ENGLAND IN STRONG POSITION

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31002, 7 March 1966, Page 3

ENGLAND IN STRONG POSITION

Motz Again Thrashes Allen’s Spin Bowling

(From R. T. Brittenden) DUNEDIN. New Zealand fought hard but with moderate success on the second day of the second test at Carisbrook on Saturday. An overnight score of 83 for five was taken to 192, mainly through another splendid partnership between R. C. Motz and E. C. Petrie, and by close of play England had made 103 for three.

With the pitch playing easily England is in a very strong position.

Motz and Petrie, who made 89 for the eighth wicket at Christchurch, this time scored 79 together. Petrie, hit several times by short-pitched deliveries, batted with great gallantry’, and Motz delighted a crowd of 5000 with another blistering assault on the England off-spinner, D. A. Allen. v

Motz hit him for 22 in one over, including three great sixes, and took nine from the next over.

When England batted, both Motz and G. A. Bartlett bowled with great heart, and during the last two hours R. S. Cunts kept one end going in a typically forthright manner. There was again a great deal of trouble for the batsmen in the inadequacy of the sight-screens. The umpires to whom the matter of alteration or adjustment had been referred the previous evening ruled that no change should be made. Nine Out Of 13 It is possible to move the screens at Carisbrook, but only with the loss of at least four minutes each time. Batsmen sometime found it difficult to pick up the ball from bowlers who came in wide of the screen at the Workshops’ end of the ground. The umpires ruled that the screens were in fixed positions and should be left there. It is significant that of the 13 batsmen dismissed in the match so far, nine have lost their wickets to bowlers from the Workshops’ end. The four dismissed at the other end were all caught making decidedly attacking shots. England on Saturday evening was fortunate to bat in bright sunlight whereas New Zealand found particular difficulty with the lack of

screens because the first afternoon was extremely grey. It was not quite like playing a team of invisible men, but it was obviously difficult to pick up the ball early in flight. Startling Catch There was nothing wrong with the light on Saturday morning, however, when New Zealand attained the dignity of 100 runs and then lost its seventh wicket. V. Pollard fell to a quite remarkable catch by J. T. Murray. Pollard glanced a ball from K. Higgs—a good, legitimate stroke. But the England wicket-keeper, with quick anticipation, moved to the leg side as the ball was in flight and then launched himself full length to take a lefthanded catch inches from the ground, body fully horizontal Bartlett was held at longon when attempting to wrest the initiative from Allen, but Motz enjoyed spectacular success. He twice pulled Allen for fours and Allen was taken off. But Motz batted well against Knight, and against Higgs, although the scoring was very slow. After about an hour the light began to fail, and there was an appeal against it 35 minutes before lunch. Side Effects The state of the game, and the difficulty of sighting the fast balls, had some odd side effects. Jones, for instance, was able to bowl to four slips and gullies when the ball was 80 overs old.

But Petrie, dabbing one here, deflecting one there, and ducking the bumpers, was most adhesive, and while he fought on, Motz was given another chance to attack Allen. Motz must have great psychological advantage over Allen, who is a fine bowler — but who has been hit hard and often by Motz nearly every time they have met, in England and New Zealand. Taking 22 from one over in a test was an astonishing effort. Motz played the first ball of the over carefully. The second he hit over the fence with perhaps the finest stroke he has ever made. It was an on-drive absolutely effortless 1 in execution —a truly handsome shot. He on-drove the third ball for four, stopped the fourth, and put the last two into the crowd at square leg. Twice Deceived The second—and last—over in this spell by Allen cost nine more. But Motz was twice deceived into lofted shots when the ball had been dropped a shade shorter and on both occasions it fell into a gap racing fieldsmen could not quite reach. But life became real and very earnest again when England took the new ball 15 minutes before lunch. Motz, at 50 in just over the hour, held out with Petrie. After lunch it took Motz 20 minutes to make a run from the fast bowling and at 179 he lifted a drive from Knight but G.

Boycott dropped a simple catch at mid-on. Petrie fell without addition, easily caught by M. J. K. Smith at short leg from a lifting ball he seemed to see very late. Petrie and Motz were together for 138 minutes and 79 runs, a great-hearted effort. Almost immediately Higgs held a good running catch at deep mid-off to dismiss Motz, and Cunis was brilliantly taken on the fence by Boycott, who does not enjoy a high reputation for his fielding. New Zealand scored its 192 in 378 minutes from 115.3 overs—a hint in figures of the heavy weather the batsmen made of the fast bowling. Laboured Batting New Zealand started with Motz using only two slips and one gully, with third man and fine leg back, and there was only a trickle of runs from very determined bowling. At nine Boycott played a bouncer from Bartlett on to his wicket and at tea only 19 had been made from 11 overs. W. E. Russell, in more than an hour for 11, appeared to deflect a ball from Motz on to his stumps, and at 32 for two, England was in some difficulty, for Bartlett was bowling with more pace and hostility than he had shown since Canterbury’s game with Auckland. Motz and Bartlett and Cunis all fought most determinedly and England’s innings had been in slow motion for 90 minutes before a boundary was hit. J. H. Edrich showed an inclination to attack, and made some splendid drives in his 36. But he fell victim ultimately to Cunis’s economy of length. Edrich tried to hit one pitched too short for the lofted drive and G. P. Biiby held the catch well. Slow Cowdrey M. C. Cowdrey took 25 minutes to score his first run and only towards the end of an innings which so far has lasted 100 minutes was he really recognisable as a great and commanding batsman. There was a strange pallor about his batting until the last 20 minutes when he looked much more comfortable. Smith, however, went after the bowlers as much as he could. He had a narrow escape from serious injury when he evaded a bouncer from Bartlett with only inches to spare. So apart from the period in which Motz savaged Allen’s bowling it was a grim fight

for runs all day. The New Zealand bowlers have certainly given nothing away and Cunis won particular admiration for his accuracy and stamina—ls overs on end, from tea to stumps. The fielding was good, although it is embarrasingly obvious that the England batsmen do not regard N. Puna's ground fielding and throwing with much respect.