MORE DESPAIR, DISASTER Tail Batsmen Again Defy England’s Late Bid

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31004, 9 March 1966, Page 15

MORE DESPAIR, DISASTER Tail Batsmen Again Defy England’s Late Bid

(From R. T. Brittenden) DUNEDIN New Zealand again went through hours of despair and disaster before drawing the second test with England at Carisbrook yesterday.

If ever there was a moral victory England won it: at the close of play New Zealand, 147 for nine, led by no more than 85 and some of the runs in the final half-hour were made without real pressure being applied to the batsmen.

New Zealand's batting followed the dismal course set in the second innings at Christchurch.

They certainly had to coun- ' ter the clever spin bowling of ! Allen on a pitch which gave ■ him quite sharp spin and ocea- j sionally an awkward high , bounce —and they also had to . meet some lively pace bowl- j ing. , ; The pitch showed another unhappy characteristic —both Pollard and Motz lost their 1 wickets to balls which barely j left the ground. Ist Test Repeat But there was the same diffidence and uncertainty about .the batting which had been apparent at Christchurch on : ithe last day when the team ihad been left with a similarly simple task. i This time England declared with a lead of 62 and four hours play remained. There was a fine and attractive innings by Sinclair and another of great gallantry from Petrie, but it was a deplorable per- • formance as a whole. Runs came unwillingly all ! through the day. England in i the morning made only 73 : from 28 overs and lost three j more wickets. The declaration • came at lunch and it ended a very dreary innings. Cowdrey, one Of the greatest and most majestic of mod-

ern batsmen, gave a most pallid display, but it was later discovered that his difficulties were not all with the New Zealand bowling. He was suffering from a heavy cold and did not field, thus depriving England of a good slips fieldsman and Parfitt of a regular conversational companion.

Cowdrey scored 32 in two hours yesterday and only occasionally played a stroke which committed itself to the memory.

Murray, 38 overnight, went on to 50 before Puna took his wicket, which he had threatened to do quite regularly during the innings. But there was a drive or two from Murray of quite classical quality and he had the satisfaction of making his first half-century in a test match. Bartlett moved more freely and bowled better than on the previous day and Motz also had some good overs. Cunis it was who contributed most to the chains binding the batsmen. Puna turned the ball quite puzzlingly but Sinclair could not give him much work, with a new ball available after 10 overs. Higgs Respected It was expected that Allen would do more than Puna on this pitch and the New Zealanders have come to respect the bowling of Higgs most highly. But the task set New Zealand was one which should have been well within its capabilities. The failure was therefore all the more depressing. Shrimpton, still unwell, did not come to the ground until mid-afternoon and Pollard opened with Bilby. He was removed through agencies with which he could not be expected to cope. Bilby had a crispness of stroke which was reassuring and welcome, and he played two superb cover-drives for fours off Jones before he was caught in the slips. Congdon applied himself conscientiously and in a rather tawdry opening over from Allen took eight runs with firm driving. But 10 minutes before tea he thrust his front pad out at Parfitt, too straight for the desired effect, and he was bowled. At the interval, New Zealand was 75 for three, 13 runs in front and the battle apparently won. But eight balls from Allen straight after the interval wrecked the innings and thrust New Zealand back into the torture chamber. Petrie’s Vigil He had Morgan picked up round the comer first ball, defeated Shrimpton—-who also preferred the pad to the bat —and bowled him, and with the second ball of his next over Knight caught Bartlett at slip. So it was then 79 for six. Petrie began his vigil 12 minutes after play resumed, and he held on grimly with Sinclair for 40 minutes before Sinclair, driving Jones, was brilliantly caught by Knight in the slips. Motz was in a quarter of an hour before being torpedoed

: and with 40 minutes batting time available England needed to score 41 after taking the last two wickets. Cunis also held out for 15 minutes but when Puna came in England still had a chance—New Zealand then led by 50 and immediate dismissal of the last batsman would have left 25 minutes to make the runs. But the last wicket never fell. Petrie gave a wonderfully courageous display. He is not and never has been a batsman of natural talents, but he is resolute in the worst of crises. He has had his share of them. Ribs lu Defence With Allen turning and lifting, Petrie kept delaying his shot and playing the ball out of his ribs, looking rather like a boxer whose opponent has got through his defence with a hook. He batted for 108 minutes and showed an extremely high sense of duty. Puna, very anxious for the first few minutes, during which the game still hung in the balance, enjoyed himself thoroughly in the last few minutes when Jones bowled an over of slow left-arm and Edrich was called up to bowl his fifth over in test cricket. New Zealand was also helped by leg-byes although Russell, deputising for Murray, who has an infected finger, kept wickets quite competently. More than six hours play were lost during the match, which did nothing to suggest that New Zealand was about to make a forward step or two in test cricket.