BATTING OF SENIOR TEAMS NOT IMPRESSIVE

Southland Times, Issue 23377, 8 December 1937, Page 11

BATTING OF SENIOR TEAMS NOT IMPRESSIVE

Marshall Accomplishes “Hat

Trick” For Union

(By

NOT OUT)

Saturday’s batsmen in senior cricket have little cause to congratulate themselves on their play, for in both matches the scoring was disappointing. When Appleby succeeded in dismissing Marist for a meagre 60 it appeared that the home team would have everything in its favour, but its score of 71 placed the team practically level with its opponents, and on the day’s play neither side has a definite advantage, although Ryan has made a good start with 41 not out in Marist’s second innings.

The scoring was slightly better in the Old Boys-Union match, Union’s 172 being the best total of the day. Old Boys’ 113 was contributed by about four players, and five batsmen were dismissed without scoring. The feature of the day in senior cncket was a hat trick by Marshall, the Union bowler, who dismissed three Old Boys batsmen with successive balls. Apart from that, however, he did not secure wickets, and finished up with three for 47 in eight overs. Old Boys’ wicket at the High School ground definitely favoured the batsmen. It was fairly fast, very true and the bowlers were unable to obtain mu?h fire out of the wicket. The batting of both teams was disappointing. Marshall, of Union, and Hawke, of Old Boys, were the only two players who batted with confidence. Marshall generally goes in late in the innings, but on Saturday he was sent in fourth wicket down and justified his promotion by top-scoring with 46. The Uttley-McColl partnership gave the Union side a good start, both batting slowly and running many short singles. Uttley batted well until he stepped out to one from Scandrett, missed, and was stumped by Hawke. Hamilton and Marshall, who attacked the bowling in lively fashion, carried the score to near the 100 mark and appeared to be set for a good total when Pickard up-ended Hamilton’s leg pin with a splendid ball. Swinney was the only one of the later batsmen who looked like getting runs. D. F. Paterson, who has a record of good performances in Wellington cricket, played in his first game for Union, and showed himself to be a free forcing bat and a potential run getter. Scandrett, however, trapped him on the off with a short one. Pickard, the Old Boys medium pace right-hander, had to bear the brunt of the attack and his bowling on Saturday showed a return to the form which brought him into prominence a few seasons back. He can spin the ball and manage to strike a length almost immediately. He was well supported by Scandrett, the leg break bowler, who was inclined to be a little erratic, but bowled splendidly on a wicket that was not helpful to spin bowlers. He secured the major bowling honours with six wickets for 50 runs. Wesney kept a good length and his bowling was worthy of at least two or three wickets. GOOD WICKET KEEPING A feature of the Old Boys fielding was the excellent wicket-keeping by Hawke. He showed a return to his old form, taking the ball cleanly and bringing off some very smart stumpings. He also dismissed a batsman with a good catch. The returning of the ball to the wicket-keeper by the majority of the fieldsmen was poor and three or four run-outs were missed by faulty throwing. With four wickets down for 15, 20 minutes after the start of its innings, it appeared that Old Boys was going to collapse completely, but Hawke and Luzmoor saved the day with some hard hitting which produced 56 runs in quick time. Scandrett and Wesney opened for Old Boys to the bowling of Marshall and McColl. Both started confidently, 14 runs coming off Marshall’s first over However, when Wesney was seven he was unlucky enough to be bowled by a ball which hit his pads. It was well outside the leg stump. Robison joined Scandrett and Marshall settled down to a very fine spell of bowling. He had Robison caught at short leg and Johnston and Gilbertson followed with the next two balls. At this stage Marshall was bowling excellently, with plenty of pace and keeping a fine length. The only batsmen to show any form were Hawke, Mackie and Luzmoor. Hawke played a vigorous fighting knock, watching the good balls and hitting the loose ones really hard. Uttley, the medium pace bowler, set a leg field and swung the ball rather dangerously. He secured a few wickets bowling slow leg breaks late in the Old Boys innings. The Union fielding was good and Poole handled his attack excellently. PROCESSION OF BATSMEN TEAMS DISMISSED FOR SMALL TOTAL Purdue is always liable to get good batsmen early, even under the best of conditions, but Marist’s total was surprisingly small nevertheless. Appleby, however, had even less excuse for its performance. Marist’s bowling did not appear to be deadly enough to justify such an insignificant total, and the result can only be due to bad batting. For Marist it was not until the tenth man, Mahoney, went in that a double-figure score was made, and it was only 14. The opening partnership was broken with the first ball from C. McKenzie five minutes after the start and there was a constant procession of batsmen after that until 3.15, when the whole side was out. The longest innings was that of Fraser, who stayed in for 20 minutes. Marist got a better start in the second innings, though it was whollj’ due to Ryan. His was the only good exhibition in the match, although he was assisted by a couple of lives in the slips. Appleby was unfortunate in being without the services of Spence, who generally opens with Milne. Milne was bowled by the second ball of the innings, by Forde, before he had scored and seven wickets fell in the short space of 43 minutes. McKenzie batted soundly for 17, but it was left to Foster to show that the bowling could be hit and scored off. Purdue is recovering from influenza and was unable to get into the firing line. McKenzie bowled very well, especially in the second innings, and deserves better figures than he has so far. Forde, the Marist player, has the makings of a good fast bovzler and should develop into a first-class cricketer. His performance on Saturday, when he took six wickets for 33, was the best for the day. He was well supported by Brittenden, the left hand medium pace bowler, who took the other four wickets for 23. The prospects may be considered fairly even now, and both sides are

confident that they can win, so a good game may yet result from this spirit of keenness. Appleby missed a good chance of obtaining a useful first innings lead, and with the partial recovery of Marist in the second innings the finish should be interesting. COMPETITION POINTS POSITION OF TEAMS IN ALL GRADES SENIORS

INVERCARGILL TEAM TO TOUR MATCHES AT ASHBURTON, TIMARU AND OAMARU Arrangements are now being made for the tour of a team about Christmas time to play matches in Timaru, Ashburton and Oamaru. The match at Timaru will probably be played on December 27 and 28, although these dates are not yet definite, and the team will then play Ashburton on December 30. From there it will go to Oamaru and play North Otago on December 31 and on New Year’s Day. The team has not yet been selected, but it is understood that plenty of good players are available. It is to be hoped that this will be the forerunner of other trips by Southland players, as experience in interprovincial cricket, even in the smaller centres, is of inestimable value. Unfortunately the Southland Cricket Association is not a wealthy body and has to cut its cloth according to its purse. Arrangements for the Christmas tour are in the hands of Mr C. Brew. The Invercargill Club will send a team to play Northern District at Lumsden on Saturday, the second day of its bye. WOMEN’S TEAM FOR AUSTRALIA SOUTHLAND PLAYERS FOR TRIAL MATCH With the visit to Australia in view, six women players have been selected to represent Southland in a trial match to be played in Christchurch tomorrow and on Friday. They are Mrs E. Blackie, Miss B. Ingram, Miss M. Thomas, Miss I. Dickson, Miss C. Baker and Miss Hazel Maley. It is not yet certain, however, whether Miss Maley will be able to go north. Mrs E. Blackie, who has been playing cricket since 1933 when women’s cricket started in Invercargill, is an all-round player. Mrs Blackie is better known as Miss Esther Ferguson and has represented Southland at cricket on a number of occasions. She has a wide range of strokes and plays a beautiful cover shot. She bowls a fast ball and at times nips in from the off with a lot of pace. Mrs Blackie’s fielding is exceptionally good, and she is also a very capable captain. Miss Ingram has been playing cricket since 1933 and is an all-round player who bowls a slow to medium fast ball with a good length, and swerves quite a lot. She is a very steady bat who scores mostly in front of the wicket, but also has a good leg shot. Her fielding is very dependable, especially at mid-on or mid-off. Miss M. Thomas has also played cricket for at least three years, and is an all-round player who has a century to her credit. Miss Thomas bowls a fast ball and can break in from the off and swerves in from the leg. In batting she has a particularly good square cut and a good drive over the bowler’s head. Miss Thomas is a sound field in any position—specially in the outfield. Miss Dickson is another all-rounder who has been playing since the begining of women’s cricket. Like Miss Ingram she is a steady bat who is particularly severe on anything pitched on the leg, but she also has a wide variety of strokes. Bowling she is a medium pace right hander, who swerves in from the leg. Miss Dickson is a good field and at mid-off has taken many catches, and can take the gloves when necessary. Miss Baker has been playing cricket for a number of years and is another all-rounder who bowls a good slow off-break and often gets wickets through varying her pace. In batting Miss Baker displayed fine form recently scoring with beautiful shots all round the wicket. Miss Maley, who with Miss Baker comes from Mataura, is a fast bowler who has some fine performances to her credit. She is an agressive batswomen and also a good field. Wellington has been asked to arrange for its match with Auckland to be played at an early date, and, if possible, also play a match with Nelson. It is expected that the Auckland-Wel-lington match will be played at the Basin Reserve on December 25 and 27, but it is doubtful whether a match with Nelson can be arranged. Nominated as Wellington’s candidates for the New Zealand women’s team to go to Australia were:—Misses D. Hatcher, J. Holmes, M. Corby, J. Stenberg, M. Simpson, I. Pickering, A. Ell, B. Porter. H. McLellan, H. Ashenden,

and L. Harris. Mrs D. Simons has been nominated as manageress. The names of Misses Corby, Hatcher, Pickering, Holmes, Ell, McLellan, and Ashenden have been sent forward to the New Zealand selector (Mr W. R. Patrick, of Invercargill). The team is to go to Australia early in the New Year. COLLEGIATE BEATS HIGH SCHOOL Collegiate A lost no wickets for its first innings total of 118 in its match against High School, only four players batting for this total. Miss Thomas made the top score of 42, hitting a lusty 6 and half a dozen 4’s, and Miss Ingram played a good game for 40. Miss Dickson and Miss Ferguson made 11 and 16 respectively. High School replied with 25 and 32, the only player to reach double figures being Miss McCalnan, who made 17 not out. Miss Blackie took four of the School wickets for four runs, Miss Thomas two for six and Miss Swale two for seven.

Including November 20 Ch. Pts. Plyd. 4 Pt. 2 Pt. Union 2 1 1 6 Appleby 1 1 - 4 Old Boys 1 - 1 2 Marist 2 — — 0 Invercargill 2 - - 0 JUNIOR A Including December 4 Railway 3 1 2 8 Bluff 3 2 — 8 Old Boys 2 2 2 8 Appleby 2 2 - 8 Marist 2 1 — 4 High School 3 1 — 4 Georgetown 3 1 - 4 Invercargill 3 — - 0 Union 3 - - 0 JUNIOR B Including November 27 Appleby 4 2 2 12 Railway 4 2 1 10 Bluff 4 2 — 8 Borstal 4 1 - 4 Kiwi 4 - - 0 THIRD GRADE Including November 27 Marist 5 4 - 16 Old Boys 5 3 1 14 Appleby 4 3 1 14 Georgetown 5 2 — 8 High A 4 2 - 8 High B 5 2 — 8 Union 4 1 1 6 High C 4 - — 0 ♦Kiwi 1 — — 0 ‘Withdrawn from competition.