NORTHERN PROVINCES WILL FIGHT FOR SHIELD

NZ Truth, Issue 1262, 6 February 1930, Page 16

NORTHERN PROVINCES WILL FIGHT FOR SHIELD

FAILED AT THE DISTANCE

Otago Youngsters Could Not Support Old-timers

WEIiINGTQN BOWLERS ON TOP

■■!:■■. . I (From "N.Z. Truth's" Special -Dunedin Representative.). By defeating Otago this week m tlie series of Plunket Shield; games, Wellington is m the positiqjn of having to play; the final with Auckland, the game starting on Friday, February 21. Auofcland has one straight-out win and a, draw, giving them twelve points m, while Wellington has two straight-out victories over Otago and Canterbury. This gives the Capital province sixteen joints: •.•>..-,: •■ t -..,. ;.. ".*;■... ',.;•■...• '..-. , -.;. - : ■ ; ' ; - . . . ■ The meeting of the leading teams will create more than ordinary interest.. Auckland will need a straight-out victory^ over Wellington to retain the shield. 'With any sort of luck, it is quite on the cards that the i northerners maty doit, ;bufr

■. •'■■! ~ ' •■' . ■..'■(..' ■-■■ "■' ■.■'•-■■ : •-." -'■■■'•.•'.■ IP there was one" : man m the Welling-: V ton team' of; ;whom. 'the Dunedln 'crowd hoped \ for a healthy allround exhibition against- Otago, it was F. T. Badcbck, who/ under a .recent agreement to take over : the position of Otago coach, "was " playing his ia'st' game Avidly the capital province. - Spectators -were not' disappointed, and although ;in Wellington's first Innings Badpock did not put m an appearance until seventh wicket down, associated with Herb. McGirr he made the latter part of the^ visitors' innings the brightest of the day. Batting excellently, ho went after the fowling' in sparkling .style, having a particular appetite ; for Elmes and Alloo, whom he handed all over the ground. • His 70 minutes at the wicket for 62 was performed m. a way that gladdened the hearts of the Otago officials. '" His reputation was further enhanced on the second day when, taking the lion's share of the bowling, he als f i took greatest' toll of the /Otago wicJrets — 4 for 41. His entry at fifth wicket down m Wellington's second strike, which opened before a good attendance at mid-afternoon on Saturday, however, was destined to put a thorn m his crown of glory. After a short spell et the wicket he fell an lbw victim to Dunning when his score was only 2. MoGirr had luck on his side m . the first innings, when, at 35, he snicked an easy one into the slips which Alec. Knight failed to make friends with. Mac, with characteristic dash, scoring all round the paddock, went right on to make ,top score (73). He looked well set for,. his century, and probably would have got there but for being unluckily run out. Badcock, after square-cutting strongly, declined an invitation to. cross, and McGirr slipped while trying to "regain his crease. Wellington's two opening batsmen failed. in both innings.' In each case Baker succumbed to Dunnirig's -work. Two minutes after Baker's dismissal In Wellington's 3econd innings, Foley cooked his 'own goose when he. played one to short leg and started to run. Hollings, very rightly, wasn't having any, and Foley had to take his medicine.: It was an incomprehensible move for a man of Foley's experience. With the exception of Hollings, who took one hour and a-half to knock up 46. the other Wellingtonian batsmen did very little good m the. first innings. An incident m Hollings's' stay at the. crease gave the rail-sitters something to. argue about. , Haying pulled rino to leg, Hollings started to run. and m so doingknocked off a bail. The wicketkeeper appealed and the umpire raised his hand, hut after a confab with the batsman, reversed his decision. The conclusion was that before breaking the wicket the batsman had completed his stroke. Generally > speaking,. Otago's fielding the first day was riot up to standard, although McMullan and Knight might be mentioned as, exceptions. Considering the wet state of the ball, the bowling of Lemin • and Dunning ■was. exceptionally good. With all- eyes on him m his debut to rep. cricket, Lemln, on the first day, confirmed all the good things, previously said, about him," and justified his inclusion m the team.

Throughout 29 overs the Grange youngster maintained a good length' ■while making pace off the pitch. ' His bag for the day was 4 for 61 r . Dunning was going hard all the time, and but for a missed catch by Cavanagh, might have had another scalp to add to his hard-earned 3 for 68. - ' Alloo, m IS overs, did no good. His off-side stuff was particularly pleasing to Badcock. Elmes w as most- erratic, as his figures stood — 23 overs,, 76 runs, and no wickets. ;. : With his usual aggressiveness, Jim Shepherd, for Otagp, [started out to tackle' the bowling. It*- was • just as well for Otago that he did, for when the total was 57 V Jim's own tally was 50! t. • ;,- : Shortly after, Baker, whose 3 wickets for 50 runs took some of the acid out of his batting disappointment, closed a delightful innings by clean bowling the Albion champion. In characteristic style, the. Otago skipper played like an iron- wall cemented with patience. It was only when ho saw theYe was no wag m Otago's tail, after holding his own wicket up from fifth to last man m, that solid Alloo attempted to hit out. '•• He only did it once, thereby bringing" to a close his own and^the side's innings for 36 and 198; respectively.. Elmes batted forcefully and. turned the full face of the bat on to the bowlin*. But for one or: two uppish shots, his innings was. a well-deserved 40. Dunning, on the other hand, did not give the impression that he felt at home. Frequently, facing Henderson, bis timing .was all at sea. The "Wellington fielding was remarkably keen and accurate, Cameron, the . Rangitikei coit, and Ward being deserving of special mention. ; ■ McOirr kept a consistent length. He made the batsmen play for their, runs *nd at the close xtl the innings had 2 ': l at accost of 56 runs. Badcbek ialsb was riflht on the ; job with the leather. With the exception of "Shepherd, who was the _^ only tone who- could get him away, h« kept Vthe batsmen very quiet.

. Henderson, though sacrificing 45 ! runs for no wickets, bowled well," but the fates were against him.' " '.. Things looked rosy for Otago when the two Wellington openers- m; the isecojid innings were back m the pavilion and the score ' only 11. -But with Tom Lowry joining- Hollings, the rot was not allowed to set m, and iii a partnership yielding 61, of which clever short-running was a feature, saw 77 on the board before the big Wellington skipper was splendidly caught by Knight near the on boundary. Lowry's contribution was 27.

Lowry's dismissal came off Maloney's second ball, the slow-break man having relieved Dunning to allow the latter to replace Elmes at the other end, Elmes not seeming to be able to strike form. Cameron gave a nice display of flashing strokes, and showed that while batting 'a fighting innings he could still exercise some confident boundary strokes. A noticeable feature of Saturday afternoon's play was the num- • ber. of byes given away by Heenan, j Otago's stumper. In the first. 80 minutes bf Wellington's second innings, he was* responsible for 17 byes, two of which were 4's to the boundary. He Avas not up to the form he showed, the first day, when his style was convincing. »\

Due chiefly to a, smart resumed innings by McGUrr, Wellington's last four wickets added a round .50. when play was continued- on Monday morning. Wanting 258 to v/in, Otago's chances were far. fi ; om remote and when Shepherd m his usual style started to put the wood m it looked like an even break. Playing Kvlth all of his rungetting power -Jim gave the spectators the best half-hour of the match. At 49 he skied an awkward one for Badcock's safe hands. Cavanagh . and Elmes were associated m a steady partnership until the latter gave way to a straight one from Baker. With Alloo joining Cavanagh came one of the finest mid-innings stands I seen m Otago big cricket • for some seasons. Alloo, true to reputation, held up his wicket while the young Dunedin clubite steadily notched the runs. Cavanagh gave a high-class display. Baker had him tied up with a particular leg ball to which he ultimately succumbed lbw. Hollings must be handed a big share of honor m the Wellington victory. The four colts comprising Otago's tail lasted only a few minutes and shared 11 between thorn. In no small way was Wellington's win due to the splendid placing and fielding of the team. Baker was the chief scalp-getter with a tally of 5 for 50, but all the Wellington bowlers were on their game. s Pinning their faith on two or three old-timer batsmen, Otago went after a second innings score of "257 to catch Wellington and might have done it had not the tail refused to wag. The match gave Otajgo an opportunity of trying out several colts, but whatever their prospects m other departments might be the young players proved conclusively that the province's cricket fledglings are starving for want of tuition m the art of wielding the willow.