TEST TEAM MAY BE REINFORCED

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27860, 7 January 1956, Page 3

TEST TEAM MAY BE REINFORCED

THE selection of the New Zealand teams'to meet the West Indies in the four-test series this summer will be unusually difficult. The two rounds of Plunket Shield matches completed so far have brought to the front several players with strong claims to inclusion in a test team. The New Zealand team in Pakistan and India has not won a distinguished record, and in the tests in India in the last few weeks some of the bowlers have had astronomical averages. But the New Zealand selection panel will have to assess bowling performances on Indian pitches, against good batsmen, in relation to bowling performances on New Zealand’s more helpful pitches, against the lesser quality of New Zealand batting. The answers they reach will be interesting.

The players taking part in this season’s shield matches have to challenge batsmen who have made many runs in the terits—but again, of course, there is the need to remember the runs were made on Indian pitches.

But it is difficult to see where a batting list consisting of B. Sutcliffe, J. G. Leggat. J. W. Guy. J. R. Reid, S. N. McGregor, N. S. Harford, and A. R. Mac Gibbon gives the players still at home a great deal of encouragement. Sutcliffe, Guy. Reid, and Mac Gibbon must certainly be regarded as automatic selections.

Leggat has not done as well as might have been expected, but he has played many valuable innings, and his experience as an opener makes him a very likely choice again. McGregor has a better record than Harford on tour. Harford's may be the one batting plaice really in doubt. In the first two rounds of the shield contest, several batsmen were particularly successful. S. C. Guillen <6l. 84 not out, 44), M. E. Chapple <5O. 26. 25, 21 not but). G. N. Gearry (38. 17. 79), J. K. Everest (22. 39. 49 32 not out), T. Hambrook <5O, 19. 104, 20), K. F. Smith (34, 41, 54, 20), L. S. M. Miller (34 and 65). and R. T. Barber <69 and 20) scored particularly well. Of these, Chapple is the most likely candidate for a test place. He fs still young, and his batting last summer and this season has been marked bv a quality rare in New Zealand batsmen —a combination of discrimination and aggression that makes him a formidable opponent for most bowlers. It will be almost asjdifficult for pace bowlers to win a place as it will be for batsmen. H. B. Cave is certain to lead the side. J. R. Reid and A. R. Mac Gibbon are certain selections, too. giving the team bowlers of above medium pace. There will be some division of opinion about the merits of R. W. Blair and J. A. Hayes.' as there was when Hayes was preferred to Blair for the tour.

Blair has been boiling splendidly in representative games this season, and his improving batting must also be considered. At Auckland, for Central Districts he was reported to have bowled fast for long periods, and he had wonderful figures in that match ™, u r. for 72 and seven 100. Against Wellington he took six for 95 and one for 54—18 wickets in the first two matches.

On these figures, Blair would walk into the New Zealand team, but Hayes has been one of the most successful bowlers in India, and it must not be overlooked that he has included a higher proportion of leading batsmen in his wickets than Blair has. It is a pity that there is not room for both of them, in their best form. Blair is younger than Hayes, but not as fast It is a difficult choice indeed. B. D. Morrison, of Wellington, started the series with a match analysis of 10 for 101 against Central Districts, and this young bowler has many admirers, but it would seem there is simply no room for him. W. Frame of Otago, who took 10 for 105 in his first representative game, is another who may have possibilities. The New Zealand team in India has nad a conspicuous lack of success with its spin bowling, and it is here that there is a real opportunity for reinforcement from the home guard. D Spence, of Central Districts, had good figures in the game with Wellington, and if he continues to bowl his leg breaks with similar success he must

be considered. The best prospect, however, is the tall Waikato off. breaker, J. Turnbull, whose first two games brought him 14 wickets at moderate cost. Turnbull can make the ball drop deceivingly from th? high point of his delivery, and he is a real spinner.

Even mor? successful. Canterbury’s I. Sinclair took 12 wickets for 150 in his fust two games. Chapple, too, has enjoyed unexpected success as a bowler, but his figures are, at least, a reward for accuracy. The shield matches have been particularly interesting so far, and as the competition reaches its final stages the interest should increase. Individual performances in the last three months will mean much to the construction of the test team. At present a likely eleven wpuld be Sutcliffe. Leggat. Guy, 'Reid, McGregor, Chapple. Mac Gibbon, Cave, Turnbull, McMahon, and Qayes or Blair.

The Canterbury shield team has don? well to win its first games and should it succeed in the present match against Wellington it would have every chance of winning the shield. The all-round performances of Gearry and Sinclair and the batting of Guillen have been the most important factors in Canterbury’s victories, but Chappl? and Dowker have also made runs, and the batting of the young opening pair, Bolton and D’Arcy, has given much pleasure. They have yet to make substantial scores, but Canterbury would do well to retain them. It is a long time since Canterbury crowds have seen such swift running between the wickets or better stroke making than these two have provided at times. They are immature yet, they make mistake*, and they still have to give their side a really substantial opening partnership. But they warrant retention.