TOWN V. COUNTRY CRICKET MATCH.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18629, 5 December 1928, Page 10

TOWN V. COUNTRY CRICKET MATCH.

M. L. PAGE MAKES 24 FALLS TO MERRITT.

The annual Town' v. Country cricket fixture was clayed at Lancaster Park to-day. rhb weather was dull and the attendance small. When play commenced—thirty minutes late—two men, G. R. Gregory and W. 11. R. Cunning ham, were missing from the Town team. The services of W. E. Merritt were called on and C. T. Rix filled the other vacancy. As C. M. Harris was not available, the Town Team was still one short.

The Town team was composed mainly of young club players, the selectors evidently looking for material. C. G. Crawford was captain. M. L. Page, skipper, was the only .player of note in the Country team, D. C. Nixon having been unable to get into town.

G. M’Beath and H. Grimwood were the opening batsmen for Country, Page having won the toss. Neither impressed and both wickets were down with only 9 runs on the board. The destructive agents were S. G. Lester and S. Yates, the bowlers who did so well against the Minor Associations’ team. Both were bowling well. Yates was maintaining a perfect length, and was treated with the utmost respect. Lester had Page tied up, and the New Zealand representative was a little lucky. J: L. Powell was given the ball, but his two overs produced 16 runs, which included three Attractive boundary shots by Page. A double change was effected, L. Lindley and Merritt going on. With his second ball Merritt beat Page all the way. 48—3—24.

Page had given a good display, but had not shown his best form. His defence was solid and he put plenty of power into an off-drive and square-cut. He gave the impression that he needed practice against good bowling. Stokes joined Hamilton, a left-hander who was batting nicely, but the last ball brought about the new man’s dismissal. In his first over Merritt had taken two for 0. After a sound and patient display Hamilton was cleanbowled by Lindley. 56—5—10. With the dismissal of Page and Hamilton, the resistance was weak. French was the next victim. 63 —6—4.

Croft and England, a former St Albans player, made a stand for the eighth wicket. After an attractive innings, Croft was bowled by Yates. 130 —B—34. The eighth wicket had realised 47. Merritt was brought on again, and quickly accounted for the tail. The innings closed at 1 p.m. for 139 runs. England carried his bat after a useful innings for 20.

There was little of incident or brilliance in the Country’s innings, but Page, Hamilton, Croft and England all gave promising displays with the bat. An unusual feature was that the first eight batsmen were clean bowled. The bowling was of a good and even standard. There was little of devil, but the bowling of Merritt, Yates and Lester was above average club standard. Rix proved expensive, and failed to take a wicket. The fielding was patchy, and Hahn was only fair behind the stumps. Scores:—

COUNTRY. First Innings. G. M’Beath, b Yates 4 11. Grimwood, b Lester 1 H. W. Hamilton, b Lindley 10 M. L. Page, b Merritt 24 D. Stokes, b Merritt 0 F. French, b Hobbs 4 W. Doak, b Lester ... .; 15 G. Croft, b Yates 34 N. E. England, not out 20 T. Drayton, stpd Hahn b Merritt 7 P. J. Lindsay, run out 0 Extras 20 Total 139 Bowling analysis.—S. G. Lester, 10 overs, 2 maidens, 21 runs, 2 wickets; S. Yates, 10 overs, 4 maidens, 17 runs, 2 wickets; W. E. Merritt, 3.2 overs, 1 maiden, 7 runs, 3 wickets; G. H. G. Hobbs, 6 overs, 1 maiden, 15 runs, 1 wicket; J. L. Powell, 2 overs, 16 runs; C. T. Rix, 5 overs, 20 runs; L. Lindley, 6 overs, 23 runs, 1 wicket. PRIMARY SCHOOL FINAL. The Elmwood and Sydenham School ifons 8 ’ In a th? sl-hoo 1 s’° 'cric ke t °coinpTtltion. met in the final at Hag-ley Park on Monday and Tuesday of this week. Elmwood won by ten wickets. The standard of play was high on both sides, Elmwood’s first innings’ total ef 223 being’ a particularly good effort; Scores:— SYDENHAM. First Innings. R. Brown, b Patrick 3 3 Squire, Ibw b Patrick 26 fiosney, b Patrick 8 Campbell, c Airey b Priest 6 Brooks, c. Smith b Priest 13 M’Ewin, c Lynch b Patrick 2 Tavlor, b Patrick 3 0 Gray, not out 13 Worley, c Airey b Patrick ....... . 6 Newell, c Lynch b Priest 3 Boniface, b Patrick Total 131 Bowling analysis.—Patrick, 25.2 over*, 8 maidens, 52 runs, 7 wickets; Priest, 24 overs, 8 maidens, 87 runs, 3 wickets. Second Innings. Brooks, c Lynch b Patrick 8 Gray, b Patrick . . 4 Taylor, b Priest . . - 0 Gosney, e Rich b Priest 7 Brown, c- Martin b Priest ........ 15 Squire, b Patrick 3 Campbell, b Priest 0 Worley, rurt out 1 M’Ewin, ibw b Fowke 4 Boniface, not out 18 Extras ... -a. 7 Total 9 4 Bowling analysis.—Priest. 17.2 overs, 7 maidens, 19 runs, 5 wickets; Patrick, 20 overs, 7 maidens, 5 2 runs, 3 wickets; Fowke, 6 overs, 10 runs, 1 wicket.

ELMWOOD. First Innings. J. Patrick, c Taylor b Campbell . . 5 Airey, c Taylor b Brown 2 Legget, b Brooks 59 Rich, c Gray b M’Ewin 11 Martin, b Campbell o 9 Smith, b Brooks *1 Rich, b Brooks 26 Castles, c and b Campbell |3 Fowke, run out 1 ’ Priest, run out 17 Lynch, not out Extras 11 Total 223 Bowling analysis.—Campbell, 7 overs 1 maiden. 21 runs, 3 wickets; Brooks, 2_ overs 1 maiden, 54 runs, 3 wickets; Brown, SO overs, 7 maidens, 61 runs, 1 wicket; M’Ewin, 9 overs, 3 8 luns, 1 wicket. . Elmwood made the necessary runs to win without loss, Patrick scoring 4 not