Well-balanced Grange Team Deserves Honours

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27042, 29 March 1949, Page 8

Well-balanced Grange Team Deserves Honours

Sports Commentary

By the Sports Editor

The Otago Cricket Association’s senior competition, which ended on Saturday, provided some excellent games with more than one surprising result. Grange, which is the champion side for 1948-49, is to be congratulated on its performance. It gained three outright victories, and five wins on the fust innings, suffering only one reverse. This was against University, when it lost outright after leading on the first innings. This gave Grange a total of 58 points, 18 ahead of its nearest rival, Dunedin.

Grange had considerable batting strength and a useful attack, but the most pleasing feature was the fielding, which was perhaps to be expected of a team coached by that outstanding all-rounder of a few years ago. A. W. Galland. Grange fielded a particularly young team, with a leavening of experience represented by players of the calibre of C. J. Elmes, who ably led the side, T. A. Freeman, A. M. Moir, and D. M. Dunriet, who is still one of the most polished wicket-keepers in the Dominion Elmes and Freeman were the mainstays of the attack and both made useful contributions with the bat. Their performance in the first match against Carisbrook when each scored a century after six wickets had fallen was really the turning point in the competition. Freeman finished second in the batting averages with 30.11. and Elmes fourth with 26.66, while the former took 52 wickets for the season, truly an excellent effort. Elmes obtained 35 wickets, and as captain he set a fine example in the field which culminated in three brilliant catches in the final match. This pair were well supported by the bowling of E. J. Stephenson, who, if he paid more attention to length and direction, would be an even more successful bowler. The batting averages were headed by A. M. Moir, who scored 536 runs and had an average of 48.72. He made an excellent 164 against Carisbrook, the highest tally for the season. At his best Moir is an attractive batsman and if he would temper his aggression with more discretion he would be unquestionably a candidate for a place in the Otago Plunket Shield team. W. S. Haig is an excellent opening batsman, with a preference for on-side play, and his consistency is shown by his scoring 313 runs with an average of 26.08. Of the younger players, N. McGregor was, of course, the most outstanding, but unfortunately after the shield games he had to enter hospital to undergo an operation. McGregor is a fine prospect and his reappearance next season will be awaited with interest. J. A. Warner, W. J. Berry, and S. McAlpine showed promise, and with the Payne brothers, Ivan and lan, to complete the list, Grange has a very well-balanced side which will be a force to reckon with for some seasons to come. Notable Advance Dunedin came from last place to fill that of runner-up. This side, too, is a young one and was excellently served by the consistent and accurate bowling of the left-hander, E. Kruskopf, ably supported by Murray Muir, the -young right-hand slow-medium bowler, who swings the ball very late and bowls an excellent off-break. Also in this good team was Stuart Jones, a fast bowler of real promise. Jones made marked progress towards the end of the season and credit for the improvement is due to R. O. Talbot, the former New Zealand representative, who had this colt in his coaching group throughout the season.

The captain, J. M. O’Sullivan, bowled well with moderate success, but Dunedin's attack lacked variety and too great a burden was placed on the stalwart shoulders of Kruskopf. The team would be well advised to develop a young slow bowler to give more variety to the attack. L. B. Graham and H. Claridge showed ex-

Plunket Shield player a few years ago. He was well supported by L. A. Milnes, and D. R. McKay, who reappeared in the team in the later stages, had some good performances against his name. T. Minnihan. a newcomer from Wellington, proved a useful all-rounder. The bowling was not sufficiently hostile to dismiss good batting sides, but undoubtedly the team suffered through the loss of R. Carter before the new year, this bowler having accomplished many impressive performances. I. W. Gallaway was a good leader and also gave many impressive displays behind the wickets. Albion-YMCA showed inconsistent form, but after a bad beginning, produced several good performances. With men of the calibre of L. D. Smith, R. H. Robinson, E. Watson, and L. Watson, however, it should have done better. Smith had a good season, scoring nearly.soo runs, which included one innings of 160, and his left-hand slow spinners were a valuable part of the attack. The Watson brothers, Len and Eric, also performed well. Len scored over 400 runs, and both proved themselves ideal openers. Eric Watson also developed into one of the most serviceable medium-paced bowlers in the competition and took nearly 40 wickets. Combined with his excellent slip fielding, this should make him a prospect for shield honours next season. P. Miller, a useful member of the attack with his pacy deliveries, but a No. 11 batsman, provided the feature of the club's season by scoring a century against Grange and being unbeaten at the finish. A Old Boys, which shared fourth place with Albion-YMCA, a point ahead of North-East Valley, were a disappointing side, and with the young players of ability available should have figured higher up in the list. As it turned out, however, the side had to depend too much on the seasoned players such as G. H. Mills, still in the opinion of so many the best wicket-keeper-batsman in the Dominion, L. J. Groves, a firstclass all-rounder, and V. J. Leader. As a matter of fact, Groves and Leader carried much of the burden of the attack, where R. P. Partridge also had considerable success. Of the younger players, D. S. St. John and R. N. Couper performed moderately well, and the former justly earned the reputation of being one of the finest cover fields in the country. Colin Graham was disappointing and perhaps this promising young player is suffering from over concentration. Promising Side North-East Valley made pleasing progress, and with a young side, promises to play a prominent part in the competition for some years to come. One of the main factors in North-East Valley’s success was the bowling of the Walsh brothers, who have been among the most prolific wicket-takers in the competition, with a number of outstanding performances to their credit. Ivan Walsh made an auspicious debut in Plunket Shield cricket, and with the natural improvement to be expected of a young player of his ability, this medium-fast bowler should become one of Otago’s mainstays in the seasons to come. His brother, Brian, a left-hand medium-pace bowler, who swings the ball most awkwardly at times, to a large extent fulfilled his promise of earlier seasons and his figures were almost invariably good. Of the North-East Valley batsmen,, much promise was shown by D. Simpson. a former Waitaki boy, who scored consistently and ran into top form towards the end of the season. Others who did well were R. Hannam, a former Auckland player, who contributed some good scores; R. Peart, a solid batsman and capable captain; Bruce Barnes, whose scores included a century and who was a more than useful wicket-keeper; - R. Blair, and the Walsh brothers, who could be depended on to make runs when required. At the beginning of the season University appeared to be one of the likely top teams, but frequent lapses in the field proved very costly and the side, the only one to defeat the competition winners, fell away at crucial moments. In R. T. Hunt and L. C. Baker, University had an excellent opening pair, and their performances were usually well above the average. Hunt scored consistently and well, and his performances entitled him to be placed as equal to any strokemaker in the competition. M. H. Buckenham, the Brabin Shield player, is an all-rounder of considerable ability, and should develop in the next few seasons. All round, University had the makings of a first-claSs team when it could call on other players such as R. W. Orr, a really good fast bowler and a batsman capable of making runs quickly; V. A. C. McArley, whose accuracy always makes him a menace to the batsmen; J. H. Heslop, whose swing bowling when it is well directed, is always difficult to play; and T. F. C. Geary, who in the later stages of the season was University’s most consistent scorer, not surprising since Geary was a member of the Otago team some years ago. The students’ poor placing was therefore all the more disappointing. Kaikorai was perhaps affected by the loss of several players, but the side has a number of good cricketers in its ranks, notable among them being L A. Watt, opening batsman for the Otago Shield team: G. G. McGregor, a former Plunket Shield player and captain of the team; A. N. Lawson, and F. Stanley. a fast bowler who, with more attention to length, would develop very considerably. A young player In this club, T. Flaws, is recognised as one of the coming wicket-keepers in the province, and L. F. Townsend, the former English professional, who saw him in Christchurch, considers him one of the best young wicketkeepers he has seen in New Zealand.

cellent batting form, and both were among the century-makers. B. Haig was a very promising wicket-keeper. J. White, "too, is a colt with good strokes and more will be heard of him. Carisbrook, which finished third, was erratic in performance, and its batting lacked concentration. Its fielding, too. was a mixture of good and bad. In T. C. Fraser, however, the side had one of the most polished batsmen in the competition, and it was pleasing to see this player rapidly returning to the form which made him a successful