THEIR UPS AND DOWNS

NZ Truth, Issue 1202, 13 December 1928, Page 16

THEIR UPS AND DOWNS

Wanganui Scrapes Through Hawke Cup Trial (From "N.Z. Truth's" Special AVangamii Eepresentativej . When Wanganui piled on the runs ahead of Taranaki m the first inning's of the Hawke Cup preliminary, everything looked to be over. In the finish Wanganui just scraped home.

WITH a lead of 180 runs Wanganui ■ set aboilt ending' the match m - three innings, but they reckoned without the pugnacity of the batsmen from the. butter -fat province. Gradually they forged ■ ahead ■ until they had runs m hand with only one wicket down. And so it went on until Wanganui had 150 runs to make to win. The wicket had worn and had become treacherous and Wanganui had lost five wickets for 86 up to this time stumps were drawn. On Tuesday the wicket eased, and Wanganui hit off the necessary runs. • The • weather was glorious and the wicket m gr<jut order for the start of play. Going m first Taranaki put together, the .moderate total of .190, towards which AViison, the English professional, contributed 107. He took no chances, the rate of scoring being very slow, but his wonderfully straight bat impressed the spectators, while he showed excellent" ■'judgment and his' timing was faultless. Bernau was rocking them ■ m nearly as fast as ever, butChes.' Holland gave the batsmen most trouble. He kept a fine length, and scarcely sent down a bad ball. • Ho secured four wickets. Giosen, a Wanganui Collegiate school boy, gave a remarkable exhibition both behind the wicket and with the bat. He stumped one and caught three others. He gave a delightful display with the bat, knocking up 96 before being caught. . i' He treated all the bowlinj? alike. cutting and gliding them. to the boundary with ease. Thi.s youth promises to make his mark as a cricketer, but unfortunately this is his last term at the school, and he is going to the Old Country to pursue his studies.

Giesen was top-scorer,, but Sewell (73), Hutchison (45), Wood (35), Bernau (28), Darby (20) and London (19) all. batted, well. • For Taranaki, Petty four for 95, Quickfall three for 95, and Nasmith two for 77, did the bowling. With a lead of 179 Wang-anui appeared to be m a comfortable position, when Taranaki opened their second innings on Saturday, but, thanks to a great .stand by Wilson and Stan. Lay (the javelin thrower). Taranaki had 237 o,n the board for the loss of one wicket at stumps. Nasmith and Wilson took the score to 41 before the former was given out l.b.w. Then Lay joined the English professional and brightened up the batting, which had been painfully slow. Wilson refused to take any risk, playing the straight Bat to many balls which should have been hit. He was there to stop, and when anything loose came along he put the wood on. ' Meanwhile, Lay was hitting . out freely, and the pair continued to defy the bowling until stumps, when Lay had 105 (not out) to his credit and Wilson 91 (not out), the total being--237 for one wicket. Rain prevented the resumption of play until 2 p.m. on Monday. Wilson took his score from 91 to 110 before being dismissed. Lay added three to his overnight score and was run out for 108 made m the closing stages and Petty, the visit-, ing fast bowler, took full advantage of a bad patch and was almost unplayable.. ■ : •■.'■■' The wicket was easy on Tuesday morning and Wanganui knocked up the 64 runs requiced to win for the loss of another wicket.