PLUNKET SHIELD

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21399, 25 January 1933, Page 11

PLUNKET SHIELD

WIN FOE AUCKLAND '/

MARGIN OF 43 RUNS WICKET FAVOURS BOWLERS / FIGHTING FINISH There were cricket thrills in plenty in the final day of the Plunket Shield match between Auckland and Wellington at Eden Park, the home team, although 31 runs behind on the first innings, gaining an outright victory by 43 runs. Wellington made a fine fightin? finish. It was, not expected that rain during the night would damage the wicket, but as it happened there was very little sun early in the morning, and the wicket dried slowly/ Auckland carried its second innings /total to 306, and then on a wicket which gave the spin bowlers every assistance the visitors lost five of their best >vickets before lunch for 89 runs. After lunch the wicket was much easier and O'Brien and Lamason made a valiant effort to retrieve matters. However, Garrard and Vivian had done the damgo, and the last, Wellington wicket fell shortly after five o'clock. It -was almost a repetition of Auckland's second innings, the later batsmen making a highly creditable recovery. Rain overnight had made the wicket slow when Pearson and Hampton resumed Auckland's second innings to the bowling of Newman and Freeman. Hamp- ( ton did not appear confident, but Pearson, on the otKer hand, used his feet well and

jn a-quarter of an hour added 17 out of 20 runs. The total was past the 300 mark y when ho was smartly stumped by James off Freeman. Pearson had played a gallant innings and 'did not give the semblance. of a chance. 306—10—66. With 276 to make for victory in 330 minutes, Dempster and Cameron opened "Wellington's second innings to the bowling of Matheson and Weir. The wicket soon showed signs of returning life, although Dempster smashed several loose balls from Matheson to the on boundary. He was driving, too, with all his accustomed power. It was not long before Weir changed over to his slow bowlers, Vivian and Garrard. Cameron, who had previously given a difficult chance to Garrard jn the slips off Weir, was dropped at square-leg by Bush off Vivian. However, in tty* same over he returned a catch to the bowler. 35—-I—9. Tindill Pails to Score

Garrard immediately struck bowling form. .Tifidill was the new batsman, but lie did not repeat his first innings performance. Before he had scared lie played a half-hearted forward shot off Garrard and was/caught by Weir at mid-off. 44—2—0. Vivian was bowling over the wicket and H-as getting plenty of work on the ball. In successive overs O'Brien and

Dempster narrowly escaped being caught by Whitelaw at second slip. On each occasion the ball landed just in front of the fieldsman. But the manner in which the. was '"biting" after it pitched suggested that the sun had got to work on the, wicket. Dempster, after playing a few balls uncomfortably, hit one back to Vivian and the bowler took his second catch. 58—3—40.

The wicket was now obviously in favour of the bowlers, and the luck of the game had swung against Wellington. James joined O'Brien and the batsmen grimly down in an attempt to keep the howlers at bay until the lunch interval could give the wicket a chance to recover. James was covering up and playing all his shots late and Vivian, who was keeping the ball well up and spinning it well, went on round the wicket apparently in an' attempt to trap the batsman leg-before-wicket. James Leg-before Wefr spelled Garrard for a while, but soon brought the slow bowler hack again. James continued to cover up. A ball struck him on the pads and Garrard's appeal was successful. 89—4—15. Blandford went first ball. He lunged forward to Garrard, and the ball took his bails. ~89—5—0. Meanwhile, O'Brien had been playing a grand, fighting innings. He was using his reach well to smother the break of the slow tfowlers, and Avas batting confidently and well. He and Lamason took the score to 94 at the lunch interval. The wicket was much easier after lunch and O'Brien and Laih&son were not seriously troubled by the bowling. Lamason swung a full toss from Garrard into the members' stand for the first six of the match, but in Vivian's next over Mills, at deep extra-cover, misjudged a catch from' O'Brien. The batsmen pegged away steadily and the total reached 140 before Weir m;ide a bowling change, Bush taking over from Garrard. O'Brien reached a sound 50 in, 100 minutes, ,■ and the score continued to mount steadily. The wicket was now playing so easily that it served to magnify Wellington's bad luck before lnnch. The batsmen were /.slowly pulling the game out of the fire/and after bowling 33 overs unchanged Vivian gave way to Garrard. Aufckland seemed gradually to be losing its grip on the game, when Weir made another bowling change, Matheson replacing Bush. In the new bowler's first over? O'Brien, who had shown sound batsmanship and infinite resource, was beaten by a good length ball and clean bowled. 166—6—61. O'Brien batted for 137 minutes and hit six fours.

Parsloe scored a single off Matheson and in next over was leg-before-wicket to Garrard. 167—7—1. Lamason Hits Out

Joined by Newman, Lamason hit out at Garrard and skied the ball past mid-ori. Whitelaw ran back but could not reach the catch. Lamason continued to bat vigorously and well. Sparkling square cuts and/ powerful pull shots brought hifirc most of his runs, and he showed excellent judgment in his back cutting. He reached 50 in 115 minutes, while Newman defended stoutly. Shortly after the total reached 200 and Wellington, after being in a hopeless position before lunch, was in sight of victory at the tea adjournment. Immediately o n resumption Wellington's hopes fell. Matheson bowled with the new ball and his first delivery'whipped in to shatter Lamason's stumps and end a great fighting innings. 201—8—53. But the game was not yet over. A period of stubborn play followed by Newman' and Freeman. They withstood the attack of Matheson. Weir and Bush, Freeman leaving Matheson *s off theory severely alone.' However, it was only a matter of time. Twenty painstaking runs were added and then Freeman swung at an ov?rpitclied ball from Matheson and was bowled. 221—9—7. ~ti ■' Blundell played a couple of fine forcing Fbots, but then snicked a leg spinner from Garrard to Matheson at first slip. The innings closed for 232, leaving Auckland .victorious by 45 runs. Following are the scores: — AUCKLAND First/ Innings * * • 366 Second Innings '■A- J. Posties, lbw, b Parsloe . . . . 12 J. E. Mills, c Lamason, b Freeman , . 11 P. E. Whitelaw, b Freeman . . . . 81 G. L. Weir, b Nowman 8 H. G. V ivian, b Newman 4 G. C. Dacre, c and b Newman . . k. 0 P. G. Bush, lbw, b Freeman . . .. 36 H. P. Pearson, st James, b Freeman . 66 ■A. M. Matheson, c James, b Newman 18 R. Garrard, lbw, b Freeman . . 55 G. fS. Hampton, nGt out ...... 4 Extras . ... g« •< •• 11 Tital .» , i A v • • 306 Bowling O. M. R. W. Parsloe . . 11 1 34 1 Blundell-. 23 4 62 0 Newman .37 8 93 4 Freeman 27.5 3 102 5 lamasoa 1 0 4 0 I

WELLINGTON First Innings . . .. „ « . a ea * „ 397 Second Innings C. S. Dempster, c and b Vivian . k 40 D. Cameron, c and b Vivian . . *« 9 E. W. Tindill, c Weir, b Garrard .-< 0 M. A. O'Brien, b Matheson . K K 61 K. C. James, lbw, b Garrard . * v H 15 J. A. R. Blandford, b Garrard .. « 0 J. R. Lamason, b Matheson . K k . 53 C. Parsloe, lbw, b Garrard .• .« g K 1 J. Newman, not out . . .. 22 D. L. Freeman, b Matheson .. . . 7 E. D. Blundell, c Matheson, b Gafrard 9 Extras k - . * .. . , 15 Total „ . . va ... .232 Bowling 0. M. R. W. Matheson 19 5 43 3 Weir . . 10 3 24 0 Vivian .. 33 15 53 2 Garrard 38.3 10 83 5 Bush . . 10 4 14 0

SPLENDID SPIRIT DEMPSTER'S FINE INNINGS TEN BATSMEN LEG-BEFORE The match throughout provided interesting cricket, which at times was very bright, and the closeness of the scoring maintained interest right to the end. A pleasing feature of the game was the splendid spirit in which it was played by both teams.

Fortune favoured Auckland in the toss of the coin and again when rain on Monday night made the wicket difficult yesterday morning. Fifteen minutes sufficed to complete Auckland's second innings, during which time 21 runs were added. Of these, Pearson scored 19 before he was stumped when he went out to hit Freeman

and missed. He batted very confidently. Wellington was then faced with the difficult task of making 276 runs to win outright on a wicket which gave assistance to the tepin bowlers. The wicket was improving toward the luncheon adjournment, but prior to tho interval Wellington lost five wickets for 89.

, Dempster and Cameron gave the side a fair start by compiling 35 for the first wicket. Cameron never appeared comfortable, giving two chances in scoring nine, the first to Garrard in the slips off Weir and the --second to Bush at square-leg, a hard hit off Vivian. The ball went through Bush's hands to the boundary. .'Bowlers Obtain Spin

Vivian and Garrard were obtaining spin on the slow wicket, but Dempster was batting with the greatest confidence. Using his feet splendidly, he scored with some beautiful shots off both bowlers on cither side of the wicket. Tindill. who scored 106 in the first innings, failed to open his account on this occasion. He seemed to be troubled by the pace of the wicket and eventually hit an easy catch to Weir at inid-off off Garrard.

Dempster, who had scored 40 out of 58, lost his wicket caught and bowled off Vivian, who was particularly troublesome at this stage. Dempster batted very freely and alone was the only batsman to this stage who could deal with the attack. However, he lost his wicket to a rather poor stroke when ho swung at Vivian and did not "connect" properly. He hit four fours

O'Brien and James held up the bowlers for a period when they were particularly difficult, James going leg-before for 15. Blandford went first ball, thus failing to score in either innings.

After lunch the- wicket had dried and proved easy, and O'Brien and Lamason played good cricket in a fine, fighting sixth-wicket partnership, which yielded 76 runs. O'Brien was then well beaten by Matheson. As in the first innings, he again impressed by his strong forward play. He hit six fours and was top scorer with 61.

Fine Six to Lamason

Lamason played a good innings for 53,

including a fine six off Garrard, wliic!

hit the. corner of the members' stand. After losing O'Brien and Parsloe (1) he became more aggressive, but settled down again just before the tea adjournment. He had the chagrin after the interval to be bowled first ball.

Newman and' Freeman (7) put up a determined fight for the ninth wicket by adding 20 runs, but the end came soon after Freeman's dismissal, and Auckland left the field winning outright by 43 runs.

Newman showed his groat improvement as a batsman by playing soundly for 22 not out. He was unbeaten with 10 in the first innings. Garrard, who took five wickets for 69 in the first innings, was again Auckland's most successful bowler. In 38.3 overs, 10 maidens, he captured five wickets for 83 runs. His length was again good and he made use of the wicket and later when it dried he came through quickly. Vivian, 33 overs, 15 maidens, for 53 runs and two wickets, proved very difficult in the period before lunch, when he obtained spin and varied his flight well. His length at one stage was practically faultless.

Weir proved a steady change bowler when the occasion did not warrant the use of Matheson or Bush. When Matheson was used later in the innings, his trundling was vastly different from that in the first innings. He made pace off the wicket and got both O'Brien and LamascJn with beautiful deliveries which came back from the off. Bush's steadiness is shown by his figures:—lo overs, 4 maidens, 14 runs. .An interesting feature of the match is

that ten batsmen fell leg-before. They were:—Whitelaw, Dacre, Dempster, Lamason, Parsloe (twice), Postles, Bush, Garrard and James. Five decisions, therelore, went against each side. The Auckland fielding was again good all-round. Hamilton showed more confidence behind the wickets and gave a much improved, display.