HAS MADE 1002 RUNS ON TOUR ALREADY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18189, 23 June 1927, Page 1

HAS MADE 1002 RUNS ON TOUR ALREADY.

BLUNT TOPS BIG TOTAL WELL AHEAD OF LOWRY.

The score of 195, which Blunt made against Northumberland, brings his totai of runs for the tour to 1002. He is the first member of the team to reach a four-figure total. Blunt's innings against Northumberland was his twentieth iij England, and his performance of reaching 1000 in this innings is a very creditable one. Seven members of the Australian team, which visited England last year, made over 1000 runs during the tour, but Macartney was the only one of the seven to reach four figures in his twentieth innings. Bardsley and Woodfull each required 21 innings, Ponsford 20, Andrews 27, Ryder 35 and Taylor 39.

Blunt's total of .195 is the highest individual score made for the New Zealanders in England. The previous highest was the total of 188 made by Mills in the opening match. This is Blunt’s second century, lie opened the tour by scoring 119 Martineau’s ■eleven. In addition to his two centuries,' Blunt has made 50 or over in seven innings. In the first innings of the Essex match he was dismissed for one, and in the first of the Cambridge University game he failed to score. These are the only two occasions on which he lias failed to reach double figures, and in only one other innings, the second of the Leicestershire match, when he made a dozen, has he failed to make over 20.

Blunt’s scores in England are as follow:—119, 52, 51. 1, 21. 0, 72. 12, 27, 61, 76. 67, 38, 27*, 50, 25, 24. 12, 42 and 195. This is a total of 1002 runs made in 20 innings, and, with one not out, his average is 52.73. Next to Blunt in the aggregate of runs for the tour is Lowry, whose total now stands at 894. At one time it looked as if Lowry would be the first to reach the 1000 mark, but in the last few matches Blunt has scored more consistently and has outdistanced him. Lowry has plaj-ed one innings less than Blunt.