CAPTAINS DISAGREE

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31001, 5 March 1966, Page 3

CAPTAINS DISAGREE

The second test umpires, Messrs W. J. Gwynne (Dunedin) and T. W. Martin (Wellington), will have a knotty problem this morning. If the test captains still cannot agree on whether the Carisbrook sight • screens should be altered the umpires will have to decide whether something should be done to improve the batting facilities. The screens at Carisbrook are very small and the England captain, M. J. K. Smith, suggested that the three panels in the screen at the Rose stand end be shifted and joined to the three at the Workshops end—the end from which the bowlers have been giving particular trouble. Right-hand bowlers over the wicket and round the wicket, the left-hander, I. J. Jones, over the wicket, were all lost in their approach and the ball came in against a background of spectators. Smith’s request for improved screens was put in the hands of the umpires, apparently because the New Zealand captain, B. W. Sinclair, could not agree to any changes being made, at least until each side had had an innings.

There is no doubt that the tiny screens, which have been in use at Carisbrook for a considerable time, caused the batsmen difficulties.