N.Z. tosses away its chances and lets Aust, assume command

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33421, 31 December 1973, Page 16

N.Z. tosses away its chances and lets Aust, assume command

(Ftom D. J. CAMERON)

MELBOURNE.

Dropped catches, lost chances, hot-house heat, bad light — so the misfortunes piled upon the New Zealand cricketers during the first two days of the first test against Austral ia at the week-end, leaving them with only a slim chance of escaping with an honourable draw.

The Australian first innings, 335 for four wickets on Saturday when it was aided by a rash of dropped catches, was closed yesterday afternoon at 462 for eight.

In 140 minutes, with several interruptions by rain and bad light, New Zealand scored 51 for the loss of G. M. Turner, M. J. F. Shrimpton, and, from the last ball of the day, B. F. Hastings. The New Zealand bowlers fought splendidly in the crushing heat on Saturday; J. M. Parker batted coolly through several crises yesterday afternoon. “Worst” in test But the painful fact remained that the New Zealanders fielded and caught badly, and this Australian team is strong enough not to need such bonuses. It was rather sobering on Saturday evening to hear Richie Benaud, the celebrated Australian captain of previous years, wondering aloud whether the New Zea-

landers had, in fact, offered the - worst fielding he had seen from a test side. Australian critics made no pretence of what they thought. The New Zealanders were greeted yesterday morning by headlines such as "What a slips-up!”, “Careless Kiwis drop a bundle,” and "Clobbered Kiwis fumble as Aussie bats blaze.” The low point came from the missing of three chances from K. R. Stackpole before he was 50, allowing him to carry on like some roistering sailor to 122 before he was finally stopped. How different might things have been had Stackpole been taken from a simple ballooned catch off the sixth ball of the match. Tragic collision The New Zealanders were tremendously eager to do well — and in this case much too eager. Hastings from gully and Shrimpton from cover darted under the high catch, collided at the critical moment, and the great chance was lost. The other chances from Stackpole, at 32 and 48, were harder deflections to New Zealand’s erratic slip field. Parker may well have been unsighted on the first catch, and it was less a criticism of B. F. Andrews missing a fullblooded Stackpole slash to third slip than the policy of placing Andrews in such an unfamiliar position. So Stackpole careered onwards, mixing the edges and mis-cues with thunderous cover drives and pulls to midwicket. Towards the end of his innings Stackpole looked completely dominant and it was like manna from heaven when, in his first over, Shrimpton’s leg-spin had Stackpole slicing a catch to Parker at first slip. Joy overflowed Shrimpton, a phlegmatic character who had chased for miles over the vast outfield in the searing heat, leapt for joy at this sudden success, and just about tied himself in knots with ecstacy when he soon afterwards had I. M. Chappell brilliantly caught by R. J. Hadlee at backward square. Then came G. S. Chappell batting with such quality that the offerings of Stackpole, A. P. Sheahan and his brother, lan, seemed threadbare by comparison. Chappell and K. D. Wal-

ters had to treat with respect the tidy spinning of Shrimpton and D. R. O’Sullivan, but whenever the ball was overpitched or too short, Chappell dismissed it to the fence with sublime strokes. Caught in pit Chappell disappeared just as unexpectedly as the others, edging a ball from B. E. Congdon—doing temporary duty for Andrews, who had retired with cramp—which K. J. Wadsworth caught in the pit of his stomach and withdrew triumphantly from inside the top of his pad. The sudden disappearing acts continued yesterday morning. I. Davis, the test newcomer, was caught by Wadsworth from D. R. Hadlee’s first ball of the day. R. W. Marsh was taken by Parker at first slip and then Walters in dangerous mood, was caught by the admirable Wadsworth. In 33 balls, D. Hadlee had taken three wickets for 15— a fitting reward for his valiant efforts. With Australia 381 for seven, New Zealand had regained some ground, but once again it could not completely break through. K. J. O’Keeffe (40 not out) and and G. Gilmour (52 from 59 balls) scored 81 for the eighth wicket before Congdon bowled Gilmour and Australia closed its innings. Rapid on-and-off The start of the New Zealand innings was rather like a quick-change vaudeville act. Turner and Parker dug in for 10 minutes in the bad light while a gale swirled rain and dust and pieces of paper round the huge arena like some maelstrom.

Rain drove them off for 10 minutes, and when they returned only three balls were bowled, before, at 2.30 p.m. in the afternoon, the light was so bad they went off again. Turner and Parker started again at 4 p.m. with the light still very poor. More interested in minutes than

runs, they defended doggedly, and the gigantic A. Dell, the dynamic destroyer on his fiery Queensland pitch a fortnight ago, was rather more genial on this slow-paced strip.

However, he did get a ball to lift sharply across Turner, the catch going to Gilmour at third slip, and the TurnerParker relationship, with a best score of 24 in six previous test innings, was over at 19. Offered no shot Shrimpton looked extremely safe until Gilmour surprised him with a quicker ball and Marsh had the catch. Just when it seemed as if Parker and Hastings would carry the flag through to stumps, Hastings offered no shot to the last ball of the day, from O’Keeffe, which turned back and bowled him. It was of little comfort to the New Zealanders, too, that A. A. Mallett’s off-spin received some help from the damaged parts of the pitch at the southern end in the day’s closing stages. New Zealand will have a day to reflect on their disasters. The match will resume tomorrow.