Battle mounts for senior title

Press, 10 February 1986, Page 24

Battle mounts for senior title

The battle for the Trusteebank Trophy senior cricket title this summer is far from over, after the seventh round of matches ended on Saturday. Sydenham, sitting 18 points clear at the Christmas break, lost outright to Marist and had its lead whittled to.. 10.5 points. Lancaster Park A took over second place by beating the team which had occupied that spot, High School Old Boys, by a convincing margin. Marist’s win, and accompanying 16 points, lifted it above Old Boys and 13 points behind Sydenham. To complete what is developing into an interesting situation, Sydenham will play Old Boys in the eighth round, starting next Saturday. Defeat for Sydenham at Hagley 3 will close the top of the table into a tightlybunched group going into the crucial last round. St Albans and BumsideWest achieved firstinnings wins at Elmwood Park and Hagley 3 respectively while there was delight at Burwood Park on Saturday evening, after East-Shirley had gained its first outright win of the competition, beating Lancaster Park B and climbing off the bottom of the table. The win was by a massive 175 runs.

There were two outstanding all-round performances on Saturday. Mark Priest, the St Albans left-hander, made an unbeaten 65 and took six for 39, his best senior figures: and Bob Carter, the Sydenham captain, went through to 51 in the first innings (overnight he was on 40); then took five for 54 as Marist chased quick runs; and scored 66 to endeavour to save his team from outright defeat.

The leading batsmen were Jon Preston and Russell Haglund (Burn-side-West, 80 and 68 respectively); Tim Murdoch, continuing his solid scoring of late for Riccarton, with 76; and Rob van Zanten made an unbeaten 68 for East-Shirley. Fine bowling from EastShirley’s off-spinner, Bruce Murray, netted him a match analysis of 12 for 109, including eight for 87 in the first innings against Park B. Bruce Irving picked up four Old Boys wickets in their second innings to have match figures of 10 for 65.

Results: East-Shirley 291/9 dec. and 180/4 dec. beat Lancaster Park B 203 and 93 by 175 runs; Marist 228 and 125/9 dec. beat Sydenham 127 and 134 by 93 runs; Lancaster Park A 224 and 138/7 dec. beat High School Old Boys 113 and 162 by 85 runs;

Riccarton 239 and 209/4 dec. lost to Burnside-West 243/5 dec. and 187/8 on the first innings; St Albans 214 and 161/5 dec. beat Old Collegians 177/ 9 dec. and 144/8 on the first innings. Points after seven rounds, subject to over-rate penalties, are: Sydenham 62, Park A 51.5, Marist 49, Old Boys 44, Burnside-West 39.5, Old Collegians and St Albans 34, Riccarton 23, East-Shirley 20, Park B 9. PARK CLINCH LATE WIN Lancaster Park A moved into second place in the competition when it beat High School Old Boys outright, with 34 balls to spare at Ensors Road.

Park left Old Boys 248 for victory when it declared at lunch. Old Boys had a disastrous start, losing Jonathan Eaton on the first ball of the innings. Peter Rattray was bowled at 16 and when David Bull and Chris Elliott departed within a run, leaving Old Boys 38 for four on a pitch playing low and slow, there was only going to be one winner.

Cran Bull and James Leggat provided a pocket of resistance before falling at 64 and 66. At 79 for seven, Ross Bayliss and Dayle Hadlee came together and gave Park a trying time. They batted seven minutes under two hours, displaying admirable technique against the turning ball.

They added 64 and battled through the first six of the 20 final overs before Hadlee and then Bayliss, having done the hard work, got out to bad shots. The win was wrapped up when Martin Elliffe, in his first senior innings, was adjudged caught at leg slip, giving Bruce Irving his fourth wicket of the innings and tenth for the match.

Irving was the most threatening of the Park bowlers, getting enough turn, combined with the low bounce, to cause problems. Glenn Bateman toiled hard in a solid afternoon’s work.

In the morning, Park had a slow start, resuming at 10 for none, giving it an over-all lead of 121. It lost both openers within the first five overs, and it was not until the last 45 minutes before lunch that it was able to lift the run rate sufficiently to ensure a lunchtime declaration.

The innings was built around two contributions. James Shipley played a sound, unspectacular hand for 38 in two hours, including five boundaries, and he shared a 58-run stand with Balvant Bhana. Bhana sur-

vived four chances from Dayle Hadlee’s off-spin to close catching fieldsmen and a stumping chance, but bounced back with a couple of crashing cover drives. Hadlee bowled a tidy line, just flat enough to prevent the batsmen attacking him, while David Leggat had a long, economical spell into the breeze. INEVITABLE RESULT

So comfortable were the conditions for batting at Elmwood Park that it was most unlikely either St Albans or Old Collegians would be able to bowl its opponent out twice.

And so it proved. St Albans set its rival the task of scoring 199 runs in 38 overs, but the Old Collegians opening pair, Keith Gardner and Graham Sercombe, were never up with the required run-rate.

The Old Collegians target steadily increased to more than eight runs an over, and was held there while Richard Leggat and Bill Lawrence briefly capitalised on the very fast outfield, but was not reduced sufficiently to make a home victory possible. Leggat hit eight fine fours before falling victim to Max Bremner’s third catch in the field, and Lawrence thumped a towering six to mid-wicket to add to his two in the morning before Old Collegians declared its first innings with a deficit of 37 runs.

However, the St Albans left-arm spinner, Mark Priest, took the opportunity to complete a most impressive double. He had scored an unbeaten 65 earlier in the day, and gained six inexpensive wickets with his tempting flight and subtle variations in length and pace. Old Collegians gave up the chase with six overs remaining, the captain, Robert Wilson, and young Grant Hansen holding out against Priest and the faster bowlers, Rodger Ford and Lyn Sparks. Priest and Andy Nuttall both benefited from Bremner’s alertness and slick stumpings by the wicketkeeper, Paul Rutledge. Bremner dived far to his right to catch Gardner in the covers, accepted an easier chance from Lawrence at short cover, then displayed excellent judgment in causing Leggat’s downfall near the long-on boundary. With a mixture of attractive strokes and improvised thumps designed to keep the score moving briskly, Priest and Geoff Smith shared a 63run stand in only 44 minutes for the St Albans third wicket. Priest exceeded his half-century in 52 balls. FINE EFFORT

Burnside-West made a fine attempt to score 206 in 36 overs for victory over Riccarton at Hagley 3. The task of scoring six an over throughout was not an easy one, but there was a remarkably consistent effort down the batting order. All

the batsmen dismissed reached double figures and all were dismissed going for glory. Steve Jeffery did much to have West at 82 for one after the first 16 overs, leaving 124 needed from the final 20, the run rate still in hand. After his dismissal, for 42 from 49 balls, Russell Haglund (31 from 42 balls) and Dave Farrant (21 from 29 balls) batted well but from the last 10 overs the asking rate had crept up to 7.7 an over. Then came a crucial partnership between the experienced Kevin Collins and Chris Marks, who both gave the ball a hefty whack in scoring at better than a run a ball. But both were out within a few balls of each other, with the score at 156, and it looked as though West’s chances of winning were gone. For then the youngsters arrived, in the form of Grant Dickson and Andrew Sherwood, and it might have been expected that they would close the shutters. They put on a brisk 26 together, however, and as Riccarton put down a couple of chances during the partnership, West’s hopes stayed alive. But as with Collins and Marks, Dickson and Sherwood departed at the same score, this time 182, and it was left to Jon Preston, demoted to No. 10, and Steve Bateman to see out the draw. Twenty-four runs were needed from the last two overs, the same tally from the final over and in the end West was 19 short.

Earlier in the day, Preston had taken his first innings score from 45 to 80, the half century coming up from 122 balls and the final total from 197 balls, with eleven boundaries. Collins, with a solid knock of 46 not out from 69 balls, saw the side through to first-innings points.

In Riccarton’s second innings, there were good scores, unbeaten, from Tim

Murdoch and Peter Stabbings, but the batting had to be seen in perspective. In a bid to open up the match, Darin Cusack and Dave Farrant dished up many juicily overpitched deliveries and there were 28 overs of not very threatening off-spin from Dickson and Haglund. EARLY WIN East-Shirley made no race of its game with Lancaster Park B at Burwood Park, winning before the tea interval. At the start of the day Park B needed 132 for the first-innings lead with three wickets in hand. Another 43 were made in 40 minutes, but the offspinner, Bruce Murray, claimed all three to finish with eight, a spectacular success for one who has had to work his way through the club ranks. East-Shirley’s batsmen, seeking an early declaration after leading by 88, put such pressure on Park B that the fielding became very ragged. Many misses occurred on the ground, a deluge of overthrows. A notable exception was Greg Pierce, fleet of foot and sure with his hands; to further balance the budget, there was a superb running th.en diving catch by Reece Nimmo to dismiss Gary Jones.

Ray Jones and Craig Gibb, who drove strongly, gave East a brisk beginning, but it was a third-wicket stand between Gary Jones and Robbie van Zanten which set everything up for East. Van Zanten seems to enjoy such a situation; he was all industry, scurrying up and down the pitch, making the most of all the fielding lapses. Jones was strong of stroke, and together they reached a 50 stand in 24 minutes. Van Zanten reached his own halfcentury in an hour from only 39 balls, and their stand did not end until they had added 89 in 37 minutes of furious activity. Park B needed 269 in 225

minutes, not an inviting prospect for a side which has a season's top total of 233. Tony Collins and Nimmo started with a rush, scoring 31 together in 18 minutes but then four wickets fell in four balls — two to Murray at the end of an over, two from Colin Hight's first two in the next over. Hight bowled with great determination, and Murray had the ball turning and lifting at the pavilion end, and it was a procession of batsmen. East-Shirley won well, and hammered home its advantage with some great catching. Gibb took a wonderful catch, running away from the pitch, to take Collins; Gary Jones clung to a slim chance in the slips, and Murray took a spectacular caught and bowled, low on his left from a hard hit. MARIST DOMINANT It has taken Marist ail summer to recapture the form that took it to championship honours last year, but since Christmas it hsis played as well as at any stage in its senior career. Against Sydenham, the competition leaders, it dominated all six sessions of the match and fully deserved its outright victory with seven overs remaining of the final 20. Sydenham started the second day desperately fighting to avoid the follow-on but failed by two runs to attain the target. Marist decided to bat again and quickly went through to 125, before declaring and leaving Sydenham the task of scoring 228 in even time for victory and the championship. In the first innings, the Sydenham batting rested almost entirely with Bob Carter, and after the top order failed again in the second innings, he was left almost single handedly to keep the Marist bowlers at bay.