NOTES ON THE PLAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19834, 3 January 1928, Page 12

NOTES ON THE PLAY.

A DAY OF SLOW CRICKETy DROPPED CATCHES EXPENSIVE. SOME v BRILLIANT FIELDING. Patrons of Eden Park were treated to a slow day's cricket on Saturday, the batting in the morning beiug particularly tame. Otago had scored 88 for two wickets in the two hours' play before lunch. It was not that the bowling was difficult, On the other hand, a number of half volleys and a) few long hops were played with a straight bat, instead of being severely dealt with. Knight, who was one of the opening batsmen, was at the wickets just ori an hour for five runs. He missed many golden opportunities. McMullan made a number of very good strokes, intermingled with some bad ones. Early in his innings he cocked up a short ball from Bowley, who was not expecting it to come back to him, and, starting a little late, the bowler just failed to hold it with his right hand. McMullan,, who relished anything on the leg side, was eventually caught out: in attempting to cut a ball toward third man. Eastman's Appearance. Great interest centred in the appearance of L, C. Eastman, the English professional coach. He started very scratchily, and drove one back to Garrard. The bowler evidently thought it was coming faster than it actually did, and he dropped it. Once ho got going Eastman made the most use of his reach in getting io the slow bowlers, and ho effected some beautiful drives to the long-on boundary. Eastman showed himself to be a great' judge of a run, and ho also used his feet at the crease in a manner characteristic of the Englishmen. He was dismissed by a fine ranning catch by Matheson off a ball which he did not get on to properly. Cavanag;i, a youth of eighteen years, is a promising bat with a nice style. Giving the ball the full face of the bat, he has a very fine shot to the on side.. He leaves the off ball well alone, a lesson he has been taught by his coach. Galland was the only other Otago batsman to give an exhibition anything like in keeping wjth what is expected of a player taking part in this class of cricket. He lost no chances of making runs quickly, and with good strokes. Crowd Barracks Batsman. Towards the close of the innings Douglas stonewalled in a manner which caused the crowd to barrack him good naturedly. lie was at the wickets a long time, and every single he scored was loudly cheered and applauded by the occupants of the bank,. One of the features of the innings was the brilliant fielding of Matheson. He frequently earned applause for- cleanly picking up hard carpet drives. He also caught three men out, his dismissal of Eastman being a particularly fine effort. Another feature of the innings was the right-handed catch taken by Bowley in the slips. Matheson was bowling at the time, and Knight touched an off ball which went like a flash to the slips. Bowley shot out his right hand and held the ball. It was a brilliant catch. Auckland did not make a very promising start, and the fact that the total at the end of the day was 137 for five wickets was entirely due to the exhibition given by Bowley. Hie coach, however, was fortunate in not being dismissed early. He hit at one oli Eastman's leg-swingers, and the ball went straight into tte hands of Elmes, who dropped it. A little later on Bowley hit another ball to leg. ar.d it struck Cherry on the shoulder and cannoned off just out of reach of Douglas. Apart from these two chances, however, Bowley gave an attractive display. The crowd expected something big from Dacre, but the Auckland captain did not stay long. He played one bail from Eastman, and then attempted to cut the tint ball he received from Torrance. He touched it and was caught at the wickets. It was not good judgment to try such a stroke until the batsman had his eye in. The Oh fielding was very keen indeed, and side was set an excellent example its captain, A. W. AHoo, whose clean picking up of difficult balls earned him the unstinted plaudits of the crowd. AUCKLAND OBTAINS LEAD. Mci/lULLAN'S UPHILL FIGHT. The early part of the second day s play yesterday was slow. Bowley took three-quarters of an hour to add 15 runs to his standing total. He was then clean bowled by Torrance. Player batted really well for his 40 Usually a hitter, he restrained himself yesterday, and gave quite a sound exhibition. Matheson went in for a hit, and was not long in scoring 24. Auckland's innings closed at 217, which was 20 runs ahead of the visiting side. Seeing that it was a batsman's wicket, it is hard to account for the medium scoring on the part of both teams. The Otago men certainly made hard work of the Auckland attack, which was not so formidable as the batsmen made it out to be. Curiously enough, the Aucklanders adopted similar tactics, and, with the exceptions of Bowley, Player and Matheson, the side made a poor showing. Bowley was slow yesterday, and was obviously playing for his side and taking no risks. Torrance bowled exceptionally well for Otago, maintaining a fine length throughout, and sending down very few loose balls. It was unfortunate for the visitors that they were unable to make full use of Eastman, who is still feeling the effects of the injury he sustained in the test match in Wellington a few weeks ago. The Otago coach is a fine bowler, and his average should have been a lot better than it was. Otago made a disastrous start in its second innings, and at one stage six wickets were, down for 81 runs, the majority of which had been scored by McMullan. It was then that McMullan and Alloo put their backs to the wall and established a. partnership of .125 runs. Their effort was a very praiseworthy one indeed, the batting of the pair being the soundest of the whole match so far. It was all the more meritorious on account of the ;?act that the batsmen were Pightirig uphill all the time. Under the circumstances it. must rank as one of the best partnerships in Pluuket Shield history. On Saturday McMullan scored most of his runs on the leg side, but yesterday he obtained quite a number on the off, his cutting and driving being very effective. The consistent Otago man was going along merrily when he was caught at mid-oii. He hit 14 fours, and was given a big reception on returning io the pavilion. Alloo started off shakily, his timing being very much at fault, and be gave the vmpression that he was right out of form. After the tea adjournment, however, he settled down, and his batting was a treat to watch. He showed rare judgment in waiting for the right ball to hit, and he did not make a mistake until just before the close of play, when he was dropped near the square-leg boundary. Alloo hit 11 fours, and, should he get going again to-day, and receive support from the other batsmen, it is quite possible Auckland will be left with a substantial total to get to win, The match will be resumed at 11.30 a.m. to-day.