England In Trouble

Press, Volume C, Issue 29536, 10 June 1961, Page 4

England In Trouble

fßp RAY LINDWALL. NZPA. Special Corespondent!

BIRMINGHAM. June 8 England is in trouble—and much of the blame lies witih the earlier batsmen. Subba Row and Cowdrey made the batting look tough as they dodged in and out among the showers. They batted as if they were waiting for the pitch to get better and that .just does not happen with a wet wicket. Every pitch gets worse as it dries out—that's why 1 think the early batsmen should have done more about looking for runs. Subba Row batted solidly enough and the English score would have looked sick without him but he and Cowdrey should have hit the short balls and they received a fair number of those. Instead they dropped them cautiously on the pitch. Consequently when the pitch really started to turn nasty after tea England whs short of runs. Mackay Experienced It was no use expecting the later batsmen to make much of Mackay as he bowled to a spot length and made h.is cutters grip. Mackay in these conditions is the ideal bowler. He has got control and an experienced cricket brain. The combination was too much for the English batting. It was ironic that Cowdrey, who only last week gave such a brilliant exhibition of strokes for M.C.C. against the Australians, should have let the bad ball go unpunished today. That’s the difference between test match cricket and anything else, but Mackay stii.l is worthy of a big bouquet Every wicket he got he worked for. He had

Dexter jabbing a lifting offcutter to short leg. he templed Barrington with a change of pace and had him driving at a slower ball, and he found the edge of Smith's bat on the forward shot. If this wicket rolls out well —and I expert it win—Mackay's three wickets in four bails wild prove to have been a match winning spell. Perhaps the best proof of how for he was turning the ball came when he bowled to Murray. He had the new English wicketkeeper reaching right forward as he turned the ball inside the bat and made it lift so high that it bit him on the right elbow Another significant bowling development came when Benaud bowled throughout the last hour with his normal action. He put everything into has bowling tor the first time on this tour. There was not the slightest sign of his injury and he bowled as well as I have seen him bowl.