EVENTFUL SERIES

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 108, 2 November 1940, Page 13

EVENTFUL SERIES

SENIOR GRADE MATCHES

Those teams which batted first in this season's senior competition all came off second best. It was largely because of conditions on the opening day coupled with the fact that there had been practically no practice. In two cases good recoveries were made, but Midland and Wellington went from bad to worse. The collapse of Midland for 36 runs in the second innings was the most amazing happening in a series which had many peculiar features. Richardson and Browne, for Wellington College Old Boys, went through the side in a surprisingly easy manner. Another notable event in the series was the ninth-wicket stand by Gillies and Muir for Hutt against Wellington. It made so great a difference that Hutt, just behind when the day's play fcfegan, won by an innings. Although University did a good deal better in their second innings, Kilbirnie were more than a match for the students. So it was that Kilbirnie, Hutt, and Wellington College Old Boys each received maximum points fos the opening of their championship accounts

Karori made an excellent showing in their second innings against Institute. Standidge paved the way wi|,h an excellent innings of 27 runs, but the true merit of his "display was the manner in which he attacked the bowling from the start. His confident batting took the edge off the attack and later Burnett and Picot profited. Picot, in particular, batted attractively and fiercely punished anything loose.

I An outstanding feature of the Karori- • Institute match was the excellent ground fielding by both teams. In fact it could hardly be faulted. The ! gathering of Jae ball was very clean and returns to the 'keeper fast and accurate. Beck (Karori) was particularly smart and he often cohered a lot of ground in. cutting off boundaries. ,The catching, however, was not quite Iso good.

Dickinson made his first appearance for Karori, and his performance was closely watched by quite a large gathering. When he went in to bat ail lbw decision quickly ended his innings | and consequently he had little chance I of indulging in some lusty hitting. Institute batted late in the afternoon and Dickinson opened the Karori attack, but it was not his lucky day. Although he was a bit erratic at the start, he mustered up some great pace, but two or three hot chances went begging and he had to be content with one wicket gained at a cost of 39 runs.

Dalton once again helped Institute to a good start Facing Dickinson, he was seldom in trouble and quite often he got the fast bowler away with excellent strokes that gave the fieldsmen little chance of cutting off the boun-