BALL BEATS BAT

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 131, 30 November 1933, Page 8

BALL BEATS BAT

TOWN-COUNTRY MATCH

CRICKET AT THE BASIN

FIEST DAY'S PL AY

A promising beginning did not lead to the fulfilment of expectations in the Town v. Country cricket match'at the Basin Reserve yesterday, scoring throughout the day; being. surprisingly low, -with a splendidly-compiled 69 by Dustin as the outstanding performance in the batting department. There was. a plumb wicket and the weather was fine, though a freshening southerlywindand mistiness became pronounced with the"progress of play. Then, too, there were the players well qualified for run-making. But there was some influence at work against the batsmen and at no stage were they able to become masters of the situation. Both sides were affected in the same way, and at the end of the day the Town team, which had batted first, was under way with its second innings. There was some good bowling on both sides, but not wholly of such quality as to account for almost a batting rout. Still, the performance would give no little satisfaction to those who hold that there are in cricket today capable bowlers as well as capable batsmen. . ''■ RUN OF PLAY. When "The Post"'went to.press' yesterday, the Town team's first.innings, as'indicated, had concluded, the. total being -194. That did not ha.ve.tho. appearance of being out of reach of what was regarded as a strong.country batting side, but, as the case, with the home players after lunch, the bowling could not be mastered; Cameron and Massey opened the innings for the visitors, and found-that no liberties could be. taken with the. deliveries served up by. Crook,and Blundell; "During the first four overs there was only one "scoring stroke. A dozen runs ! been made; when Cameron, was well caught' by. Tindill off Crook, and without' any 'addition to the. score Massey was bowled.by Blundeil. That was. a bad,'begjnning, and" the.responsibility of. improving the position ■ .was ; throVvii •'.. xipon -. O'Brien and Ongley. ;. *: •■•■ ■ . -.' ' ■'::;i Some progress was made, and when the total' was 25. 'Griffiths replaced Crook (one ior;7:.offi .sixi.over&),.,rThe change was met confidently, though Qiigley. ;was still somewhat ■'uneasy in\ facing^Blundell. Using' his reach,. O'Brien ,madeV some fine forcing /strokes .off-.1 Grifflth's's fowling, but when a, third run was called for a snick to leg' off ■ Blundell a risk was taken by Ongley. ' Both batsmen ' stopped before startingoii the third run, and Ongley was run but. ' 35t-3t-4. ' . . ■. . "Vyitli./Lamljert. and; Ofßrien associated there,was still a . good, deal:. of defensive play against Bluudell, arid when O'Brien elected to have a dip it proved to be a fatal move, the batsman,-who had been missed..just previously in the slip's, being bowled. O'Brien played some nice strokes in-making' 24 (including three '4's), but never appeared to be really secure. 40 —4 —24. ■■■..' ' Lambert did not have Evans long as a partner^ The newcomer > had collected two singles when he was tempted out of his crease by Griffiths and was stumped. Meanwhile Lambert had gathered in some runs, including a -neat i. ' 49 —5 —2. STILL STRUGGLING. The. visitors were having a hard time of it,/and further disaster came their way "when, ( after Reaney's entry, some doubt about a run led to Lambert's wicket being .ifost. A smart return by dv Chateau to Blundell found the. captain out of his ground. /50—6— ; 8. , Some free hitting was., indulged in by Rcaney and Hayward without any undue risks' being taken until Hayward tired his wicket away in lashing out to a good ball from Griffiths. G4—7—B. '■■■ At this stage Blundell, who had taken two wickets for 29 runs in twelve overs, : whs> spelled, O'Neill coming on. The in.Jsbnjiflg.Lb'atsinan was Chadwick, who played for 'University in local lower grade cricket a few .years, ago. Reaney opened his shoulders to some purpose, but in attempting to do likewise Chadwiek was bowled by O'Neill. 75—8-0. . . Hatch and Reaney batted as though there had been no debacle, and their forcing strokes kept the' fieldsmen busy. One of Hatch's big hits'off O'Neill; fell little short of a 6. Hatch, however, was out soon afterwards in giving Tindill an easy catch off Crook. 94—9—14. FIRST "SIXER." The .last man was Freeman, and he "broke his duck" in placing a ball to third ■mani following up by lifting a ball from O'Neill clean out of the playing area. That was the end, as in playing back to the next ball Freeman was bowled. The innings had yielded only 101 runs, Reaney being not out with' 20. , Bowling honours for the Town team were shared by Crook, Blundell, Griffiths, and O'Neill, and the fieldsmen lent good support, some of the work being really smart, with James keeping wickets splendidly. TOWN AGAIN. Town's second innings was commenced by Dustin and dv Chateau at 6.37 p.m., and the batsmen looked for runs right away. Hatch and' Massey were, the bowlers, and the batsmen scored freely from Hatch. In ten minutes the pair put on 23 runs, mainly at the expense of Hatch. Freeman's slows were then used in an endeavour to check the batsmen, and one of them, through an appeal for lbwj had the desired result. The decision went against Dnstin, as in the first innings, and 1 a good batsman was out of the "way- for 1 the Country team. 29—1—33. j Ell and dv Chateau played out time and advanced the score to 38 for one wicket. Details:— COUNTRY, First Inning:;. Cameron, c Tindill, b Crook - G Massey, b Blundell 0 O'Brien, b Blundell ..24 Ongley, run out 4 Lambert, run out S Evans, st James, b Griffiths 2 Reaney, not out ...:... 20 Haywai'd, b Griffiths 8 Chadwiek, b O'Neill .. ~.......; 0 Hatch, c Tindill, b Crook 14 Freeman, b 0'Nei11j,................. 7 Extras 2 Total ? 101 Fall of wickets: One for 12, two for 12, three for 33, four for 40, five for 49, six for 50, seven for 04, eight for 7j, nine for 94, ten for 101.

First innings. '.......V* 104 Second Innings. f Dustin, Ibw, b Freeman 13 dv Chateau, not out 19 Ell, not out , 2 Extras i Total for one wicket 3S