ALL OUT FOR 21 AT CHRISTCHURCH

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 55, 20 March 1937, Page 9

ALL OUT FOR 21 AT CHRISTCHURCH

Press Aasociation.)

English Fast Bcrwlers Worry New Zealanders

(By Telegraph—

0HBISTCHUB05, Thoee of tfee large attendanoe a* Lancaster Fark who ecxpected erioket fireworke from the touring M.O.C. team 'pa the flret day of their mateh against the oombined Otago-Canterbury eide muet be dieappointed. Bather was toIday'a play of outstanding interest as an exampla of how Dominion teams can ■ripe to the ocoasion when pitted against 'dietinguished visitors. The English team wae oa the defensive throughout jits inuings, and hue bowling on a iwieket that gave little aasistance, supported by keen fielding, en&bled the 'Combined eleven to dismiss Ehgland's .Test playera for the comparatively small score of 217. Ehgland's fast bowlers provided the only spectacular element in the play, but although the visitors' attack, especially by New Zealand standards, was hostile and fiery, it was a little disappointing to see three New Zealahd batsmen get themselves out by strokes and taetics unworthy of representative . cr icke t er s. At stumps the Combined team had! 70 on the board for the loss of three wickets, and ea there is good batting stTengtih. throughout the eleven, the home team has a xeasonable chance of geting fairly close to England's acore. At one time it seemed that a much fcetter start was going to be made, for J. L. Kerr and K. F. M. Uttley coniidently put on 46 before the opening parthership was broken Copson, the Derbyshire fast bowler, tihen took three •wickets, with the addition of only one ,run. Morit of England's batsmen of rOpuitation found themselves in difflculty !to the home team's bowling, and of the established batsmen, only the aetingicaptaib, Wyatt, nlade a good score. The {team had a rather longer "tail" than ithe best cOmbination of the tOuring •teaan usiially has, but this time the jbowlers eaitoe to light wibh a useful ihnings when a serious collapse seemed 'likely. @&ns, the Middlesez slow bowler, Who did well as an all-rounder with ! Holmes' team in Australia and New i Zealand last year, played a particularly jvaluable innings for 43, and the lflft|hand fast bowler, Vooe, contributed an {eztremely useful 24 not ouf. The crowd was partly disappointed ,and partly pleased at the good sihowing of the home players, when such fine batsmen as Hammond, Worthington, Leyland, Ames and Fishlock were „di3missed after a more or less brief in•nings. Worthington, one of the opening batsmen, was not h&ppy at all, and was soon out. Hammond Clean Bowled Hammond, one of the greatest of post-war batsmen, came to the crease, .showed a few beautifully-produced and powerful scoring shots, and was then clean bowled by a beautiful ball from the Canterbury swing bowler, Mulcock. Leyland, Ames and Fishlock stayed hardly long enough to show their ability , and six wickets were down- for 129. When Wyatt's patient, but very sound innings ended, it was left to the watchful, but enterprising Sims and the stocky wicketkeeper, Duckworth, to produce a saving partnership ef 37 Tuns, aud tlhen Voce and Sims, together, took the score to 193. Copson had a brief but merry knock for 12, and the innings closed for the not very considerable score of 217. Wyatt's was a real captain's innings. •He had many moments of unease, and the bowlers, especially Mulcock, too often got the ball past his bat for it to be said that he was in command of the situation. Nevertheless, he produced some fine scoring' shots, and ha was not afraid to lift the ball to an open field. Canterbury entbusiasts have seen Hammond at his best, and they Temember his glorious driving and cutting. To-day he hit the ball hard from the outiSet, but his timing was not perfec:tion. Nevertheless, it came almost as a shock when Mulcock completely beat the Englishman with a fine ball— surely one of the peak moments of what for him had been an outstanding season. Sims showed mastery of a wide range of strokes, some of his leg shots behind the wicket bfeing particularly flna More surprising was the form of Voce. His offi drives and his correct defence .were worthy of a first-claBs batsman. Mulcock Bowls Well. The bowling honours for the combined team were fairly evenly distributed. Mulcock, particularly in his first spell at the crease, bowled brilliantly, and he was a little unlucky not to have the the wickets of the others besides Hammond. He kept his in-swingers fairly close to the wicket, even when bowling to a leg trap, and tb$ batsmen had to play at nearly every ball. His length was excellent, and the batsmen carne'd •all the runs they scored from him. 'Roberts, too, bowled with great heart, i 'varying his deliveries eleverly, and occasionally getting great pace from the piteh. A, J. Dunning, Otago 's only representative in this year's New Zealand team, wa? used eparingly. Page probably kept in mind the vaiue of having a stock bowler fresh in the event of sopae of the later batsmen makiug a stubboru partnership. As it . was, Duuuing had Wyatt caughfc behind at a time when the English captain seemed likely to go on to a century. Dunning wr.s acourate, swinging enough to beat the bat and getting an appreciable turn. ' As the googly bowler of the team, Oromb was a success. He bowled accurately and with a° fine appreciation of the value of changes in pace, spin and Uflight, apd h« trapped two good bats-

men, Leyland and Amea. Blmes, the left-hander, was steady, but did not trouble the batsmen. He was unluoky in having a catch missed off his bowl-' ing. Ths fielding of tho oombined team was keen and accurate, and though one or two eatches were dropped, they were .all exeusable mistakes. Cromb and Page did some fine work oloBe to the wicket, and the fielding of Uttley, Kerr and Hadlee, further out, frequently earned applause. Elmes made some fine stops off his own bowling. MlHw was a xeliable wicketkeeper,. and he was eoncerned in the dismissal of three batsmen, but he did not always take the ball eleanly, and in standing deep to Mulcock, he permitted the batsmen to take guard well outside the crease. Fast Men Troublesome. From the lift that the combined team bowlers wefe able to get. from the wicket, it was apparent that England's fast men would be troublesome. So it proved for Copson, Farnes aad Voce., All wefe able to make length balls kick disconcertingly. The playing of really fast bowling has never been a strong point in New Zealand batsmanship,. chiefiy because of lack of experience against this type of attack. Still that. is no excuse for batsmen flieking at' head-high balls and playing half-heart-ed leg shots at good-length ones. Kerr loBt his wicket through nibbling at a high off ball, and both Uttley and. Cromb cocked up simple catches to short leg when trying to force length b'alls to the on. Kerr's defence generally was eonfldent, and he produced some fine scoring strokes behind the wicket. Uttley waa more aggressive and was not afraid to drive the fast men. These were paying tactics when they wero successful, for nearly the entiro English field was daployed behind the batsman or close in, just forward of him, Hadlee and Page steromed the time in a good partnership at the end of the d«,y, and although the formef eaused uneasiness by swihg tentatively at an oocasional rising ball on the off, their defence was sound and confident. If they ,;can re-eatablish themSelves ta? mofrow, they will go a long way towards giving the coinbiaed team a first iniiings leadDetailed score's:- — M.O.O. First Innings. , Worthington, c Cromb, b Roberts 3' Wyatt, c Mills, b Dunning 63 Hammond, b Mulcock ........ 17 Leyland, e and b Cromb .. ., 12 Ames, c Dunning, b Oromb ,. , 7 Fishlock, c Mills, b Dunning . 1.1 Sims, b Mulcock ............ 43 Duckworth, b Roberts ........ 13 Voce, not out 24 Copson, st Mills, b Roberts .. 12 Farnes, c Cromb, b Mulcock .. 0 Extras (byes 6 leg byes 0) .. 13 Total .. .. .. .. . . ,, 217

CANTERBURY-OTAGO. First Innings. Kerr, c Voce, b Copson 18 Uttley, e Fiehlock, b Oopson . . 21 Hadlee, not out 10 Cromb, c Farnes, b Copson ..... 0 Page, not out 13 Extras (byes 7, leg bye 1) . . 8 Total for three wickets .. .. 70

O. M. R. W. Roberts .. 27 8 59 3 Mulcoek 25.3 7 55 3 Elmes 14 2 37 0 Cromb 13 1 36 2 Dunning 10 3 10 2 Page .. .. .. .... 1 O go

Bowling Analysis.

O. M. R. W. Fames 6 1 20 0 Copson 9 3 20 3 Vote 3 2 14 0 Sims 3 1 6 0 Ames 1 2 2 0

Bowling Analysis.