EARLY WICKETS FALL CHEAPLY

Chronicle (Levin), 25 March 1946, Page 8

EARLY WICKETS FALL CHEAPLY

Press ao sociation

RICE MAKES STAND FOR 17

' By Telegraph-

WELLINGTON, March 25. , Wellington's seemingly hopeless ! position and the dull and chilly weather had its effect on the eaiiy gate, only a few hnndred .spectators being present this morning to watch McCool bowl his first taall. He bowled it to the Horowhenua player, . H. Rice and the bastman made no l hesitation in clouting it to the I square leg boundary to bring the ! total to 30. j Toshack, who opened into the wind from the southern end, ! brought his tally of successive maidens up to seven, but off his next over Rice turned him to fine leg for a single. In two overs Toshack had ! already appealed three times. Howj ever, his fourth appeal, which came ! from the first ball of his third over ; this morning, was upheld, and Rice was out leg before wicket for 17. One wicket was down for 36 runs after 75 minutes of play in Welj lington's seeond innings. | As other provinces had come to i light with creditable displays of batj ting in their seeond innings, Wel- ; lington's supporters had hoped that | their representatives might have . been able to do the same, but when j Ongley lost his wicket to Toshack ' shortly after noon, with only 46 on 1 the board, those hopes Were dampened. The Manawatu player had scored only five, failing to give spectators even a glimpse of the dashing form which marked his representative cricket before the war. j Toshack was finding the harden- | ed pitch to his liking, and made the ball pop disconcertingly at times. ! He claimed Ongley's wicket with an easy catch by McCool in the slips. ; Of the 14 overs he had bowled, only i 11 runs had been scored. The position was made even worse i with the dismissal of Rowe, Wel- | lington's main hope. From the first. ! ball Rowe went for the bowling and ! played excellent cricket all round 1 the wicket, but when attempt- ! ing a sixer off McCool was caught on the boundary by Hassett. Three wickets were down for 63, Rowe scoring his dozen in ten minutes. Toshack, who had bowled unchanged for an hour, dropped one or two a little short in his eighteenth ove-f, and with a nicely-timed leg glide Crawford sent the ball to the pickets. Eight came off the over, which was the most expensive of the morning. However, Brown persisted with the tall left-hander and McCool. McCool nearly had Crawfords wicket, but Brown dropped a most difficult catch at forward square leg. After each had bowled nineteen overs Toshack and McCool were relieved by Johnson and Dooland. Tindill and Crawford were not perturbed, and continued to play soundly. Crawford hit his seeond boundary off Dooland's first over, with a fine hook to square leg, bring ing his .total to 19. Tindill was giving of his best, and his leg glides prompted the thickening crowd to frequent applause. Wellington eclipsed their first innings when Crawford pushed Dooland ^ast mid-off for a single.