FIRST CRICKET TEST

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 311, 23 March 1928, Page 11

FIRST CRICKET TEST

New Zealand Below Strength

AUSTRALIA'S BOWLING PROBLEM

ALTHOUGH New Zealand will not be represented by the best side it could put in the field, the Test match which starts at Eden Park to-morrow should furnish an interestingtrial of strength between the visiting Australian XI. and the Dominion.

rrH *> much travelling necessitated by having the tests at lackland and Dunedin, respectively, it 'L inevitable that some players .ould be unable to secure the necesttry leave, especially those who went to Engl and last ypar ' °Th« absence of hat might have almost been a match-winning combination in Dickinson and Rowntree - Dickinson and James is a heavy Mow to New Zealand's chances, while batting of Blunt and Page will be greatly missed. As the New Zealand team stands at present, it is more of an Moerimental side than anything «lse. The batting is decidedly problematical, and much will defend on what sort of a start Dempstor, Mills and Lowry can give the side. MORE VARIETY IN BOWLING There is more variety in the bowline than in the battery Richardson has at his command. Neither side has fast bowler, but in addition to a .olid medium-paced attack by Mcnirr, Badcock and Read. Dowry has left-handers in Oallichan and Finlayson. and a slow right-hander in Merritt, all three of whom are liable to trouble batsmen on an Eden Park "brooks as if the match will be a tussle between the Australian batting ,nd the New Zealand bowling. Down to about the seventh wicket, the Australian batting is very strong, but so tar the team has had a pronounced

tail” oven in unlinarw provincial matches. The problem facing the visitors as far as bowling is concerned is not who to put in, but who to leave out. Many people will pick the Australians to win, but it is too soon to say that yet. So far, however, the visitors have never really looked like being defeated, apart from a lively finish at Wellington and the wet-wicket superiority of a nondescript side at Hamilton. Even yet, the weather may play a part in to-morrow’s big game. The delightful Indian summer which has succeeded the long spell of fine weather cannot last for ever, and if the weather breaks in the next day or so the position would be full of lively possibilities. COOPER TWELFTH MAN Cooper has been selected as twelfth man for the team, and in preferring to have a batsman available to fill a possible vucancy, the selectors will be widely supporter. At the same time, Alan Player has both batting and bowling to recommend him, and his selection would have been a well deserved tribute to a fine cricketer. The New Zealand team is as follows: T. C. Lowry (captain), P. T. Badcock, H. M. McGirr, C. G. Finlayson, C. S. Dempster, H. Foley (Wellington), R. Read. W. E. Merritt, I. M. Hamilton (Canterbury), J. E. Mills (Auckland), N. Gallichan (Manawatu), I. W. Cooper (Auckland), twelfth man. •