CRICKET TEST

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 137, 26 June 1937, Page 17

CRICKET TEST

NEW ZEALAND AT LORD'S RECALLING THE PAST THE MATCH PLAYED IN 1931 With the New Zealand cricket team at present. at Lord's for the first test with England it is interesting to recall the test of 1931. Lowry won the toss, but, scoring a single only, he did not set his men a worthy example, and in a moderate total of 224 nobody did much after the three opening batsmen had been dismissed: Dempster (53), Mills (34) and Weir (37). The tall right-arm leg-break Scottish bowler, Ian Peebles, with five for 77, and his googly Middlesex > comrade Walter Robins (now English captain), three for 38, were too superior for the men from the new Dominion, who fought back so grandly that seven of the enemy had been smitten before sunset for only 190 runs (Woolley 80). Again Cromb, then medium-paced, and Merritt did the chief damage, with three wickets apiece. What Monday Brought There was a sad tale to relate on Monday for, after Allen had survived a confident appeal for lbw in Merritt's first over, he and Ames made centuries, and the last three wickets actually put on 264 runs (Weir three for 38), the innings thus realislng the totally unexpected aggregate of 454. Undismayed, the denizens o£ the Southern Seas "bit" gamely once more and at stumps had 181 runs on the board for the loss of Mills' and Weir's wickets. Then, on the third and final day, Dempster (120) and Page (104) carried their overnight partnership into separate centuries, and Blunt failed to pick a wrong 'un from the clever Robins when only four runs short of the coveted three figures. Declaring at the wonderfully fine total of 469 for nine wickets, Lowry left England with 140 minutes in which to rattle up the" necessary 240 runs for a victory: Cromb struck a length right away, while Blunt was steadiness personified with his leg-breaks, and as scon as the opening batsmen tried to ferce the pace they both lost- their wickets at the same total, Arnold making 34 and Bakewell 27. Then Hanimond and Woolley had.to fight for every run, till a .marvellous ball from Cromb swung in- from just outside the left-hander's off stump and clean'bowled Woolley for 9. , . Duleepsinhji came in,. and ' .Lowry, recbgnising the Indian's inferiority complex to Allcott, put him on vice Blunt. The move met with- instantaneous success, for in the ex-Auck-lander's first ov.er "Mr. Smith" was caught behind the wickets by James for 11. Fouh Englishmen were now out for 109, and Hammond and Ames settled down to play out time. England's champion, however, was destined not to survive, for in essaying a short run Merritt brilliantly ran Hammond. out for' .46. Captain Jardine then arrived to hold his end up without scoring, while Ames (17) carried on until stumps at 146 for five wickets. N.Z. 230 Bchiml So, was not that equivalent to a great victory?— for New Zealand to be 230 behind in its greatest test of all time, then give England 240 to make for a win and get five strong men out for 146 before curfew rang, with the Mother Country still needing 93 to arrest what might quite well have been defeat had another day been allotted to the match. A grievous error was made by those in . authority for not "leaving well alone." Only one test had originally been arranfeed. The upshot was that two more internationals were substithted for the Surrey game at the Oval and the return Lancashire fixture at Old Trafford. New Zealand was routed by an- innings at Kennington, where Sutcliffie replaced Arnold to score a century, and Lowry, after winning the toss, was soundly rated by the critics for sending England in first in the r^i/i-ruined match at Manchester. Thus the great adventure ended someWhat ingloriously, dimming the lustre of the Lord's classic.

In the history of New Zealand representative cricket only two victories have been gaiped. At New Year, 1895, New South Wales was defeated at Lancaster Park by 142 runs, mainly through the instrumentality of the old Australian test bowler Sid Callaway, who had crossed the Tasman to coach in Canterbury. He had the remarkable double for the match of seven for 77 and eight for 98. Then in March, 1907, Major E. G. Wynyard's strong amateur M.C.C. eleven lost the second test, at Basin Reserve, by 56 runs New Zealand lions on that occasion were Upham (fast) six for 84 (first innings); Fisher (left-arm medium) four for 25 and five for 61; Captain Arnold Williams (72 not out) and Haddon (71) in partnership . in the second innings. All are now in Valhalla except Arthur Fisher, who is a fine golfer in Dunedin. The nearest the Dominion has gone to victory since was in the second of the four drawn-tests with the M.C.C. team brought out by E. R. T. Holmes in the 1935-36 season.' The 'Englishmen still required 186 to save a beating and had only three wickets standwhan time was called. James Langridge, 61 not out, saved England after New Zealand had led by 86 runs the first innings, and had "declarod" at 229 for three wickets in the second. New Zealand stars were: 75 not out (first innings). 105 not out and Vivian 96 (both second innings). Roberts also took six wickets for 72 in the match and Cromb four for 52 in. Ihe first innhigs. Ha rl Merritt not been dropped after the Dunedin Test New Zealand would uncloubtedly Irnvc won easily.