Difficult decisions for Canterbury selectors (23 December 1998)

23 December 1998

Difficult decisions for Canterbury selectors

The Christchurch Press

Canterbury's third win over Wellington in four days has created more pleasant headaches for the province's cricket selectors, who settle their Shell Cup side today.

Canterbury beat Wellington at Hagley Oval yesterday to follow a warm-up win the previous day and the Super Max success at the weekend. Canterbury fielded a considerably changed side yesterday to the first 50-over game and several players took the chance to press their claims.

Among those was left-arm slow bowler Carl Anderson, who returned the outstanding figures of one for 19 from 10 overs with three maidens, while Craig Cumming, a century-maker the previous day, demonstrated his versatility with an accurate spell. New-ball bowler Chris Martin showed his wicket-taking ability by capturing four wickets.

Several other difficult decisions include:

Which wicketkeeper to choose, with Ben Yock and Gareth Hopkins vying for the gloves. Yock kept ably in the Max league while Hopkins, who has shifted south from Northern Districts in search of representative play, is arguably the better batsman.

Whether an overseas import is used and if so who -- either Tim Walton, who has the better local form -- or Aftab Habib, who played last season.

Which all-rounders best fit team needs from the likes of Stephen Cunis, Hamish Barton, and Darron Reekers.

Wellington was struggling at 145 for seven with Roger Twose holding the top order together making 58 from 98 balls.

Mark Jefferson and Mayu Pasupati propped up the lower order with a 44-run stand for the eighth wicket, Jefferson reaching 45 with three fours and a six. Almost all the Canterbury top order contributed -- the best being Brad Doody with 47 in 54 balls -- but it needed captain Gary Stead to anchor the innings. Canterbury was 178 for seven wanting 40 from the final 10 overs when Warren Wisneski (26) joined Stead and they steered Canterbury home with 2.1 overs left.

Source :: The Christchurch Press (https://www.press.co.nz/)