Otago batsman most prolific Top averages

Press, 11 February 1986, Page 24

Otago batsman most prolific Top averages

Ken Rutherford, of Otago, narrowly headed off another opening batsman, John Smith (Central Districts), as the most prolific scorer in the Shell Trophy cricket series which ended last Saturday. Boosted by three centuries, Rutherford’s aggregate from 13 innings was 639 runs. Smith had two more innings, and two centuries, in reaching 623 runs. Another opener, Trevor Franklin (Auckland), just

exceeded 600 runs. Franklin was also the thirdhighest innings scorer, after the double-century makers, David White ‘ (Northern Districts) and ' Ronnie Hart (Central Districts). Rutherford was headed off in the averages by the Auckland captain, Peter Webb. Third was Evan Gray (Wellington), who was also sixth in the bowling averages. Two centuries and the most (34) wickets earned Gray the distinction of

being the top all-rounder in the New Zealand firstclass season. Gary Robertson (Central Districts) was also prominent with bat. and ball, and Dipak Patel (Auckland) gave fine service to his adopted province. The bowling averages were led by the English professional, Paul Allott (Wellington), from Gary Troup (Auckland). A third experienced medium-fast bowler, John Cushen, was second among the wickettakers behind Gray and

delivered only five overs less than Patel, who, though an off-spinner, frequently shared the new ball for Auckland. Appropriately, the successful Otago captain, Warren Lees, was the leading wicket-keeper in a summer in which he overhauled the record set by the late Ken Wadsworth for most dismissals by a New Zealand-resident player. Paul Kelly (Auckland) was second-equal, to complement an improved batting effort.

The leading averages in the Shell Trophy interprovincial cricket series which ended last Saturday were.— BATTING (Qualification: 8 innings; average over 30) w Inn N.O H.S. Agg. Ave

Wicket-keeping: W. Lees (O), 23 caught, one stumped, Total 24; P. Kelly (A), 21, 1, 22; B. Young (ND), 20, 2, 22; J. Milne (W), 20, 1, 21; A. Hart (C), 16, 2, 18. > Catches in field — 11, P. Webb (A), C. Kuggeleijn (ND); 9, T. Franklin (A); 8, M. Greatbatch (A), K. Rutherford (O); 7, S. Briasco (CD), K. Burns (O), E. Gray (W), J. Lindsay (O), R. Ormiston (W), P. Visser (CD); 6, D. Hartshorn (C), S. Maguiness (W), R. Mawhinney (ND), A. Nathu (C), D. Walker (O), D. • White (ND).

P. Webb (A) K. Rutherford (o) 13 13 5 1 115 126 441 55.12 639 53.25 E. Gray.(W) 13 2 *128 545 49.54 • S. McCullum (0) 13 1 134 584 48.67 , G. Robertson (CD) 9 3 ♦99 258 43.00 , T. Franklin (A) 15 1 176 601 42.92 T. Ritchie (W) 13 3 60 420 42.00 , P. Kelly (A) 8 1 93 291 41.57 J. Smith (C) ' 15 0 103 623 41.53 ; R. Hoskin (0) 12 2 111 401 40.10 < D. White (ND) 15 2 209 517 39.76 M. Greatbatch (A) 12 4 •119 . 316 39.50 i R. Hart (CD) 11 1 207 380 38.00 * D. Walter (0) 11 2 106 341 37.88 ’ R. Vance (W) 13 0 114 488 37.53 * S. Briasco (CD) 15 1 109 505 36.07 J D. Patel (A) 14 1 174 469 36.07 i A. Jones (W) 11 3 99 286 35.75 , T. Blain (CD) 12 2 *77 353 35.30 ’ C. Kuggeleijn (CD) 13 1 74 419 34.91 ’ R. Latham (C) 14 1. 81 423 32.53 ! D. Stirling (CD) 13 4 *52 291 32.33 ■ L. Crocker (ND) 16 2 105 446 31.85 ’ P. Horne (A) 10 1 116 279 31.00 5 D. Scott (A) 11 BOWLING 1 52 307 30.70 ) i (Qualification: 10 wickets; average under 30) . ; 0 M . R W Ave > P. Allott (W) 230.4 79 470 30 15.66 ; G. Troup (A) 209.5 71 456 27 16.88j M. Bradley (A) 70 15 170 10 17.00 ; K. Treiber (ND) 81.1 21 223 11 20.27 B. Barrett (A) 64.2 12 210 10 21.00 ’ E. Gray (W) 330.2 165 748 34 22.00 J. Cushen (0) 350.1 133 711 31 22.93 M. Child (ND) 145 31 390 17 22.94 V. Brown (C) 211.1 70 487 20 24.35 N. Mallender (0) 227.1 48 597 24 24.87 G. Bradbum (ND) 163.1 43 424 17 24.94 D. Patel (A) 355.1 105 756 29 26.06 S. Maguiness (W) 187.5 64 371 14 26.50 B. McKechnie (0) 214 75’ 455 17 26.76 G. Robertson (CD) 208.5 31 740 27 27.40 S. Duff (CD) 162.5 39 449 16 28.06 S. Scott (ND) 256.1 64 652 23 28.34 j C. Thiele (C) 185 FIELDING 38 562 19 29.57 , . • *