THREE-HOUR COLLAPSE England Thoroughly Outplayed In Test

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31134, 10 August 1966, Page 17

THREE-HOUR COLLAPSE England Thoroughly Outplayed In Test

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) LONDON. The West Indies won the test series “even more convincingly than their predecessors in 1962”, the cricket correspondent of “The Times” said yesterday. “. . . They have played like the champions they are.

“Apart from being the best cricketers in the world, the West Indians are also the most uncompromising, and they are captained and inspired by a man worth any two others put together.” The correspondent said England was thoroughly outplayed in the fourth test, and any other test side “including New Zealand, India and Pakistan, could have expected to make a better showing.” Brian Scovell wrote in the “Daily Sketch”: “The West Indies, like Cassius Clay, smashed us down to defeat and put England back to the austerity days of just after the war, when it came second to everybody.” The former West Indies captain, Sir Learie Constantine, writing in the same paper, said the question that arose after the tourists’ win was, “Are they the best cricket side since Bradman's 1948 Australians?” Abject Surrender "England hit rock bottom,” was the headline in the “Daily Mirror.” Brian Chapman wrote: “Not a gold, not a silver, not even a bronze. It is a putty medal only that England deserves for its abject surrender to the West Indies . . .” The West Indies beat England by an innings and 55 runs at Headingly. England, resuming at 40 for one and needing 220 more runs in its second innings to avoid an innings defeat, was dismissed for 205 in three hours. Only Resistance Only R. W. Barber (55) and C. Milburn (42) offered any resistance to the West Indies bowlers. The off spinner, L. Gibbs, took six wickets. G. Sobers, the West Indies captain, hastened England’s collapse with two early wickets and finished with a match performance of 174 runs and eight wickets. Monday’s feeble display was a disaster for English cricket. England now faces the prospect of its heaviest home defeat in a test series since 1948 when it lost 0-4 to Bradman’s Australians. ] England could not blame | the pitch for its annihilation. It never gave any great as- ' sistance to the West Indies ; bowlers, although Gibbs gained some turn and bowled superbly for his six for 39. Sobers, emphasising his allround brilliance, won cash awards for both the best bat-

ting and bowling in the match. England’s hopes of saving the match disappeared in the two hours before lunch when Barber, D’Oliveira, Graveney and Cowdrey were dismissed. England was five for 128 at lunch, still needing 132 to avoid an innings defeat. Gallant Stand Milburn, In spite of an elbow injury received in the first innings, made a gallant last stand after lunch and pulled Gibbs for a huge six. But when he was bowled for 42 the innings folded up, the last three wickets falling at 205. D’Oliveira never looked happy on Monday and had made only seven when he turned Sobers into Butcher's hands at square-leg. The left-hander. R. Barber, reached his 50 with a slashing drive off Griffith, but was

bowled by Sobers when he had made 55. England’s last hopes rested on a big stand between the captain M. C. Cowdrey and T. Graveney, the two senior batsmen. Cowdrey was unnerved when a head-high full toss from Griffith skimmed past him and he made only 12 before falling leg-before to Gibbs. Graveney went in the last over before lunch when he played over a full-length ball from Gibbs and was bowled. Parks batted brightly, but dangerously, after lunch and soon holed out to Nurse at deep mid-wicket. With Milburn’s exit, the game quickly came to an end. Sobers said later the reasons for England’s failure in the current series was that “you cannot produce good cricketers on bad pitches.” Sobers said: “We have been criticised at times for not playing well outside the tests, but it is not easy to do so on the pitches we have come up against. “Another English fault is that the batsmen play too much with bat and pad. If they went for their shots more 1 am sure they would do much better.” Sobers said the tour had gone better than expected, “I anticipated a harder fight, but I was lucky to win the toss four times and this helped.”