average. Institute s -fielding was far from flawless. On the Hutt ground the local team batted uutil stumps and scored 240 for the loss of eight wickets, valuable contributions to the score being made by Ross and Biggar, the former coming very near to ■■ scoring a century. Batsmen on the Kilbirnie ground did not have matters as much their own ■way as on the other grounds, and before stumps were drawn Kilbirnie had been dismissed for 177 and University had lost five wickets for 44. Paeey, the former Palmerston North- player-who lias been included in the Country side against Town jn recent seasons/was making his first appearance for the University Club, and, after opening the innings, was still _in when stumps were drawn. ■" . J.