Sound start by Otago to head off Canterbury

Press, 8 February 1986, Page 80

Sound start by Otago to head off Canterbury

PA Dunedin Stu McCullum scored a pugnacious unbeaten century as Otago moved steadily towards a first innings lead in the Shell Trophy cricket match against Canterbury at Carisbrook yesterday

. The diminutive lefthanded opener dug deep into his powers of concentration and his repertoire of strokes to be 107 not out when Otago ended the second day at 212 for two wickets. Otago thus needs 190 runs for the first innings lead which will clinch the Shell Trophy, and there will be an atmosphere of tremendous tension today as Otago resumes its attempt to win the national competition for the first time for seven years. Canterbury declared at lunch yesterday after scoring 401 for eight in 157 overs and 22 minutes short of 10 hours. Batting conditions were not as good yesterday as on the first day. Heavy rain overnight and in the morning slowed the outfield considerably, and the Otago batsmen at times had to contend with indifferent light. Otago has so far batted for 272 minutes and 78 overs, and it has approached its task of over-

hauling Canterbury’s mammoth first innings total with a fair degree of composure. McCullum and Ken Rutherford scored 98 together for the first wicket in 139 minutes (they were just two runs short of their fourth century stand of the series); McCullum and Richard Hoskin scored 53 for the second wicket in 59 minutes; and Kevin Bums helped McCullum in an unbroken stand of 61 in 73 minutes before bad light stopped play at 7.20 p.m. It is McCullum’s second first-class century — he has also scored 11 halfcenturies — and he now has 557 runs in the series. CANTERBURY First innings D. J. Boyle c Lees b Cushen 149 A. Nathu run out 0 P. E. McEwan lbw b Boock 70 P. G. Kennedy lbw b Cushen 53 R. T. Latham c Hoskins b McKechnie 81

V. R. Brown c Lees b McKechnie 1 D. W. Stead lbw b McKechnie 0 A. W. Hart not out. ... 17 S. R. McNally c Lees b Mallender 3 A. J. Hintz not out. . . . 1 Extras (b2, lbl4, nblO) 26 Total (for 8 wkts dec.) 401 Fall: 10, 115, 255, 332, 333, 340, 345, 401. Bowling.— N. A. Mallender 32, 9, 98, 1 (lOnb); J. A. Cushen 37, 11, 85, 2; B. J. McKechnie 43, 14, 108, 3; S. L. Boock 36, 13, 57, 1; J. K. Lindsay 3,0, 20, 0; K. R. Rutherford 6,2, 17, 0. OTAGO First innings K. R. Rutherford c Latham b Roberts ... 44 S. J. McCullum not out. 107 R. N. Hoskin c Kennedy b Stead 23 K. J. Burns not out .. . 28 Extras (bl, lb 6, w3) . 10 Total (for 2 wkts) 212 Fall: 98, 151. Bowling.— S. J. Roberts 13, 4, 28, 1 (Iw); S. R. McNally 16, 5, 51, 0 (Iw); A. J. Hintz 11, 3, 37, 0; V. R. Brown 14, 6, 26, 0 (Iw); D. W. Stead 21, 3, 61,1; P. E. McEwan 3,2, 2, 0.