N.Z. TEST WIN PREDICTED

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30619, 9 December 1964, Page 23

N.Z. TEST WIN PREDICTED

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, December 8. If three good fast bowlers are included in the first test team to play Pakistan it should mean victory for New Zealand, the former Wellington coach, Mr R. G. Groves, believes.

He expects the visit* ors to find themselves sorely troubled by the faster men on New Zealand’s unpredictable wickets and in the duller light. Mr Groves has spent three months coaching cricket in Queensland and watched all four days of the Pakistanis match against Queensland and the first day of the test against Australia in Melbourne. He arrived this morning on the Northern Star. “They rely on their most experienced players, Hanif Mohammed, Saeed Ahmed and Javed Burki, to a great extent,” said Mr Groves. Strokes Encouraged “I feel the wickets they are playing on in Australia would be very similar to those they play on at home, with the ball turning very little and stroke play being encouraged. “This, coupled with the slower wickets here and the duller light, might make things much tougher for them.” He said the Pakistan spinners seemed to lack consistent length “and one could look forward to players like J. R. Reid, G. T. Dowling, B. W. Sinclair and S. N. McGregor doing well against this form of attack.” “I feel if New Zealand takes a positive attitude against the

Pakistanis and shakes ofl their old inferiority test complex then it will have a very good chance of winning the first test, at least,” he said.