EXCELLENT BATTING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22616, 2 January 1937, Page 8

EXCELLENT BATTING

If any Auckland cricket-lovers are still disposed to lament a certain team's loss of a recent Plunket Shield match by two runs, there is ample consolation for them in the splendid batting partnership of Carson and Whitelaw in the game now in progress against Otago. This will go into cricket annals as an outstanding performance, and the honour thus won has been fully deserved. One wicket down for 10, two wickets for 25 —and then this partnership brought the score to 470 before its sharers were separated: if figures ever speak for themselves, these assuredly do. To add 445 for the third wicket was indeed a remarkable achievement. Not only did it create a third-wicket partnership record in Plunket Shield cricket, but it also eclipsed the best done anywhere in the world in firstclass matches. By Australian batsmen, .'389; by English, 375; by South African, 217: these figures, good as they are, have been left far behind. To each of the Auckland players contributing to the feat unqualified praise is due. Carson's 'score of 290 has in Plunket Shield matches only been excelled by Blunt's 338, not out, for Otago against Canterbury, and is for a young batsman, playing in his second representative match, an impressive proof of splendid cricket quality. His innings was sound yet brilliant, marked by such speed and judgment combined as to lie exhilarating to watch. This sort of batsmanship has a tonic influence. And for Whitelaw's innings there must be praise equally appreciative, As one of the opening pair he lost •two partners before the foundation of his side's score was laid, yet daunt iessly went on with just the right kind of play to build one up - punishing every loose ball and confronting the bowlers with an impregnable defence that helped Carson to master them spectacularly. Theirs was a fine combination as well as a record partnership, and Whitelaw's total of 195 for five and a-half hours of batting fully worthy of a seasoned player at a critical stage in a match, ranks very high.