CANTERBURY v. WELLINGTON. CANTERBURY WELL BEATEN. WELLINGTON, January 2.

Otago Witness, Issue 2808, 8 January 1908, Page 62

CANTERBURY v. WELLINGTON. CANTERBURY WELL BEATEN. WELLINGTON, January 2.

Canterbury met Wellington yesterday in fine weather, but the attendance was only moderate for a holiday. The ground -was fa?fc, and the wicket inclined to pc fiery. In consequence, though -the batting* had the upper hand all Bay, the batsmen were always running risks. Luck was with them, and mimerous strokes that might

I have been chances went just wide or high : enough to escape the fieldsmen. Only one , of two that actually came to hand were , missed. Some of the Canterbury fielding, , especially that of Wood, was very good, , but the men were bothered by the springy . nature of the turf, and let balls through their legs, which also happened later on [ to the Wellington men themselves. I The match w.as continued to-day in t beautiful weather. The pitch was not so lively as yesterday, and tast bowling did not trouble the batsmen so The .. attendance was not large. , . - January 3. [ To-day after a, race against the clock ' Wellington again put up a fine score, Beechey- and Blacklock both getting within call of the century, assisted by [ laxity in the field. But for dropped ' catches^-badly dropped, too, some of them ' — Wellington would have been out for a aiuch smaller total. Beechey was corns paratively tame to-day, but Blacklock, I who seems to have inherited the talent of: 1 his uncles, both well kno>wn in the annals j of Wellington cricket, wielded, a powerf fui bat and smacked the bowling; all over T The field. Ho ran plenty of risks, but i gave no actual' chance "till he- was 50. ' Wellington were able to close their r innings at 346 for seven, wickets, leaving • Canterbury - 310 to make and. almost i enough lime to do it if they were lucky. , The captain again set his side a good y example by playing another fine innings, t for- 69, -assisted by a little luck. Orchard 5 was an. able coadjutor, but then there was a collapse till Bennett and Williams by l % stubborn partnership all but caved their j side, the last iricket falling in the final- : over. _ The day was- fine and cool, but t the wicket showed signs, of wear towards . the end. This game saw unusually high i scoring, 1255 runs being scored for 37- ] wickets. Of these over 100 were extras, c Another noticeable feature was the number I, of left-handers engaged, four appearing; on , each side. They made 424 of the runs L among them. The following are the scores-: — ! ♦Welltngtok. — First Innings. ' Hickson, c Boxshall, b Reese . 21 t Beechey, c Orchard, b- Reese . 43 ; . Makoney, two. out ii L | Tucker, c Boxshall, b Bennett -. 34 Monaghan, a Crawshaw, b> WilL Hams 4l ■ Williams, st Boxshall, b Orchard' 58 \ ! BlacHock, c Moorhouse, b Crawj:" " shaw 17 i ' Laws, c Boxshall, T> Oichard . 45 ! G-ibbes, b Oawshaw .. .16 '. ! Bpham, not out -.. .. 12 , ' Hales, c Crawshaw, b Reese ... 2 ;i Extras- * :. .33, ' Total 329 Bowling Analysis. — Williams, 14 overs, 3. ; maidens, 39 runs, 1 wicket;, Bennett,. 13 ! overs, 2 maidens, 52 runs, L wicket; Reese, j 19 overs, 2 maidens, 71 runs, 3 wickets; f Crawshaw, 23 overs, 2 maidens, 89 runs, 2 wickets; Patrick, 5 overs, 18 runs; Orchard, 6 overs, 25 runs, 2 wickets; Anthony, 2 overs, 1 maiden, 2 run's. Wellingtons — Second Innings. Beechey, c Moorhouse, b Reese 94 Mahoney, st Bbxsball, b Reese .. 59 .Gibbes, c Boxshall, b Williams 15 i BlocETock, 'b- Bennett . . .. 93 i Tucker, c BoxsTiall, T> Bennett 1 ' Williams, b- Crawshaw . 29 Hickson, b Benneit- .. „ :c "38 j Laws, not out . . '. ." - . 4 * ; Extras . . , " 13 Total for seven pickets 1 (innings declared closed) 34& Bowling Analysis. — Williams, 96 ..balls, 4t maidens, 44, runs, 1 wicket; Cpawshaw, 102" j balls, 3 maidens, 45 runs, 1 wicket; Eeese, , 126 balls,* 83, runs, 2 wickets; Patrick, 42 balls, 2 maidens, 23 runs; Orchard, 78 balls, 1 - maiden, 61 runs ; Bennett, 132 balls, 3 maidens, 60 runs, 3 'wickets; Moorhouse, 12 t , balls, 17 runs. ' ' CANTERBtraY. — First Innings. Wood, c Williams, >b Hickson 108 Patrick, b TJpkam ... '. 51 Reeee, c Upham, b Hickson. -. 72 " J Moorhoxise, b Hiekson . . -. • 0Orchard, b Hickson »v O Anthony, b Hickson „ 9 Norman, c "Williams, b Hi<vkson 47 isoxshali, c and b Hickson . 21 Williams, lbw, b Monaghan. . 9 Bennett, not out *0 Crawshaw, b Monaghan - >3 Extras ... -- • — . »J Total . . • , - -.366 Bowling Analysis. — TJpliina, 150 Balls, 8 maidens, 65 runs. 1 wicket; Gib)>es, 86 balls, 1 maiden, 71 runs; Tucker, 72 balls, 2 . maidens, 38 runs ; ' Monaghan, 72" balls, 51 ' runs, 2 wickets; Hales, 54 balls, 3 maddens, '26 runs ; Lares, 24 balls, 21 runs ; Hickson, i 96 balls, 4 maidens-, 56 runs, 7 wickets. Cahtekbtthy. — Second Tunings. Wood, o Hickson., i TTpEam . . 18 Patrick, run.' out 17 Beese, b Beecliey -. .. „ .. 69 Moorhouse, c Hickson, b Beechey 0 Orchard, b Hales - ~"& " Anthony, c Hickaon, b Hales , 8 Norman, lbw, b Tucker t Boxshall, b Tucker 3 Bennett, c Laws, b Monaghan . 33 "Williams) lbw, b Monaghan . . . . . 6 j Crawshaw, not out 0 Extras 24. fotal .. ..- 218 Bowling Analysis. — Tucker, 60 balls, S maidens, 18 runs, 2 wickets'; Monaghan, 142 balls, 3 maidens, 43 runs; Hickson, 72 balls. 5 maidens, 24 runs; UpEam, 78 balls, 1 maiden, 50 runs, 1 wicket ; Beechey, 36 balls, 25 runs, 2 wickets; Laws, 30- balls, 1 maiden, 15 runs; Hales, 54 balls, 17 runs, 2 wickets. NOTES ON THE GAME. (Fboie Oto Own Corbeseondent.} WELLINGTON, January 3. The finish of the cricket match, Wellington v. Canterbury, this afternoon was one of the meet exciting ever witnessed here. The match was remarkable for big scoring, at all events, for New Zealand. When the Wellington side declared ita second innings closed, it appeared doubtful- if the Canterbury team could, in the time that remained, knock up the necessary number of runs to. score a win, though later in. the afternoon, when Reese and Orchard got going, runs began to come very fast. Indeed, it seemed squally doubtful on the other hand whether the Wellington bowlers would be able to dispose of the visiting batsmen before half-past 6, and so secure a victory for their side.- There' was every 1 likelihood of a drawn game. The features of Wellington's batting were the fine innings of Blacklock. and Beechey, 93 and 94 respectively. The short, but sturdy Blacklock especially, did some mighty smiting, which hugely delightely the- crowd. He hit two 6's clean out of the ground. On the Canterbury Tide Reese played a fine

innings of 69. At one stage, when he was forcing the pla-v, his strokes displayed great variety. He lost his wicket with the score at 170. It was then apparent that Canterbury could not make a suificient number of runs to win. Later, with the board showing seven wickets for 173, and 55 minutes of the allotted time- to go, the crowd settled down amid suppressed excitement to watch the play. After Norman was disposed of lbw, the Ohristchurch men adopted stonerwalling tactics, Bennett and Williams taking great pains to keep their wickets intact. The Wellington bowlers tempted them with "soft stuff, ajid frequent; changes -^wer-e tried,, but all with no result. Bennett, the more experienced of the two, was batting with confidence, and planned to get most of the bowling. The Wellington; men, .on the other hand, seemed anxious to get the less experienced Williams in front of the wicket, keen even to the extent; of sacrificing an occasional run by leisurelyfielding or slovenly throwing in, but 6 p.m. saw both batsmen still there,, andr 200 runs recorded on the scoring board. At 20 minutes past 6 Williams stepped in, front of his wicket, and was given out Ihw. Apparently he misjudged one of Monaghan'a swerves, and allowed too much for a Break: that did not eventuate. Crawshaw, the iasfc man, came in 10 minutes before the time of drawing stumps. He managed to- keep, a -straight bat, axi-d as Bennett seemed '^set," odds were altogether in favour o£ Canterbury's saving the match. The hands of the. clock, went slowly round, and at' two minutes before time Crawshaw called Bennett for a run, hut the latter cried, " No mut, no mut, no mut," and remained to face the last over. It would have been better had he* taken the "run, for in tha last over, just one~ minute before cr time," he was caught. It was an exciting finish, and a well-deserved win. for Wellington.' The crowd cheered enthusiastically, and -at once rushed the ground to congratulate the victors. • *

ARMSTRONG APOLOGISES.' ' " MELBOURNE, December 30. The dispute between Armstrong and the* Victorian Cricket Association regarding the former's' claim- for expenses in the recent match against South Australia has been* settled. The association, proposed to suspend; Armstrong, but ultimately accepted an" apology and an assurance that such a thing would not occur again.