ENGLAND NOT GREATLY SUPERIOR Edrich And Underwood Held Key To Series

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32078, 28 August 1969, Page 19

ENGLAND NOT GREATLY SUPERIOR Edrich And Underwood Held Key To Series

(From R. T. BRITTENDEN. N.Z.P.A. special correspondent)

LONDON.

There was not as much difference between strength of England and New Zealand as the bare results of the 1969 cricket series might suggest.

i England leaned very i heavily on J. H. Edrich during these games, but ; apart from him its bat- : ting looked almost as vulnerable as New Zea- ■ land’s. : P. J. Sharpe played some : good innings, too, but G. Boyl cott, B. L. D’Oliveira, K R. : Fletcher and A. P. Knott were failures, and M. H. Denness, i in his one test, had to struggle I after a first innings failure bei fore showing his best colours i as the winning runs were i made. England’s bowling, however, needs no further commenda- ! tions. It had J. S. Snow at i the batsmen’s throats and A. • Ward bowling at times faster > than any of the New Zealanders have seen anyone bowl. Masterly Display The medium pace and faster supporting bowling was very good and then there was the craft and sagacity of R. Illingworth and the mastery display ■ by D. L. Underwood. New Zealand’s pace bawling was adequate, sometimes bet- ' ter than that, and although , he took only eight wickets in ; the series, H. J. Howarth was ’ extremely able. New Zealand batted so well . against the West Indies that

there were high hopes when this tour began that England’s bowlers might be held. However, England’s attack was much stronger than that mounted by the West Indies in New Zealand, and there was a decline among most of ■; the New Zealanders that • proved fatal to the team’s: prospects. G. T. Dowling, although setting a magnificent example in application and courage, was much below his best form. He has reverted lately to his earlier habits of closing the bat face and tending to play across line. Wretched Series V. Pollard, of whom much was expected, had a wretched series. In it he scored 38 runs compared with his 281 in the corresponding tests four years ago. M. G. Burgess played In two tests and failed in them, while B. R. Taylor, whose runs have always been regarded as bonuses, could hardly have been expected to make big scores regularly but in four innings he totalled only 7 runs. B. E. Congdon batted usefully, but no better than that, K. J. Wadsworth failed to live up to expectations, and B. A. G. Murray, after a good first test, had a bad second one. It is a sorry fact that no New Zealander has made a century in a test in England for three tours, and in the series which has just ended there were only four halfcenturies among the 42 innings played by those expected to get the runs. Secret Of Success

Only G. M. Turner and B. F. Hastings played Underwood with some degree of confidence, and they owed their successes to the fact that they played straight There were far too many attempts at the sweep shot in the first two tests and at forcing the ball across the line of flight in efforts to defeat accurate bowling and demanding field placings.

Both Turner and Hastings demonstrated quite clearly that runs could be made off all England’s bowlers in safety if the basic principles were observed.

New Zealand has failed in 1 a difficult mission but there i could be compensations yet in i six remaining tests with India i and Pakistan. But again there i will have to be some hard thinking about the batting of < a team which had the ability to do much better than it has in England. Eight-Wicket Win England won the third and final test by eight wickets on J Tuesday and thus took the series 2-0. It had been thought New : Zealand might with an early success or two have made England fight hard for the 106 runs it needed at the start of the last day, but only the left-arm spin of Howarth was a real problem for Sharpe and Denness, who made most of England’s runs. Howarth persistently groped for the bat’s edge and could well have won several successes. But R. C. Motz, R. S. Cunis and Taylor found nothing in the pitch to help them, save the occasional ball keeping low, and they lacked the vivid pace of Ward to beat the bat Typically, Pollard was outstanding in the field. No cause seems lost to him and he made some magnificent saves. England scored at a good rate most of the time, and the innings lasted 166 minutes. And it was as well runs came briskly for soon after the match was over there was a persistent drizzle. Scores: NEW ZEALAND First Innings ... 250 Second innings c , 228 ENGLAND First Innings .. 242 Second Innings J. H. Edrich c Wadsworth b Cunis ...11 G. Boycott b Cunis .. 8 M. H. Denness not out .. 55 P. J. Sharpe not out . 45 Extras (byes 2, leg-byes 4, no-balls 2) 8 Total for two wickets 138 Fall of wickets: one for 18, two for 50.

Bowlins 0. M. It. W. Hotz 9.3 1 35 0 Cunis 11 3 36 2 Howarth 23 10 32 0 Taylor 4 0 11 0 Pollard _ 5 1 14 0