Inter-island cricket may resolve bowling problems

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32524, 6 February 1971, Page 9

Inter-island cricket may resolve bowling problems

(By

R. T. BRITTENDEN)

The irregularity of interisland cricket matches since the first one 67 years ago has deprived the coming fixure at Wellington of the intensely competitive atmosphere which surrounds North South Rugby matches? but if the New Zealand Cricket Council sees fit to make this game a regular one, this edge will undoubtedly be found. The game which begins at the Basin Reserve on Friday does have especial interest however. In the past, some of the occasional North-South games have been purely trials, even to the re-adjustment of geographical boundaries at the convenience of selectors. But this, while being of vital importance to New Zealand’s test candidates, is to be. a proper match and, one hopes, hardfought. It seems certain that R. S. Cunis will not be able to take his place in the North Island team, and the most likely replacement for him is Wellington’s W. Greenstreet, a very tight and determined bowier who had a good Plunket Shield season. There might be more merit, however, in choosing the young Taranaki fast bowler, A. B. Jordan. He bowled very t much better than his shield figures of 10 for 301 sug-

gest; he is big and strong and decidedly aggressive. The pace bowling positions for the tests against England are quite open, especially if Cunis does not recover from his broken jaw in time to become a candidate. R. O. Collinge will have to sustain, in the inter-island match, his best form of the shield series to convince the selectors that he really is on the job, and not showing the patchiness which has marked his career. Taylor is by no means a certainty either. He can bowl really Well at times, he has shown some fine .form this season now and (then, but these last two seasons have not brought him the ready runs with which he so successfully supported his bowling claims. M. G. Webb, a tremendous success last sumner, has had run-up troubles and has been a much lesser force. But a convincing performance at Wellington could put him very much to the forefront of candidates. D. G. Trist, very steady and reliable, must also have a chance, and so does B. Andrews, although his fitness for the Wellington match is in doubt. If Andrews cannot play, it would be no surprise to find R. C. Motz playing his

first major match this season. He has shown he is again fit for three-day . cricket G. T. Dowling, B. A. G. Murray and G. M. Turner have the best claims to test opening positions, but M. L. Ryan is again pushing them hard, and could win a New Zealand cap at number three, if not as an opener. V. Pollard makes a welcome first appearance this season, as an .all-rounder. Few spinners are in the inter-island match. Pollard is the only South Island spinner, and the North has the two left-handers, H. J. Howarth and B. W. Yuile. Although Howarth came back from the 1969 tour with a tremendous reputation, he has been a little below his best this season; but Yuile has bowled with sharper purpose than, perhaps, ever before. It should be an interesting and evenly-contested game. Against what seems to be stronger batting in the South, there is the North’s more varied and penetrating attack. Individual performances may count, really, for too much. When the claims of candidates are so close, there will be a tendency to select the man who comes off in 'khis particular game.