No Victory Seen

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30041, 28 January 1963, Page 10

No Victory Seen

(Specioup written for the NZ.P.A. bp W J. O’REILLY]

ADELAIDE, Jan. 26. Presented with the opportunity to ram home the advantage R. N. Harvey and N. O’Neill gained for them yesterday, the Australian tail - end batsmen collapsed for 71 runs to give England a fighting chance of coming back into a match-winning position.

This represented a magnificent effort from a tired attack which had paid dearly for some slipshod fielding errors yesterday. F. S. Trueman started the bill rolling by rattling B. Shepherd with a senes of short-pitched balls which had the sturdy Western Australian ducking uneasily. Turning his back to one of them, he was hit painfully on the right shoulder blade. But Trueman was not rewarded with his wicket. B. Statham cashed in on the situation, having Shepherd caught in the gully from a diffident defensive shot.

K. Mackay, who laid claim to immortality in his previous Adelaide test when he played manfully through the final over of W. Halls to draw the match against West Indies, never looked a likely rungetter. He plodded and stabbed uncertainly until he got an edge on Trueman to give A. C. Smith a lefthanded catch. Those were the two men to whom Australia looked for results which would settle the match in its favour. They had everything in their favour—the pitch was peaceful, the attack was ti-ed. and the heat conditions were entirely against any great show of enthusiasm from the fielding side. Davidson's 46

K. Davidson, as usual, was left with the responsibility and he stayed for more than two hours to collect 46 highly-valuable runs. But were they so valuable? That long effort must have had much to do with the breakdown which came soon after he took up the attack against England's opening batsmen. In dismissing the Australians for 393 runs. England's bowlers turned in a first-class performance. As tl ose catches were going to Kwith monotonous reguJ on Friday I felt certain they would have been glad to settle for a SOO total against them. The Australians themselves had little reason to be proud of their score. From the time O'Neill was dismissed seven wickets fell for M runs. The run of luck in this match was evened up with a fi-Hirish whan Davidson broke down half-way through his fourth over. He began aggressively by bowling one of the most emharr seeing oven I have mo. to K F. Barrington, who had been promoted to numb throe after O. Pullar was bowled. Three times in snresssion Barrington got an edge to the bah and on each orraeton got four runs. The first was a mismanaged hook which went over the ’keepers hoed and the second and third were iris-hits over foe slips fieldsmen. i

It looked eertata that Barrington with his pronounced two-eyed stance, was gotag to offer little effective resistance to foe Australian left-

h nder who was making the ball move either way. Davidson's injury was a severe blow to Australia's hopes. It was from him again that they expected a big effort to crack

through the main batting opposition. As he left the field, Barrington, for one, must have breathed more freely. McKensie With New Ball G. McKenzie offered his best new-ball performance of the series. He lost little in comparison with Davidson in pace and he moved the ball today more than he had moved it previously. For instance, he bowled Puller with an inswinger which was far enough outside to be ignored. That is what Puller did. The ball ducked in late to hit the off stump. It’s a long time since I have seen an opening batsman clean bowled without playing a shot The last time I can remember was S. Bell, of South Africa, bowling W. Woodfull in Melbourne in 1931. If McKenzie can continue the show and can move the ball in such convincing fashion. Australia will have no real need to regret the retirement of Davidson. One of the startling features of this game so far has been the regularity with which the batsmen have played at a ball to miss completely. When that happens, one usually takes a critical look at the pitch to by to find some evidence of roughage. But this one denies that. Dexter Criticised E. R. Dexter’s captaincy once again comes under criticism. Previously he has left himself open over the strange handling of his bowlers. Today, for some unfathomable reason, he appeared at number five batting position. I felt inclined to applaud his decision to sen ! Barrington in as number three when tfae opening partnership was broken early, but I could see no reason why he did not come in next with Davidson out of the attack and Mackay filling the support role to McKenzie. The stage never looked brighter for him to take charge. Dexter’s strange decision bounced right back into his lap when he found himself short of baiting partners when Graveney lost his wicket to McKenzie. Seeing that he is still there, it might be just a little premature to offer any stinging criticism. Dexter is a dynamic batsman capable of carving our present attack unmercifully. To show that, he clouted Simpson for two successive sixers in the last 15 minutes —a time when most batsmen are settling down peacefully for the night. But he will be expecting a lot from the tail-end supports. They will need to concentrate much more than their Australian counterparts did. England seemed to lose its slight winning chance when M. Cowdrey was out to the wicketkeeper’s catch off McKenzie. All doee-in fieldsmen went enthusiastically

into the appeal, but Cowdrey himself was so unconcerned

that he did not even bother to look round to see what

With Davidson likely to be out of the firing line for the remainder of this match- a hamstring muscle is no light matter—Australia's chances of forcing a win are slim. England’s chances of victory have disappeared. The pitch is behaving well Neitberßenaud nor Simpson have shown say enthusiasm about their spinning prospects yet. Australia, due for a new ben early on Monday, will cross their fingers firmly when it is thrown to Mackay That win be the time when Davidson’s absence will become highly publicised. At the moment 21-year-old McKenzie looks fit for another big effort