SHIELD CRICKET

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27276, 30 December 1949, Page 6

SHIELD CRICKET

MATCH AGAINST AUCKLAND OTAGO TEAM UNCHANGED By the Sports Editor Otago’s second Plunket Shield match of the season, against Auckland, will begin at Carisbrook tomorrow morning, and play will be continued on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. The Otago team is the same as that which was defeated by seven wickets by Wellington in the Christmas match at Wellington, and notwithstanding the disappointing form shown by what was generally regarded as a strong batting side, better things will be looked for in the forthcoming match.

Auckland, which is without W. M. Wallace, J. A. Cowie, C. C. Burke and D. C. Cleverley. had its ups and downs against Canterbury and was beaten by five wickets. Although the side does not look so strong on paper as some of Auckland’s teams in recent years, it showed by its splendid secondinnings recovery at Christchurch that it has considerable batting strength, and the next few days should provide some very interesting cricket at Carisbrook. With a little luck, Otago might have held an advantage in the first innings against Wellington, but its grip on the game was allowed to relax and the failure of several recognised batsmen enabled Wellington to gain a comfortable outright win on the third day. Supporters of the home side are hopeful enough to believe, however, that if the earlier batsmen can only become entrenched, Otago will yet prove its batting strength with a respectable total against Auckland. There are grounds for satisfaction, too, in the success obtained An the first innings by G. W. F. Overton and E. Watson, who were the principal members of the Otago attack, and with Roberts, Smith and Groves in support, Otago’s bowling should not lack variety. The Auckland team will be headed by V. J. Scott, successful opening batsman on the New Zealand team’s English tour, and J. Hardstaff, the well-known English test cricketer. During the past 10 years, Scott has been a thorn in the side of Otago bowlers, and on his last appearance at Carisbrook two years ago he made 204. Before that he had also scored 167 and 100 in matches against Otago. Although O. C. Cleal is the only other accepted -first-class batsman in the side, the wicket-keeper, L. A. Kent, is'h left-hander with some good scores against his name, and he had bad luck in missing his hundred against Canterbury. Young batsmen in the side are D. L. Perry and D. D. Coleman, the latter a nephew of the former New Zealand representative C. C. Dacre. B. Donaldson is a good all-rounder who batted well and displayed some hostility with his medium-paced deliveries against Canterbury The attack is largely of the medium-paced variety, and besides Donaldson there are J. Hollywood. K. Dollery, F. E. Hemmingson, and J. games have been played at Carisbrook this year owing to the returfing operations which have been undertaken, but there are good grounds for the hope that Mr A. Ross will produce a wicket to yield plenty of runs. A close match may be expected.