Battle ahead for cricket championship leader

Press, 3 February 1986, Page 23

Battle ahead for cricket championship leader

Christmas forecasts of Sydenham romping away with the Trusteebank Trophy senior cricket championship title proved premature, judging by events on the opening day of the seventh round on Saturday. Sydenham won the toss at Ham, but at the end of the day was in trouble against Marist. Four batsmen got past 30 for Marist, which made 228, but Sydenham limped to 89 for six at stumps; hardly championship-winning form.

The second-placed High School Old Boys faltered badly on an awful Ensors Road pitch against Lancaster Park A. On a pitch where 160 would have been a commendable effort, sloppy fielding enabled Park to get to 224. (Bob Cusdin 61). Old Boys, in turn, crumbled on the dustbowl to be all out for 113.

Bruce Irving and David Leggat each picked up six wickets. For Irving it was the sixty-fourth time he has taken five in an innings, for Leggat the first.

St Albans is chasing first innings points against Old Collegians at Elmwood Park. Having made 214, it has Old Collegians 66 for five. East-Shirley, too, are on course for at least four points against Lancaster Park B at Burwood Park.

For East-Shirley, it was a happy day. It made its highest score of the season, 291 for nine declared; Colin Hight, Rob van Zanten and David Grocott all passing 50, with Hight getting the best individual score of the day, 82; and Park B is 160 for seven in reply. The most evenly-poised battle is on Hagley 3, where Bumside-West is 125 for one, Russell Haglund unbeaten on 51 on pursuit of Riccarton’s 239, of which Chris O’Malley made 65. One other bowler got five wickets in an innings, Bruce Murray (East-Shir-ley), whose five for 63 represents his best senior return. Scores:

Lancaster Park A 224 and 10/0 met High School Old Boys 113; Marist 228 met Sydenham 89/6; Riccarton 239 met Burnside-West 125/1; St Albans 214 met Old Collegians 66/5; East-Shirley 291/9 dec. met Lancaster Park B 160/7. SOLID BATTING

Sydenham is tantalisingly close to winning the senior competition, but it will have to play better than it did against Marist at Ham Park.

After it gave Marist first use of a flat pitch, its bowlers failed to contain the enterprising Marist batsmen. Six batsmen scored above 20 and it was only the fact that noone continued on with a big innings that restricted Marist’s total.

Mark Hastings, in his first senior innings, showed he will be a valuable asset to the club, with a neatly compiled 42. He drove well on the front foot and worked the ball nicely through the leg side. Greg Curtain, at the tail of the innings, added a valuable 36 with some powerful on-side shots. The Sydenham bowlers would have been disappointed with their efforts. Only Michael Dolden in his spell after lunch showed his true ability. Sydenham’s batting, like its bowling, also failed to come to grips with the task. Apart from a forceful unbeaten 40 from the captain, Bob Carter, the others did not get on top of the Marist bowlers.

Peter Kennedy was a long time scoring 19 without mastering the attack. Garry Hooper, although hindered by a broken thumb, was able to get more assistance from the pitch than any other bowler on the day. His one wicket was not a just reward for his efforts. DISGRACEFUL PITCH

Twenty wickets fell in the day as Lancaster Park A took a strong grip on its match with High School Old Boys at Ensors Road. In a game which was crucial for both sides’

prospects of catching Sydenham at the top of the table, the shame was that the pitch did not match the pleasant setting. It was a disgrace. With each delivery, from the start of the day, a puff of dust rose from the spot the ball pitched, and a lump of soil dislodged.

Throw in a markedly variable bounce and the ingredients were present for a less than satisfactory day’s cricket.

Old Boys, however, had themselves to blame to a large extent for the situation they find themselves in, 121 runs behind and 10 second innings Park wickets intact. Park was in difficulties at 36 for four, before Bob Cusdin and

Balvant Bhana shared a vital 50-run stand. Bhana, in his first senior match of the summer, played an impressive hand. Cusdin had a generous dose of luck in his 61.

Altogether, Old Boys missed eight catches in a shabby fielding display, Cusdin being the main beneficiary, and had he been caught when lobbing an easy chance to short cover on 33, Old Boys could still have kept Park within reasonable distance.

Cusdin chanced his arm, hitting eight boundaries. Later, Mark Chamberlain and lain Boyle weighed in with' important contributions, both also being dropped, and as a final insult, Boyle and Bruce Irving added 36 for the last wicket.

It was a trying day for Old Boys’ four-many attack. Dayle Hadlee was the unlucky bowler, having four catches missed. David Leggat was the most successful, exploiting the pitch to the best advantage, to claim his best senior figures. His first three wickets came in the space of nine balls. Old Boys struggled throughout their innings, losing wickets at regular intervals. It was the fifth bowler to be used, Irving, who caused the damage. Turning the ball almost square and getting the widest possible variety of bounce, he bowled three batsmen, and got his first four wickets in six overs. Cran Bull was the pick of the Old Boys batsmen, fighting hard for survival, before being last man out, 12 runs short of avoiding the follow-on mark. However, Park chose not to enforce it and is now sitting nicely with 16 points in its sights. STING IN THE TAIL It was penury to plenty for the East-Shirley batsmen on their home ground. After losing six wickets for 57, the side reached 291 for nine before declaring against Lancaster Park B. Park reached 160 for seven by the close; a total of 451 runs for the day spoke eloquently of the excellent pitch and the speed of the outfield. The only umpire available, Mr Doug Wilson, had to stand at the bowler’s end for each over, and he was busier than a tic-tac man at Flemington just before race call, for there were 71 boundaries to be signalled, as well as a few other utterances in the umpires’s sign language. Everything went very well for Park at first The ball came through a little reluctantly for the first hour, and Trevor Luke, moving it about and bowl-

ing with excellent control, had four for 26 in his first spell of 14 overs, a fine start in his new role as captain. He was assisted by . some fine fielding; Wayne Wilson took a blinder in the gully, Tony Collins made a superb caught and bowled, and Greg Pierce, a ball of fire in the field, made a direct hit to run out lan Hogg. But Colin Hight and David Grocott soon took the bloom off the bowling. Once Luke rested, the brakes came off the batting, Hight displayed a range of powerful strokes, hitting five sixes and nine fours, in his 82 from 99 balls. Grocott made some beautifully timed and elegant shots; a cover drive for four off Mark Small was a little song of summer. They reache& their 100 partnership in 57 minutes, and altogether scored 127 together in 83 minutes. When they were done, Robbie van Zanten and Steve Daly were eager for the plunder. They both played a stream of productive strokes, with Daly very impressive for a No. 9, and their stand was worth 90 in 48 minutes. Lancaster Park B made a brisk start too, with 64 for the first wicket and Collins showing his customary exuberance. But Bruce Murray, turning his off-breaks sharply at times, swung the game East’s way, and only a stout-hearted stand near the end of the day between Pierce and Wilson gave their side much hope of reaching the follow-on mark. BURNSIDE WELL PLACED An unbeaten secondwicket partnership of 83 in even time between Jon Preston and Russell Haglund had Burnside-West well-placed in its bid to take first innings points from Riccarton at Hagley 3. Preston, in his first full senior match, did the opener’s job very well indeed, although he was dropped duHrig".. innings. Looking sound’ in defence, he occasionally launched into stylish attacking shots and made an admirable foil for the aggressive Haglund. The latter brought up

his half-century in the last over of the day, having faced 75 balls after coming to the crease 35 minutes behind Preston. Haglund’s almost murderous intent at times quickly removed the close-in fieldsman to the bowling of Tony Halligan and there was a further spreading of the cordon as he went after all the bowling. That Riccarton gave West a healthy total to chase was due in large measure to a splendid ninth-wicket partnership of 86 between Chris O’Malley and Brent Glanville.

From the time, early in his innings, when he hammered Steve Bateman through extra cover for a boundary, O’Malley grew in confidence and stature, striking his 65 from 122 balls with eight fours and two sixes.

There were many deft touches from Glanville, whose 86-ball innings included six boundaries. He was finally taken at slip, but not before he had made substantial gains through that area with deliberately placed edges. With tea and a declaration imminent, Glanville showed he was as good as any at throwing bat at ball. Both he and O’Malley were victims of the need for quick runs approaching tea. Earlier, Tim Murdoch had made a solid return to senior cricket with an innings of 43 from 76 balls. Dropped twice in the slips, Danny Halligan managed to reach the twenties before falling to a fine catch by Preston, but the middle order generally succumbed rather meekly to the nagging left arm spin of Chris Marks and to the lithe Bateman, who returned with some menace in a second spell before lunch. APPEARANCES DECEPTIVE Elmwood Park, with its fast outfield, hinted of sizeable totals scored at a hectic pace. But the toporder batsmen of St Albans and Old Collegians were to find that appearances can be very deceptive. , Granted, there was some quite outstanding medium-paced bowling by Lindsay Forde for Old Collegians and Lyn Sparks, the St Albans cap-

tain. Forde and Sparks were given whole-hearted support by Jeff Stewart and Roger Ford, respectively. Both innings sagged from the start. St Albans lost its first three wickets at 23, its fifth at 48. That it recovered to exceed 200 was to the credit of Michael Fullen, Andy Nuttall and Paul Rutledge.

Old Collegians had an even more disastrous beginning. Keith Gardner was bowled from the opening delivery by Ford, and ; Graham Sercombe lasted only until Sparks’s fourth ball. Tim Chiswell and Richard Leggat survived several streaky moments until Leggat and Robert Wilson fell to Sparks before the total had passed 20. The already slim prospects of Old Collegians challenging for first' innings points receded when Chiswell was out just before stumps. He had just had a third catching escape and was batting with increasing confidence.

Fullen, Nuttall and Rutledge were equally determined to prop up the St Albans situation either side of lunch. Their individual scores were similar, as were their statistics — Fullen was in for 103 minutes and faced 102 balls, Nuttall batted just over two hours against 103 deliveries, and Rutledge’s runs were from 95 balls in 106 minutes. Sparks, Paul Malone and Ford chipped in with useful lower-order efforts. ,

Although Stewart had more early success, Forde applied most pressure. Forde had two for three from five overs, and he conceded just one run (and gained a third wicket) from his last 36 balls. Grant Hansen, a left-arm spinner, also restrained the batsmen.

There were more spectacular bowling figures when Old Collegians batted. Fourteen of the first 18 . overs were maidens. Ford, had - little; good fortune, but Sparks almost stopped the scoring altogether. After nine overs he had three wickets for five runs, a spell that included seven consecutive maidens.