Murray For Turner Only Test Change Expected

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32060, 7 August 1969, Page 15

Murray For Turner Only Test Change Expected

(From R. T. BRITTENDEN, N.Z.P.A. special correspondent) NOTTINGHAM. The New Zealand team for the second cricket test is likely to show only one change from the side which went down to England at Lord’s, the inclusion of B. A. G. Murray in place of the injured G. M. Turner.

But it is difficult to see how New Zealand can beat England unless the match runs its way from the start.

The Trent Bridge pitch is reputed to be one of the best in the country, and it is unlikely that in settled conditions New Zealand can again dismiss England twice for 530 runs.

By the same token, the New Zealand batsmen should have more success than they had at Lord’s where their two innings totalled 300. New Zealand should sur-

ely end a succession of lost tosses before long, and today would seem to be a very good time to do it.

If New Zealand can bat first, score something substantial, and hold all its catches, it might be a .very good game. But the tourists may need the sort of help a break in the weather could give an uncovered pitch if it is to beat England for the first time in 39 attempts. There is the usual tendency to find excuses for unsuccessful New Zealand sides, if for no better reason than sympathy. But this team has had its chances to build up an excellent tour record and it has failed to take them. Yet it is even now by no means a poor record. Two wins and two losses, with the victories against the weakest of its first-class opponents, may seem unconvincing. But New Zealand had very much the better of the games with Derbyshire and Surrey before losing narrowly to Essex on a pig of a pitch. It nearly lost to Middlesex and was only 17 runs short of victory. It did well enough against Kent, and after losing the first test, beat Minor Counties by a wide margin and had Glamorgan properly on the run in another drawn game. Excluding the test, New Zealand has declared seven times in the last eight games and G. T. Dowling has made a very good effort to get results.

It is unfortunate, however, for the team trying to be at a peak for test matches that in four of the last five county matches pitches have been anything but good. This is

disappointing because at the start of the tour it seemed the standard of pitches would be far ahead of those met in 1965. What with chasing runs in some matches and batting on indifferent pitches in others, New Zealand’s batting results do not equate with the quality of the performance of which this team is capable. Although England’s attack in the second test, with J. Snow replacing D. Brown, will be even stronger than at Lord’s, there should be a chance at Trent Bridge for New Zealand to show it can make runs. England will mount a rather fierce new-ball attack and there will always be the

problem of playing D. T. Underwood no matter what the conditions may be. On an ordinary pitch he should not threaten the batsmen so much, but ways and means must be found to take runs from him to prevent him dictating, as he did at Lord’s, even in the first innings when the pitch was probably better than at any other time in the match. On a lovely pitch at Maidstone, the New Zealanders scored from Underwood at a reasonable rate and something similar should be possible in the test. Most bowlers look good on a damaged pitch but Underwood uses helpful conditions better than almost anyone in test cricket today. But if the New Zealanders can forget bis acts of tyranny in the first test, they might prosper.