Third Day.

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

Third Day.

The game was resumed on Monday morning, Williams (69) and Upham ! (last man) facing Douglas and Branston. Williams, with a straight drive off Douglas for 3 sent his score past Had-don's (-71). Upham placed Douglas to the boundary thrbugh the slipsmen, .but the next he snicked into Johnson's hands at' slip and the N.Z. (innings ternrinatod./for 249, leaving the [Englishmen 255 to mate to win: • v By, securing a not-put. Williams has obtained 'the highest average of any colonial player against- the visitors, viz., 52. He has also the distinction of liem°: the only man m the colony •to -score- a century against them.

; Johnsojn s.nd Fox started on Enp;Ipud's' stcnwd 1 uission. Fisher and Uphmn being: the fcotvleni. Disaster followed iH the wake of liuthmen early.

Johnson got two oft- Upham owing to misfielding by Mahoney. He hit the same bowler to Bennett at madoff. The Canterbury man mulled th«f bail and Johnson called Fox for a* second and impossible run and the] latter was' run out easily, much to 1 his disgust. 3—l—o. Burns followed only to see ' Fisher- with the seconl of hjs second over, upsetting Johnson's leg pin. 4.— 2—0 caused the colonials much joy and there a corresponding amount of depression m the visitors' camp. ■ Harrison was next. Burns did what little run-getting there was ; the alertness and sureness of the fieldsmen being conspicuous at this stage. Eoth bowlers, and Fisher especially, were being treated with respect. By pulline; the fast bowler round to leg Burns brought 10 up, the result of half-an-hour's play. Burns' next big scoring stroke was his hitting of Fisher past mid-on and to the fence. He drove Upham hard m the direction of long-off- and Sale, running from, mid-off, caught the ball lr.a&n-i---ficently with one hand, to tke consternation of the batsman and the complete surprise of the crowd. It was one of the most marvellous catches ever seen on the Basin. IS— 3—14.

Douglas followed and started by snicking Uphaxn to the ropes. He followed the stroke up with a boundary hit at Fisher's expense. Alter making a few singles he saw Harrison make a mis-hit off a curly one from the left-hander, and Maljoney, at third man, easily grabbed the chance. Harrison had been at tho wickets f or 55 minutes tor his runs. 45— 4— 5:

The next man was Page, and a succession of singles helped .the score along to 50, Page greeting its coming with a crisp off-bmuidary stroke. At 59 Bennett was substituted for Upham, and Page despatches! his second to the boundary.' Fisher proffered a request to be relieved on account of a tired feeling, and Upham went on m his stead: When the luncheon adjournment came the score stood at 70.

On -resuming Bennett and- Upham kept ths batsmen * quiet' for some time ; ultimately the Middlesex representative got Upham away to squareleg and to the ropes. Page made a sweet late-cut off the fast bowler, recording boundary figures'. His next ball gave Williams a chance of dismissing him and, grateful for the letoff, he whanged Upham to leg-bound-ary. :

At 93, ' Fisher relieved Upham, and off the Bunedin man's fifth Page was splendidly caughtt by Hemus, who was waiting m anticipation at the southern boundary. It was a' great hit right over the head of the bowler, and the catch was a beauty. Jlemus got his revenge for his dismissal by Page m like manner on Saturday. The nartnership had been a useful one, 50 runs being added on : the score sheet. 94—5—23. ; .

Branston joined Douglas and started his account with a drive for 3 off Bennett. On f acinp- . that bowler Douglas got m front of a fast one and an almost Unanimous appeal for l.b.w. from the fi6ld was allowed by the English umpire. 97—6—37. Douglas had shaped freely, his , hitting being crisp and. vigorous.

. De ,Trafiord next appeared) and a fast one from Fisher went to the ropes, bringing 100 up. Branston, with a nice forcing on-stroke, put 3 to his credit off Bennett, and his partner hit the same "bowler's next for a similar number. De Trafford, m. his merry punching , mood,' smote Fisher high to the ropes, and subsequently hit the left-hander for 2. It was only a question of time when hrn end Would come, and, by putting onr into Tucker's hands off Fisher at cover-point, the English captain found his way pavilionwards. 114 — 7—lo.

Curwen became associated with Branston and a period of very qudet play followed, singles being chiefly the order of the day. Branston occasionally got m a scoring stroke for 2 or more, but on the whole he was content to assume the defensive. Branston brought : off a nice late-cut at Fisher's expense .for 3 and Ourwen tapped the Dunedin man on the leg-side, for which 3 wert ran. This brought 130 up and two runs later Downes took the ball from Upham. Slow cricket was now In evidence, Branston ultimately relieving the monotony by clouting Fisher to the ropes. Bennett took the ball from Fisher at 140 and Branston, who wanted a lot of "digging out," was yorked by Downes. 141—8—21. The outgoing batsman had played a strictly defensive game. He executed some attractive strokes, however. Torrens took his place and made one slashing square cut stroke off Downes, which produced four. He was commencing to give the fieldsmen trouble when Downes caused a drop m his timber-stack. 157—9—9.

May was the .last man and the crowd -anticipated some lively hitting. The new-comer and Gurwen went on the tip-and-run principle and singles came m .quick succession from almost every ball, the unreliability of the fieldsmen assisting m this direction. The smart run-stealing . of the pair was appreciated by the crowd. Curwen occasionally made a stroke which sent ? or 3 opposite his name on the slate, and May was not hackward m banging the bowlers. The second century seemed assured, but when within two of that number, May tapped one softly back to Fisher, who just managed to get undeT the ball, and the innings was over, with New Zealand victors of a most interesting match by 56 runs.

Upham did not bowl at anything like his pace or precision of the first innings. Fisher stuck up the batsmen and was never collared. He broke back a lot of times.' The wicket did not suit Downes, who, however, got rid of a troublesome customer m Branston. Bennett kept a decetvf length, but there was no "nip" m his bowling.

Williams was not m great form behind the sticks., and several times he allowed the bail to pass him. under the impression' that it was finding the wickets,. . The fielding was good at the start, bi.it got very sTovenlv m the later stages of the Fnidisihmen's innings. Sole and ,TucVer were bright exceptions. Bennett, Wisher, and Downes were as slow as cart-horses m rjhasin.fr the ball. jithl the trio start even favorites m an old v "reefers' " race. Jack Mabonev arid ..Timmv-. I,awrMi?<s lacYM sureness in' th«?ir st.oT»T)inp, -fhe Wp-1-lin^tn-nia.n Voin.ff to nieces aH-Pr t^e Sfvnnth wicked bod fallen.

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hand, .was subsequently relieved m

the field by Johnson, of the English team, and afterwards by Fred Laws. Fred did his little hit of ground fielding m good style. • The gate takings for the three days realised £349. Hundreds obtair'sd a free show oyer the, fence. It is said that Haddon won a pound by making 71 m his 'secpnd knock. An admirer laid him that amount to nothing if he scored over 50 and another if, he. gob the century. The downfall', .of the Englishmen was not due to the wicket. It was their own weak strokes which proved : their undoing. They were evidently ; too anxious when the time came to make the runs,