Cushen top performer

Press, 24 January 1986, Page 20

Cushen top performer

Grizzled New Zealand veterans and itinerant English professionals who share common cricketing purpose of delivering the ball at more than medium pace lead the Shell Trophy bowling averages midway through the competition.

The youngsters who have been given their first-class opportunities in the absence of the New Zealand players have not made too much of an impact on opposing batsmen.

In the circumstances, it is appropriate that the oldest man in the Shell Series, John Cushen, of Otago, should not only have the best bowling average, but have also taken most wickets.

Cushen, aged 36, traces his first-class career back 18 summers. This season he has seemingly enjoyed a new lease of life, doubling the number of times he has taken five wickets in an innings to four and enjoying second-best career figures against Central Districts. Closest to Cushen on the averages are the Englishmen, Paul Allott (Wellington) and Neil Mallender (Otago). Filling the next two positions are Gary Troup (Auckland), aged 33, and Murray Child (Northern Districts), aged 32. The most successful of the new medium-fast bowlers has been the national under-20 representative, Brian Barrett (Auckland), who shares sixth place with the Canterbury cap-

tain, Vaughan Brown. The second most wickets have been captured by Evan Gray, of Wellington, with Mallender third. The Canterbury left-arm medium-fast bowler, Steve McNally, is equal fourth with Dipak Patel (Auckland), in spite of having been twelfth man in the opening round.

Youth is seen in a better light on the batting averages. Mark Greatbatch (Auckland), aged 22, tops the list, while Ken Rutherford (Otago), aged 20, is easily the most prolific run-scorer. Peter Webb (Auckland) and Patel, another English professional, are prominent, but so, too, are quite a number of talented players who could be classified as “emerging” in the context of this country’s cricketing future.

David White (Northern), Andrew Jones (Wellington), Richard Hoskin (Otago), John Smith (Central) and Derek Scott (Auckland) all have averages in excess of 50.

Fifteen centuries have been scored in the trophy series. Rutherford leads the way with three, and Smith has two. The cen-tury-scorer not shown on the accompanying statistics is Brown, whose average is 28.8.

The most successful wicket-keeper is Warren Lees, who has led Otago to an 18-point advantage in the competition in a truly memorable season. Leading averages are.—

BATTING

BOWLING (Qualification: five wickets) O M R W Ave

Wicket-keeping — 15 dismissals, W. Lees (O), 14 caught, 1 stumped; 12, A. Hart (C), 11,1; P. Kelly (A), 12, 0; B. Young (ND), 12, 0; 10, J. Milne (W), 9, 1. Catches in field —6, K. Burns (O), D. Hartshorn (C), T. Franklin (A), C. Kuggeleijn (ND), R. Ormiston (W); 5, J. Lindsay (O), K. Rutherford (O); 4, M. Greatbatch (A), E. Gray, (W), D. Walker (O), P. Webb (A).

(Qualification: five innings) Inn N.O. H.S. Agg. Ave. M. Greatbatch (A) 6 3 *119 261 87.0 K. Rutherford (0) 7 1 126 459 76.5 D. Patel (A) 6 1 174 320 64.0 P. Webb (A) 5 2 63 177 59.0 D. White (ND) 7 1 209 352 58.7 A. Jones (W) 6 2 99 227 56.7 R. Hoskin (0) 6 2 75 219 54.7, J. Smith (CD) 7 0 103 381 54.4' D. Scott (A) 5 1 52 211 52.7 R. Vance (W) 6 0 114 288 48.0 C. Kuggeleijn (ND) 6 1 174 238 47.6 T. Franklin (A) 7 1 176 284 47.3 P. McEwan (C) 7 0 118 306 43.7 R. Hart (CD) 7 0 207 291 41.6 R. Latham (C) 7 1 ♦66 248 41.3 L. Crocker (ND) 8 2 105 245 40.8 G. Robertson (CD) 6 2 ♦66 159 39.7 D. Walker (0) 5 1 106 159 39.7 T. Ritchie (W) 6 1 60 192 38.4: K. Burns (0) 6 1 93 186 37.2 S. McCullum (0) 7 1 ♦65 210 35.0 E. Gray (W) 6 1 ♦67 158 31.6 J. Boyle (W) 6 0 70 184 30.7 D. Stead (C) 7 1 52 184 30.7 B. Cooper (ND) 6 0 83 183 30.5 R. Mawhinney (ND) 8 0 75 240 30.0

J. Cushen (0) 164.3 69 297 21 14.1 P. Allott (W) 90.4 35 185 10 18.9 N. Mallender (0) ■■ 119.5 25 326 17 19.2 G. Troup (A) 103 28 221 11 20.1 M. Child (ND) 49 12 125 6 20.8 V. Brown (C) 103.3 31 252 12 21.0 B. Barrett (A) 64.2 12 210 10 21.0 J. Lindsay (0) 78.3 24 233 11 21.2 S. NcNally (C) 102 31 297 14 21.2 E. Gray (W) 194.1 76 407 19 21.4 J. Wilson (0) 61.1 13 181 8 22.6 B. McKechnie (0) 106.2 43 191 8 23.8 S. Duff (CD) 57 8 136 5 27.2 D. Patel (A) 164.1 49 390 14 27.8 A. Hunt (A) 52 FIELDING 14 140 5 28.0