Memories of a cricket match played 50 years ago were rekindled with the death of Bruce Aitken Patrick in Masterton last Thursday. Mr Patrick, who was 86, grabbed a five-wicket bag when the Wairarapa senior men's cricket team took on a powerful Australian side in a two-day match at Queen ElizabethPark in March 1957. Batting first, Australia went on a scoring spree, hitting up a massive 424 runs in just 234 minutes. The opening partnership of 137 between Watson and Favell set the standard. Their first 50 runs came in 25 minutes and they brought up the 100 in 55 minutes. Medium pacer Bruce Patrick though got a special mention in the Wairarapa Times-Age report on the match for his efforts in a bowling stint of 25 overs. "Evergreen B.A. Patrick showed that he had lost little of his ability by capturing 5-124," the report said. And they weren't a bad five either & Favell, Harvey, Benaud, Barge and Drennan. Wairarapa didn't have any answer to the pace and spin of the Australian attack in their first innings and they were all out for 50 in 67 minutes. But they did improve in their second knock, being dismissed for 157, the last three wickets producing 72 runs. Therefore Australia won by an innings and 217 runs. Some criticism had been aimed at the national cricket hierarchy for allocating the only provincial game to be played by the Aussies in the greater Wellington region to Masterton but local organisers did themselves proud. The beautiful setting at Queen Elizabeth Park was commented on by the tourist's manager Mr J R Norton who said they had been most impressed with the attractive surroundings and the variety of trees ringing the oval. In fact, he described it as best ground the Australians had played on New Zealand up until that time.
