WELLINGTON GOES DOWN TO CANTERBURY.

Chronicle (Levin), 5 January 1948, Page 8

WELLINGTON GOES DOWN TO CANTERBURY.

CHRISTCHURCH, Jan. 4. Canterbury beat Wellington by 142 runs in the Plunket Shield mateh whieh eoneluded at Lancaster Park vesterday, but the game had an interesting linish and it took Canterbury all but lialf an hour of the last day to dismiss Wel-

lington. in eeding 417 to win.with all wiekets intact, Wellington was all-out for 274. : At one stage in Ihe, morning the Wellington totai did not look likely to exeeed 150, but all tlxe later batsmen put up exeellent perfornxanees and thexte was always the possibility that Wellington might be able to play out time. Wellington -eollapsed badly in the morning, for no appareht reason. The wieket was still playing well and the Canterbury bowling was not par.tie.u-. larly dangerous, but wiekets fell regtxlarly and at oue stage six were down for 82. The remaining batsmen all of-, fered resistanee and the partnerships by Tindill and Wilson, Wiison and E. Denxpster, and E. Dempster and MeLean, all prodnced 50 runs or rnore. What was perhaps the turning ppint pf the game occurred in the first 20 minutes of play. Both opening batsmen, Murray aixd Little, were oxxt" With the score at *15, but they had not been expeeted to last, long." fYhen Reid was run out seven runs later, Wellington suffered a severe reverse. Reid had batted so eonfidently and well in the first innings that he had beeorne one of Wellington 's ehief hopes for victory. Tindill again batted well and Ongley 's innings, although brief, was a good one. C. S. Denxpster and Crawford, however, never looked like staying long and it: was not until Wilson joined Tindill that Wellixxgton made any material progress towards saving-the game. Wilson bad one or two lucky escapes, but defended ■soundly. He oecasionally hit out at loose ones, but for a natural forcing batsmen, he showed fine restraint. Tindill was dropped once off Burtt, but by lunclx the total had been taken from 82 to 115. After the interval both batted iij. the same maxxner, Tindill scoring many of his runs with xxeat leg side shots. Half an lxour after the resumption, however. lxe was out, well beaten by a good ball from Snxall. The partnership with Wilson of 56, had lasted 62 minutes. Wilson and E. Denxpster then elfeeted further improvexxxexxt. AYilson, by this time, xvas batting really eonfidently and waiting for the right ball to hit. Demp- . ste'r was a little xxxore worried but soon seftled down to play solid erxeket. The pair stayed toget.her till 15 minutes before the tea interval and Canterbury was in need of a wieket when Wilson was eaught behind the wieket off Hadlee. AYitli Dempster, Wilson had added 57 in 70 miixutes and although Wilson hit 10 fours in his 60, his innings had

lasted two . hours .and a quarter. At the tea interval the total was 202 fpr eight. MeLean showed a disinelinatioxx to f aee Burtt who was bowling well Without nxueh luck when play was resumed. To the other bowlers, however, he produeed some good off side shots aixd • a very effeetive sweep to leg to anything looee. Dempster also opened up and made. some. pretty drives and.. agaixx Canterbury was threatened with a' d.rawn game, Both batsmen seemed very eomfoftable, but with an hour and a quarter to plajr, Denxpster toixehed Burtt 1s off brealc to Britton b eliind th.6 I wiekets, Dempster had batted 129 minutes for 52 and with MeLean had'added 57 in exien time. Wieket had fallen when it was really needed by Canterbury, but the last Wellington batsmen, MeLean and B'rowne, made a great attenxpt to save the game. MeLean did nearty all the scoring, but runs at that stage were a seeondavy consideration. It took Canterbury just on three-quarters of an hour to break the partnership and only 30 minutes were left for play when Small beat'Bfoyne with a good ball. MeLean, who carried his bat for 38, gave a plucky display. Burtt again was the best Canterbury bowler although Small took most of the wiekets. Burtt was assisted to soine exUnt by the lack of footwork of most •of the Wellington batsmen, but nevertheless he bowled well and should have had .at least four wiekets. Snxall was again nxore erratie thaxx ixx previous games this seasoix but bowled more good balls than in the first innings. MaeGibbon was unimpressive exeept in the last spell when he maxxaged to get some lift from the wieket. Sixook, the steadiest bowler ixx tlie Canterbury team, was agaixx inexpensive and looked dangerous when he had a new ball. The gate takings for the game exceeded £900 and the reeord set at the recent Wellingtoix-Otago game at the Basin Reserve was thus beaten. For the two matelxes at Christehureh this season, the takings were about £1700. Seores: — CANTERBURY First Innings 462 Second Inniixgs. (For six wiekets deelared) 277 WELLINGTON • First Iixnings 323 Second Innings. R. MeTL Murray, e Snxall, b Macgibbon 12 J. Little, e Anderson, b Snook . . . 0 J. Reid, run out 1 E. W. Tindill, b Small 51 J. A. Ongley, l.b.w., b Small .... 17 C. S. Dexixpster, l.b.w., b Bxxrtt .. 12 R. Crawford, e Anderson, b Small 4 D. S. Wilson, e Britton, b Hadlee . . 60 E. Denxpster, c Britton, b Burtt . . 5' A. MeLean, not out 38 J. G. M. Browne, b Small . . .. 3 Extx-as 21 Total .. 27 ' Bowling: A. R. MaeGibbon 1 for 59 P. Small 4 for 52, W. A. Hadlee 1 for 20, C. .G. Snook 1 for 25, T. B. Burtt 2 for 59, P. O'Malley none for 11, W. McD. Anderson none for 24.