NOTES

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 150, 21 December 1940, Page 15

NOTES

J. Lamason won the toss against Kilbirnie and, gambling oh the state of the wicket, he decided to lead Wellington College Old Boys into the field. It soon became obvious that he had made an error of judgment. The Old Boys' opening bowlers and slow bowler, G. Whyte, could make little impression on the confident and free-scoring Kilbirnie batsmen. Lamason joined in the attack, and for his clever variation of flight and spin he was respected. After a few overs he had accounted for Wrigley and Russ, hvft Wilson and Mooney then regained the upper hand. Lamason started his second bowling period after the tea adjournment, and from then on the Kilbirnie prospects of a really big total faded away. Despite punishment by Wilson, the Old Boys' captain took six wickets for 63, and this fine effort was mainly responsible for Kilbirnie's score being kept below the 300 mark.

For Kilbirnie fine support to Wrigley in opening was given by Lubransky, the first wicket yielding just on a hundred runs. Old Boys then, gained two fairly cheap wickets to bring D. S. Wilson, the Kilbirnie captain; on to the scene. Wilson quickly settled down to business, and the first ball he received was beautifully cut to the fence. His eye was right in and anything short of length was heavily punished. After scoring a number of runs with crisp and well-timed square cuts, Wilson opened out. A ball from J. Lamason was hit clean out of the ground. The leather safely cleared traffic in Kent Terrace. Shortly afterwards the Old Boys' captain was again hit for 6. There is no doubt that Wilson is a cricket leading light.

The Institute batting against Hutt was extremely slow at the start of the innings. Considering the excellence of the pitch the deliberate methods seemed .'mistaken tactics. ' However, the final total of 278 was a handy one to have on the board.

Bezzant, with 59 (in which there were seven 4's), took pride of place for Institute, and his display, if slow, contained some excellent strokes on the off. McCarthy again impressed with a brisk display for 42. He is not afraid to put the bat against the ball as if he meant it. It is to be hoped that no well-meaning person will try to curb McCarthy's driving powers.

Bartlett's 42 for Institute rather surprised some spectators,. but this should not have been the case, as this player scores quite regularly for his team.

The Hutt bowlers were not aided much by their fielding supports. There was a good deal of ragged picking up, and a couple of chances were badly misjudged.

P. D. Wilson must have been wellpleased with his team's performance against Karori. Captaining University in Sheffield's absence, he inspired confidence by his own scoring efforts. The total of 250 runs was well in advance, of previous performances by his side this season.

Karori possesses a varying attack, marked by reasonable soundness. Dickinson leads the pace bowlers, and Mullan tests the batsmen's ability to handle spin bowling. Searell is still a force to be reckoned with, and is very successful where stubborn partnerships need breaking. . ■

Coupland and Standidge are building up a reputation as an opening pair of batsmen. Almost invariably they give Karori a promising start. Their efforts should stimulate the later batsmen and lead to far better results than are achieved.

A surprising thing about the University team is its failure to rise to capabilities. The side possesses no mean batting talent, and, despite numerous inroads, the bowling can set up a reasonably solid and varjdng attack. The side should be ab.le to show much better score sheets than those presented to date this season.