GREAT BATTING

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 188, 29 October 1927, Page 13

GREAT BATTING

N.S.W. SCORES 571 FOUR CENTURIES Reed. 10.30 a.m. SYDNEY, To-day. After 10 minutes’ play yesterday, Henderson secured Phillip’s wicket with a ball which swung in. The board then read one for 10. Andrews joined Gregory and after a slow opening Gregory commenced to find the fence.

Lowry replaced McGirr with Merritt, but the change had little effect. Lowry then made frequent changes in the bowling, but both batsmen continued to score merrily in spite of the excel-

SYDNEY, To-day. lling as J. E. Mills and I\. C. ckets to begin New Zealand's >red by New South Wales. lent fielding. Gregory stepped forward to hit Merritt hard. Andrews was more cautious, but also hit hard at anything that looked likely. Gregory had a narrow escape in the early stages of his innings. Dempster threw himself full length at a catch, but the ball struck his hand. Gregory and Andrews went on playing judiciously, mixing hard hits with stolen singles. At the luncheon interval the board read one for 192. MERRITT EXPENSIVE Gregory took 101 minutes to reach his century. Both batsmen continued to give a bright display after luncheon, and the score mounted rapidly. Merritt was particularly expensive. Gregory scored the first six of the match off him. When the total was 256 Andrews brought up his century after 119 minutes at the wicket. Gregory had three more narrow escapes from beingcaught. Then Lowry stumped him. The partnership had yielded 262 runs in 125 minutes. Gregory had hit two sixes and 20 fours, and had batted 135 minutes. Andrews and Kippax kept the field moving until Andrews had reached 134. Then Henderson clean bowled him. The board now read three for 329. Andrews had hit IS fours and was in 14S minutes. Ho had given at attractive all-round display. Kippax was joined by Jackson and the batsmen found nothing in the bowling to trouble them. They put on 100 in 36 minutes. Jackson’s chopping strokes were particularly effective. FIELDING SLACK The fielding of the New Zealanders became slack as the afternoon passed. A quarter of an hour after the tea adjournment, when the total was 505, Jackson succumbed to McGirr. This wicket had added 176 in 72 minutes. Jackson’s was the most enterprising innings of the day. As Kippax approached his century he became very cautious and ultimately reached his goal after having been 125 minutes at the crease. Shortly afterwards he skied a ball, which was held by McGirr. Kippax had batted 133 minutes and the total was 553 for seven.

Tho “tail” did not do much, the remaining wickets falling for IS runs. The entire innings occupied 278 minutes. The visitors took the field with 20 minutes to play, but an immediate appeal against the light was upheld.