Lawry Fought His Own War

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30947, 31 December 1965, Page 3

Lawry Fought His Own War

(From W. J. O’REILLY, special correspondent-N.Z.P.A.I MELBOURNE.

Tactics for the first day’s play revolved entirely round Australia’s lefthander, W. Lawry, who seemed to wage his own private war with bowlers intent on providing him with the least possible opportunities for indulging in his favourite cover driving.

The result was a dull uninteresting programme relieved only in the closing stages when R. Cowper introduced the first welcome signs of aggression.

Lawry is notoriously strong on the off-side. His powerful cover drive is generally accepted as a yardstick of his batting value—apart from the merit that lies in occupying the stage for a long time in a match limited to 30 hours.

England’s bowlers, inspired by a splendid effort from D. Allen who plugged away naggingly at the left-hander’s legstump, met with complete success in their project. For the greater part of an intensely uninteresting innings Lawry was limited to the on side push shot. Such tactics are dull provender any time. BIGGEST CROWD It was unfortunate the season's biggest crowd had to sit them out. I believe England was fully entitled to adopt the plan. It was up to Lawry, a fully matured test campaigner, to overcome them. But it seemed to me the Australian was quite content to make his own private vendetta of the situation by settling down to discover who could withstand the cold war more successfully. R. Simpson, right out of touch, was unable to give Lawry any help by attacking off-spinners. Against off-spin when in form, the Australian captain is one of the most gifted batsmen. But it was easy to see his enforced absence from the game had rattled his confidence. Although he made many efforts to use his feet in getting down the pitch, he never ceased to find difficulty in both timing and middling the ball. As he did in the first test

when D. Brown bowled him, P Burge left the “gate” wide open to let J. Jones sneak one in past his defensive bat. This was an important wicket for England because Burge had been promoted to help Lawry with his problem. FINE CONTROL

Allen’s excellent control of direction in a long session of bowling was easily his best test performance in this country, with Titmus falling short of his usual steadiness.

In spite of some good early overs, Allen assumed responsibilities and carried out the team’s plans in regard to Lawry with painstaking skill For the greater part of the day he bowled down wind, a privilege that most slow bowlers prefer to palm off to less influential members of the spin attack. J. Jones, who collected Booth’s wicket to add to Burges’ at a critically important stage of the closing session did a splendid supporting job.