AN HONOURABLE FAILURE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 919, 12 March 1930, Page 8

AN HONOURABLE FAILURE

THOUGH it returns without the Plunket Shield, the Auckland cricket team, which concluded its stirring struggle with Wellington yesterday, has won a certain amount of glory in its failure. It demonstrated the strength of Auckland’s batting with two splendid innings in which fine, free scoring was evident at nearly every stage. In the second innings the team batted for runs with a dash and freedom that would do a great deal to popularise cricket if it were emulated more frequently. To that extent the Auckland team deserves credit for a meritorious effort. Though it could only make a draw of the match, and in doing so lost the Shield which its nominal purpose was to retain, it won a quite overwhelming share of the batting honours, and strove for the win in the truest spirit of the game. Having accumulated more points than Auckland, in this season’s earlier elim mat mg t ests for the Plunket Shield, Wellington was in a position to win the trophy by a draw, even if it could not score a clear-cut victory. This being the position, the game developed into an interesting test of cricket strategy, and its changing phases will mark it as one of the most interesting in the history of the series. Both captains employed all their judgment and knowledge in directing the tactics of their sides. Allcott exercised good judgment in declaring Auckland’s second innings closed at 354 on the second day’s play, and Lowry, faced as his team was with a prohibitive task in either going for the runs or settling down sternly to play out time, probably made the sounder, if not the more welcome, decision when he decided that “safety first” tactics must prevail.

It was unfortunate that flaws in the field allowed the batsmen in Wellington’s second innings to survive reasonable chances. Fielding in both national and provincial sides in New Zealand has this season exhibited depressing weaknesses which it should be the duty of coaches and selectors to eradicate. Yet as far as Auckland's particular misfortunes yesterday are concerned, they may have been partly the result of nervous tension. In such conditions even the best of fieldsmen may err, and often in a close finish a difficult chance is magnified by spectators into an easy one. Auckland certainly gathered most of the honours from this match, but there was merit in Wellington’s guileful tactics and in the dogged courage of her batsmen. There is a tendency in some quarters to deprecate Wellington’s success in holding out yesterday, but when it is remembered that Wellington lacked the services of £>empster, the most brilliant scoring batsman in New Zealand today, it may be realised that not too much should be said.