N.Z. “Badly Treated” By Pitches In England

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30770, 7 June 1965, Page 3

N.Z. “Badly Treated” By Pitches In England

[From R. T. BRITTENDEN, N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent.] CARDIFF, June 6. It has been a depressing fortnight for the touring cricket team which is clearly heading for the worst record any New 7 Zealand side has had overseas.

After scrambling out of defeat at Nottingham, there was a deplorable first innings display against Cambridge University and subsequent recovery; a batting collapse against England and a heavy defeat, notwithstanding a courageous second innings; then two small scores against Yorkshire and the heaviest defeat of the tour in England.

However, this New Zealand team is not nearly as bad as its record suggests for it has had a very rough deal so far as playing conditions in England have been concerned.

Except for Lord’s and Fenners, there has not been a good batting pitch.

Even at Edgbaston, where New Zealand scored more than 400 in its second innings, it took turn. But this test pitch had the essential of offering an even bounce. A touring team which comes across the world to play cricket might reasonably expect to have some rain-affec-ted pitches here and there, but there should, in reasonable weather, be the opportunity for players to run into form and a scoring rhythm. So that a batsman who makes 50 one day might look forward to the chance of scoring well again in the next match on another true surface. Three Impossible Pitches This has not happened on this tour. In eight matches there have been two good pitches, three on which it was very hard to score runs and three which were almost impossible.

Even if they all carried the same characteristics it would be logical to expect touring batsmen to learn a survival technique but they have varied from match to match dramatically. And New Zealand’s problems have been

accentuated by the fact that the toss has been lost in each of the last five matches. The New Zealand bowlers have not used the conditions as well as they should have done but the opposing teams, which have had the best of the bowling conditions most certainly have New Zealand’s batsmen, lacking a proper technique to counter the turning and lifting ball, or those which alternately fly or scuttle through—and sometimes it seems that Hobbs and Sutcliffe themselves might have found it extremely difficult—have made faulty strokes.

On a pitch such as the one at Bradford, where the ball popped wickedly and sometimes turned savagely, the most common error was taking the bat further than a foot in defensive strokes. This mistake cost wickets in rather similar circumstances at Trent Bridge. This lost only a few wickets and in the main the New Zealanders at Bradford were simply victims of circumstance. One might reasonably point to Yorkshire’s score of 419 as evidence that there was nothing wrong with the pitch but this was a clear case of New Zealand’s bowlers not being on the job and it was just as clearly one of

those occasions when the batsmen get away with almost anything. D. B. Close played a fine innings but it was riddled with snicks and edges and near catches, particularly during the first 50 runs. Every edge seemed to cost four runs on a ground which has rather shorter boundaries behind the wickets, a feature which in part explained the hitting of 18 sixes in the match. But if New Zealand’s batting failures are not as hopeless as they may appear there is concern now over the bowling which has been a strong point, at least in the pace department. In 11 days opposing teams have scored 1633 runs against New Zealand for the loss of 39 wickets.

But the emphasis will have to remain on pace. At Bradford the mistake was made in replacing F. J. Cameron with B. W. Yuile at the last moment. The pitch certainly took turn as expected but New Zealand's slow bowlers were again too inaccurate and expensive, whereas Cameron has the control and experience this situation demanded so much. Bungling Inefficients A British cricket writer said on Saturday he could recall no touring side so badly treated as the New Zealanders in the matter of pitches. Writing in the London “Evening News,” E. M. Wellings said if the New Zealanders were wondering whether the English were cheats or merely bungling inefficients, “we can have no cause for complaint.” The New Zealanders had had an unprepared heap at Old Trafford, a dusty waste at Trent Bridge, and a pitch at Edgbaston which took too much spin too soon in the test, he said. That the New Zealanders fought so well at Edgbaston was proof of their team spirit. When their innings of 116 put them in dire straits they took the old-fashioned course of attacking their way out of trouble. The modern English policy in such circumstances was to trust entirely to defence.

“They have combatted adverse conditions as well as could be expected. They are entitled to demand better pitches for their remaining matches, as are the spectators who pay to watch them.”