WELLINGTON OPENS

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 154, 28 December 1936, Page 3

WELLINGTON OPENS

249 FOR THE INNINGS

WICKET'S EARLY BENEFIT

Although several wickets fell 100 cheaply, Wellington found the dullness of the wicket early in the first day's play of the Plunket Shield game with Otago a definite advantage—a benefit offset a little by the slowness of the outfield—and after numerous vicissitudes the innings closed for 249, which, considering the difficulties of a dried and damaged pitch that Otago had to face, was a handy enough total. A stubborn stand for the third wicket compensated somewhat for Otago's disastrous opening, but there was no mistaking the breaking of the partnership, for the fourth man went without alteration in the score, Wellington's score was not large, but it owed its escape from mediocrity to the confident and forceful innings of D. A. R. Moloney, who, with rangy shots on both sides of the wicket, collared the bowling, and went to within nine of his century. No fewer than seven bowlers were tried by Otago, and while no average was outstanding there were one or two examples of unflagging consistency, particularly that of J. A. Dunning, captain, who bowled thirty-two overs at an average of two runs each. As the game progressed it was obvious that the wicket was turning towards assisting the bowlers, especially the spin men. Wellington had some quiet patches in the scoring, but all stages of the batting j were even; and the final total was] scored in only a few minutes more than even time. Tindill and Moloney, the openers, ran up the useful tally of 67 before being separated, and it was then left to Moloney to brace the innings. Tindill was stylish and enterprising. He favoured the runs that came with the minimum of energy, snipping the ball gracefully through the slips, and excelling in glides to the leg. Even when he did go for a hit he kept his drives down. Running between the wickets was snappy, and both men showed clever anticipation. Had not the fielding, of Otago been so keen 'in stopping weighty drives for singles and pairs, the 300 mark would have been far closer. Moloney was the more restrained when he was partnered by Tindill, but later on he led the way with vigorous batting. Most of his drives were off the back foot, but his eye was so good that he made light of the heavy turf. hi the 70's and 80's he opened out, often moving1 right up the wicket to collect' the balls on the full. It was because he moved up too far that he did not get the shot that put him out over the fence. Scandrett took a good batch off Grove's. McLeod, who contributed a patient 23, adopted the right tactics. Moloney was in hitting mood, and McLeod contented himself with neatly-placed pairs and'singles, giving his partner full rein. He took no liberties,'' arid placed his shots carefully. With Moloney ; he put on 55 for the second wicket. Ward settled down quickly with,minor mistakes, and he appeared V) be in command of the bowling when ne misjudged a tricky one from Groves and ■ failed to recover. Mills, who stumped him, had been waiting for the chance. : Both Gallichan (an uncertain starter) and. Lamason went easily, but Parsloe was heading, for 20 when he was skittled. Parsloe connected crisply on the leg, : but his cross bat in going for big hits was ; his-downfall. Blandford, Trjcklebank, and Blundell gave a dozen each, Blundell. having a short but satisfy ing. repast off Groves, and pleasing the crowd immensely. MANY CHANGES. The wisdom of Otago's frequent change of .bowling was appreciated later in' the day, when those men who had been spelled came back freshened to make the most of the drier wicket. Dunning took only two wickets, but his ' length and accuracy—there were pardonable lapses, of course—kept the runs down. He deeds to get only two wickets in. Wellington's second knock to reach a hundred wickets for Plunket Shield matches. Badcock set leg-traps when bowling to Moloney in his fjrst ten 'overs, which were bowled for''l2 runs, but it was. not very often .that Moloney faced h.ini. He. flighted 'the ball well, and was dangerous when the wicket had lost its dampuess; but his only, satisfaction .was keeping the batsmen tame. Five of his eighteen overs were maidens, and 23 were scored off him.'. Groves was rather expensive, but in the afternoon his breaking and nip improved, and- he got four good! wickets in quick time. Moloney, Ward, | Gallichan, and Parsloe were his vie- 1 tims, any of the last three being potential, high scorers. Silver's deceptivelyaltered pace was a very potent source of danger, for he, changed his speed without damaging his length. His 'bag" was three for 34 in 15.1 overs. SOUND FIELDING. There were a few instances of poor fielding by Otago, but most of them j were due to the spin imparted to the ball by the batsmen. Many runs were saved by excellent handling, for the running of the batsmen was almost invariably snappy. Groves and Uttley were prominent in the semi-deep field, and all the fieldsmen were accurate in their returns to the wicket. - Badcock opened for Otago with his usual confidence. He took a liking to Parsloe, but the Kilbirnie fast-medium beat him to it with the first ball of his second over and disturbed Kerr's bails with the third ball, the two wickets i going for 10. Knight and Elmes then settled down to comfortable cricket Knight was hard on Blundell's balls outside the off-stump, and sometimes almost miraculously diverted straight balls into the slips; Elmes was also happy with shots behind the wicket; and both covered the ball 'when they went for a hit.

Parsloe was ■following through fast and his shorter ones often- kicked, but in the main his length was good. Blundell was steady in length and pace, but the batsmen were not. particularly uneasy about him. It was left to Gallichan to break the Knight-Elmes partnership with his slows, but Knight's was a careless stroke. Elmes hit four 4's in his 42, and Knight one in his 33. Gallichan took two wickets for 4 in four overs.

Details:— WELLINGTON. First Innings. Tindill, lbw, b Dunning 40 Moloney, c Scandrett, b Groves .. 91 McLeod, b Dunning 23 Ward, st Mills, b Groves 22 Gallichan, c Silver, b Groves 2 Lamason, lbw, b Elmes 5 Parsloe, b Groves 17 Blandford, b Silver 12 Tricklebank, not out - 12 Griffiths, b Silver 1 Blundell, c and b Silver 12 Extras (byes 7, leg-byes 2, noballs 2, wides t) 12 , Total 249 Fall of Wickets.—One for 67, two for 122, three for 179, four for 187, five for 187, six for 192, seven for 210, eight for 228, nine for 235, ten for 249. Bowling Analysis. O. M. R. W. Silver ■ ' 15.1 2 34 a Badcock 18 5 28 0 Dunning ....'..... 32 11 64 2 Elmes 12 3 35 1 Groves 20 0 G3 4 McGregor 4 3 3 0 Knight 1 0 5 0 Silver and Groves eacri t>owicd a noball, and McGregor a wide. OTAGO. First Innings. Badcock, b Parsloe 8 Knight, c Blundell, b Gallichan .. 33 Kerr, b Parsloe .'" 0 Elmes, c Moloney, b Gallichan .... 42 Dunning, not out 2 Mills,' not out 2 Extras (byes 3, no-balls 3) 6 ■■:■, , Total for four wickets .... 93 ■ Fall of wickets:—One for .10, two for 10, three for 88, four for 88. ' ' Bowling Analysis. O. M. K. W. Parsloe :...-...... '9 .3 32 2 Blundell 11 1 31 0 Tricklebank .... 3 0 5 0 Gallichan 4 3 4 2 Griffiths 4 0 15 0 Parsloe bowled three no-balls.