CAREFUL BATTING

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 1, 2 January 1937, Page 7

CAREFUL BATTING

CHRISTCHURCH GAME

WELLINGTON UNIMPRESSIVE ;Bv Telegraph—Press Associate ) CHRISTCHURCH, January 1. Wellington, batting with extreme care on a rain-soaked wicket, made an unimpressive opening in its, Plunket Shield match with Canterbury, losing four wickets for 91* runs. The start of the match was delayed till 3.30 p.m. Heavy drizzling ram fell during the whole night, and the wicket and the ground were not considered fit for play until late in the afternoon- Wellington won the toss and batted. The teams were:Canterbury: Cromb (captain), Bellamy, Graham, Hadlee, Jackman, Kerr, Mulcock, O'Brien, Oliver, Page, Roberts, .Cobden (twelfth man). Wellington: Lamason (captain). Tindill, Moloney, McLeod, Gallichan, Parsloe, Blanlford, Tricklebank, Griffiths, Blundell. Ell, Ward (twelfth man).

FIVE CATCHES MISSED. Only weak fielding by Canterbury allowed Wellington to reach its score of 91 runs for four wickets. Five catches were missed during the afternoon, all by fieldsmen generally accounted among the best in the province. Hadlee dropped two of them. There was some excuse for the first, because he was looking into the sun. On the second occasion no such excuse could be offered. Another apparently easy catch was missed by Oliver at square-leg. Jackman, the wicketkeeper, had to run all over the field to catch bad returns lo the wicket. The scoring was slow, partly because of the sticky wicket and slow outfield. None of the right-handers who faced him were comfortable when playing Mulcock, and his leg trap brought him two wickets. Roberts was Canterbury's best bowler.Tindill, the left-hander, played Mulcock without difficulty, but was bothered by Roberts. This also applied to the other left-hander, McLeod, who is unbeaten at 28, 20 being in singles. Moloney was the first victim to Mulcock's leg trap, but O'Brien juggled with the ball before he held it. Moloney was never impressive. Ell had a charmed life. He appeared to be puzzled by balls ,which he should have played with comparative ease. The Canterbury bowling was good, but hardly as accurate and as difficult as the scoring would indicate. Roberts was never easy. Mulcock sent down many good balls, but too many were too far outside the leg stump. Graham, though accurate, failed to get a wicket. Bellamy, the slow lefthander, was given only three overs. Cromb had everything to suit him and was unlucky not to get more wickets. He used slow lobs, frequently varying his pace and flight cleverly. Scores:— WELLINGTON. (First Innings.) Moloney, c O'Brien, b Mulcock .. 2 Tindill. c Jackman, b Roberts ... 27 McLeod, not out 28 Ell, c Roberts, b Mulcock ...... 20 Blandford, c Jackman, b Cromb 4 Lamason, not out 1 Extras 9 Total for four wickets 91 1 BOWLING ANALYSIS. | O. M. R. W. Roberts 18 5 21 1 Mulcock 21 10 16 2 Graham 7 4 70 Bellamy 4 0 13 0 1 Cromb 12 4 25 1 ' Fall of wickets.—One for 13, two for 45, three for 80, four for 89.