DOMINION CRICKETERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20900, 16 June 1931, Page 6

DOMINION CRICKETERS.

THE TOUR OPENS WELL. MATCH AGAINST ESSEX. DECISIVE WIN RECORDED. LOWRY'S FINE CAPTAINCY. / BY O. S. HINTZ, Special Correspondent with tho Team. LONDON. May 8. Hampered as they were by lack of practice, the Now Zealand cricketers have every reason to feel satisfied with their decisive victory in the opening match of the tour against Essex. To defeat a county which finished sixth in the previous season's championship by an innings and 48 runs was no small feat and English critics are freely predicting that even the best first-class counties will find it no easy task to defeat the tourists. Over the week-end Essex had been somewhat unmercifully handled by Kent ■ and the New Zealand batsmen took heart from the fact that M. S. Nichols, who was so successful with the ball when he visited Now Zealand with A. H. H. Gilligan*s side, had been hit all over the ground by the Kent batsmen. The harvest of wickets that Freeman, the Kent googly bowler, reaped in this match wa3 also more than a little encouraging to W. E. Merritt and R. C. Blunt. JVC. Lowry had no hesitation in taking 'first use of the wicket when he won the toss from H. M. Morris and, due largely to Dempster's magnificent innings for 212, the New Zealanders scored 425 in 590 minutes*before they were dismissed. It was largely a one-man score, but J. E. Mills, R. C. Blunt, J. L. Kerr, Lowry, R. 0. Talbot and Merritt all showed quite satisfactory form. My impression was that they were all anxious to remedy their lack of practice by having a good look at the bowling,. but, for all that, the scoring rate was considerably better than a run a minute. Dempster's Innings. Dempster's innings was a magnificent blend of a delightful variety of scoring shots and resolute defence. He watched the ball all the way, but was always ready to use his feet to anything a little overpitched. Some of his shots off the slow bowlers, Smith and Hipkin, flashed through the covers like lightning, but even more brilliant was the manner in which he forced Nichols round on the leg side. Dempster's innings was really worth far more than tho runs he actually obtained. There is an exceptionally long boundary at Leyton and the outfield was rather slow after the rain. Consequently, many of Dempster's shots, which would normally have yielded four, were worth only three or two. Already English cricket writers are looking for Dempster to show up any weaknesses in English bowling which the Australians did not discover. "Any,batsman who starts 06 with the modest score of 212 looks good enough to worry the best of our bowlers," said the critic of the Daily Sketch. " Even Don Bradman did not begin like that." Dempster's innings was certainly a wonderful effort for a man who had just travelled 14,000 miles, and whose opportunities for practice during his few days in England had been exceedingly limited. Merritt and Blunt. There was one feature about the New Zealand batting that was most satisfactory. That was tho manner in which the New Zealanders refused to " nibble" at the ball outside the off stump. The wicket was easy, but Nichols developed considerable pace at times and kept tho rising ball consistently a few inches outside the off stump. It was with this ball that he obtained many wickets in New Zealand, but our batsmen on this occasion merely waited for the loose one and hit it uncommonly hard. A few catches were dropped in the slips by Essex, but these were all the results of definite," clean-cut shots and were not the result of that pernicious policy of " edging." Apart from O'Connor the Essex bats- ' men were far from being impressive, and on the whole made a poor showing against Merritt and Blunt, who were ably handled by Lowry. The New Zealand captain, indeed, did as much to gel. 7 the batsmen out as did his bowlers, Essex in- its first innings scored mom than double the number of runs it die! in the second, but it was in the firsl, innings that Lowry clearly showed hi:; dominance. ' Fielding Up to Standard. Lowry opened his bowling with Talbot and Weir, but after a while used thcs's two and Allcott only as change bowlers to Merritt and Blunt. He saw immediately that the batsmen were not confident when facing slow bowling and, as well as using Merritt and Blunt together,_ he placed a short mid-off and a short mid-on for each of them. And this on an easy wicket where the bowlers could hardly turn the ball. O'Connor was the only batsman who seemed to have any knowledge of how to use his feet, and his century was a particularly sound effort. On the final day, when Lowry enforced the follow on, Essex was utterly routed. Rain overnight had made the pitch slightly tricky and Merritt, obtaining an appreciable amount of turn and bowling with judgment and design, held the whip hand throughout. O'Connor stayed enough to score 23, but Merritt beat him on several occasions and finally took his wicket with a perfectly disguised "wrong