PLUNKET SHIELD FARCE IN CANTERBURY

NZ Truth, Issue 1206, 10 January 1929, Page 14

PLUNKET SHIELD FARCE IN CANTERBURY

A CRICKET PANTOMIME

Tom Loivry and "Curly" Page In Principal Roles

(From "N.Z. Truth's" Special Christchurch Representative)

Farcical m "the extreme was the New Year pantomime staged* by Wellington, and Canterbury at Lancaster Park under the disguise of a Plunket Shield cricket match, with Tom Lowry playing the dame and "Curly "Page the principal boy. The game was drawn, and on the last day, when an outright win was impossible, some of the things done by the Wellington skipper and some of the Canterbury players were sufficient to cruel the game with the public for good. ■ »

\tK7ELLINGTON started off well, by YV knocking up 433 for eight wickets.

Collegian batsman against the light was upheld. „

The Canterbury attack 'was betr ter, than the figures would indicate, but slack fielding and dropped catches assisted Wellington to their big total.

The most finished cricket was played by Ken James, who, apart from a couple. of difficult chances, mastered all the Canterbury bowlers, and had 109 to his credit when Lowry. declared the innings closed.

Stewart Dempster was there again, and looked like sailing for his first century m Shield cricket when he stood m front of one from Reg. Read. r -

Jack Newman, "Curly ' Page and Bill Merritt each fought for every run, and it was Canterbury m good fighting mood that ran the score to 364 before the last wicket fell

Tom Lowry threw a bombshell into the Canterbury camp • early m the morning when he complained of the wicket having been watered. ; The roller had actually brought to the surface a good deal of moisture which had fallen previously, but the wicket was easy and eminently suitable for making runs.

Lowry acted very childishly while the matter was being discussed, and openly expressed his disinclination to go any further with the game. -

With nothing else but a draw possible, "Curly" Page sent Newman and Hamilton to open, when he might have given youngsters like Powell and Roberts another opportunity of gaining batting experience against foreign bowling. .

There was a soft patch on the wicket and Hope's fast deliveries were bumping dangerously; so much so that Hamilton showed obvious dislike to them, and at 5 p.m. an appeal by the Old

Childish Action

This' was actually .4.30 p.m. standard time, and such a. thing has never been heard of m first-class cricket.

Without conferring with the captains, the umpires collected the bails and the curtain fell on the biggest farce ever enacted m New Zealand's cricket history. . '

Lowry and Page allegedly agreed between themselves to cease play at 5.30, yet where they assumed this rrg.ftt.it is hard to say, as the .rules governing Shield matches provide for play until 6 p.m.

Lowry's attitude throughout the game '- was one of' unapproachable superiority, as compared with Page's inferiority complex. There is no more popular figure m

Canterbury - cricket

; , than "Curly" Page, but as a -leader, of a side m this particular match he.^displayed weakening tendencies- under Lowry's aggressiveness, .and. Canterbury, suffered by it.

. Despite the day lost through bad weather, it was a game with possibilities, arid nobody , seemed keen to rise to the occasion. , Page and Newman were again ,the mainstay of Canterbury's', batting, though the most promising feature was the manner m which Jacob's, Powell and 'Burns fought for runs when they were badly needed.

Bill Merritt also maintained the improved form the has been showing this season with the bat, and made runs against the ten bowlers tried by Lowry. .

The Canterbury side* as at present constituted requires only a left-hand bowler to b.e a strong. . provincial eleven, and witha' little more inspiration from their skipper; they will hold their own.