MORGAN GOING TO W.I.

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32861, 9 March 1972, Page 26

MORGAN GOING TO W.I.

The Auckland batsman and off-spinner, R. W. Morgan, will reolace R. O. Collinge in the New Zealand cricket team in the West Indies.

Morgan will leave Auckland tomorrow evening, the New Zealand Cricket Board of Control announced last evening.

The secretary of the board (Mr R. G. Knowles) said that V. Pollard (Canterbury) and B. W. Yuile (Central Districts) had been approached but both had confirmed that they were not available because of Sunday play involved.

The replacement was made at the request of the tour selectors when Collinge said he wanted to return to New Zealand to be with his wife after their baby daughter died last week. He will arrive in Wellington on Saturday morning. Morgan was considered unlucky not to be in the original team. His firstclass record to the end of this season was 5180 runs at an average of 28.7, with a highest score of 166. He has also taken 91 wickets in his first-class career of 110 matches.

The chairman of the board of control (Mr J. G. Leggat) made the announcement of Collinge’s replacement about two hours before he left the country last evening, with his wife for the West 'lndies where he will watch the remaining matches of the tour. “The request for me to join the side came as a big surprise,” Morgan said last night, “but it Is a good opportunity and I will be pleased if I can get back into the test side again.”