N.Z. COLLAPSE AT MADRAS

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27861, 9 January 1956, Page 9

N.Z. COLLAPSE AT MADRAS

India Declares, 537 For Three (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 12.30 a.m.) MADRAS, January 8. India declared at their overnight score of 537 for three after two days’ play in the fifth test, and New Zealand had lost six wickets for 156 by stumps today. Sutcliffe and Leggat opened New Zealand's innings this morning in bright sunshine on a very dusty pitch. They did a valuable job until Sutcliffe was caught by Umrigar at 47. with the total at 75. Guy. Reid. Mac Gibbon and McGregor followed them in the afternoon and Poore and Moir were at the wicket at the close. New Zealand was in trouble against the spinners and at one stage put on only seven runs in 40 minutes.

The pitch was entirely unresponsive to the medium paced bowling of Phadkar and Ramchand and strangely enough to Patel also, but Gupte spun the ball almost at right angles, particularly when pitching in bowlers’ footmarks.

Play will be resumed on Tuesday after a rest day on Monday and the game will end on Wednesday. India ran up a record total of 537 for three wickets on the second day and India improved on its performance in the third test at Delhi where it scored 531 for seven declared. Three other records were also broken. Hitting up 413 for the opening stand. Mankad and Roy surpassed the world test opening record of 359 established seven years ago by Hutton and Washbrook against South Africa at Johannesburg and also recorded the highest stand ever to be made in tests for any wicket by India. The previous best was 238 by Umrigar and Manjrekar for the third wicket at Hyderabad against the New Zealanders. Mankad. who made 231. also became the highest scorer for India in the tests, improving on his own performance of 223 against the tourists at Bombay.

In contrast to the slow batting on the first day, the Indian batsmen maintained a fairly fast scoring rate yesterday. and added 304 runs in 300 minutes to the over-night total of 234 without loss.

Mankad and Roy added 179 runs in 171 minutes before Roy was bowled by Poore for 174 made in 472 minutes. His steady knock. which was characterised by strokes all round the wicket, wds marred by two chances at 60 and 169. Yesterday he was missed by McMahon off Hayes when the Indian total was 400. Mankad was also missed once, but that was late in his innings when he was 221. Mankad. who was then limping and had a runner, skied Cave to square leg where Hayes failed to hold a catch, possibly because of the sun in his eyes. His marathon innings of nearly nine hours ended just before tea after he had made 231. which included 21 fours. Although the New Zealand attack could make little impression on the dead pitch its ground fielding was tight throughout the two days. Reid did not field today as a leg injury which he had suffered at Bombay was giving him slight trouble. Mankad and Roy resumed India’s first innings from the overnight score of 234 without loss in cloudy but cool weather. Hayes and Mac Gibbon. bowling with the new ball, were watched bv 20.000. The pitch was true and showed no signs of wear. The openers took no risks and played themselves in patiently, adding 15 runs in 40 minutes. At lunch India had 370 for no wicket.

Cave and Hayes bowled on the resumption. Mankad, attempting a big drive, skied Cave to Hayes at square leg. but the fielder missed the chance. Mankad reached his double century in 440 minutes.

After Roy was dismissed Umrigar looked for runs, lofting Poore twice to long-on for fours. At 449, Moir’s leg soin was introduced with immediate effect. Mankad, attempting a huge drive, skied him to Cave at mid-on. Mankad. mixing patience and aggression judiciously, hit 21 fours in his total of 231 in 524 minutes.

Umrigar did not apply the closure as was generally anticipated and India’s first innings progressed to set up another record —that for a highest total in the test series. It came when 499 went on the board, beating the 498 registered in the opening test of this series at Hyderabad. The total moved nast 500 runs in 566 minutes. Mac Gibbon came on to spell Hayes, and in the second over had Ramchand leg before wicket for 21 with the total at 537. Scores were:— INDIA First Innin its V. Mankad. c Cave, b Moir .. 231 P. Roy. b Poore .. 173 P. M. Umrigar, not out . 79 G. S. Ramchand, lbw, b Mac Gibon .. 21 V. Manjrekar, not out 0 Extras (byes 18, leg-byes 11, no-balls 4) . . 33 Total for three wickets . 537

NEW ZEALAND First Innings J. G. Leggat, lbw, b Phadkar .. 41 B. Sutcliffe, c Umrigar, b Patel . 47 J. W. Guy, c Umrigar, b Gupte 3 J. R. Reid, b Patel . 34 A. R. Mac Gibbon, c Phadkar, b Gupte .. 0 S. N. McGregor, c Phadkar, b Gupte 10 M. B. Poore, not out 6 A. M. Moir, not out 6 Extras .. .. 9 Total for six wickets .. 156

O. M. R. W. J. A. Hayes .31 2 94 0 A. R. MacGibbon 38 9 97 1 H. B. Cave .. 44 16 94 0 J. R. Reid .7 3 10 0 A. McK. Moir .26 1 114 1 M. B. Poore .31 5 95 1