Wallace Should Be Asked To Coach Test Teams

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30880, 13 October 1965, Page 21

Wallace Should Be Asked To Coach Test Teams

-By-

R. T. Brittenden

[This is the second of four articles on the state of New Zealand cricket at the start of a new season by the Sports Editor of “The Press,” who as the N.Z.P.A.. Special Correspondent, reported the -ecent tour of India, Pakistan and Britain. The third will appear tomorrow 1

One of the prime requisites for a better New Zealand test team is a more resolute approach by individuals. No-one could challenge the personal courage of New Zealand’s players, past or present, but there is a destructive diffidence about New Zealand teams.

Just as success breeds success, so, apparently, does defeat sow the seed of further failure.

New Zealand Rugby is strong, and each victory sponsors a further wave of enthusiasm, so that there seems to be an endless supply of young men eager to get to the top.

New Zealand Rugby teams are confident; New Zealand cricket teams much too modest in their approach.

The English professional batsmen simply books in for the day, and his concentration seldom lapses, New Zealand players may bat for an hour or two, most proficiently, but they then seem to feel they have done enough. This is no new-found weakness. It has gone on for years. For all their difficulties, New Zealand cricketers can play well in the best company. It is a pity they so seldom do it in concert, that they do not have sufficient belief in themselves to exploit the chances they win. Plan Ahead

Tighter, harder cricket is needed in New Zealand. At the end of the summer. New Zealand has to meet England again, in a three-test series. And New Zealand will be without J. R. Reid, possibly one or two others of those who went on tour this year. It will be a very high hurdle, but it should not be insurmountable. The administration of New Zealand cricket, has to think further ahead than next March, and plan accordingly. But if there is one action which can be taken immediately, it is the appointment of Mr W. M. Wallace to coach the test teams this season. Mr Wallace, an accomplished batsman in his playing days, has a great gift. He seems able to persuade New Zealand

cricketers that they are good enough to compete. His enthusiasm is matched by his wise counsel. Nearly 10 years ago, after New Zealand had suffered two humiliating defeats at the hands of the West Indies, he went to Wellington to coach the third test team. The effect on the

players was remarkable and their faith in him was immense.

New Zealand did a little better in that match. And the fourth one brought New Zealand its first test victory, after 45 games. Mr Wallace is no maker of miracles but there is a strong case for him, or someone of his calibre, to work on the New Zealand players. The last M.C.C. team to Australia had A. V. Bedser as assistant manager. This year J. T. Ikin is in the party. South African Rugby teams in New Zealand have had Dr. D. H. Craven and Mr H. Muller with them. The last All Black team in Britain was coached by Mr N. J. McPhail, who went as assistant manager. There is a lead here New Zealand could follow with profit.

The national coaching school conducted at Auckland for two terms a few years ago was allowed to lapse, and that was a pity. It did not, of course, turn out test-winning players immediately, but those who attended it had no doubts at all about its immense value.

Continuity in such a scheme is important, and the New Zealand Cricket Council’s Board of Control could give serious consideration to its reestablishment. 19th Visitors

There used to be complaints that New Zealanders never played enough firstclass cricket to match visiting teams, but since the war that picture has changed markedly. This is the twentyfirst post-war season, and the M.C.C. will be the nineteenth visiting team in that period. Moreover, Plunket Shield teams have increased from four to six, the shield season from 12 days or about 70 hours to 15 days and about 100 hours. There is still the unfortunate gap between the end of the shield season and the arrival of a touring test team, but New Zealand cricketers do not now suffer so much from lack of competition. It is the quality of the competition which counts. When the teams in the Plunket Shield contest went from four to five, and then to six, there were fears that the standard of play would suffer from dilution. The six teams are fixtures now, but the Board of Control may feel disposed to considering a report brought down a few years ago by four

able administrators—Messrs J. G. Leggat, W. A. Hadlee, H. W. Osborn and J. A. Ongley. Among the recommendations of this sub-committee was one that a seventh team be added to the competition, and that it should then be played in two grades, with promotion and relegation of one team each season;

The committee proposed home and away matches in each of the two sections, giving players in the top section 18 days’ cricket, the other 12. The extra playing days would be valuable, but the tightening of the competition would yield even greater dividends. With modern cricket producing, in the main, strict control of bowling and field placing to pin batsmen down, intense concentration is needed. New - Zealand's pace bowling at present is highly satisfactory but the batsmen at the top lack the sustained application needed. Out Of Form

Club cricket can rarely help them attain it, and often the Plunket Shield matches begin with batsmen woefully out of form, and every straight ball looking lethal. It may be that Plunket Shield teams should be asked to play a match, under strict conditions, against a B team or a colts side, before begining a shield programme. Again there is the difficulty for players in getting time off, especially as business in New Zealand builds up to such a pronounced peak in December. But without a more ruthless approach. New Zealand cricket will continue to falter.