CRICKET

Greymouth Evening Star, 10 December 1945, Page 3

CRICKET

CANTERBURY v. COAST. CHRISTCHURCH, December 9. The wicket was very wet when the one-day match between Canterbury and West Coast was started on Saturday morning. The faster bowlers could do little with the ball in the early stages, and although they did considerable damage to the soft wicket, they did not perturb the batsmen unduly. The slow bowlers, however, found conditions to their liking, and it was the spin bowling of N. V. Burtt which caused the West Coast players, who batted first, most trouble. The West Coast batsmen showed a lamentable lack of enterprise against bowling which was far from unplayable. Burtt bowled well, and was able to put plenty of work on the ball, but the somewhat timid batting was partly responsible for his success. The West Coast batsmen, almost without exception, seemed anchored to the crease and throughout showed a disposition to allow the bowlers to dictate to them. D. Dewar, the top scorer, was beginning really to find his feet, and use them, when he was well stumped, but the batting generally was flattering to the Canterbury side and a disappointing display. A. Knapp was one of the. few who refused to be forced back on to the stumps by the slow bowlers. I. B. Cromb took two quick wickets with some particularly highly-pitch-ed and inviting deliveries, and Burtt took four. Of the others, P. Small looked the most impressive. Canterbury had scored 15 without loss at lunch. Cromb, who hit three typically powerful boundary shots, being responsible for 14 of them. He hit a six after lunch, but was soon out, and D. G. Watt joined C. V. Walter. Walter was run out, and it was not till the advent of N. Davidson that Canterbury made much real progress. Watt was the top scorer, and his batting was sound, if not particularly attractive. Davidson played some good shots in a free style, and P. Small, who had shortly before hit up a quick 40 in a club game, came in to score an equally brisk 25 not out. Canterbury declared at tea with the score at 155 for seven wickets. Knapp was the best of the Coast bowlers. In the early stages he could do little with the ball, but later bowled good length outswingers, and got Davidson with one which came back the other way. When West Cdast batted again, with a deficit of 71, Knapp and Dewar again batted well and played Burtt much more confidently. Both men played some really nice shots, and later Howat scored well. In this innings Small bowled finely. Fie kept the batsmen particularly quiet, arid gave further evidence of the very real ability that is his. He took four for 13 off 18 overs, which made his figures for the two innings quite remarkable—2B overs, 13 maidens, 19 runs, 6 wickets. Cromb also took four wickets in the second innings, to finish the game with 6 for 35. Summed tip, it can be said that Canterbury’s win on the first innings was due chiefly to the inability of the West Coast batsmen to deal with spin bowling. In their defence it must be said that much of their cricket is played om matting wickets, and the conditions in which the game was played were not in favour of the batsmen. Scores: — WEST COAST—First Innings. M. Baird, b Small • • A. E. Thomas, st Davidson, b Burtt 5 D. Dewar, st Davidson, b Burtt 25 O. Morris, c Small, b Dawson .. 10 V. Meates, st Davidson, b Burtt 0 A. Knapp, c Dawson, b Walter .. 10 A. Howat, b Burtt 9 M. Keenan, b Small 1 W. Hamilton, c Walter, b Cromb 2 W. Toohey, st Davidson,' b Cromb 6 J. Webber, not out u Extras 41 Total Bowling: C. J. Winter, 7 overs, 4 maidens, 8 runs, 0 wickets; P. Small 10, 5,6, 2; N. V. Burtt, 17, 6, 24, 4; F. Dawson, 6,2, 12, 1: I. B. Cromb, ■3, 1, 10, 2; D. G. Watts, 1,0, 2, 9. C. V. Walter, 1,0, 0, 1. COAST—Second Innings. Knapp, run out 27 Thomas, .lbw, b Small Dewar, c Small, b Walter .. .. 28 Baird, b Small f> Meates, b Small 3 Morris, b Cromb 10 Howat, b Small 26 Keenan, c O’Malley, b Cromb .. 0 Hamilton, not out Toohey, b Cromb 0 Webber, c Walter, b Cromb .. 0 Extras • ■ 5 Total •' •• 420 Bowling: Winter, 6,2, 5,0; Small, 18, 8, 13, 4; Burtt 13, 1, 32, 0; Dawson, 8,5, 14, 0; Walter, 5,1, 26, 1; Cromb, 9.2, 2, 25, 4. CANTERBURY —First Innings. I. B. Cromb, lbw, b Knapp .. 21' C. V. Walter, run out .. . 10' D. G. Watt, b Morris 36 C. Smith, c Knapp, b Webber .. 0 ■F. Dawson, c and b Keenan .. 5 N. Davidson, b Knapp 23 C. F. Robson, c Keenan, b Knapp 4 P. O’Malley, not out 11 P. Small, not out2s Extras 3 Total (for seven wickets, declared) 144 Bowling: Toohey, 11 overs, 1 maiden, 29 runs, 0 wicket; Knapp, 20, 7, 51, 3; Morris, 9,0, 12, 1; Keenan, 5,0, 21, 1; Webber, 6,1, 23, 1. WEST COAST CHAMPIONSHIPS i Ideal weather favoured teams play-1 ing the final games in the first round of the competition yesterday. Features were the defeat of the leading team, Marist A, by Cobden, and Brunner’s first victory at the expense of Marist B. Marist A are still leading in the competition with 11 points, Cobden being next with 8 points. UNITED A v. UNITED B United B batted first and were in a bad position until Thomas vigorously attacked the bowling to score a bright 36. The side was all out for 109, most damage being done by Taylor who took 4 wickets for 27 runs and Constable (3 for 38). United A were given a good start by Constable (34) and Duffield (29). Coffey contributed 30 and Westwood batted very soundly, retiring with his score at 51. The side was all out for 175, McKendry taking 4 for 46. United A won by 66 runs on the first innings. COBDEN v. MARIST A.

Cobden had first use of the wicket against Marist A and declared at 176 for 4 wickets. Vaughan, batting in his usual solid style, top-scored with 59 while some hard hitting yielded Bar-

low 35 runs. Fletcher carried his bat for 38 and Henley with 3 for 46 was the most successful Marist bowler. Apart from good knocks by W. Clancy and Bayley who made 21 and 41 respectively, Marist could not cope with the Cobden attack and were all out for 86. Barlow bowled splendidly to take 6 wickets for 27 runs. Following on Marist A made a bettei’ showing and scored 119, Bayley (20), Carroll (19), Henley (35), J. Morris (18) and Clancy (14) being the chief scorers. Barlow took 4 for 50 and Grey 5 for 22. Needing 30 runs for a three-point victory Cobden just failed in an exciting finish, scoring 27 for the loss of one wicket in the twelve minutes before stumps. Cobden won by 90 runs on the first innings. BRUNNER v. MARIST B. Playing at Brunner Marist B were all out for the Door score of 56, J. Knowles (12), and A. Garforth (13) being the only double figure scorers. Eder (3 for 10) secured the bestbowling average. Brunner fared little better before the steady attack of Mathews who took 4 for 25, and J. Knowles (3 for 24) being dismissed for 67. Williams made .16, Hogarth junr., 14 and Reid 13 not out. Marist B batting again, made 42 for 3 wickets before stumps, Matthews topscoring with 14. OTAGO AND SOUTHLAND. INVERCARGILL, December 9. The inter-provincial cricket match, between Otago and Southland was concluded yesterday and resulted in a draw. Otago ,rnade 197 and 74 (Overtoun six for 13) and Southland scored 152 and 49 for five wickets (Silver two for 22, Freeman three for 19).