WELLINGTON FOLLOWS ON

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26040, 2 January 1946, Page 6

WELLINGTON FOLLOWS ON

CANTERBURY IN STRONG POSITION (P.A.) CHRISTCHURCH, Jan. 1. Canterbury finished the third day of the Plunket Shield. match with Wellington in a very strong position, although the game is still far from won. Wellington failed in its first innings against accurate Canterbury bowling, but, following on, did much better and at the end of the day had a lead of 155 runs with one wicket still to fall. The good recovery staged by Wellington was due primarily to some fine batting by the captain. H. F. Rice, J. Ell and D. S. Wilson, all of whom gave excellent displays. When play ended on the first day Canterbury had scored 318 for the loss of seven wickets. The start of play to-day was delayed for over an hour and when it did start Canterbury’s batting was uninspiring. R. H. Scott added only five to his overnight score of 67 and the innings finally closed in the second over after the luncheon adjournment for 339. R. Buchan finished with seven wickets for 66 runs. Three of the wickets he obtained were literally presented to him, R. C. Shand and A. E. Britton getting out in going for big hits and W. McD. Anderson playing one on to his wicket. Buchan, however, kept a good length and was very hard to score from. When Wellington batted the innings of C. G. Rowe was quite easily the best of the match to that stage. He made only 34 runs, but going in after the opening batsman, Ell, had been dismissed cheaply, immediately took charge of the situation and .scored quickly with some fine strokes. Rice batted well also and looked likely to make a really large score. F. H. Mooney displayed sound defence, but the other Wellington batsmen, except Wilson, were singularly unimpressive. At stumps Wellington had scored 164 for eight wickets. A half hour sufficed to dispose of the last two Wellington wickets this morning and the visiting side followed on, 166 runs behind. Wiren was out early and Rowe, in contrast to his earlier exhilarating display, defended dourly. . When Rowe left two wickets were down for 53, but then Ell and Rice be-

came associated •in an enterprising partnership. Rice played particularly well and, although the Canterbury bowling was accurate on the slow wicket, both batsmen scored quite quickly. They took the score to 135 before Rice was brilliantly held at midon by Butterfield. Rice, for his 72. had played a real captain’s innings and one which was thoroughly appreciated by the crowd. Barber failed for the second time, but Mooney again made some useful runs with neat batting. Ell was out leg before wicket with his score at £6. After a rather uncertain start he had batted very attractively and lost no opportunity of scoring. Wilson had started confidently, but with six down for. 212 Wellington’s chances appeared slim. Wilson lost his partners regularly, but was scoring freely himself all the time. When the ninth wicket fell a half-hour before stumps Wellington was little more than 100 ahead, but.R. Allen assisted Wilson to add an invaluable 44 runs before the close of play and they were still undefeated. Wilson waited for the loose ball, but hit it hard when it came. His fine batting at a crucial stage of the game earned him a very warm reception from the crowd. If Wellington can manage to add a few more to-morrow, Canterbury will have a far from easy task in obtaining an outright win. Scores:— Canterbury First Innings C. V. Walter, b Wilson 13 W. McD. Anderson, b Buchan .. .. 34 R. C. Shand, b Buchan 75 L. A. Butterfield, c Mooney, b Wilson 30 I. B. Cromb, c Wiren, b Buchan .. 1 K. F. M. Uttley, c Barber, b Wilson 47 R. H. Scott, c Rice, b Buchan .. .. 72 H. E. H. Denham, b Buchan .. .. 2 T. B. Burtt, c Rowe, b Buchan .. .. 20 A. E. L.. Britton, b Buchan .. •• 6 D. A. N. Mcßae, not out 2 Extras 37 Total 339

Wellington First Innings A. Wiren, b Burtt 11 J. Ell, c Scott, b Butterfield .... 4 C. G. Rowe, c Cromb, b Burtt .. .. 34 H. F, Rice, c Shand, b Butterfield .. 38 R. T. Barber, b Scott 2 F. H, T. Mooney, b Scott 27 H. B. Cave, std. Britton, b Cromb .. 7 D. S. Wilson, b Scott .. 22 K. Hatch, b Scott 4 R. Buchan, c Burtt, b Scott 7 R. Allen, not out 0 Extras (byes 11, leg-byes 2, no balls 4) 17 Total 173

Scott bowled four no-balls and McCrae one. Second Innings Wiren, lbw, b Burtt 3 Rowe, c McCrae, b Scott 26 Rice, c Butterfield, b Burtt 72 Ell, lbw, b Scott 87 Barber, b Burtt u Mooney, b Denham 20 Wilson not out 72 Cave, lbw, b Cromb 10 Hatch, c Britton, b Scott 8 Buchan, b Burtt 1 Allen, not out 35 Extras 18

Bowling Analysis 0. M. R. W. Hatch 34 10 59 0 Buchan .. .. 39 13 66 7 Wilson 36 6 64 3 Allen 24 5 62 0 Rice 5 0 11 0 Cave Cave bowled one 15 3 no-ball. 40 0

Bowling Analysis O. M. R. W. McCrae 16 11 15 0 Butterfield .. .. 26 10 31 2 Scott 24.5 6 38 5 Burtt 27 9 62 2 Cromb 7 2 10 1 Denham 2 2 0 0

Total (lor nine wickets) Bowling Analysis . 321 O. M. R. VV. McCrae .. .. 20 6 43 0 Scott .. .. 32 r> 88 3 Butterfield .. .. 22 12 34 0 Burtt 13 65 '4 Denham .. .... 9 1 28 1 Cromb .. .. 10 0 45 1