Cricket NEW ZEALAND’S TEST STATUS

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28701, 26 September 1958, Page 4

Cricket NEW ZEALAND’S TEST STATUS

“No Suggestion Of Losing” (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON. September 25. “There was never the slightest suggestion anywhere that we could be in danger of losing our test status as the result of what happened on this tour,” said Mr J. H. PhiUipps, manager of the New Zealand cricket team, which returned home today. “It was fully recognised anpong knowledgeable cricket people in England, that the strength of England’s test team, as previously demonstrated against the West Indies, South Africa, and Australia, combined with the abnormal conditions, constituted an insuperable hurdle for our player* to surmount,” he said. "As the result of the New Zealanders’ tour, there might be a new approach to test cricket and its organisation, he said. “My view is that the time may come when a test match will have 24 hours’ play allocated to it, over a period of five days. The pitch will be covered and every effort will made to see that the conditions favour batsmen and bowlers equally —and also each team equally. “It was not only our matches which gave rise to this thought. The men who won the tests for England —May. Laker, and Lock above all — are also the men who have put-the county championship in Surrey’s keeping, year after year. Others besides New Zealand found them unmanageable this year,” he said.