CRICKET.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 18763, 30 December 1930, Page 9

CRICKET.

SHEFFIELD SHIELD MATCH. ' I DRAWN GAME IN MELBOURNE. United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright (Received December 29, 10.15 p.m.) MELBOURNE, December 29. The much postponed Sheffield shield game, Victoria versus New South Wales, entered upon its last day to-day In ideal weather. The Victoria’s first innings closed with a total of 185 (Ponsford 109 not out). Fairfax took four wickets for 41, Stewart two for 65. The New South Wales batsmen speeded up, in order to try to gain the requisite runs for a first innings victory. In consequence, wickets fell cheaply. Bradman went for two, McCabe for 10, Kippax four, but Jackson made a useful stand of 53 not out, six wickets having fallen at stumps. The match was drawn. Bowling for Victoria, Ironmonger took one wicket for 26, and Blackie two for 16. AUSTRALIAN TEAM FOR NEW ZEALAND. BOARD OF CONTROL REJECTS PROPOSAL United Press Association—Uy Electric Telegraph—Copyright (Received December 29, 10.15 p.m.) MELBOURNE, December 29. At a meeting of the Australian Board of Cricket Control to-day, New Zealand's request for an Australian team to tour the Dominion was declined. PLUNKET SHIELD GAME. CANTERBURY’S SENSATIONAL WIN. FOUR MINUTES TO SPARE. Ey Telegraph—Press Association. CHRISTCHURCH, December 29. No more thrilling finish has ever been seen to a cricket match than that between Canterbury and Auckland at Lancaster Park to-day. Canterbury won by four wickets, the winning hit being made five minutes before the time for the drawing of stumps. No previous match on the old ground has seen such turbulent excitement as that which prevailed during the last hour .of play. There was continuous uproar from an excited crowd. Canterbury had been set the herculean task of making 473 in the fourth innings of the match, and great as is the uncertainty of cricket probably no one gave them more than the remotest of chances. However, the earlier batsmen paved the way to such purpose that by the middle of the afternoon the game had been evened up, and thereafter It was increasingly in Canterbury’s favour. The weather was beautifully fine, indeed it could not have been better, for a mild but not cold easterly tempered the midsummer heat, and made the conditions ideal. The wicket wore remarkably well. Canterbury put on their huge score by a combination of sound and resolute batting and a more than usual amount of luck that comes to a side. This consisted of numerous dropped catches. Most of the chances were difficult, but some of them were such as any good fieldsman should have taken, and each dropped catch brought the local men nearer to victory.

It is not always the highest scorer who plays the soundest cricket, but there was not the slightest doubt as to Hamilton's right to the palm. He played the “rock game, probably by instructions. and to such good purpose that he took a lot of sting out of the bowling and made the task of harderhitting batsmen who followed him much easier. Sounder defence against uniformly good bowling has rarely been shown by a Canterbury batsman. Hour after hour he gave the ball the full face of the bat with hardly an incorrect or ill-considered stroke, until it savoured of the heartbreak for bowlers. His scoring strokes, though infrequent, were well executed, and some of his boundary shots towards the close of his innings were iirst-class. Kerr played beautiful cricket for his 73. It was a totally different type of batting to Hamilton's. Herr is an aggressive batsman, and he made his runs by magnificent shots all round the wicket, but good baLman as he is he looked more likely to get cut than the left-hander. Roberts played an invaluable innings for his 64, and his second-wicket partnership with Hamilton, which put on 135 runs was no sman factor in the side's success. Those who have watched Talbot in club cricket recently would not be surprised when he made a useful contribution to the total. Seldom has such exhilirating cricket been seen at Lancaster Park as that provided by the Page-Talbot partnership. They forced the pace in great style, and the way they ran sharp singles worked the onlookers up to a high pitch of excitement. From the start of their partnership to the tea adjournment they put on 92 runs in 50 minutes. What with fast scoring and missed catches, it was thrilling cricket. Talbot showed very sound defence to the balls he elected to deal defensively with, but they were not many. He was always looking for the runs, and many came even off his defensive strokes. Page shared with Talbot the honours of a fast-scoring partnership that made victory possible. Without it the runs could not have been scored in the time

for an outright win. The Canterbury skipper gave a fine exhibition of sound but aggressive cricket. He met the good bowling with the soundest of defence, but rarely failed to take advantage of anything loose. His judgment in the sharp singles, too, was an object lesson, for many of them might be termed absolutely “cheeky.” Had they been attempted by any other batsmen they would have been called suicidal. No little praise is due to Jacobs for his 46 not out. He went in at a time when runs had to he made quickly, and it is doubtful if any of those who followed him would have made them quickly enough, but the Riccarton colt was equal to the occasion, for he defended with the ease and correctness of a veteran, and by the best of strokes he made the runs fast enough to see the required total on the board when he went back to the pavilion unbeaten. The Auckland out-cricket was of a very mixed character. The bowling was ( uniformly good and was never loose. Most of the batsmen in the first innings made it look difficult. To-day they made it look easy. Wensley, who bowled so successfully in the first innings, failed to get a wicket, yet one would hesitate to say that he did not bowl as well. Allcott was easily the best bowler. He kept an immaculate length, and was rarely off the wicket, with the result that the batsmen could take few liberties with him. A remarkable feature of the bowling was the number of no-balls. Eighteen are included i:i the score, and to these have to be added many that were scored off. This is probably a record for a Plunket Shield match. The Aucklanders gave a fine exhibition of ground fielding, but their catching was shocking, and probably no one can recall a Plunket Shield match innings in which so many chances were dropped. Scores were as follows: AUCKLAND. First Innings 164 Second Innings 537 CANTERBURY. First Innings .. 299 Second Innings. Kerr, lbw, b McCoy .. .. .. 73 Hamilton, st. Hunt, b McCoy .. 80 Roberts, c McCoy, b Weir .. .. 64 Talbot, c McCoy, b Cleverley .. 74 Page, lbw, b Allcott 56 Jacobs, not out 46 Cromb, c Mills, b Allcott .. .. 15 Merritt, not out 10 Extras 53 Total (for six wickets) .. .. 473 PLUNKET SHIELD WELLINGTON BEAT OTAGO. By Telegraph—Press Association. WELLLINGTON. December 29. The otago- \ * ellington Shield match was concluded to-day in dull, misty weather, Wellington winning by 202. Otago's inree remaining wickets carried Saturday’s score to 195. Dunning, handicapped by an injured ankle, gave a good display in contributing 42 runs to the total—the best individual batting effort of the match for Otago. The last three men held out for three-quarters of an hour. j.he scores were:— WELLINGTON. First innings 189 Second innings .. 369 OTAGO. First innings 161 Second Innings. Cavanagh, c McGirr b Crook .. 14 Cherry, c James, b Crook 48 Blunt, b J. Newman 11 Moloney, c ivxcLeod, b Blundell .. 19 Elmes, c James, b J. Newman .. 2 Badcock, b J. N.wman 5 Alloo, c Newman, b Gallichan . 10 Galland, run out 15 Dunning, b Blundell 42 Hawksworth, c James, b Crook .. l Lemin, not out 3 Extras 19 Total 195 Bowling.—Crook, 3 for 62; Blundell 2 for 48; A. Newman 0 for 10; J. Newman 3 for 28; McLeod, 0 for 12; Gallichan 1 for 16. CANTERBURY v. WELLINGTON. The Canterbury team to play Wellington on New Year’s Day will be the same as that that which played Auckland, except that R. Read replaces Burrows, who is unavailable. SOUTH CANTERBURY TEAM. The following team has been selected to play the Wellington touring team at Fraser Park on December 31 and January Ist: D. J. Mcßeath, captain (Timaru). J. D. Buchanan (Timaru). W. Cuthbertson (Celtic). C. Harding (Celtic). S. D. Mason (Celtic). R. Mason (Celtic). W. McDougall (School). D. Manning (School). G. Moore (Timaru). J. Shcrratt (Star). R. E. Gregory (Timaru).