England To Drop Allen Or Knight From 12

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30981, 10 February 1966, Page 15

England To Drop Allen Or Knight From 12

<A*.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) MELBOURNE. The England selectors yesterday included the Essex allrounder, B. R. Knight, in their 12 for the fifth test, which will begin at Melbourne tomorrow.

The team was named after an hour-long conference. The manager, Mr S. C. Grif-

fith, said the player to be | dropped would be Knight or the off-spinner, D. A. Allen. Knight is the only addition to the side that was defeated in the fourth test. England’s eleven will be i chosen from: R. W. Barber, G. Boycott, J. H. Edrich, K. F. Barrington, M. C. Cowdrey, M. J. K. Smith, J. M. Parks, Knight, D. A. Allen, F. J. litmus, D. Brown, and I. J. Jones. The final decision will be made shortly before play be-

gins. It will depend on how the selectors view the Melbourne pitch. The announcement of the 12 names produced no real surprise. The possibility of using Knight as a third seam bowler to support Brown and Jones was anticipated. If this is done, there would be no room for Allen. The only other change which might have been considered was the inclusion of E. W. Russell at the expense of Edrich. Yesterday, the Melbourne pitch was extremely well grassed, and although it is due to be trimmed before the start, it must still be expected to help the faster men rather than the spin bowlers, particularly at the start. Australia could yet regret the lack of a third fast bowler in its side to support G. D. McKenzie and N. J. Hawke. Its team is: R. B. Simpson, W. M. Lawry, P. J. Burge, I. Chappell, R. M. Cowper, A. T. W. Grout, Hawke, McKenzie, K. Stackpole, G. Thomas, T. R. Veivers, K. D. Walters.