Fine Partnership Broken ROBERTS AND PAGE OUT

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 863, 6 January 1930, Page 11

Fine Partnership Broken

ROBERTS AND PAGE OUT

Plunket Shield Game Resumed

A FINE partnership for the third wicket by M. L. Page and A. W. Roberts characterised this morning’s play in the Plunket Shield match, Auckland v. Canterbury, at Eden Park, when the visitors continued their first innings after the wet week-end. The New Zealand representatives added 139 for the third wicket, before Roberts was caught in slips for 76. Page did not long survive him, being stumped by Rowntree for 78 off Anthony when he attempted a big hit. Canterbury’s start, with four wickets down for 178, was thus a good one.

The weather clerk again smiled on the fixture after the dismal first two days of rain. Eden Park showed little vestige of Saturday’s downpour, both the wicket and the outfield having made a quick recovery from the effects of the pools of water which graced the green on Saturday. M. L. Page, 25 not out, and A. W. Roberts, 49 not out, resumed Canterbury’s interrupted first innings at 11.5 a.m. The Canterbury total was 104 for two wickets when the game began. There was an attendance of upward of 1,000 on the terrace and stand. A. F. Wensley was the first Auckland bowler. He opened from the stand end. and Roberts brought his half-century up with a single to the off, off the first ball of the day. That was the only run scored during the over, and Roberts faced A. M. Matheson, who bowled from the terrace crease. ROBERTS’S “LET OFF” The fast man early displayed a much better length than characterised his display on Friday morning. The overproduced three, a brace to Page and a single to Roberts. The Canterbury colt registered the first boundary of the day when he turned Wensley neatly to the leg fence, in the coach’s second over. The scoring rate was very subdued, the batsmen being content to play themselves in judiciously, while the Auckland ground fielding kept carpet shots within moderate limits. Matheson’s second over consisted of only five balls, and yielded a single to each of the batsmen. Wensley required careful watching. He had Roberts at bay with well flighted deliveries. The colt lifted one high to the on just clear of a fieldsman, and drove back the next ball low down to the bowler’s left hand. It was a narrow escape for the batsman. PAGE REACHES FIFTY After 18 minutes’ play Canterbury’s total was 122 for two wickets, Roberts being 58 and Page 45. The pair livened up somewhat, chiefly at Matheson’s expense, and then the visiting captain jumped out to Wensley and straight drove him for one. Page reached his half-century with a boundary shot off Matheson, the total then being 130. The outfield appeared to be even faster than it was on Friday, and on a fast wicket the batsmen soon measured up Matheson’s pacy deliveries. The Varsity bowler had 39 runs against his name for one . wicket after an additional four overs this morning. Another chance by Roberts went begging when Weir failed to hold a difficult catch very low down in the slips off Matheson, when the Canterbury colt's score stood at 60. Roberts showed his appreciation of this let-off by promptly dispatching Matheson down the gully for three later in the same over. FIRST BOWLING CHANGE

With the total at 135 and the pair still together, Mills made his fi.rst bowling change, replacing Matheson with Anthony. Matheson had taken one wicket for 42 runs. The Parnell veteran’s first two overs produced three runs each, and "Wensley sent down a maiden in between. The batsmen were now well set and scored slowly but surely at regular intervals off the Auckland bowling. Badeley was conspicuous among the Auckland fieldsmen for his fine work on the boundary line. Roberts had his third escape of the morning when Anthony dropped a hot return off his own bowling when the Canterbury man was 69. The over was a maiden —Anthony’s first for the day. Despite the fact that he appeared to have the proverbial nine lives of a cat, Roberts was giving a great batting display, and Page raised his own score at much the same rate. The Canterbury 150 was hoisted after the visitors had been batting for 151 minutes all told —fairly fast scoring for first-class cricket. GREAT PARTNERSHIP BROKEN Wensley had 12 knocked off one of his overs, a score which included a boundary to each batsman, and as a result Elliott replaced him. The coach had taken one wicket for 60, and Canterbury’s total stood at 159. Page sent up a single off the Y.M.C.A. captain’s first ball, and Roberts repeated the shot off his third. The over contributed three to Canterbury’s score. Page opened out to Anthony, but miss-hit him, and played out the remainder of the over, which was a maiden. Weir retrieved his previous lapse by taking a good catch in the slips ’off Roberts in Elliott’s second over. A big thorn in Auckland’s side was thus removed, and a partnership which had added 139 runs to Canterbury’s total broken. The New Zealand representative had scored a fine 76 in 136 minutes, a performance which left no doubt as to why he is a member of New Zealand’s first test team. The scoreboard then read 162 —3—76. Page was 66 not out, when he was joined by Talbot, who scored two in his first over. ELLIOTT BOWLS WELL Elliott, sending down a faster ball than Wensley had done was bowling really well for Auckland, especially after his opening overs. Page was now batting very brightly and dispatched Elliott for four in his fourth over. Page met his end when he stepped out to Anthony for a big hit, and was stumped by Rowntree. The Canterbury captain had scored a forceful 78 (including eight fours) in 138 minutes, and when he departed Canterbury had 178 on the board for four wickets. 178 —4—78. Talbot was joined by Allen and the pair raised cheers by batting with carefree abandon which nearly cost Taibot his wicket when a misunderstanding arose, as the pair attempted a close run. When Elliott had bowled seven overs for 15 runs and had taken one wicket, he was removed in favour of W. J. Smeeton, who sent down an initial maiden. 202 in 202 MINUTES Allen moved into double figures with a four and a single in Smeeton’s second over. Talbot was then eight and the total 193 for four wickets. Allen was looking for big bits but Anthony was too wily. The batsman also missed badly when he faced

The scoring quietened down when the total neared the second century, but Allen brought 202 up shortly after by lifting Anthony over Mills’s head to a boundary. The visitors had batted for exactly 202 minutes.

Fours and threes were now more popular than they had been, but as the scoring shots were fewer the total moved up at a steady run' a minute. With the total at 209 Mills himself came on in place of Anthony, who had taken one wicket for 56 runs. The Auckland captain was off his length, however, and his first six deliveries were pasted all over the field for nine.

This addition made Canterbury’s total 218—Allen being 26 not out and Talbot 18 not out. Talbot also treated Smeeton with scant respect, straight driving him for four in the next over. FIVE DOWN FOR 227 Allen followed this up by squarecutting him for two, and nine runs came off the over. Mills had better fortune in his second over, having Talbot dismissed lbw for 24, after the batsman had been in for 36 minutes. The scoreboard then read 227 —5 —24. Elliott came back in place of Smeeton just before lunch. The selector had 41 runs against his name for no wickets. Kerr, the next man in, opened his score with a single. Allen reached 35 after batting for 48 minutes and was giving a bright display at lunch at 1 p.m. Canterbury had five wickets down for 234 nuns {Allen not out 35, Kerr not out 1). On resumption of ‘ play at 1.50 p.m. Matheson took up the Auckland attack and Allen swung his third ball for four, the only score of the over. Wensley was the stand-end bowler, and Kerr thought he was gone second ball when the leather struck Rown tree’s pad and bounced back to break the wicket. The over yielded four and then Kerr faced Matheson. Allen was 40 and Kerr 4, and the total 245 for five wickets. Allen continued to bat attractively and hoisted 250 after Canterbury had been at the wickqts for 235 minutes. The scoring was now much faster than before lunch, 15 runs being added in the first 10 minutes. CANTERBURY First innings MERRITT, c Weir, b Matheson .... 8 CROMB, c Rowntree, b Wensley . . 8 ROBERTS, c Weir, b Elliott .. _. 76 PAGE, std. Rowntree, b Anthony .. 78 TALBOT, lbw, b Mills 24 ALLEN, not out 46 KERR, not out 9 Extras 6 Five wickets for 255 TRUCK DISAPPEARS ANOTHER HAS TYRES GASHED FRUITERER’S MISFORTUNE From Our Own Correspondent HAMILTON, Today. Mystery surrounds the disappearance of a ton motor-truck owned by Mr. A. Bailey, fruiterer, from the yard next to his shop in Massey Street, Frankton. During the night, another motortruck also owned by Mr. Bailey was found in Greenwood Street, nearby, with the tyres gashed, and bearing evidence of having travelled some distance. The police are investigating.