Dead Pitch, Deadly Batting Auckland Toils 375 Min. To Score Only 225

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30977, 5 February 1966, Page 13

Dead Pitch, Deadly Batting Auckland Toils 375 Min. To Score Only 225

(New Zealand Press Association)

AUCKLAND.

Accurate bowling by Wellington pegged Auckland down so successfully on the first day of the Plunket Shield match on a hard, lifeless pitch at Eden Park yesterday that in 375 minutes Auckland scored only 225.

In the last five minutes Wellington scored five without loss from two overs.

Scoring runs was not exactly child’s play, even if the bowlers had to labour on a heart-breaking pitch under a hot sun.

But Auckland was at fault in that few of the batsmen tried to attack The day was a triumph for the two Wellington spinners, L. C. Butler and B. A. G. Murray. Butler took three wickets from 49 overs, and took three catches.

would play but he passed < fitness test on his left thigh injury and played outstand ingly throughout the most tiring day. Some of the blame for the snail’s-pace scoring could be laid on the pitch which was a hard, dead strip which quickly scuffed the shine from the ball and which gave

Murray took four wickets with his mixed bag of spinners and took two catches. Until the last minute it was doubtful whether Butler

a .bowlers could only plug away h just short of a length and 1- hope that the batsmen would st make the mistakes. The field-setting of D. C. e Neely, the Wellington cap'e tain, was obviously designed is to stop the singles and into vite the batsmen to risk e playing across the line in e search of boundaries.

such a low bounce that against accurate bowling it was difficult to play forcing strokes. After an hour the quicker

HELD FINE CATCH In fact, Auckland started brightly for R. M. Harris drove heartily when Butler, the slow left-armer, began his long spell. However. Butler bowled T. W. Jarvis with the score at 36. and at 50 Murray, the spare-time legspin bowler, held a hot return catch from Harris. ' This brought R. W. Morgan and J. T. Sparling together in their long, often laborious partnership of 83 runs. Morgan was most uncomfortable against the spinners and took an hour to score eight runs. Sparling began playing good strokes, but gradually he became bogged down against Butler’s nagging accuracy. Auckland struggled to lunch at 70 for two after 140 minutes’ hard work. After lunch Morgan and Sparling were given some easy runs from inaccurate bowling by H. A. Morgan, the medium-pacer, but then A. R. Taylor and N. A. Huxford settled down to a longaccurate spell, and once more Morgan and Sparling were pegged down and runs came very slowly. BOWLERS’ STAMINA One could only admire the stamina and courage of the two faster bowlers in the hot sun, and somehow Taylor managed to make a ball get through quickly, beat Morgan’s stroke and have him leg-before. This was at 132 for three, and Morgan had batted 176 minutes for his 41 —and the 83-run stand had taken 141 minutes. Twelve runs later Butler, who had replaced the perspiring Huxford, turned one just enough to get a fine touch and Sparling was out for 45 scored in 165 minutes. This brought the unorthodox A. R. Morrison in, and with some typically risky strokes he began to score faster. At tea Auckland was 154 for four in 270 minutes. BUTLER ONCE MORE After tea some meaty sweeps by Morrison and strong driving by N. S. Harford brought in 30 runs in even time, but Butler stopped this by having Morrison caught by Murray at first slip with the score at 185 for five.

This was the start of a collapse. Murray bowled N. S. Harford at 198, H. A. K. Smalley’s first innings for Auckland ended at 199 when Butler held a snick at slip off Murray, and one run later R. S. Cunis fell in the same manner. At 216 B. W. Sinclair brilliantly caught H. J. Howarth at mid-wicket in Taylor’s first over with the new ball, and at 225 R. Harford gave Butler his third catch of the innings. This left Wellington five minutes batting in which G. P. Bilby survived two very loud appeals for leg-before from Cunis.