USEFUL LEAD

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20129, 26 December 1939, Page 9

USEFUL LEAD

CANTERBURY AHEAD MATCH WITH OTAGO DONNELLY MAKES 104 G. J. ROBERSTON SCORES 83 (Per Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, this day. Conditions on Saturday could hardly have been better for play in the Plunket Shield match between Canterbury aid t tagr-, the weather being fine and warm with a light Breeze, and a good wicket and fast outfield being all in favour of the batsmen. In the circumstances the Canterbury total o*. 374 runs was, although very satisfactory, not as big as could have been expected, especially when it is remembered that four players made nearly 300 among them. A pleasing aspect of the day was the batting of Donnelly, who. after a lean time in big cricket last year, made his first century for Canterbury. Opening the innings, he lost Kerr when the total was three —a continuation of bad starts in matches at Lancaster Park 12 months ago —and gave a delightful chanceless display. He curbed his tendency to rashness and watched good balls carefully, but when the occasion warranted it he used his feet to get to the pitch of the ball and sent it flashing to all parts of the ground with a minimum of effort. In all, he batted slightly less than two hours and a half and hit 12 fours. Useful Partnership O'Brien, who helped Donnelly to add 137 for the second wicket, made a valuable 65, but he was not so impressive. He gave three chances a hard one in the slips and one to Moloney at 33, and seven runs later Chettleburgh badly misjudged a shot to mid-on. Nevertheless, he made some beautiful shots, especially on the off, where he is much more polished than on the leg side, on which he is weak. He was out to a brilliant running catch by Montenth, who sprinted from mid-on to square leg and just reached the ball. Hadlee did not take long to settle down and his 58 made in 74 minutes was one of his best innings in big games. He met the ball with the full face of the hat and his neat placements and smart running between the wickets compensated for a hard chance he gave at 20 The Otago bowlers had a hard task on the perfect wicket and while there were not many loose balls it cannot be said that the attack was strong. There was an unfortunate lack of variety, for Moloney alone of the main bowlers used was a relief from the medium to fast medium type. Lemin did best to take five wickets for 96 runs off 19.4 overs, keeping a good length and swinging a little at times. His figures represented a fine oerfot malice under the conditions, but Robertson deserved more success. Tie fielding, from a lapse m the c?rl> part of the day, was good. Robertson Best For Otago When Otago opened their innings on Saturday their batsmen did not appear as safe as those of Canterbury. Robertson was easily the pick and it was unfortunate that severe cramp causeu his early retirement. Chetlleburgb gave an early chance to Webb, who, however, made no mistake. Soon after when Ciitler was not properly set he gave an easy catch to short leg, while Canterbury had further success when Moloney played the ball on to his wicket. Otago's position was made worse when just before lirne Cromb enticed Elmes out of his crease for Webb tc. stump him smartly. A solid innings of 83 not out by Robertson, who batted right through Otago's innings against Canterbury yesterday afternoon saved the southern side from complete collapse. He was assisted in a fine sixth-wicket stand of 88 by Fraser, who made 47, but apart from these two there was little of note in the innings, which realised 249, giving Canterbury a useful lead on the first innings. The Canterbury bowlers, Mcßae, Davis, Roberts and Cromb, were never completely collared. Mcßae bowling exceptionally well to take four wickets for 58 runs off 23 overs. The Canterbury fielding was not as good as that of Otago, but any chances that were dropped were hard ones. Canterbury batted again for less than half an hour and lost Kerr and O'Brien for 12 runs, but Donnelly and Hadlee played out time untroubled by the bowling. Conditions for play yesterday were excellent. Scores: — CANTERBURY First Innings. J. L. Kerr, c Mills, b Lemin .. 0 M. P. Donnelly, c Mills, b Begg ~ 104 F. P. O’Brien, c Monteath, b Lemin 65 W. A. Hadlee, c Mills, b Lemin .. 58 I. B. Cromb, c Mills, b Lemin . . 1 R. E. J. Menzies, c Chettleburgh, b Robertson .. .. - .. 14 W. McD. Anderson, not out . . 70 A. W. Roberts, lbw, b Robertson . 10 D. N. Mcßae, c Fraser, b Moloney 15 R. C. Webb, run out ■. .. 12 H. Davis, b Lemin . . . . .. 20 Extras 5 I Total 374

wickets for 61 runs; Ashenden, four for 63. WELLINGTON First Innings. V. H. Du Chateau, c Cowie, b Weir 19 W. Hepburn, b Cleverley .. .. 26 W. G. Rainbird, lbw. b Cleverley 19 E. W. Tindill, lbw, b Weir . . 1 J. A. Ongley, b Weir .. . . 1 J. R. Lamason, c Pearson, b Cleverley .. .. •. 25 W. F. Airey, b Cleverley .. .. 11 E. McLeod, not out 20 D. S. Wilson, c Blandford, b Matheson .. . - - • . . 12 L. T. Pritchard, c Wallace, b Matheson .. .. • • .. 20 J. Ashenden, c Cleverley, b Cowie 0 Extras 12 Total ■ - - 104 Bowling

Bowling O. M. R. W. N. Begg • 10 3 52 1 G. Lem in 19.4 1 90 5

O. M. R. W. Cowie . . . 7.1 0 35 1 Matheson . .. 10 0 39 Cleverley .. . 14 2 45 4 Weir ...10 2 33 3 Burke .. . 1 1 0 0