Brittle N.Z. batting proves costly against Indian team

Press, 27 January 1986, Page 21

Brittle N.Z. batting proves costly against Indian team

NZPA staff correspondent

Adelaide

Richard Hadlee’s mercurial 71 aside, New Zealand chose wretched timing to play so badly one of its most Important matches of the World Series Cup in Adelaide on Saturday.

The Indian summer returned for Kapil Dev's cricketers after making heavy weather early in their successful chase for 173 to beat New Zealand by five wickets under the glare at Adelaide Oval.

"We’ll just have to beat Australia on Monday,” said the New Zealand captain, Jeremy Coney, after one of the lesser days in New Zealand oneday cricket history. To slump into the depths again after the stirring one ball win two days earlier at Melbourne was the most distressing part of the whole day’s miserable proceedings. Only Hadlee’s cavalier defiance of the Indian attack stood apart from New Zealand’s gloomy

five wicket defeat. Without Hadlee’s 71 off 68 balls, with five fours and two sixes, there would have been no contest. India missed a valuable opportunity when Hadlee was dropped on nine by Kris Srikkanth with New Zealand at 75 for six.

Srikkanth dropped the sitter at deep mid on and Hadlee clobbered the next ball from the elegant spinner, Ravi Shastri, over the mid-wicket fence. The miss delayed

India’s rejoicing and served only as a brief reprieve for New Zealand. The day would have been a disaster without Hadlee striking the Indians in his belligerent stand. Coney said it was a disappointing result for his players with the tournament evenly poised at a deciding stage. For once, the New Zealand skipper was not able to point a finger at the umpires or the Adelaide pitch, which encouraged the seamers.

“It certainly was not as bad as our total suggests. It was an awful batting performance that you hope to put behind you,” he said. “There were no partnerships, the top five out of six batsmen did not get to 10, no pressure on the field, not taking singles. We didn’t do any of the things we have talked about and tried to achieve.

“It was just a bad batting performance,” said Coney.

“A good effort from Hadlee. It was good to see him come right with the bat today.” Coney praised Stu Gillespie and Ewen Chatfield for their honest performances.

Perhaps it was too much to expect New Zealand’s leading pace trio to make up for the fourth and fifth bowlers who went for 98 runs off 16 overs.

“It may have been advisable in retrospect to pick the other seamer,” said Coney, talking of Martin Snedden’s nonselection.

Gillespie, who was a surprise choice in the touring side named on New Year’s Eve, confronted the challenge of international competition with considerable maturity, bowling far beyond

the control and expectations of his critics. The scoreboard: NEW ZEALAND J. Wright c More b Binny 7 B. Edgar c Vengsarkar b Binny ......... 2 M. Crowe c More b Shastri 28 J. Reid C Vengasarkar b Kulkarni 9 J. Crowe c Malhotra b Kulkarni 7 J. Coney c and b Shastri. 4 R. Hadlee b Kapil Dev. 71 J. Bracewell c Kapil Dev b Amamath 20 E. McSweeney b Sharma 5 S. Gillespie b Kapil Dev 4 E. Chatfield not out. . . 4 Extras (41b 5w 2nb) . 11 Total 172 Fall: 12, 13, 37, 57, 58, 65, 119, 130, 144, 172. Bowling: Kapil Dev 9.2, 3, 24, 2, (Iw); R. Binny 7,1, 13, 2 (2nb); C. Shanna 10, 0, 46,1 (3w); R. Kulkarni, 9,1, 28, 2 (Iw); R. Shastri 10, 1, 36, 2; M. Amarnath 4,0, 21, 1. INDIA R. Shastri lbw b Hadlee 2 K. Srikkanth c Coney b Gillespie 16 M. Amarnath c McSweeney b Gillespie ... 5 D. Vengsarkar c M. Crowe b Gillespie. . 32 M. Azharuddin not out . 69 A. Malhotra c Reid b Gillespie 33 Kapil Dev not out... . 6 Extras (lb, 41b, 6w) . 11 Total (for 5 wkts) 174 Fall: 2, 25, 26, 85, 158. Bowling: R. Hadlee 10, 3, 28, 1; E. Chatfield 10, 5, 13, 0 (2w); S. Gillespie 10, 3, 30, 4; M. Crowe 4,0, 25, 0 (2w); J. Coney 5,0, 29, 0 (2w); J. Bracewell 7,0, 44, 0.