Struggle For Places In Touring Team Still Extremely Close

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28510, 13 February 1958, Page 5

Struggle For Places In Touring Team Still Extremely Close

TVHATEVER the three men ’’ responsible for selecting the New Zealand cricket team for the English tour this year have done, they have achieved little which could be considered likely to dissolve the clouds of doubt hanging heavily over their legion of unofficial imitators. The Plunket Shield series offered a confusing picture, and the trial match at Wellington did very little more than expose some grievous faults in New Zealand batting. The announcement of the teams for the final trial gave the mixture a further stir, for several who did well at Wellington, but could not be considered certainties for the tour, were omitted. It is clear that the selectors were determined to give every possible player a chance, somewhere, somehow, and that system has much to commend it.

Ninety players appeared in the plunket Shield fixtures, and their performances were watched or noted. Of the 22 players who took part in th 1 ? Wellington trial, one, J- Ward, had not appeared in a shield match. Thirteen of

those 22 were discarded for the final trial, in which two more players without shield experience this season, J. E. F. Beck and T. I Meale, will take part. The policy of giving more and more players a trial in one form or another has caused grave misgivings among many cricket followers who expected the Christj church match to bring the official I selectors’ candidates down to 22 - That, clearly, it does not do; but J »it could not. The argument about

j the wicket-keeping positions will I ;go on long after the teams are | selected, and at Christchurch only . two ’keepers can be played. The I selectors must have almost as I many doubts about these places 1 as cricketers elsewhere. | At Wellington, M. E. Chapple, I R. T. Barber, B. Sinclair, and S. I N. McGregor played four of the i best innings of the match, and it 1 may seem strange that they have I been omitted. But perhaps the 1 selectors feel they know as much

as they need to know about these players, and others. The one omisti 01 2 w . hi c S h is really regrettable is that of S. C. Guillen, who might have been given a chance *to show that his batting is good enough to carry him into the team as second wicket-keeper. But Ward and W. M. Curtis were played at Wellington, and at Christchurch two with claims equally as good,-I. A. Colquhoun and E. C. Petrie, will have their chance; the omission of either would have been unfair, too. Guillen might have been played as a batsman in this match. No-one can foresee the wicketkeeping policy the selectors have adopted. The case for Guillen, however, is a strong one. He is without doubt among the best New Zealand batsmen. If the best wicket-keeper is chosen from the other four candidates, he must play a high proportion of matches in England. Whoever he may oe, he will require plenty of steady, consistent match play. In the past, the second wicket-keepers —T. C. Lowry more than once, J. R. Reid—have been batsmen, and successful ones. Guillen should play perhaps a quarter or a third of the games as wicketkeeper, and a few more as a batsman only. Batting strength, judging by the disturbing events at Wellington, is sadly needed.

Poor Batting The lack of solidarity among the batsmen at Wellington, their .n--ability to get over the ball, >r behind it, when it was lifting was disappointing. The teams for Christchurch are stronger ones, and by the end of the match, it may well be that the present general despair about New Zealand’s chances will have diminished sharply. On performance, only four batsmen can be certain of places—J. R Reid, B. Sutcliffe, L S. M. Miller, and N. S. Harford. With the opening batting in the first trial so indifferent. J. W. D’Arcy must be almost a certainty, for he has courage and concentration, he gets in behind the ball, and he is now able to score at a reasonable rate. There will probably be two more batting places, with M. E. Chapple, R. T Barber, and J. W. Guy the leading candidates, followed by R Harris, D. Macleod, T. Meale, B. Sinclair. Beck, and S- N. McGregor. Colts But one of those two places seems likely to go to a colt without any more qualifications than promise and youth. Such an arrangement is reasonable, some form of insurance against the future must be taken out. although it should not be an excessively costly one. For that particular place, B. F. Hastings, judged, admittedly, only by his batting in his shield game at Christchurch, looks a better prospect than W R. Playle, R. Morgan, or J. R. Veitch. Events at the end of next week might clarify that situation.

For thg other batting place. Chapple seems to have the best claims. Guy seems to be overcoming his tentative approach

to fast bowling, and it may be that he will be included, and the colt left at home. Barber has many admirers, and he is a most attractive player, but there is little doubt that on a long tour both Chapple < and Guy would score many more runs

Bowlers The bowlers certain of places are H. B. Cave. R. W. Blair, J. C. Alabaster and A. McK. Moir; the inclusion of both leg-spinners seems inevitable. J. Sparling is not yet a successful off-break bowler, but he is the best of those available, and with his good batting and fine fielding he is almost a certainly. Two places are left for bowlers, and of the many candidates A. R. Mac Gibbon and F. J. Cameron seem to lead the way at present. Mac Gibbon has not bowled consistently in his last two appearances, but he has risen to the occasion wonderfully well on both his overseas tours, his batting is still an asset, and he is a particularly good touring member—few try so hard, so consistently. Cameron had some of his Wellington success thrust upon him, but he is strong, and lively, and he may have been given the confidence to show at Christchurch his top form, D. B. Clarke, D. D. Beard. K. Hough. L. A. Clark, R C. Motz—any one of those could upset calculations.

for this particular field is well bunched. At the moment, however, this team seems a likely one: Sutcliffe, Reid. Miller, Harford. D’Arcy, Chapple, Hastings, Blair. Cave. Sparling. Alabaster. Moir. Cameron, Mac Gibbon, Ward, Guillen. But the final trial could scatter the selectors’ cards.