WPMEN'S CRICKET

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 30, 5 February 1935, Page 11

WPMEN'S CRICKET

A, RED-LETTER DAY

MATCH WITH ENGLAND

WELLINGTON BAT FIRST

New ground was broken, in a metaphorical sense, at the Basin Reserve today when the Wellington public had their first opportunity of seeing an overseas women's cricket team in action. The event, which may be regarded as outstanding in the year's' sporting calendar, aroused considerable interest, largely because of the fine reputations as sportswomen and cricketers which the English touring team had established in the course of their Australian tour.' There were probably some, among the crowd at the ground whose presence was due more to the-prospects of witnessing a novelty than to the opportunity of seeing some cricket of high standard, but Wellington was soon to learn, as did' Australia, Auckland, and Wanganuithat,Miss ); Betty Archdale and the players <unider her'captaincy have attained'a high degree of ability in what has long been regarded as a game for men.- ~■..:.. .■..■-..,... . . '.'..," ■.'-'■■

Those who had followed the performances of the tourists recognised that the .local girls, most of whom are Having either : their first or second season's cricket, were faced with ■ a difficult proposition, similar to that, which J.. Lilly white's All-England eleven in the 1870's presented to the New Zealand provincial sides. However, whereas the provinces in those days were presented by twelve or fifteen men against the Englishmen, the Wellington Vwomen: placed their trust in a team, of eleven, and the will to do well, it not to win. ,;;

Conditions could scarcely have been better for the occasion, bright sunshine, being .tempered by a northerly breeze. The wicket and outfield were fast. <■;■::■■ '■ ' ■•-■■ ■ ■';:■'.:■;■-',. \ - ■■ -■■-•- ■• '

• England started as badly as Wellington .in their first ■ innings, ■ but Misses Child and 'Morgan effectively prevented arot setting in; The Welling^ ton attack .was weakened by the fact that two of the .leading bowlers, Miss Pickering and Mrs. Simons, were suffering from sore feet.. .Both bowled, despite the handicap. , The attendance" this afternoon was in, the vicinity of three thousand. ~ ~

THE TEAMS

The teams were:—

, England.^-Misses E. Archdale (captain), J. Partridge, M. Maclagan, B. Green, G. Morgan, C. Valentine; M. Child, M. Richards. M. Taylor, D. Turner; and M.: Burietson, ■ with M. Hide as twelfth player. . • .

Wellington.—Misses I. Pickering (captain), D. Hatcher, J.'Mack, H. Buck, M. Parkhouse, A.. Ell, P. Brogan, N. Sheridan, J. Stenberg, and Mrs. D. Simons. BOWLING ATTACKED. Wellington's performance at .the ■wickets was deserving of" high praise, if only for the resolute manner in which the visiting bowlers were dealt with. MissH. Buck, for instance, gave. MissN. Maclagan,,a leg-break bowler with a big reputation, the unusual experience of .being hit for two fours in as many overs. Miss 'Maclagah had hitherto been treated -with exaggerated respect, during the tour, but she probably found, as other bowlers .of her type have found before her, that t heßa j sin.ggser r rley l e wickgt, d.oes.'not give a great.deal ot assistance" to' a spin bowler. Miss M. Parkhouse followed Miss Buck's example by quickly r.urtning into double figures, and other batswomen also hit,out freely, though not always with the. best of success. A weakness which. was early apparent in Wellington's ■ r vrformanee was in regard to running between the wickets, and a number of runs were lost in this way. Several times, also, the batsmen had narrow escapes from being run put. / . ; A. BAD BEGINNING: Miss Pickering, Wellington's captain, started well by winning the toss from Miss Archdale and gave her team first use of the wicket. The seats in front of the grandstand "were packed with spectators at the commencement and the attendance steadily increased during the day. The crowd was impartial in its favours, frequently applauding the fielding of the visitors as well as scoring strokes.by the local players. Wellington made a bad start, Miss Hatcher being clean bowled by the first ball sent, down by Miss Maclagan o—l—o. Miss H.Buck filled the vacancy and immediately earned a round of applause by swinging the first ball she received to the leg boundary. Another good stroke gave her a single and she moved further ahead by placing Miss M. Taylor, a fast bowler who was brought on at the northern end, through the slips. ..This brought Miss Mack against the bowling and the first ball she received from Miss Taylor clipped off her bails. 6—2—o. . :,:'■ MISS BUCK OUT. '"' '-. Miss •Pickering joined Miss Buck and 1 started in her usual solid fashion while her partner continued to use an enterprising bat; Miss Buck, however, was inclined to miss-hit some of Miss Maclagan's deliveries, -and eventually she skied ont behind the wickets where Miss Partridge made the catch. .Miss Buck's dismissal-was a severe blow to Wellington, as she.had been facing the bowling with complete confidence and employing some forceful "strokes. In the course: of her winnings of 13 minutes she twice sent the ball to the ropes at square leg. 16—3—13 Miss J. Holmes was the incoming batsman and she and Miss Pickering carried the total to 20 for 28 minutes' batting. Of these runs 16 had been hit off Miss Maclagan, which was ex-j ceptlonally severe punishment for her. Not much further advance was made, however, before another wicket fell. After batting nearly half an hour Miss Pickering touched one of the fast bowler's deliveries and was well-taken in the slips by Miss Partridge. 22—4—6. Miss Parkhouse followed and started with some scoring shots, including a clinking cover drive for four. The score by this time was past 30 and the innings had been in progress about -45 minutes. Both batswomen wera shaping well but another setback occurred when Miss Turner got a-ball past Miss Parkhouse's bat. The outgoing batswoman had shaped promisingly for 15 minutes and her score would have been larger had every run that was offering been taken. 33—5—10. . MORE WICKETS FALL. Miss A. Ell opened aggressively, bringing her favourite leg stroke into play, but when Miss Partridge, a phenomenally slow bowler, was introduced to the attack, she soon lifted a ball which was caught at mid-off 55— 6—7. Failure to ground her bat resulted in Miss Brogan being run out before another ran had been scored, and, at 12.10 p.m., the score was 55 for seven wickets. The third wicket to fall while the score was in the 50's was that of Miss Sheridan, who was clean bowled after scoring a single. 57—8—1. Sixty runs were scored in 75 minutes. This was the signal for drinks to be brought out, and the refreshments proved fatal to Miss Holmes, ■who became Miss Taylor's fourth victim. She had batted very well for 66 mingling aggression with de-

fence, and scoring with well-placed and forceful strokes. She hit one 4 and three 2's, the remainder of her runs coming in singles. 60—9—18. The end of the innings was not long delayed, Mrs. Simons missing one of Miss Partridge's lobs.

As had been anticipated, the visitors' attack proved capable of disposing of Wellington cheaply. There was plenty of variety of the bowling, which was accurate in length and direction. Miss Taylor, a fastish bowler with exact length, caused Wellington a lot of trouble. She bo.wled 12 overs, nine of which were maidens, for four wickets, at a. total cost of 6 runs. Miss Maclagan did not cause a great deal of concern, but the tail-end batswomen showed that they had little idea of how to cope with Miss Partridge, who tossed a perfectly . straight and exceedingly slow ball high into the air. The fielding of the English girls was good, but

not without its mistakes.

OUT FIRST BALL!

The opening of England's innings, which took place at 12.38 p.m., was sensational, a wicket falling first ball for the second time in the match. Misses Maclagan arid Child were sent out to open the innings, the former taking first strike to Miss Ell, who bowled with the assistance of the wind. The first ball was a beautiful delivery, and when Miss ■ Maclagan missed it the bails were!,sent: flying; 0-^-I—o.

Miss J,, Partridge then came out, but another excellent ball from Miss Ell soon brought her innings to a close, the crowd cheering . the Wellington girl's success. .: Two wickets were down for eight runs, and Miss Ell had taken both of them at a cost of one run. Misses Child and-Morgan ' carried on sedately until the luncheon adjournment at 1 o'clock, when the score was .11 for two wickets. ; , PLAY AFTER LUNCH. Misses Ell and .Brogan ~ were again the bowlers When Misses Child arid Morgan continued innings after the luncheon adjournment. Both batswomen delighted the spectators with their forceful hitting of anything that was at all looSei Miss Child, in particular, laying the wood on heavily at times. She drove Miss Ell to long-off for 4 arid ..dispatched her to fine leg for another boundary. Miss Morgan also "kept her .score moving, a shot down the gulljr giving' her 3, arid a perfect; square cut sending the ball •to the: ropes. , The total reached 40 in even time,; Miss Child having,scored 20 in the same period.: ; The Wellington girlsrwere' fielding very smartly,. Miss Holmes, at coyer point, saving many runs.. ;!•,, 7 .■■,'.:.■ : !•. .-.•.

•With the score at 44 the first bowling change was made, Mrs. D! Simons taking over from Miss Ell, who had sent down ten : overs,''including one maiden, for'two'Wickets at a cost of 25 runs. . The' b'atswoKieri welcomed the change by.'; collecting .10- runs off the over—a 4 and,tyro 2's. ,■ A change was also made at the "other; end; Miss Holmes relieving Mis's Brogan, who had bowledv.ten.overs,-half of which were maidens* : ijjpr 15 runs. ,-. Miss Holmes should have had a wicket off her,; second1 delivery,I "':,, Miss Morgan being dropped in the slips; ■ In her second over Miss Child escaped being stumped. : \

At ,2.30 p.rh: England's score was 68 for two" wickets (Miss Morgan 37, Miss Child 25,"extras 4). . > ■ , ■•

MORE CHANCES MISSED.

In her fourth over Miss Holmes had the third chance missed on her bowling, Miss Morgan being dropped at fine leg. i Shortly afterwards she had a chance of running Miss Childs out, but dropped the ball: . -■•..

The partnership was eventually broken, :, when -Miss Sheridan -was brought on to bowl ■at the > southern end.- -The-first iball-of- the .over was square" cut' By' Miss "Morgan into1 the hands of ■ Mrs.: Simons at point. She had batted; an; hour for; her score of 47, which included three 4's. The pair had added 80 runs, but should have been separated sooner. ; V

Details:-—

■'.-.•■ WELLINGTON. ; First, Innings, i D. Hatcher, b Maclagan ........ 0 J. Mack, b Taylor ~.;....;...., 0 H.; Buck, c Partridge, b: Maclagan 13 I. Pickering, c. Partridge, b Taylor: 6 J. Holmes, b Turner 18 M. Parkhouse, b Turner .....r. 10 A. Ell, c Child', b Partridge .7 P.-Brogan, run out ' ....,..:.... 0 N. Sheridan, b Taylor. '...,..;...'.' 1 J. Stenberg, not out ......:... 2 D. Simons, b Partridge ...... 0 Extras: Byes 2, leg-byes 2 ..'...'■' 4 Total /■...!.„.:.....;..Vv... 61 v Fall of Wickets.—One for 0, two for 6, three for 16, four for 22, five for 38/ six for 55, seven* for 55, eight for 57, nine for 60, ten for 61. \ ; BOWLING ANALYSIS. O: M. R. W. M. Maclagan- .. 14' .5, ■21 :2 M. Taylor. ..... 12 8. '6 4 D. Turner ...... 5 0 24 1 J. Partridge ;..... 3.4 0 6 2 .;."■• v : ENGLAND.-. " . , First Innings. M,' Maclagan,. b Ell ............ 0 M. Child, not but ................ 38 J. Partridge, b Ell .....,....'... a G. Morgan, c Simons, b Sheridan 47 D. Turner, not out ............... 0 ,Extras ; p " 6 Total/for three> wickets ..... 93