N.Z. play criticised

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32903, 29 April 1972, Page 42

N.Z. play criticised

(Special Crtpdt. N.ZP.AJ PORT OF SPAIN; If New Zealand cricket is to improve, it will have to approach the game in a more positive way, said G. S. Sobers, the West Indies captain, at the end of the drawn series. “New Zealand has the players to play attractive cricket. This idea of trying to play defensive cricket all the time is very bad for the game. "The New Zealanders probably got away with it on this tour, but they would not get away with it if they.

played this way in England, Australia, or anywhere else in the world.” Commenting on Sobers’s criticism, B. E. Congdon, the New Zealand captain, said: “We' had to play the cricket that we did here because of our team’s construction. “We have probably players who bat as excitingly and hit the ball as hard as any of the West Indians, but, unfortunately, they were not the ones who made the runs on the tour.

“It is hard to assess a team’s performance when the other team wins the toss five times. How would the opposition do if they were getting the worst of the tracks all the time?”

Any criticism of the New Zealand cricketers' approach

to their matches was naive, said the tour manager, Mr M; E. Chapple, including Sobers’s criticism that the New Zealanders* approach was not positive. “A statement like that," said Mr Chapple, “is like asking a boxer in the ring to change his style to suit his opponent to slog it out so that the crowd can enjoy the blood. Perhaps the West Indian attitude is a reflection of their disappointment in their own performances. “We played to our strengths and weaknesses. I think our approach was positive in that we were trying to win the matches in a way suited to our style of play. “At no time would I consider playing to the crowd and losing."-