Reid's Gamble Fails As Springboks Score 327 For Five

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30390, 14 March 1964, Page 8

Reid's Gamble Fails As Springboks Score 327 For Five

[from Out Cricket Correspondent] AUCKLAND, March 13. South Africa breathed life into the test series with New Zealand at Eden Park today. While South Africa, sent in after losing the toss, scored 327 for five wickets there was, for almost the first time in the series, real red blood in the batting. Many magnificent strokes were made, but there was an enchanting fallibility about the batting, and it all went to make a highly entertaining day’s play. E. J. Barlow and T. L. Goddard, an extraordinarily consistent opening pair, each scored half-centuries and K. G. Bland is heading towards a century. Others, notably J. H. B. Waite, contributed handsomely to the pleasure of 500 spectators.

But all the batsmen made their occasional mistakes, and it was in some ways a frustrating day for the New Zealanders. R. W. Blair was a prime example. In what was almost certainly the best test bowling of his career, he, took two wickets only, but no fewer than four sharp chances were missed from himAnd there were a good many occasions when the batsmen played and missed, or scored runs with inadvertent snicks. Booming Drives But over all, the picture today was one of aggressive batting, and the spectator took away with him pleasant recollections of the hooking of Barlow, the all-round efficiency of Goddard, and the booming of Bland’s bat when he went for his drives. So South Africa is now comfortably placed to win the match and the series. But when Reid sent South Africa in to bat on a pitch still distinctly damp, there were prospects of a struggle for

runs before lunch. New Zealand lost that first, vital round mainly because of very bad bowling, which is after all the simplest of ways to concede the initiative. There was a tendency for the ball to hang, and it was imperative that the New Zealand bowlers should bring the batsmen forward by keeping die ball a shade short of half-volley length. Some Bad Overs There were some good overs, but some very bad ones indeed, and the South African openers pounced on each scoring opportunity so avidly that in the first hour 56 were scored: South Africa took control with skilful, forthright batting at the very stage New Zealand should have been making a significant advance. The bowling then tightened, only 30 being •cored in the second hour. But the damage was done.' Reid's decision to send South Africa in will be read —after a glance at the scoreboard—as badly mistaken. But even as the game stands now, it is still very defensible. His bowlers did not perform well enough to take the wickets. But there is little doubt that the South Africans would have done so. Had New Zealand batted first there is every probability that by lunch there would have been wickets down, for a handful of runsDamp Pitch With the pitch retaining moisture—the use of plastic covers next to the turf is regarded as being partly responsible for the surprising dampness this morning—and enough grass on the pitch to bold it together, at least New Zealand will have a chance, some time tomorrow, of batting on a good surface and, perhaps, making some •ort of counter-attack. The scaring of 327 runs in 360 ffiinutes does not suggest that the New Zealand bowlers were thrashed, but they bowled an average of only 17J overs an hour, and tiere were periods when they demanded the strictest of defence. There were others when the bat held imperious command. The South Africans plaved extremely well, on a pitch not quick enough for their l:kmg. They were ruthless in their dispatch of the bad ball, and this accounted quite substantially to the scoring rate. But they were prepared to play shots all the time, and to take risks to make them.

Difficult Chance Bland’s driving today often had the power and authority of W. R. Hammond himself. But by the same token, the New Zealanders could very easily have had much more success. Reid, of all people, failed to hold a very difficult, early chance off Bland. Bui it was, barely, a catch and one expects Reid to take them ail. New Zealand’s best period was between lunch and tea. In the morning, the scoring had been confined to 86 in I

two hours- In the afternoon, three wickets fell for 107. But in the last 120 minutes, 134 were added and only two more wickets were taken. It was disappointing to see the New Zealanders serve up so much rubbish when there was a distinct chance they could have had the batsmen in a tight trip. Cunis. in his first test, started well enough, and induced Barlow : to play two or three false shots. 'But his gentle outswing did not trouble the batsmen, and his length and direction faltered too often. Equalled Record Reid himself equalled A. R. Mac Gibbon’s test record of 70 wickets for New Zealand when he bowled R. G. Pollock, but it was not one of his good days. In trying to make the ball lift sharply, he bowled far too short in his early overs and Barlow, a pugnacious little batsman, thumped boundaries to midwicket with evident satisfaction. Reid settled down then, and bowled steadily, but he must have been disappointed that he could not bowl more often to the left-handed Goddard. The batsmen were at the wrong ends for the bowlers too much for it to have ■ been pure chance. Barlow, after his exuberant beginning he twice straight-drove Cameron for fours in the early minutes—was confined to one run in half an hour, with Blair bowling particularly well. But they went serenely on after lunch, and it really seemed for a while that a wicket would fall only through the passage of time, or some other act of nature. Wrong Shot They reached 100 in 21 hours and were at 115 when Barlow tried to square drive a ball too short for the shot He was easily taken at backward point. A. J. Pithey was unimpressive but was in 50 minutes and while he was there Goddard straight-drove Reid for 6. a fine blow. In an hour after lunch, 55 were scored, and with nothing in the pitch i to suggest Chapple would I play a bawling role. New 1 Zealand was hard pressed to keep an edge on its attack. Goddard, however, mistimed a hook and he too was easily caught. So for a while New Zealand was on top, and the bowling was accurate and penetrating. This was in midafternoon. with Blair bowling at his best and Reid at the other end turning a few across the batsmen quite sharply. Pithey, dropped in the slips, was out in the same way in the same over and there was a distinct chance that New Zealand could fight its way back into the game. But R. G. Pollock’s languid bat and Bland's glorious driving soon turned the tide again. They scored 44 together in 40 minutes and Pollock made one of the day's great strokes, a 4 from Reid through extra i cover, delayed and then i played perfectly off the back (foot But he applied a bat far

removed from the vertical to a ball from Reid and had his off-stump knocked back. At 202 for four, there was still a faint prospect of New Zealand, soon in possession of the new ball, striking back. Waite and Bland would have nothing of it. Waite hit 12 from Cameron’s first three deliveries with the new ball — a four over slips, a superb cover drive, a tremendous pull. In 15 minutes, the new ball yielded 23 and with this little spurt the South Africans were again firmly in the saddle. Waite, attacking eagerly, was out, driving, for 28, but Lindsay, after a quiet start, was also good and Bland went through to stumps with a succession of lovely shots. A straight drive from Cameron went past the bowler at a really frightening speed. And, as nearly always happens in such circumstances, if the ball beat the bat, it yielded leg-byes. Smooth Flow Some impudent singles were taken—it was a smooth flow of runs, over after over. Never at an exorbitant rate: but the last hour yielded 70. Bland, who has been in so far for two hours and a half, compensated for his occasional mistakes with his full-blooded hooking and driving. He has a majestic demeanour, a really commanding presence, and his bold batting goes with it. In the field, New Zealand was a patchy side. The groundwork was fair, and the catches missed were all hard ones. But Chapple had an unhappy day in the slips: he did not seem to get a hand to anything. Cameron, expected to be New Zealand's most penetrative bowler, was grossly erratic, by his own high standards, until late in the day. Then, with the game swinging sharply away, he produced a typical burst of good tight bowling which should have earned better figures. Unlucky Blair Blair, not often a great bowler for New Zealand, excelled himself, and he was cruelly unlucky to have only two wickets at the end. He was the only one in the morning to have a strict control of length. He made it very awkward for the batsman, with his accuracy, and he was able to get a little lift from just short of a length. In the afternoon he made some cut back quite sharply and he was the one who suffered from the fielding. Goddard, when on 67, gave Chapple a sharp chance, off Blair. Pithey, on nine, did the same thing. Bland, on nine, chopped Blair to Reid in the gully, but it was only a faint chance really. And Waite escaped, when he had made but one run. He snicked Blair to Chapple but Dick also attempted the catch and he missed it.

New Zealand’s prospects of victory, faint before the game, have all but disappeared. Yet one may hope that tomorrow, and for the rest of the match, there will be nothing supine about New Zealand’s performance. Nothing could be lost by a policy of all-out aggression.