The Cricket Field

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 18, 22 January 1938, Page 23

The Cricket Field

THE SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP

KILBIRNIE IN A STRONG POSITION

Up till last Saturday there were two teams which had a reason- ■ able chance of winning the Wellington Cricket Association's senior . —Kilbirnie and Institute —but after the latter team's • 'defeat by the former on Saturday the result is almost a foregone conclusion. Unless something out of the ordinary arises, there appears to be nothing that will stop Kilbirnie from going ahead to > " -^ the championship by a fairly large margin of points.

Kilbirnie have a strong side, with any amount of young blood, and in oil dej<artments of the game—batting, bowling, and fielding—they are reli-

able. Although they have been with- , out the services of one of their star •bowlers, J. Ashenden, in recent weeks, they have been able to call on some of the older players to take the coifs place for the time being. With Wilson, Rice, Bain, and Ashenden, who have all represented Wellington in Plunket Shield matches, they have four colts who for many years should be forces to be reckoned with both in club and interproyincial games. Institute have done remarkably'well

this season, and though it was^ anti- * cipated that they would find Kilbirnie too solid a " proposition, there were times in Institute's first innings when it looked as if they might extend their opponents. Particularly 'was this so When Sc.ott, was hammering the bowling to-ail parts of the paddock, and Lang was as solid as a rock at the other end."'' "With the ■ ultimate dismissal of both all chance was lost. Although Institute were very unfortunate in losing the services—and valuable services at that—of Roy Sheffield, the ex-Essex player, they built .up a solid' team that the majority .of -the. teams have so" far found too • strong. . One player who appears to be worthy of inclusion permanently in the senior eleven is the ex-Nelson representative A. De- Feu." De Feu, .in scoring 44 against Kilbirnie, was'batting,solidly, with occasional pretty shots, until he commenced flirting with the fast off balls, and ' paid the penalty of being caught in-slips. Although he1 did not bowl a great deal in the match, he can bowl a good spinner on occasions. He is an excellent field. In following on Institute hit the bowling merrily, and Crook, Lang, and; Bilby were all among the runs. It was a bright finish to a match that just, failed to come up to expectations. '