Newspaper Article – Hawke’s Bay cricket profile

Hawke’s Bay cricket profile

Born in Hastings on November 8, 1930, William Albert Lee Totty attended the Mahora Primary School and then went to the Hastings High School to finish off his education.

At that time, Mr Norman Wilde, a fine upstanding batsman, who was appearing regularly for the Hastings High School Old Boys’ team, was the sports master of the school, and it was from him that Lee received his first instructions.

That the grounding had been beneficial and upon the right lines was soon to be proved, for when Lee left school at the age of 17 and joined up with Whakatu-Mahora, he immediately earned a place in their senior side.

INVALUABLE GIFT

Upon the launching of his career in 1948, Lee had only his slow leg spinners to commend him; as a batsman he still had a lot to learn. But Lee possessed the invaluable gift of acquiring knowledge through observation.

In senior company, he soon learned the fundaments of defence and by persistent practice gradually mastered most of the scoring strokes.

Then Parks and Tremlett put on the finishing touches. As a result in 1952-53, with 626 runs at 39.1 and 34 wickets at 17.2, he was by far the most successful all-rounder in the district.

Unfortunately, however, for Hawke’s Bay, Lee met with a serious accident to his bowling hand in 1956, which has since robbed him of much of his effectiveness.

By F. F. Cane

It appears that some of the nerves in his right wrist were severed causing a loss of feeling in the third and fourth fingers of that hand.

He now has difficulty in turning the ball from leg and is inclined to “bowl” the top spinner instead, while at batting he has lost much of his power in the drive. Nor according to medical opinion, is the condition likely to improve.

Looking back, Lee is most proud of his 140 for Whakatu-Mahora against Artillery-United in 1954 which included no fewer than 9 sixes, and his 3 wickets for 20 inns in 6 overs for Hawke’s Bay against the West Indies in 1956, when among his victims was that splendid batsman D. Atkinson, the opposing captain, whom he got caught at the wickets.

And here Lee wishes me to pay tribute on his behalf to both Dick Mitchell and the late Rev. Pierce, to whose skill behind the stumps he attributes so much of his own success as a wicket-taker. Too often he contends the slowleg spinner takes this support for granted.

Wanganui batted first and were always behind the clock, but the Hawke’s Bay attack certainly merited respect. A new departure for these days of speedy new ball bowlers and umbrella fields, was the opening combination of a fast medium right hander and a slow off spinner, in Beuth and Dine respectively.

This was common procedure in the ‘twenties’ when a variety of pace was reckoned to be a distinct advantage. Both bowled well with length and direction immaculate.

For the most part Beuth moved the ball into the batsman and varied this delivery at times with one which came back off the seam.

Dine as always was the master of flight and he also succeeded in extracting considerable spin from the wicket right from the outset. Nor did he have any difficulty in handling the new ball, another modern aberration.

STRICTLY CONFINED

The supports too, kept the batsmen strictly confined. Spooner sent down 11 overs for 17 runs, Totty 5 for 9, but the surprise packet was Shrimpton the seventh bowler to be tried. In 16 overs he captured the wickets of three good batsmen for 17 runs, moving the ball both ways and varying each delivery most effectively. It is evident that he is the better bowler than he looks, but he must try to improve upon his run.

When play was abandoned, Hawkes Bay batsmen had built up a firm foundation for a first innings lead, but the game had already been doomed to the inevitable draw. Would you believe it, out of the 134 overs delivered in the match, no fewer than 47 were maidens. Is it any wonder that the public prefer to stay away?

RECORD

Lee Totty’s record to date is as under:-

BATTING

I.   N.O.   R.   H.S.   Av.

1947-48   7   0   65   33   9.2
1948-49   15   2   182   54   14.0
1949-50   16   4   115   17   9.5
1950-51   15   3   164   58   13.6
1951-52   15   3   351   82   29.2
1952-53   20   4   626   120*   39.1
1953-54   17   0   407   140   23.9
1954-55   22   1   247   53   11.7
1955-56   11   1   108   25   10.8
1956-57   6   0   47   21   7.8
1957-58   25   5   323   62*   16.1
1958-59   21   1   284   52   14.2
1959-60   17   2   210   45   14.0
1960-61   18   1   455   77   26.7
1961-62   24   3   379   48   18.0
1962-63   16   1   227   57*   15.1
1963-64   8   2   179   55*   29.8
1964-65   9   1   41   23   5.1
282   34   4410   140   17.7

CENTURIES (2)

120*   Whakatu Mahora v. H.S.O.B.
140   Whakatu Mahora v. Artillery United.
(* denotes not out).

BOWLING
R   Wkts.   Av.
1947-48   253   9   28.1
1948-49   557   27   20.6
1949-50   554   43   12.8
1950-51   341   29   11.7
1951-52   659   43   15.3
1952-53   588   34   17.2
1953-54   599   41   14.6
1954-55   410   23   17.8
1955-56   188   8   23.5
1956-57   65   6   10.8
1957-58   708   49   14.4
1958-59   433   28   15.4
1959-60   252   12   21.0
1960-61   435   28   15.5
1961-62   871   44   19.7
1962-63   427   32   13.3
1963-64   121   6   20.1
1964-65   169   18   9.3
7630   480   15.8