CANTERBURY IMPROVES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20762, 3 January 1931, Page 10

CANTERBURY IMPROVES

MATCH WITH WELLINGTON. BATSMEN IN BETTER FORM. ROBERTS SCORES A CENTURY. [IJY T EI, EG It A Pll, —-P It ESS ASSOCIATION'.] CIIKISTCHUifCII, Friday. The Phinket Shield cricket match between Wellington and Canterbury was continued to-day in perfect weather. The local sido improved its position a little. The Canterbury bowling was bolter and the visitors were dismissed for 351 runs. Canterbury had mixed luck in its second strike to score 236 runs for five wickets.

The previous day's play had put Wellington in such a strong position that there appeared possibilities of an innings victory, but Canterbury's bowling to-day was much better than on the first day and the bowlers did very well to capture the remaining seven Wellington wickets at a cost of 157 runs.

Canterbury further improved its position when in the second innings it wiped off the deficit and was 60 to the Rood with eight wickets still in hand. However, three wickets fell toward the close of play and this left Wellington still in a strong position. However, the game is not by any means a .foregone conclusion. Much, of course, will depend - ori what the remaining five Canterbury wickets can get to-morrow. The continuation of the

Wellington innings saw soino more very at tractive batting by MeGirr and Lowry. MeGirr followed up his century in the match against Otago by notching another and demonstrated that he is a greatly improved batsman. lie played beautiful cricket and was never slow. A Fighting Innings.

Lowry played one of his typically fighting innings and, like MeGirr, be showed up the inaccuracies of tho Canterbury bowling. Throughout his innings he played sound and careful cricket, but lie trounced practically every loose ball that came along and his scoring strokes, like McGirr's, were powerful and well tinied.

The succeeding batsmen were not very impressive, although J. Newman did some remarkable hitting. Ho scored off every one of the first seven balls ho received, and was caught off the eighth. The Canterbury bowling was a distinct improvement on that of tho first, day. Merritt bowled much better. His length was so improved that even Lowry and MeGirr were kept playing him. His tally for the day was 14 overs for 42 i tins and two wickets.

Talbot kept an end going well, while Lester maintained a good length. Cunningham had three overs early in the day but, he had neither length nor direction, and he was not brought on again. The Canterbury fielding was well up to standard and two fine catches by Cromb were a noteworthy feature. Sensational Opening.

Canterbury's second innings opened sensationally. " Everyone expected Kerr to redeem his failure of the first innings and there was consternation when he was clean bowled before ho had made a run. He appeared to be over-anxious. After this, however, the Canterbury batting, though slow and somewhat laboured, improved as time went on and a fine partnership by Roberts and Talbot, evened.up the game considerably. Roberts was slow and uncertain for some time after he started. This is characteristic 'of him, but he gradually gained confidence and by the time he had reached the 20 mark he was well in his strido and gave the finest exhibition of driving on both sides of the wicket seen in the match. Anything at all overpitched sped toward the boundary at express speed. Talbot gave another fine display of sound but aggressive batting. There were times, however, when it looked as though an impatient stroke might cost him his wicket and this was what finally happened. Hamilton batted as soundly as in the first innings and looked well set for a good score when by bad judgment ho ran himself out. The Wellington Bowling. Blundell, Massey and J. Newman all bowled remarkably well for Wellington. A. Newman was steady but never looked like getting wickets. Crook was not. so accurate in his length as in the first innings but claimed two of the four wickets taken by the bowlers. MeLeod, the slow bowler", provided a feast, for the batsmen. They hit, 51 off his six overs, including .nine fours. Scares CANTERBURY. First Innings 214. Second Innings. .T. L. Kerr, b Blundell . . . . 0 I. M. Hamilton, run out . . . . 24 A. W. Roberts, c .Jaines, b Croak . . 116 R. 0. Talbot, b Massey . . . . 61 J. Jacobs, b Crook 0 M. L. Page, not out .. ... 21 I. B. Cromb, not out . . . . . . 1 Extras 13 Total for five wickets .. . 236 < WELLINGTON. —First Innings. C. S. Dempster, lhw, h Talbot .. 41 A. Newman, c Doireen, b Cunningham . • • . • . . 4 K. C. James,' st Dorreen, b Merritt 32 H. M. MeGirr, c and b Lester . . 101 T. ('. Lowry, lbw, b Cromb . 91 J. It. Lamason, b Lester .. . 0 It. Crook, c Cromb, b Merritt . . 14 E. G. McLcod, run out .. 14 If. B. Massey, b Merritt . . . . 0 J. Newman, c Cromb, b Talbot . . 22 E. D. Blundell, not out . . . . 2 | Extras . . 30 ; Total 351 | Bowling.—lt. O. Talbot took two wickets for 41 runs; W. 11. It. Cunning- j ham, one for 80; W. E. Merritt, three for j 90; S. G. Lester, two for 36; I. B. j Cromb, one for 61; A. W. Roberts, none j for 6; M. L. Page, none for 4. :