PLUNKET SHIELD

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 72, 24 February 1937, Page 10

PLUNKET SHIELD

CROMB DISMISSED. OTAGO’S HOPES RISE. Per Press Association. DUNEDIN, Feb. 23. Whether success would crown Canterbury’s task of collecting 196 runs to win outright the PJunket Shield match against Otago depended largely on the fruitfulness of the association betweon Cromb (57) and Pag© (1), who continued the visitors’ innings this morning in ideal weather. The wicket was wearing well. The partnership was to be shortlived, however. Otago’s hopes of victory brightened considerably when Cromb, after sending a ball from Dunning to the square-leg boundary, nibbled at a rising off-ball from the same bowler and was caught behind the wicket. Four wickets were down for 148. Retiring yesterday when he was 16 after receiving a ball on the kneecap, Bellamy had sufficiently recovered to bat, and he joined Page, who reached double figures cautiously. He then had a lucky escape. On the score of dropped catches ‘Otago did not deserve to win. Page reached 20 in laborious fashion, bringing the total to 170, and then was bowled by a ball that would have beaten most bastmen. It was delivered by Elmes. The New Zealand captain had been at the wicket for 70 minutes for his runs. With victory slipping away, both Bellamy and Menzies, his new partner, treated the attack with stubborn respect, runs coming singly.