Search Is For Batsmen In Wanganui Cricket

Wanganui Chronicle, 27 November 1947, Page 8

Search Is For Batsmen In Wanganui Cricket

( BY ) Unless four or five worthy batsmen—purely batsmen—are unearthed shortly, Wanganui lias “had it” as far as Hawke Cup and representative cricket fixtures are concerned. 1 am sure that, the value of the good old composite team (say six batsmen, four bowlers, and one wicket-keeper ) as against an eleven of mediocre all-rounders, will be brought home with a vengeance before the season is much older. Wanganui’s sole selector will be embarrassed with a plethora of good bowlers of every variety, but there is not a consistent run-getter in sight.

Not even the supreme optimist, can deceive himself about the! quality of batsmanship seen in. I senior club cricket thus far. with i two competition rounds romplet- ; ed. And if you must have statis- ' tics to prove it weak —an aggregate of 2295) runs in a total of 22 innings (seven partially complet- I cd) has been scored by the six I senior sides. A total of 185 ■ wickets has fallen in the process, i and the average runs scored per ’ batsman is only 12.42. The 100 mark for team totals has been passed eight times. In the course of those 22 innings, there have been 208 individual visits to the batting crease hut only three players have reached 50 runs or more. In the first round, E. K. Hunt (Wanganui) got 102 not out v. United, L. A. Wood (United) 60 not out v. Wanganui, and J. B. Middleton (Collegiate) 51 not out v. Tech. College in the second series. In the last two weeks no batsman has managed to reach the 50 mark. Keith Hunt has been Wanganui's No. 1 batsman for some time, and the significant point is that as a batsman first and foremost he has been about the only player (H. Cave excepted) assured of a regular place in the rep. team. And in that respect, the loss of G. Newman and W. Dyhrberg will be more keenly felt than ever. They walked into the side on the strength of their batsmanship alone, not on the off chance of their collecting a couple of runs, a couple of wickets, and a couple of catches. AUSSIES’ POLICY This preference for all-rounders has spelt the downfall of many representatives sides in this country. Last season, of course, H. B. Cave from this centre was edged out of the N.Z. Test team by C. Snedden of Auckland. It was contended that the latter’s batting was sounder, even if his bowling was not of Cave’s standard. As it proved, Snedden did nothing with bat or ball while Cave’s bowling was missed. The Australians will always rate the specialist above the allrounder. O’Reilly couldn’t bat for peanuts, and The Don is very rarely asked to bowl, but together in a Test team they meant the nucleus of a great bowling and batting combination. Obviously ther e will be no shortage of out-and-out trundlers knocking on the door of Wanganui rep selection. Take fast bowlers alone, and who would choose between D. Beard and J. McConway (Marist), J. Bergerson and R. Thomas of T. 0.8., assuming that H. Cave (Wanganui) will not always be available? Batsmen are wanted, and it is to the up and coming colts, rather than the veterans, that we look for them. Marist’s Win.

Although sterner opposition lies ahead for Marist, the knowledge that they have begun the season with such a flourish to occupy the leading position on the championship ladder with the maximum points possible gained

in the two matches, must be gratifying. Marist won the senior championship in the 1943-44 season for the first and only time to date. They gained 85 competition points as compared with the runners-up, Wanganui, with a total of 49. Since October, 1932, when Marist finally entered entered senior ranks, they have been runners-up for the. senior title on two occasions. Thy have won the junior title several times. Slow Bowlers Do Well.

Another fact which illustrates the shortcomings of senior batsmen is the success so far of both left and right-hand slow bowlers. G. M. Russell (Wanganui) and E. Urlich (T. 0.8. are two left-handers who have begun the season well, while H. F. Low (United) and J. Gow (Collegiate) have had their moments as right-handers. Altogether, 27 wickets have fallen to slow merchants possessed by the six senior sides, since the season opened. That many of these victims were stumped shows

that fatal indecision and poor footwork was responsible. An object lesson in the “iffiness ’ which is finding expression in so many p'ay e^ s a ; al , n ?': slow bowling was provided in the Wanganui v. T. 0.8 match. Pasting Wanganui's fast and medium trundlers with great ease, the r 0.8 batsmen were all ai sea when Russell eante on. He was very unlucky to miss his hat-trickt. Bad Fielding. The least said of the atrocious fielding seen in most club games to date the better. Not only has the usual quota of catches been dropped but the returns to the wicket have been particularly wild. There have been exceptions, though, and smart fielding has resulted in one or two very snappy run-outs. Pars At Random.

For the first time in its history Lord’s Ground is to have a concrete wicket. A strip is being laid on the Nursery Ground to enable practice in wet weather, and is 30 yards long to allow bowlers a -short run-up on the concrete. Sir Pelham Warner has long advocated this as a means ot raising the standard of play. management committee of the Wanganui Cricket Association is toying with the idea of laying concrete wickets in Wanganui.

Notice that T. P. L. Reaney of Napier High. School Old Boys recently became the first Hawke’s Bay cricketer to compile 10,000 runs in senior and rep. matches. At the beginning of this season Reaney had taken 746 wickets, and he has hopes of reaching the 1000 mark.