NEW ZEALAND CRICKETERS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20947, 10 August 1931, Page 9

NEW ZEALAND CRICKETERS

GLOUCESTERSHIRE MATCH. COUNTY OUT FOR 123 RUNS. HAMMOND AND DACRE ABSENT. FLAY STOPPED BY RAIN. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (Special to N.Z. Pres3 Association.) (Reccj,vcd August 9, 5.5 p.m.) BRISTOL, August 8. Steady howling, well handled by Lowry, allowed the New Zealanders to dismiss Gloucestershire cheaply in the return match. The weather was dull and the wicket slow. There was an attendance of 4000 in the afternoon. Rain caused an abandonment of play at the tea adjournment., Hammond and Dacre were unable to plav for Gloucestershire owing to injuries. The teams were as follows: New Zealand. Gloucester. Lowry. Seabrook. Page. Sinfield. Cromb. Smith. Blunt. Neale. Vivian. Barnett. AUcotfc. Stephens. Matheson. Rogers. Dempster. Parker. Mills. Ford. James. Benson. Weir. Goddard. Lowry lost the toss and Gloucestershire had first use of the wicket. The batsmen generally made a poor showing against the accurate spin bowling of Allcotfc, who was first change after Matheson and Cromb. He spun the ball back appreciably and bowled Seabrook with a beautiful ball. The score at lunch was 50 for three wickets. After lunch Vivian and Pago quickly gained the upper hand, assisted by excellent work by James behind the wickets. Ford and Benson added 42 for the ninth wicket, both showing appreciation of the fact that the ball was only turning slowly. Matheson captured the last two wickets in one over. Fine stumping dismissed Parker, who lifted his back foot after playing forward and James whipped off the bails. Following arc the scores:— GLOUCESTER.—First Innings. Seabrook, b Allcott . - «. . . . . 27 Sinlield, b Page . . . . „ , *«■ . . 15 Smith, b Allcott . . . »» u ». 1 Neale, Ibw, b Vivian . . . . *. . . 7 Barnett, c Blunt, b Page * 20 Stephens, c Weir, b Vivian , w v.• 2 Rogers, st. James, b Page . . . k , 0 Parker, st. James, b Vivian . w . « 0 Ford, not out w . 37 Benson, ibw, b Matheson . . . . w. 10 Goddard. c Page, b Matheson *« . . 0 Extras . * - . .. 4 ■ Total .. . . < „• s' » i . 123 Bowling.—Matheson took two wickets for 12 runs, Cromb none for 11, Blunt none for 9, Page three for 56, Allcott two for 24, Lowry none for 1, Vivian three for 26.' PEEVIOUS MATCH DRAWN

PLAY INTERRUPTED BY RAIN.

ELEVEN LEG-BEFORE DECISIONS

Tho Netv Zealanders were to have played a three days' match with Gloucestershire, commencing on Jane 10, bat rain interfered with pla;.-, and a start was not made until 2.15 p.m. on the second day, Tho wicket was bad, and small scoring was the result. The outstanding feature about the match was that there were 11 men dismissed leg before, Hammond twice, and nine New Zealanders.

Gloucestershire batted first and scored 132, Hammond top-scoring with 47. Cromb took five wickets for 42 runs, Merritt three for 23 and Blunt two for SO. New Zealand replied with 89, of which Dempster made 37. Goddard took four wickets for 16 and Parker six for 34. Gloucester declared its second innings closed with 86 for four wickets. Sinfield made 29 not out and Hammond 28. Weir v,-as the most successful New Zealand bowler, taking two wickets for 8 runs. When stumps were drawn New Zealand had scored 65 for the loss of six wickets, Blunt contributing 26. Goddard took four wickets for 21 runs and Parker two for 28.

There will be general regret that C. C. Dacre is not playing in the present match. In the former contest the ex-Aucklander scored 5 and 12.

Although Gloucestershire's total of 123 on the present occasion is a small one it would not be safe to predict- that New Zealand will get very far in advance of that number. The wicket may bo affected by the rain, although it will have a chance to recover during the week-end. The averages obtained by Goddard and Parker in the first match prove that they are formidable bowlers.