Second Day.

NZ Truth, Issue 91, 16 March 1907, Page 3

Second Day.

: "When play was resumed on the following morning the weather conditions were .'perfect. The Englishmen did. not relish the appearance of the wicket which threatened to prove. Vfiery."-' They Were thanking their lucky stars that' the colonials . had jno express bowler m their ranks. Page and Brahston again took up the running, Upham and Downes ' trundling. ; Uphaia's first produced 9 runs, Page obtaining six, mainly from leg-strokes, whilst Branston with a late-cut notched the; others. .Downes . sent up a full tossi to Page, who -smote the ; ball over the pavilion ■i, fence, and a snick through slipsman • same batsman, off Upham, • 'sentrfbeiQ^fW.; >;;^;- .'■:.■■ At. 10G Downes'gave way to Fishex. Page drove Upham nicely to the '" on-bomwlary. The Englishman hit 'Fisher- hard, to m the direction of Tucker, who made a herculean effort to retain, the ball. Runs were comihs freelt" and Branston cutting almost square to the ropes caused 120 to appear. In the hope of : effecting a dissolution,' Bennett relieved: Upham, who went on at the northern, end, and the change was effectual, Dowhcs making a brilliant catch m the slips off Uphahi's first, which disposed of /Page, who had made several neat strokes- oh both sides of the Wicket, his on^stroke especially taring crisply executed. V De Tr afford was next and the English captain set \out to malic things /litelv 'm whiph, mission he succeeded. "' Wiekctkc'c* or" Williams had /a pretty difficult ' chance of stumping the newcomer, off Upham, and grateful for the let-off he banged Upham to leg for .3: -„',';": . ./, ■-. • Fisher relieved Bennett at 136 and De Trafiord despatched his first for 3. Then' the skipper skied Fisher to Lawrence at long-on, but that unusually sure field dropped the ball. ThCi sun . iyas a handicap to, the fieldsman., De Trafiord pasted both bowlers to the boundary with .similar strokes, ; and 150 was on tlje slate ".as the result of three hours' play. .Fisher succeeded m flooring Dei Traf- ' ford's timbers and IS2— 7— lB . was ./the reading when : Curwen came on the c ; scene, . ; . . ./.' ; ..•.',.' The he.webmer survived a l.b.w. appeal oft Fisher, who subsequently had his revenge by. bowling the Englishman x neck and crop m bis, next over. 164-^8—0.,: '\, Torrens, who became, associated ._'with/Branstohj opened his account • .with 'sduare-cuttihg Wisher to b.ouhdHeathen lost ". Branston; who :,was snapped' up smartly by the wicketkeeper, ofT Upham, The outgoing .', batsman. ha_dj played f„ cautiously, and .'.soundly for'his, runs, showing arausual ■patience m their compilation. 158—9 '".„-'.■■.'• :i;. ', ■ • May was the last man, and arriv--n.ed on the scene m time to see Fishier spread-eagle Torrens' stumps— — i, which gave New Zealand , „& lead of five on the first innings,,, i, Both Fisher and Upham bowled v well, the Bunedinite especially so on -shifting ends. The respective: figures . iwere Upham 6 for 84, Fisher 4 for -: 24. Bennett had 17 runs knocked off aim, and Downes 27, < There was. twenty minutes to go he- ■ fore luncheon, and as In the first, in■v hings Sale and Lawrence, were the v first pair of batsmen. Douglas and, Torrens were the bowlers and the former rocked them m at a great bat. -Faster -bowling had not been seen on the Basin for a long time, and the ■ Middlesex man plainly "outcottered" Cotter. The batsman had an unenviable time m standing up to bis : hurricane and bumpy deliveries. Lawrence clipped Torrens to bound/ary and with another clinking carpet drive off the same bowler put an- "• other fourer to his credit. Sals l*>te- - cutted Douglas, the bnll flying over the heads of the slipsmen. The Can- " fcerbury representative made a beau- • tdful snuare-cut off the express howlor, tluf ball finding the boundary and GO came up. Sale then made Douglas a present of his wicket by lashing out viciously at what was the last ball (■•half volley) prior tc the luncheon adjournment and getting his offstump knocked half-a-doz.cn yards away. It was downright stupidity on the part of the Aucklacder to sacrifice his wicket m this way. 20—1— 6. „ On resuming after luncheon Mahoney replaced Sale, but the new-cower was a quick "goner," Bums matching him m the sHds off Douglas. Jack made .the correct stroke, but r the "curler" -upset all calculations. -26—2—1. Haddon partnered Lawrence and his. first from Douglas was -despatched grandly to the leg bound- _• ary , but . agility by the fieldsman .saved a run. s . •■. . -• Another disaster befell the colol.nials when Lawrence had. his defence penetrated by Douglas. The gloomy ; reading of 33—3—18 had its effect on the spectators who anticipated a col- , lapse on the part of the New Zea- '■ landers. Lawrence, was shaping very . confidently and nicely up to the time tof his dismissal. V Hemus, who followed, smacked Torrens to leg boundary and at 42. that /'bowler gave way to Branston. Quiet nlav eventuated, the Aucklanders apparently fceline their way. Haddon then indulged m some effective carnet drives. Hemus cut Douglas beautifully to the ropes and 50 went up. Four runs later Haddon cut ton hnrd to Tni-rcns, who failed to hold tiie'.ball.,/'-T-t proved a Vcostlv mistake to the Englishman as /sHad-; dnn-^as. -thctf only.vi 4. y f ; .'v The batsmen had .now , got D.ouglas; tired 'u»d at ■ -W May took Ml thehowling art "the northern V;©nd. After rtrivinc Branston "•■"to ■■"/•'..boundary, Fernus irave tfwt bowlef a shavo fchance m the slins off May. Both Kjfit'sr-'en now ORenpd' their ghoubletf n nd Km vpn u^rerl '.-to ' the evte'n t of 1 3 m r%v tV^r. "n^rMou r-i.de a beautiful lpt.p-c" + "1* May. 'four resulting. *Thc partnership was dissolved when

Hemus: lifted one from Burns to Page near i>he westerxi boundary and the fieldsman made a nice catch. 81—4 —28. Hemus had played another attractive innings, getting .m some artistic strokes on both sides of the wicket. , . ,-, . .

Williams succeeded and his partner brought the score along to ,90' with a- couple of spanking offi forward scoring, strokes. Williams glanced Branston to ropes and at 97 Douglas took another turn with, the ball. The Wellington man raised the century by a sweet late-cut .to the rop.es, off Douglas, and a drive for 3at the . expense of the same bowler put him m double figures. In one over of Douglas' 16 runs were scored,. 8 being from byes.

Torrens relieved Branston with 113 on the score-sheet. Williams was put out of action for a few minutes owing 1 to a fast rising -ball from Douglas hitting him on the ; elbow, the effects of which were painful to the New Zealand skipper for the remainder of the play. Haddon continued to plank ,on the runs freely at/? both bowlers' expense, which brought Curwen on at 129 m place of Douglas. The new bowler was smacked, by Haddon to the square-leg boundary, .and 50 was his snare of the scoring..

On resuming after the tea adjournment Williams hit Torrens cleanly and forcibly to jeg boun«!s£y, which he supplemented with % ; sweet carpet drive to, the ca, the ball going to the ropsn and 150 and 100 went up m rapid sue-, cession. A square4eg ; Kit' by l-laddbri to fence", and' ' the New Ziealanders ' first innings total was passed. When 167 was on the slate Williams gave Douglas a chance m the slips off Torrens, his score then being 38. Haddqn pulled Torrens to the ropes and at • 178 May relieved Douglas. The 'batsmen had now the bowling fairly, tied up m a knot.

Curwen, at coy.er-point, had the opportunity for disposing of the Wellington skipper, off May, but it was a hot chancy Williams had then 42 to his cremt. '. Haddon ' despatched May m great style to square leg— a fine stroke— but his turn now came, Fox catching him behind the wickets off the fast bowler. 188—5—71.

The Sfljlen-ditf stand made tiy H-a-didon and Williams was appreciated by the 'crowd, which gave the Aucklander a rousine: reception for hii£ superb innings. His defence and scoring strokes were refreshingly solid, clean, !free and attractive.^- He picked^ out the ririit balls to/, hit. He. was very strong oh the r leg-side arid^hls offforwafd stroke was m gr^at; 'evidence. It was a beautiful exhibition that the Aucklander gave and deserves all the praise accorded to it! It was up t 0 Haddon to make' runs m this innings, and right well did he' rise to the occasion. Except for ■ that let-off at 14, he played a' 'blemishless innings. ■ ■•.<:■ • ■.■;■■.

Tucker succeeded and saw Williams gain his ball century by/ a telling leg stroke, which sent the ball skimming 1 to the ropes. Immediately af-' ter -that-' May knocked Tucker's wickets out of . plumb. . 190—6—1. Fisher followed, and clouted May to leg boundary. He placed the same bowler through the slips and sent 200 up amidst great cheering. The Dunedin man's next scoring stroke brought 3 on the slate. At 213 Branston was substituted for Torrens. Harrison's' agility and smartness m the field was saving many runs.

The next interesting item .'was a mighty hit by Williams off Branston to the off boundary fence, Fisher also i late-cutting that bowler for a couple. Douglas relieved May at 228 and his second was returned by Fisher, who jhad been fairly busy during his occupancy :of the batting crease. His figures on the slate were 19. ■•' ' ... .■ . ' - ■■/■:■ a ■

Downes partnered Williams but the Dunedin representative had a short life. He stepped out to Cranston and the ball rebounded off the wicketkeeper's pads and into the wickets before he could regain his crease. 231-8-1. . r

Bennett was next. v The Canterbury man had the lives of a cat. He was bowled by Douglas, but the umpire had called no-ball. He gave three or four possible chances from skiers to the fieldsmen, but; his luck was dead m. Eventually he fell a victim to Douglas, who accepted a catch off Branston. 242—9—3. The stumps were then drawn\;for the day. Williams played an invaluable innings and was s;till undefeated when time was called. \ His defence was solid and he showed wise discrimination as to playing back or goitig'forward at the fast deliveries of May and Douglas, whilst he was very quick m dealing out punishment . to anything loose off the wicket. \His leg-hittiHg and glancing and admirable placing and timing were m evi'lencs throughout. After Haddon's dismissal the New Zealand skipper played very quietly and was cpntent to keep his wickets intact. He gave a couple of chances, but otherwise no fault could be found with his display. ' Williams would have gone off when he received that painful blow on th§ elbow, but he saw the advisableness of the set partnership between himself and Haddon.

Douglas was very destructive early m the innings and he appeared to have the batsmen "wet" up to the advent of Haddon. That player and Hemus, and later on Williams and Haddou, wore the Middlesex man down, and at the finish there' was a very perceptible decrease m his

pace

The fielding of the visitors was open to improvement, though Harrison was a shining exception. ,He saved quite 40 t runs by his alertness and sureness. . There were nearly 5600 people present, but the gate takings (£179) were below expectations.