A BRILLIANT CENTURY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21366, 20 June 1931, Page 11

A BRILLIANT CENTURY

MILLS IN FINE FORM NEW ZEALAND DECLARES EIGHT WICKETS FOR 361 (Special to Press Association.) LONDON, June 18. New Zealand, with 301 for eight wickets, declared their first innings closed in the match against the Minor Counties. The game was resumed in fine weather and the wicket was easy. Mills scored a brilliant certtury. He attacked the bowling from the start, and although he gave several chances hie was always master of the attack. He went out off the only really weak shot of his innings. He. had batted 218 minutes for 150. his score including 17 4’s. Kerr showed signs of a return to his Customary- enterprising batting. Lowry ahd Talbot both gave vigorous displays. The l counties' bowling was not difficult, although the wicket played occasional tricks. ’ ' i The counties batted for half an hour before stiilnps were drawn, scoring 14 without loss of a wicket, Cook was -dropped in the final over. The following are the scores: — r. ’ minor Counties; > First innings .. .. • • • • • ; 191 Bowling Analysis.—Merritt, four for 72; Allcott, two for 38; Lowry, four for 14; Talbot, none for 10; Weir, none for 15: Blunt, none, for 18; Page, none for 10. ■ v,-:, , ■:■ ; , , Second Innings. . ' Cook, not out . .•• .. •*. ’ ■" Homer, not out .'. ° Total for no wickets .. .. 14 NEW ZEALAND. ’ ... First Innings. Dempster, C Rafferty, b Remnant .. 0 Mills, c Reinn tot,- b Lock . . .. 100 Weir,' c Kingsley," b Ward . . .' ' 2 Merritt, b Remnant ‘ .-•• i3B Allcott, c Frearson, b Lock -3 James,' b Lock . . .. . . • • • y $ Kerr.' lbw, b Lock . . • • • • • • Lowry, b Ward . . • • ,* r • • • • Talbot, ’not out ... .. 43 Page, not but .. •• •• •• •• Extras .. . 1... •• 3Total for eight wickets (de- ■’ . dared) .. •• •• • 361 Bowling Analysis.— two for 6S‘; -Fordham, none-for 21; Ward, two for .77; Lock, four for 113; Walters, none for 14. V ; ; V;. - NEW ZEALAND v. ENGLAND PROSPECTS FOR THE TEST AN ENCOURAGING START Specially- .written, for the , Otago Daily- ’ - r Tinjes..,,' v! ;' iT .> ' - By Db Ai J. Habbop.’ •* i

LONDON, May 13.

By the’time this article , reaches New Zealand the test match with England will be hilt a very short time ahead; What are the prospects? 1 First app eai, hncea nlay be deceptive, but they hav.e a very great importance iii' the case of a touring cricket team. A bad impression once formed tak(js a great-ideal of f eradication; is yvhy. everybody^-'was - pleased that .fortune smiled on New- Zealand in the first bounty-match of the tour. ■ : Lovrrjr began-well by winning the toss, and Dempster and Mills started in splendid-style. One would have thought that they were .half way through the toiir, so completely confident did they Appear.: "Certainly no .one would have guessed that' they had had only a very few'hours? practice since arriving in; the country. "i.-V'i <■■■ »'■’ •; J)empster.’s . masterly double century will be talked of.for many a day, ; He .gave,, only, one chance, and .throughout the whole, day, though he did not appear to score particularly fast, he appeared master of< the situation. The effect of such a score on the prestige of the team can scarcely-be over-estimated. It was the first double-century score of the season, and .as such received an enormous: amount of attention in the, newspapers, It is true, that Dempster’s effort- made the score, look a little lopsided,. seeing, that ; MerfittA ,35 , not out was the next highest contribution, but there was really little in the inningfi to suggest that this was a one-man batting side. Blunt’s innings bore the hall-mark pf style, and to many of the critics sitting near me he appeared the moat attractive batsman in the side. It is to be hoped that he runs into batting form earlier this year than on the last occasion, though there will be more need of his bowling talent'. Mills; Kerr, Lowry and Allcott all showed: reasonably good ‘form for their first match, and;Merritt’s innings was a realvgem. -;A total of 425 was-really good, since , the Essex bowling, though not brilliant, is not to be despised. • We.-had expected something good of the batsmen, and the really interesting thing to the New Zealanders who were present was to see how our bowlers shaped, and whether the attention which had been paid to .fielding had borne fruit. O’Connor, the brilliant Essex batsman, scored a. splendid century in the first innings, but in the second he fell a victim to Merritt at 23. O’Connor i's in the front rank of English batsmen, *nd in the previous match he had scored a century against Kent. There will perhaps be two or three bettor batsmeh in England’s; test team against New Zealand, but not more.. Merritt went through the Essex side when.it followed on, and liis eight for 41 was another great advertisement for the prowess of the side. ‘, . . The .fielding was definitely good. Only one real chance was missed, and the ground fielding was splendid. James was in good form behind the stumps, and very, flattering things were said about his wor v by men who spend every summer watching the cream of the world’s cricketers in action.

Going ,on to Leicester, New Zealand compiled the .huge total of 434 for eight wickets against a side which contains several excellent bowlers and gives no runs away. A century by Page and 5*2 by Dempster laid the foundations of the total. Leicester had to follow, and though they made enough in their second innings to declare, it was only the sporting.instinct of the New Zealanders which made defeat even remotely possible. To get LIT runs in an hour against such bowling was almost an impossibility, and the fact that 90 of them were obtained says much for the spirit of the attempt. In facing Hampshire at Southampton the New Zealanders were up against a county whose form is curiously variable, sometimes rising to great heights and perhaps more often descending to the mediocre. Page and Kerr stopped an early collapse, and Kerr went on to score 88, easily the highest total yet scored ‘bv any of the newcomers to England. The value of the innings cannot be over-estimated, as a very low total would have had a depressing effect on the public interest in Saturday’s game with the M.C.C.

It is perhaps early yet to try to determine whether this team of all-

rounders might not have been improved by the inclusion of Blundell, Newman, and Dickinson, or any of the other bowlers who were in the running for places. It is certain that the slow bowlers will be overworked in some of : the matches, though Lowry conserves his resources by skilful changes, I have not yet seen Matheson in action, and can only hope that lie will develop into the fast bowler which the side badly needs. Turning to the test match prospects, it is. first of all necessary to glance at the probable composition of the English team. The county cricket season has started with a wave of enthusiasm, and there have been some notable bowling feats, particularly by the veterans Parker (Gloucester) and Freeman (Kent). A new selection committee, headed by P. F. Warner, is in power, and its policy remains to be seen. It 'is very unlikely, however, that either of these two great bowlers will be selected to play against New Zealand, since they will be hardly in the running, on the score of age, for the team to go to Australia next year. Even if one of them is included, I do not think that the first five or six New Zealand batsmen will be unduly troubled.

We may expect to see Larwood as the fast bowler, and Voce (Notts), Verity (Yorkshire), and Peebles (Middlesex) in or near the team. Among batsmen Sutcliffe, Hammond, and Duleepsinhji select themselves. Whatever the final selection, it may be taken for granted that the New Zealand bowlers and fieldsmen will have to give of their best to dig England out. But I think it very unlikely that the English bowlers will cause a rout. The New Zealand batsmen will have had enough games by the end of June to have reached the top of their form, and, as they will have every incentive to give of their best, it is, I think, safe to look forward to a very interesting game, if the weather is good ami the luck divided reasonably evenly. So far everything has gone well with the team, and the good weather which has prevailed has been a veritable godsend.