Plunket Shield CANTERBURY IN STRONG POSITION AGAINST OTAGO

Wanganui Chronicle, 23 December 1950, Page 3

Plunket Shield CANTERBURY IN STRONG POSITION AGAINST OTAGO

CHRISTCHURCH, Last Night (PA) —Canterbury was in a strong position at the end of the first day’s play in the Plunket Shield match against Otago, having scored 101 for three wickets in reply to Otago’s first Innings score of 139. It was a rather disappointing day’s play, in spite of some good fast bowling for Canterbury by the New Zealand representative, J. A. Hayes. Otago’s batting was extremely weak, many of the batsmen getting themselves out with shots not expected of representative players. Although the pitch took spin a little more readily than usual on a first day at Lancaster Park, it played truly and the fast bowlers were given little assistance. Hayes took six wickets for 26 runs, and although he was the best of the Canterbury bowlers, he was assisted in some instances by the batsmen. Otago's wretched display might be partly explained by the fact that B. Sutcliffe, New Zealand’s best batsman, made only 14. Sutcliffe was hit by the fifth ball of the day from Hayes. He received a hard knock on his right hip, and he had to leave the field. He came in when a wicket fell 15 minutes before lunch, but he was limping badly, and although he played one or two good strokes after the interval, he was obviously in pain. He tried to hit the slow left-hander, T. Burtt, out Of the ground, and was well caught on the boundary. The last five wickets fell for 20 runs. Hayes, carefully nursed by J. G. Leggat, maintained his pace throughout the innings, did a little with the ball, and kept a good length, but the batsmen, most of whom were beaten when playing back, seemed badly out of form. Mac Gibbon bowled some good ones and Burtt was as accurate as ever, almost mesmerising some of the batsmen. Canterbury’s innings began at 4.15 p.m. and W. A. Hadlee began scoring very freely from the first over. His was the only innings of real note throughout the day. He socred 46 runs from the 47 balls he received, and with R. T. Dowker he scored 60 for the first wicket. Hadlee, who hit seven 4’s in his innings of 55 minutes, played some beautiful square cuts and drives. Dowker was out at 64, and neither A. T. Burgess nor R. W. G. Emery was happy against the quick spin of A. M. Moir. Burgess, in particular, made some very desperate swings at him, but survived. Emery played a rash stroke to G. W. Overton only a few minutes before stumps, and was caught and bowled, but at the end of the day Canterbury seemed assured of a first innings lead. The Otago bowlers Watson and Overton were not particularly impressive, but Moir, although bowling rather erratically, frequently beat the bat.

Scores: OTAGO First Innings

B. Sutcliffe, c. Burgess, b Burtt 14 L. Watt, c Emery, b Hayes 25 A. W. Roberts, b. Hayes 3 E. A. Watson, c Anderson, b Hayes 22 S. N. McGregor, c Burtt, b MacGibbon 2 L. D. Smith, b BUrtt 29 J. D. Bakely, l.b.w. b Hayes 13 G. H. Mills, c Bennett, b Emery 4 D. S. St John, b. Hayes 10 A. M. Moir, not out .................. 0 G. W. F. Overton, b Hayes ..... 0 Extras H Total 139 Fall of wickets: one for 8, two for 56, three for 63, four for 69, five for 78, six for 119, seven for 129, eight for 135, nine for 139, 10 for 139. Bowling

CANTERBURY First Innings W. A. Hadlee, b Watson 46 R. T. Dowker, l.b.w. b. Mour 14 R. W. G. Emery, c. and b. Overton 10 A. T. Burgess, not out 22 T. B. Burtt, not out 2 Extras 10 Total for three wickets 104 Fall of wickets: one for 60, two for 64, three for 102. O. M R W.

o. M R w. J. A. Hayes 16.4 6 26 6 A. R. MacGibbon 14 1 30 1 J. D. Alderson 11 1 34 0 O. T. B. Burtt 22 8 24 2 R. W. G. Emery 3 0 81 1 MacGibbon bowled five no balls, tnd Alderson two.

G. W. F. Overton 10 2 25 1 E. A. Watson 12 3 38 1 L. D. Smith 3 0 8 0 A. M. Moir 7 1 2,3 1