SOLID SCORING

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 2, 4 January 1937, Page 11

SOLID SCORING

CANTERBURY DECLARE WELLINGTON AGAIN (By Telegraph—Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, This Day. Canterbury continued their first innings against Wellington this morning with the score at 308 for two wickets. Hadlee (192) and Bellamy (22) were the not-out batsmen. The wicket was very fast and true. Hadlee added only two runs to his fine score before falling lbw to Parsloe. 321 —3 —194. Bellamy reached a sound 42 before losing his off-bail to Tricklebank. At noon the score was 350 for four (Kerr 15, Cromb 0).

Kerr and Bellamy lost their wickets to Parsloe in forcing the pace, and five were down for 353. Cromb and O'Brien then rattled on 69 runs in quick time before O'Brien was caught off Griffiths. 419—6—28. Roberts partnered Cromb. At lunch Canterbury were in a powerful position, with their score at 430 for six wickets (Cromb 41, Roberts 9). They then declared. At 2.30 p.m. Wellington in their second innings had made 20 for two wickets (Tindill 6, Parsloe 2, Moloney 10 not out, Ell 2 not out). Details: — WELLINGTON. First innings 183 CANTERBURY. v First Innings. Page, run out 83 Hadlee, lbw, b Parsloe 194 Oliver, b Parsloe 2 Bellamy, b Tricklebank 42 Kerr, c Griffiths, b Parsloe 16 Cromb, not out 41 O'Brien, c Lamason, b Griffiths .. 28 Roberts, not out 9 Extras 15 Total for six wickets 430

COMMENT ON PLAY

CANTERBURY ON TOP (Special to ihe "Evening Post.") CHRISTCHURCH, January 2. It was the irony of fate that McLeod, after steadfastly eschewing the slightest risk on Friday, should have had a dip at Mulcock so early the next morning. and moreover that in playing the shot he should have slashed across the ball instead of getting right on top of it. So Wellington lost a valuable wicket, and the loss was all the greater in that Mulcock's length and direction in his opening overs left a good deal to be desired. In one of these overs only two balls went to the leg side, where his trap was set, and

Lamason took full advantage of iho open country in front of him. Later on Mulcock improved in length and direction, and he was always dangerous. Gallichan showed a greater ability to deal with him than any other batsman—this because he watched the ball more carefully and when he did make a shot on the on side he had some idea of where it was going. If it was through the leg trap it was along the ground, but if it could oe placed clear of them the Manawatu man had no hesitation in lifting it. Lamason, on the other hand, appeared to be swinging at the leg theory entirely on trust, with the result thdt more often than not he failed to connect and its difficulties, if such there were, were intensified. Gallichan was playing a sound yet forceful innings and there appeared to be some prospect of retrieving the situation when he made his first mistake. He went out. to turn Mulcock to leg but missed, and although he got back quickly Jackman was quicker and brought off a fine piece of stumping on the leg side. At the other end Roberts had been bowling steadily and well, keeping all the batsmen playing him. He kept a fine length, turned them both ways, and now and again made one run away. ROBERTS BEST BOWLER. Although not the most effective certainly he was the best bowler on the Canterbury side. Mulcock is quite young, but is strongly built and he seemed quite fresh when Cromb relieved him, but the change was quite successful. Cromb bowled slower than on the previous day, perfectly harmless stuff, but it was not long before he turned one in amazingly from the off and bowled Lamason. It was not one of the Wellington captain's best efforts. He batted 110 minutes for his 29, and while to anyone accustomed to his usual vigorous methods it was intriguing to hear an old gentleman in the stand refer to him as a slow-scoring batsman, it must be admitted that there was some justification for it on the day. As has already been suggested his attempts to deal with Mulcock were ra-ther inadequate, and, making all due allowance for the conditions and for the fact that things are often very different in the middle from what they appear to be from the bank, one cannot help feeling tint Lamason rather overdid his defensive tactics. Parsloe batted very steadily until be lost Lamason and Tricklebank, and then, quite wisely, he began to hit at almost everything. Ultimately he lifted one which Graham had dropped a little

short, but the measure of success which attended his assuming the defensive was an indication that it might well have been taken earlier. Canterbury were definitely on top throughout the innings and they were well handled by Cromb, who placed his field well, handled his bowling well, and personally as fieldsman and bowler did good work throughout. Mulcock is not an easy bowler to take by a wicketkeeper who has not had much experience of him, but Jackman is gaining this experience and his performance improved accordingly. On his own ground, and with clean white sight screens, he gave a much better display than has been seen from him in Wellington. AN OBJECT LESSON. There was quite a different story to tell when Page and Hadlee opened for Canterbury. The batsmen took charge right from the jump, and not only did they send the score along rapidly by clean, well-executed strokes all round the wicket, but they exhibited a supreme disregard for the presence of the Wellington team in the field, and ran short runs with abandon and impunity. They appeared to have a splendid understanding and their work between the wickets would have been a great object lesson to many Welling-

ton seniors had they seen it. With Page in particular the finish of the stroke and the start of the run coincided, and with the man at the other end backing up as soon as the ball left the bowler's hand, daring singles were taken with ease. The wicket had rolled out into an extremely easy one on which the ball never rose more than stump high until after 5.30, and with the wicket giving them no assistance, all the Wellington bowlers could do was to plug away. None of them ever became loose, except perhaps Griffiths, who seems unable to strike a length at the moment. This is not for want of trying. He and Blundell came down a day ahead of the others in the hope of getting some practice, although such as they had was spoilt by rain, and on the first afternoon, while Wellington were batting, they were to be seen on a corner of the bottom ground having some more. A pity such keenness did not have a better reward. The further he went the more aggressive did Hadlee become, and he was 140 when Page was 80. Relief came to Wellington at 5 o'clock when, with the total 235, the pitcher went once too often to the well —they went for one of their cheeky singles and hesitated, and Page was run out. He had batted for five minutes before lunch, and, with fifteen minutes tea adjournment, from 1.45 till 5 o'clock. At 2.30 Blundell got one past him; at 3.30 Lamason beat him; and just before he was out Parsloe, with the new ball, sent down one which he lost sight of, but apart from this he was never at fault, and he maintained his reputation as one of New Zealand's soundest batsmen. \

HADLEE RARELY BEATEN. Hadlee started at the same time as Page, and was 192 at 6 o'clock. Only four times did a ball beat him —at 3 o'clock when one from Tricklebank went over the top of his stumps, five minutes later when Parsloe got one past him, and in the last quarter of an hour when Tricklebank got a couple through. He played aggressively ali round the wicket and the only chance he gave, and that a very hard one, was at 120, when he hit a hard one to midoil.

The Wellington fielding stood up fairly well, although there were a few instances of mislielding and a few balls let through that might have been stopped. Page and Hadlee, however, appeared to be able to find gaps in the field as the Wellington batsmen were unable to do.

Lamason made the best use of his bowlers, but had the misfortune to strike two class batsmen at the top of their form. Blandford kept wickets very well indeed. No chances came his way, but he took the ball cleanly behind the wicket and from the field, and only five balls got past him for byes.

HAWKE CUP MATCH

(By Telegraph--I'rmi Association.) PALMERSTON N., This Day. The Hawke Cup match between Manawatu (holders) and Southland was continued under excellent conditions today. The not-out Manawatu batsmen, Pollitt (13) and Pritchard (3) batted splendidly, and after an hour's play they had advanced the total to 168 for eight wickets (Pollilt 31, Pritchard 36). The Southland fir'it innings total was 62. Manawatu's first innings closed for 235 runs, the brilliant ninth-wicket partners, Pollitt and Pritchard, adding 116. Pollitt went at 50 and Pritchard was not out at 73. Southland opened their second innings just before the luncheon adjournment being in arrears 173 runs. The . first ball secured a wicket, McGowan 'going out to a catch by Pollitt off Pritchard. Southern joined Scandrett and at the adjournment the score was 5 runs for one wicket (Southern 3, Scandrett 2).