PLAY AND PLAYERS

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 145, 16 December 1933, Page 24

PLAY AND PLAYERS

SENIOR GRADE NOTES

Aim lias struck a very good patch ■with the bat this season, and Ms consistency1 brought him in another 63 last Saturday. It was a knock worthy of a captain, and it helped materially towards placing Hutt in a better position at stumps than had appeared likely. It is rarely that E. McLeod, a fine all-rounder, does much with the bat until tho second half of the season. Last Saturday, however, this capable left-hander struck form, and played a valuable innings for Hutt. He is still a force to be reckoned with so far as big cricket is concerned, especially as, apart from his batting capabilities, he is ono of the best fieldsmen in Wellington and is still a useful slow bowler.' Fowler, formerly of Wellington, can use. the bat very forcefully, and his aggressiveness supplied a flourishing touch near the end of Hutt's innings. When Parsloe is on the job properly his fast deliveries can do a lot of damage. Conditions suited him last Saturday, and he secured a rare bag of wickets, going to chow that when he is missing Wellington College Old Boys tre without a very valuable part of their equipment. Old Boy* plodded along with the bat against Hutt, some of the players at tunes showing a desire to make matters brisk. It was in chasing the leather, however, that some of them ran tatO-trouble. At stumps they were havjag•% *«th«r.fcaid, struggle, five wicketa

having fallen and over 100 runs still being required to pass Hutt's score. J. E. Lamason is making a habit of realising (is. Ho landed a beauty with his first scoring hit last Saturday. His brother, too, made ono big hit for 6. Dean, one of University's most promising young cricketers, is leaving next Friday with his . father (Mr. S. S. Dean) on a visit to Australia. He will be away for tho best part of a month. Some excellent fielding was seen in some of the senior matches last Saturday: VIGOROUS HITTING. Petone's wicket now appears to be ever so much better than previously, but there is still tho point in favour of tho bowlers that tho balls come with different paces from tho wicket. Petone's vigorous batsmen got on top of tho Midland bowling when. Botherham set the example, and gave Midland a hard task for the second day's play, especially as one valuable wicket (Dustin's) was lost before any runs were scored. Botherham is in form this year. He followed up a well-compiled 43 in an earlier match with 71 against Midland. He hit three magnificent "sixers" that went high in the air and landed well out of tho ground. Tremendous force was put into his strokes. A chanceless display terminated when the paco of a ball from O'Neill was misjudged. "You've got to take your hat off to Stan," said a well-known ex-Petone cricketer as the Petono captain was hitting boundaries in making 67. Although he gave one or two chances Brice batted excellently, and his score included two 6's and ten 4's. Brice is still capable of making runs, his best scores this season being 20, 20 not out, and 67. Cox, if he keeps up his form, should join the ranks of Petone's big hitters this season. He opened quietly, but subsequently made the ball whizz round the ground, and on two occasions clear of the boundary. His innings ended when Dustin took a magnificent low catch. Eiddolls, in scoring 40, passed Cox's score by two, and lie made his runs in steady fashion. A word of praise is due to Midland for their excellent fielding. They spent a tiring day in the field, and the outfield was exceptionally fast, but they never let up, and thus saved many runs. Lawton and Dustin were particularly good. Clark again gave Tindill a spell behind the wickets, and did very well, only four extras,- and one of them a leg-bye, being included in Petone's score of 320. OTHER ITEMS. Wellington's bowling figures against University make startling reading. Synies bowled only four overs, of which one was a maiden, but took five wickets for 11 runs. Morgan was nearly as successful. He took four for 9 in seven overs, including three maidens. Cousins took one wicket for 15 runs in six overs, and Blundell, who did more bowling than anybody else, took no wickets, but was exceedingly inexpensive. He bowled eight overs, half of which were maidens, and only six runs wore hit off him. . Parsloe's\ngnres for Old Boys against Hutt were: Overs 20.3, maiden 1, runs 80, wickets 7. Whatever the requirement, B. A. Whyte, the Wellington' captain, can usually be relied upon to do something worth while towards it. He played another fine, forcing innings in making 57 runs against University. It was a case of hurry up, and Whyte hit hard and often. Ell was hot on the trail last Saturday, and gathered in runs (59) in fine style. He is an exceedingly pretty young batsman to watch, and with style ho has plenty of punch. One per-fectly-timed stroke sent the ball out of the playing area. ' McLean's stand in the KilbirnieInstitute match at Kilbirnie last Saturday was a great assistance to his side, and one without which Institute would have had a poor account. McLean was slow in scoring, but considering the ticklish position in which his side was his care was justified. This fine young batsman has many potentialities, and he should continue in the high-scoring path. . 02 sixteen overs, which included two maidens, Griffiths took fivo wickets for 50 runs—one of his best performances. He frequently had the batfsmen guessing with his heavily-spun breaks, and succeeded in maintaining a good length throughout. Aahenden, who bowled 19 overs, including five maidens, took three wickets for 37 runs, but did not keep on to the wicket as well as he might have done. Crook did not meet with much success in the bowling department, but made up for his deficiency here by bright batting in tho opening stages of the Kilbirnie innings. He was 44 not out at stumps.. With one wicket down for 104 runs, Kilbirnie had the game well in hand after the first day's batting, and should have met with little difficulty in winning the match. Calvert might have improved matters for Institute had there been someone to keep going with him.