CRICKET COMMENT

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5322, 7 February 1947, Page 2

CRICKET COMMENT

OLDTIMER.)

" "... i ." ' R.S.A. MISS OUTRIGHT WENl; SIX POINTS POR CITY - ALBION. . ' f

(By

Oue of the best elub matches this season resulted in a first irinings win for R.S.A. over Old Boys. Interest was maintained until the last hall, which found R.S.A. eight lians 'short of an . outright win. If R.S.A.'s opening bats- 1 men had been a little more enterpris- , ing, the re'quired rans would have, Ibeen scored in the time. As it was, R. Spedding and I. Laurence made a valiant effort to rnalke np the leeway. At' the opening of the secorid day's play, R.S.A. was struggling hard to catch Old Boys' first innings total. With W. Barron out, it was left to D. Rose, who responded with a good knoclc of 37. The remaining bajsmen failed miserahly. R.S.A.'s total of 179 gave it a first irinings lead of seven iiuns over Old Boys. Old Boys in the second knoclc collected runs quickly. E. Andrews 27, D. Ewert 44 and G. Beale 22, all played sound, forceful crioket. With the total at 123 for six, Old Boys'declared, leaving R.S.A. 116 runs to get in as many minutes. Unforunately for R.S.A. the openers were - stodgy and in the first threequarters bf an ihour, too few runs were on the board and it was not uriti! the advent of iSpedding and Laurence tfiat the scoring quickened and hopes were raised that the required total might be reached. Both batsmen played havoc with j the bowlers in .the last two overs. Laurence hit a heautiful six, but the last ball found R.S.A. still eight runs I short of an outright win. The bowling on hoth sides v/as patchy, the batsmen ahvays being on top. ,G. Hobbs had a good spell for several overs, when he kept the R.S.A. men very quiet. With this four-point win, R.S.A. has now established1 a good lead in the competition and should take a lot of catching. City-Albion's Outright Win. Contimuing its second innings, City- J Albion's knock yielded 130. Cave 30, ; T. Costello 20 and Collett '24 were the j principal scorers. This left Ngongo- , taha 160 runs for the win, but once ! again the City-Albion bowling proved j too strong. P. Lyle 45, R. Dawson 17 | and Penn 19, all batted well, but did j not receive enough support. Ngongo- ! taba's innings yielded 120, giving City- J Albion an outright win 'by 39 runs. j P. Lyle, four for 56, of Ngongotaha, I and 'Collett, six for 40, of City-Albion, were the most successfiul bowlers. This last series bf matches brought the first round to an end and as a j matter of interest I 'give my unoificial • list of points gained up to the present: J R.S.A., 28; Old Boys, 21; Kahukura, ; 11 (il bye); City-Albion, c8 (1 !bye); Ngongotaha, 0 (1 bye); School, 0 (3 byes). It is usual to. cancel any play on a race-meeting day so I presume the first series of the second round will commence on February 15. If the draw is the sarne as the first round, the next series wili be R.S.A. v. Ngongotaha; Old Boys v. High School and City-Albion v. Kahukura i>.;esults at a Glance Old Boys, first innings, il72; second innings, 123 for six (declared). R.S.A. first innings, 179; second innings, 109 j for four. City-Albion, first innings, 84; second J innings, 130. Ngongotaha, first innings i 55; second innings, 120. - Best Performances. Batting. — W. Barron (R.S.A.), 47; R. Spedding- (R.S.A.), AA not out; D. Ewert (Old Boys), 44; P. Lyle (Ngongotaha), 45; Cave (City-Albion), 30. Bowling. — Collett (City-Albion), six for 40; P. Lyle (Ngongotaha), four for 56; D. Ewert (Old Boys), four for 51; R. 'Spedding (R.S.A.), three for 62.