AUCKLAND IN A WINNING POSITION AGAINST CANTERBURY

Wanganui Chronicle, 27 December 1947, Page 6

AUCKLAND IN A WINNING POSITION AGAINST CANTERBURY

(P.A.) Christchurch, Dec. 26. Auckland was in a winning position at the end of the third day of the Plunket Shield match against Canterbury at Lancaster Park. The home team, with five wickets down in the second innings, was only 11 runs ahead. It was a disappointing effort on Canterbury’s part, as earlier in the day the side had fought back strongly and the Auckland score, of 154 for one wicket at the start of the day, was converted to 355 all out. Outstanding features of the day’s play were the bowling of T. Burtt, who took seven wickets for Canterbury and the batting of the Auckland captain, H. T. Pearson who took the overnight score of 74 to 172 before he was dismissed, ninth man out. Burtt, bowling into the wind, found a spot made by Cowie’s follow through from the other end and this worn patch was a constant source of worry to the Auckland batsmen. Burtt’s seven wickets for 121 was well earned The Auckland batsmen, however, did not use their feet to Burtt —the spot was well up to the batsmen’s end of the wicket and footwork could easily have reduced the danger. A notable execution was L. Kent, Auckland wicketkeeper, who made a bright 19. Pearson’s batting was a repetition of his previous day’s effort until near the end of the innings. He batted for nearly S hours at a scoring rate of about 22 an hour and the only forced shot he played more than once or twice was a sweep to leg. It was a patient display, but very trying for the spectators. Pearson hit 18 fours, six of them in his last 30 runs. He showed admirable coacentraticn and very sound defence but played the type of innings which could kill cricket as a spectacle. However, he suffered from an injured wrist which no doubt affected his batting considerably. Apart from T. Burtt, the best of the Canterbury bowleis today was Mac Gibbon who bowled with plenty of energy and was particularly accurate. The slowness of the Auckland scoring may be gauged from the fact that th e innings took 480 minutes and that 61 of the 168 overs sent down by the Canterbury bowlers were maidens. Canterbury’s second innings was a succession of disasters. Handley was hit on the wrist by a rising ball from Cowie with his score at one, and he had to leave the field. Anderson was caught in slips without adding to the score and the second wicket fell at 12 when T. Burtt was bowled by a good ball from Cowie. Leggat and Smith batted well but had added only 17 when Smith was easily caught off Roberts. Hadlee then came in again and although not playing his usual fluent strokes seemed to be fairly comfortable. Leggat, although not scoring fast, was very confident and it seemed that Canterbury had weathered the storm. However, Hadlee was caught behind the wicket with the score at 55, and Emery was out 22 runs later making an ill-advised attempt to hit Burke out of th e grounds a few minutes before stumps. The collapse was quite unexpected and leaves Canterbury a tremendous task to save ne i,ame. Scores:—

Canterbury. First Innings. W. A. Hadlee, c Hemmingson, b Taylor 97 W. McD. Anderson, b Cowie 6 J. G. Legatt, b Burke 7 F. B. Smith, c Scott, b Cowie 78 A. R. MacGibbon, c Kent, b Hemmingson 33 R. W. G. Emery, hit wicket, b Burke 10 C, G. Snook, c Scott, b Burke 1 P. Small, b Cowie 25 T. Burtt, run out ,6 A. E. L. Britton, c Cowie, Burke 9 N. V. Burtt, not out Extras (byes 3, leg byes 11) 14 Total 288 Fall of wickets: One for 7, two ’or 53, three for 179, four for 213, five for 239, six for 241, seven for 254, eight for 270, nine for 277, ten 'or 288. Bowling. O. M. R. w. J. Cowie 30 8 72 3 A. C. Roberts 13 2 53 0 C. Cleal .. 9 0 23 0 F. E. Hemmingson 20 6 62 1 C. Burke 25 4 59 4 D. D. Taylor 2 1 5 1 Second Innings. W. McD. Anderson c Cowie, b Hemmingson 1 W. A. Hadlee, c. Kent, b. Cowie 11 J. G. Leggat, not out 34 T. Burtt, b. Cowie 2 F. B Smith, c. Cleal* b. Roberts ... 10 R. W. G. Emery, c. Wyatt, b. Burke 10 C. G. Snook, not out 0 Extras (byes 5, leg byes 4, 10 ball 1) ..... .. 10 Total (for five wickets) 78 Fall of wickets: one for 1; two or 12; three for 29; four for 55; five or 78’’ Bowling. O. M.R. w. J. Cowie H 0 32 2 F. Hemmingson . . 6 1 22 1 A. C. Roberts 6 3 13 1 C. Burke 21 1 2 D. D. Taylor 1 1 0 0 Roberts bowled three no balls. Auckland. First Innings. H. r. Pearson, c Small, b T. Burtt 172 I. Wyatt, std. Britton, b Emery 67 V. J. Scott, c MacGibbon, b T. Burtt 20 D. D. Taylor run out . 19 K. R. Deas, b T. Burtt 0 O. C. Cleal, c Britton, b T. Burtt 17 C. C. Burke, l.b.w., b T. Burt 10 J. Cowie, c Small, b T. Burtt 12 L. Kent, c Anderson, b Small 19 A. C. Roberts, not out 7 F. Hemmingson, std. Britton, b

T. Burtt 0 Extras (byes i 4, leg byes 5, wide 1, no balls 2) 12 Total - 355 Bowling. O. M. R. w. N. V. Burtt . 23 4 73 0 A. R. MacGibbon 32 14 50 0 C. G. Snook 24 11 33 0 P. Small 31 16 46 1 T. R. Burtt 47.4 13 121 7 R. W. G. Emery 9 3 11 1 Me D. Anderson 1 0 8 0 Hadlee 1 0 1 0 N. V. Burtt bowled three no balls