Australia has opener problem

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32966, 12 July 1972, Page 18

Australia has opener problem

i.VZ Press Xssoeiotion— Copyright) LOX DOX. R. J. Inverarity left Australia’s front line problems unsolved when he Hopped for a duck against Middlesex at Lord’s in an experimental opening partnership with K. Stackpole.

| Now the cricket tourists' captain, I, M. Chappell, has little time left in which to decide whether to move himself I up the list to plug the gap for the third test, which opens tomorrow at Trent Bridge. Nottingham. One of the best No. 3 batsmen in the world, he is naturally reluctant to open, but the constant failures of B. Francis and G. D. Watson, and the latest performance by Inverarity. have made it imperative for him to consider the more seriously. Inverarity, the third selector, virtually put paid to his claims when he was bowled bv J. E. Price for nought off the fifth ball of the innings Last week he got his first half-century of the tour, opening against Leicestershire. Had he succeeded against Middlesex, he would almost certainly have been reinstated tomorrow, alongside Stackpole. At stumps on the second ;day of the match Australia

was 167 for three—2s behmd Middlesex. The county's skipper, J. M. Brearlev. closed at 192 for two. after 200 minutes endeavouring to make a contest of the encounter after the loss of the first day because of rain. PARFITT 68 i P. H Parfitt celebrated his return to the English test [scene after three years with [an easy, unbeaten 68 in 158 minutes with nine boundaries Michael John Smith, who was close to being given his first test, got 65