Fluctuating Fortunes

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 242, 3 January 1928, Page 13

Fluctuating Fortunes

PLUNKET SHIELD CRICKET Otago's Great Recovery AUCKLAND BOWLING COLLARED THE Plunket Shield match between Auckland and Otago seemed likely to reach a speedy conclusion at one stage yesterday when Auckland had secured a lead of twenty runs on the first innings and six of Otago’s best wickets had fallen for 81 in the visitors’ second knock. A solid seventh wicket partnership between McMullan and Arthur Alloo, the visiting captain, entirely altered the outlook by adding--125 runs after collaring the Auckland bowling, McMullan batting four and a half hours for 131, whilst Alloo was still in at stumps with 81 to his credit. When play resumed this morning Otago held a lead of 227 runs with three wickets still to fall.

The welcome rains on Thursday had freshened up Eden Park, which looked well when play started on Saturday. Weather conditions were ideal with sunny weather and a fresh southerly to temper the heat. The wicket was easy and the outfield lively, and Alloo had no hesitation in electing to bat when he beat Bacre on the spin of the coin. Otago opened very quietly, Knight taking an hour to get five before being brilliantly caught by Bowley in the slips after Williams had bowled Vorrath round his legs with a swinger. McMullan and Cavanagh then made a bit of a stand, the lefthander compiling a solid 51 before edging Player to Matheson in slips. After lunch Cavanagh and the Essex coach, Eastman, added half a hundred for the fourth wicket, and then the visitors began to fall steadily to be all out for 197. Eastman’s free batting for 59 was the feature of the innings, but the English professional had a let off when he sent one back to Garrard before he had broken his duck. Matheson was Auckland’s best bowler, but Player trundled very steadily, sending down 30 overs, of which 13 were maidens, for two wickets and Bacre bagged two of the tail for four runs. AUCKLAND OPENS BADLY The score of 197 did not appear a very formidable one for such a strong batting side as Auckland on an easy wicket, but trouble started early when Mills was given out 1.b.w., for two with only a dozen runs on the board. Torrance was bowling left-hand round the wicket, and did not appeal, as the ball was short of a good length, and Mills was more than surprised at the decision. Anthony and Cooper both got to double figures and appeared to be set when clean bowled, and Garrard went to a half-hearted hit at Eastman’s leg stuff. Bowley was bowling along freely, and greeted Bacre’s advent with a soaring six over the ringside but the Auckland skipper disappointed the crowd by edging Torrance to Galland’s gloves before he had scored, and Auckland had lost five of the best for the even century. Then Player dug in for the rest of the day, while Bowley carried his score to 81 not out, and Auckland had 137 on for five wickets when the Old Year ended. The battle between Bowley and Eastman was always full of interest, and the Sussex man gave a couple of redhot chances wlf * were declined. SECOND DAY'S PLAY __ Player and Bowley carried on the good work when play resumed yesterday, and both played the bowling freely, scoring at a steady pace all round the wicket. The professor slowed down a bit when four off his century, and in playing back to force Torrance to leg he was beaten by the break, the ball edging on to his pads and into the wicket. Bowley was leudly applauded for his outstanding innings, which was always delightful to watch and he was unlucky in missing his century. Alison Weir was skittled by Torrance without scoring, and then Matheson made things merry while he lasted, hitting four fours before missing a wild swing at Eastman and getting stumped. Player’s solid and valuable contribution of 40 ended with a soft return to Alloo, and Auckland’s innings closed with a lead of 20 over Otago. Torrance and Eastman shared the Otago attack and the Auckland wickets between them, the veteran’s fine length being responsible for exactly half of his 34 overs being maidens. Eastman bowling the conventional leg theory, with only two men on the off; his perfect length carried just enough turn to require careful watching and kept the batsmen respectful. t OTAGO IN AGAIN Otago started the second innings at 1 p.m., in a disastrous fashion, Knight being bowled by a swerver from Player before he had scored, and Cavanagh dug in with McMullan until after lunch. Then came a procession of Southern batsmen, neither Cavanagh Galland, Eastman, Vorrath or Cherry reaching double figures, and with six down for 81 at four o’clock, there was quite a prospect of another day’s play not being necessary. McMullan had been fighting hard all the way and had scored 60 out of the 81, and but for him the procession would have been a very funereal one. A GREAT PARTNERSHIP But the Otago captain, Arthur Alloo, had still to be reckoned with, and before the parting came between him and McMullan, 125 runs had been added, and not only had the hopeless position been retrieved, but the odds had swung in favour of Otago. Both batsmen defied all changes of bowling for two and a-half hours, and gave no semblance of a chance. Neither showed much in the way of scoringstrokes, and even when they had the Auckland attack demoralised, they took no risks with the tired bowling. McMullan was loudly cheered when he reached the century, having scored 100 out of 151 in 225 minutes. Both batsmen continued unperturbed and 200 was hoisted after four and a-half hours’ batting. Six runs later McMullan hit out at half-volley from Matheson and Bacre grabbed a low catch at mid-on, the small crowd giving McMullan a rousing reception as he returned at 6.30 p.m., with 131 j to liis credit, which included 12 boundj aries. ALLOO STILL GOING STRONG Alloo had backed McMullan up splendidly and continued the even j tenor of his way when another left- ! hander in Elmes took McMullan’s place, j With his score at 76 Alloo drove An- | thony to Williams for the United man Ito decline the chance. Elmes reached j double figrues just as time was called j with siven wickets down for 247 an 1 | Alloo still going strong with 81 not out j as the result of two and a-half hours’ steady play. With 227 runs on, and I two left-handed stickers in Elmes and ! Bouglas, Otago may set Auckland a hard task in the fourth innings which will take some handling, and rain may make the last knock all in favour of the Otago bowlers. The Auckland fielding was consistently good, the catches of Matheson and Bowley having quite a dash of brilliancy about them, while Rowntree was at his best behind the sticks, only one ball passing him in the first yesterday there was nj»t

a single extra until after the second century had been passed, when two leg byes appeared. The weakness of the home team's bowling became apparent during the McMullan-Alloo partnership yesterday, and had either been punishing batsmen of the Blunt or Shepherd type, the prospects of Auckland would have been gloomier than ever. Details:

OTAGO First Innings VORRATH, b Williams 7 KNIGHT, c Bowley, b Matheson .. 5 McMULLAN, c Matheson, b Player . . f*L CAVANAGH, c Matheson, b Garrard 21 EASTMAN, c Matheson, b Anthony 59 CHERRY, c Rowntree, b Player . . 4 GALLAND, c Rowntree, b Matheson 22 ALLOO, b Matheson 3 ELMES, b Dacre 14 DOUGLAS, not out 3 TORRANCE, c Anthony, b Dacre , 4 Extras 4

Total 197 Fall of wickets: S, 34. 75, 125. 134, 170, 176, 181, 193, 197.

Second Innings KNIGHT, b Player 0 CAVANAGH, b Player 8 McMULLAN, c Dacre, b Matheson 131 GALLAND, c Rowntree, b Player 2 EASTMAN, c Bowley, b Matheson 1 VORRATH, b Williams 9 CHERRY, b Garrard 2 ALLOO, not out .. . . .. gi ELMES, not out 10 Extras 3 Total for seven wickets .. 247 Fall of wickets: 1, 30, 32, 37, 65, SI, 206.

AUCKLAND First Innings BOWLEY, b Torrance 96 MILLS, lbw, b Torrance 2 ANTHONY, b Eastman 13 COOPER, b Douglas 18 GARRARD, c Elmes, b Eastman .. 8 DACRE, c Galland, b Torrance .. 0 PLAYER, c and b Alloo 40 WEIR, c Eastman, b Torrance . . 0 MATHESON, stpd Galland, b Eastman 24 WILLIAMS, not out D ROWNTREE, b Eastman 4 Extras .. ... .. 3 Total 217 Fall of wickets: 12, 33, 76, 93, 100, 172, 180, 180, 213, 217.

TO-DAY’S PLAY

OTAGO’S DOGGED FIGHT

Continuing with 247 runs on for seven wickets, Otago batted on determinedly this morning. Alloo, the captain, partnered by Elmes, put on runs at a speedy rate, until when within three runs of his century the Otago skipper was bowled oft his pads by Matheson. He had played a great uphill innings, and was unlucky not to have put a three-figure score to his credit. He hit 12 fours. 277—8—97. Douglas, the incomer, opened very shakily against Matheson, who was making the ball “fizz” just outside the off stump. Douglas touched the first ball he received up into the slips, but Player dropped an easy one. A moment later Douglas cocked another one, which fell a foot or two short of Williams. The scoring now became very slow, the first hour of play having produced only 43 runs. At 12.30 Otago was 290 for eight wickets. Otago was all out at one o’clock for 315. Auckland requires 296 to win.

MISSED CHANCES CANTERBURY DROPS BACK WELLINGTON’S SOLID BATTING (Special to THE SUN.) WELLINGTON, Monday. Wellington’s first match this season for the Plunket Shield, played at the Basin Reserve, against Canterbury, is likely to be remembered. It was a game of missed opportunities, particularly on the part of the Southerners, there being something like nine catches offered, seven to Canterbury, all refused. Right through the two days’ play there were only one or two bright episodes. the play generally being of the slow variety. The fielding was very keen for both sides. Wicket-keeping showed two really brilliant exponents, of whom James was the better of the two, through Hayes was not far behind. Except for an hour or two on the second day, the bowlers held the upper hand right through the two days’ play, though only the last Canterbury wicket went clean bowled; the others were all caught or run out. Canterbury's second innings had been distinctly disappointing. Not once did anv batsman look like compiling anything like a large score, all poking round the wicket in an entirely inadequate manner, which probably was the result of the knowledge that they were up against it right from the start of their second innings. Details; CANTERBURY First Innings GREGORY, c Foley, b Lowry .. .. 44 ’HAMILTON, c James, b McGirr .. 77 JACOBS, c Lowry, b Lambert .... 1 PAGE, lbw, b Lambert 0 NIXON, c Brice, b Badcock .. .. 10 HAYES, run out , .

ROBERTS, c James, b Brice 15 EVANS, c Brice, b Lambert " MERRITT, run out * READ, by Lowry 2S; McEWIN, not out .. .. .. .. .. 16; Extras .. .. •• •• .. •• • • •• 12 Total .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 251 j Bowling:: Massey, 0-32: McGirr, 1-42: Bernau, 0-34: Brice, 1-45: Lowry, 2-15; ‘ Lambert, 3-43; Badcock, 1-2 S. Seconds Innings GREGORY, lbw, b Brice . ** HAMILTON, b Bernau ilO JACOBS, lbw, b Bernau »» PAGE, c James, b McGirr 21 NIXON, c Lambert, b Brice IP • MERRITT, c Lambert, b Brice .... 0 HAYES, temporarily retired .. .. 43 . ROBERTS, c Lowry, b Brice ...... 30 READ, not out 4 EVANS, not out .. 7 Extras .. 16 Total for seven wickets .. .. 20S Bowling: Badcock, 0-11; Bernau. 2-53; Lambert, 0-28; Massey, 0-14; McGirr. 122; Brice, 4-44; Lowry, 0-20; Foley, 0-0. WELLINGTON DEMPSTER, b Read 43 FOLEY, lbw, b Merritt is LOWRY, st Hayes, b McEwin .. .. 81 AIREY, c and b Merritt 8 LAMBERT, lbw, b Merritt 31 BADCOCK, b Read 4 JAMES, c and b Nixon 53 McGIRR, c Page, b Nixon 122 BERNAU, b McEwin 6 BRICE, b Merritt 17 MASSEY, not out 12 Extras ..- „„ .. jq Total .405 Bowling; Read 2-104: Nixon, 2-61: Merritt, 4-133; Page. 0-37; McEwin, 2-60. TO-DAY’S PLAY WELLINGTON, To-day. The Wellington-Canterbury match was continued to-day in dull, cold weather. A few showers in the early morning did not affect the wicket appreciablv. The outfield was slow. Evans (7) and Read (4) continued for Canterbury, who had lost seven wickets for 20S in the second innings, against the bowling of Bernau and Massey. Read was again playing nice cricket, and Evans batting cautiouslv. The score mounted to 220. McGirr and Badcock then took up the attack and kept the batsmen at bay. Evans hit one back and McGirr accepted the catch—227— B—l 4. Hayes (43), who had retired owing to injuries the previous day, filled the grap. He started confidentlv and placed McGirr nicely to leg for two. Read also glanced the same bowler prettily for a brace, but Badcock beat Hayes badly.—242-9-48. McEwin was the last man. Read drove McGirr for four and ran into the thirties. McEwin played a similar shot off Badcock and then came a period of quiet play until Bernau came on again at 255. McEwin hooked him for three and Read for two. Read was then clean-bowled by Bernau.—26l-10-34. McEwen in 9. Details of the score are: EVANS, c and b McGirr 3 4 HAYES, b Badcock 48 READ, b Bernau 34 McEWIN, not out .. 9 Extras .. .. .. 14 Total .. 261 Bowling analysis.—Badcock, 1-27; Bernau, 3-69; Lambert, 0-28; Massey, 0-19; McGirr, 2-40; Brice, 4-44; Lowry, 0-20; Foley, 0-0. Wellington requires 108 to win. Dempster and Foley opened the innings and Read opened the bowling. His second ball hit McEwin’s hands at mid-on. o—l—o. Lowry was the newcomer, and Page went on at the other end. Lowry glanced him for four. In Read’s next over Lowry fell to a low catch by Roberts in the slips. B —2—7. Airey took the next strike and Foley glided Page for 3.

WELLINGTON JUNIOR CRICKET REPS. WIN BRABIN SHIELD

Press Association. CHRISTCHURCH, Monday,

The Brabin Shield cricket match between the Wellington and Canterbury junior representatives has been concluded, Wellington winning by 86 runs on the first innings. Wellington made 194 (Cook 51, Elliott 19, Hamilton 39, Caldwell 19, Spence 35), in the first innings, and 88 for seven wickets (declared) in the second (Hamilton 15, Bryant 21, Brettis not out 16). For Canterbury Bean took four wickets for 69 runs and Newton four for 38, in the first innings. Canterbury made 108 (Newton 25, Henry 18, Bean 25) in the first innings, and 70 for seven wickets in the second (Ward 31). Bryant took three wickets for 27 runs, Spence one for 16, Crook two for 23 and Elliott two for 7, in the first innings.

THAMES CRICKET REPS. EASILY BEAT PIAKO (From Our Oven Correspondent) THAMES, Monday. The Thames cricket reps, carried too many guns for Piako in a representative match here to-day. Piako made 124 and 118, the chief scorers being Peak (45), Jones (28 not out). Sale (27), Stack (26). Thames made 207 in the first innings (Cleave 76, Hamilton 46 not out) and requiring 36 to win, secured the 4 runs for the loss of two wickets.

BEALE’S TOURING TEAM

MATCH AGAINST TARANAKI LANGRIDGE SCORES A CENTURY (Social to THE SUX.) NEW PLYMOUTH. To-day The match between the Taranaki district eleven and Mr. E. C. Beale ." touring: team of Auckland colts ended in a draw. Auckland's first innings realised 344. and the outstanding feature was the fine display of Langridge, the young Sussex professional. w h o scored 130. Others who shaped well were P. E. Whitelaw (4S). G. L. Weir (37), R. G. Bush (33). O. Webb (31). and L. T. Mont Taranaki replied wun miaon. the Yorkshire coach, being top scorer with 76. and Brown batted well for 60 not out. In their second innings Auckland rattled up 99 without loss, V. C. Butler batting brilliantly for 6S not out, which included five sixers, and Whitelaw scored 28 not out. When the match ended Auckland were in a commanding position with 185 runs ahead and 10 wickets in hand.

BOWLING ANALYSIS O. M. R. Matheson .. 16 Dacre 1.1 0 Player 00 13 Anthony 6 3 12 ■Williams 17 6 Garrard 12 Bowley .. 9 12

BOWLING ANALYSIS O. M. R. W. Player 25 6 Matheson 27 4 Garrard 14 6 Williams 17 7 26 Dacre ,. 7 1 21 Anthony .. 4 19 Bowley 4 1 14 Cooper .. 4 19 Weir .. .. . 1 - 5 -

BOWLING ANALYSIS O. M. R. W. Torrance 34 17 55 4 Eastman .. . 29 9 64 4 Alloo 13 4 45 1 Douglas ..11 1 44 1 Elmea 1 - 6