TOSS MAY BE CRUCIAL FACTOR Test-match fever on eve of first international

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33773, 20 February 1975, Page 26

TOSS MAY BE CRUCIAL FACTOR Test-match fever on eve of first international

( F rom

R. T. BRITTENDEN)

Auckland is like a boiler house for the first test with England which begins today—steamv. and with a threat of an Eden Park explosion.

The atmosphere is heavy, the pitch has a good deal of grass on it, and with both sides likely to include three pace bowlers, a spinner and a back-up bowler, there will inevitably be a temptation to bat second on winning the toss.

The forecast is for more cloudy weather with afternoon showers — and if they resemble Tuesday afternoon’s downpour — more than an inch in a few minutes — the cricket may be curtailed. But more than the pitch and a muggy atmosphere argue drama in the first of the two tests. New Zealand is thought to have one of its few very good chances of

winning against Engand for the first time.

And England, battered and 1 bruised psychologically, if not now physically, by its sixtest Australian tour, has probably created a record by arriving at a test match i venue only 21 hours before I the start of the game. j The M.C.C. party was expected at Auckland at 11:15 i yesterday morning. It was I booked on flight 442 from 'Wellington. But there was no ’flight 442, as waiting Auckland officials discovered. That flight was withdrawn some time ago. So the ghost riders in the sky did not reach their Auckland hotel until 2 p.m. and i could not begin their first—and only—practice until 3.30 'p.m. Amiss unwell i The final New Zealand i selection will not be made until this morning. England has reduced its list to 13— M. H. Denness (captain), J. H Edrich, D. L. Amiss, B. W. I Luckhurst, B Wood, K W. ! Fletcher, A W. Greig, A. P. ! Knott, F. J. Titmus, C. M. Old. P. W. Lever, D. L. | Underwood, and G. G. Arnold. It seems certain that one of I the spinners will be excluded, and Titmus is probably the

one who will go. Amiss is suffering from swollen throat giands and it will not be known until this morning whether he is fit to play. If Amiss is fit, the choice of Luckhurst would be a little surprising, for he has been sadly out of form in the last few months. It could probably be argued that Luckhurst will thrive again when he is not confronted with the extreme pace of Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson. Until this tour he had a very fine test record.

Wood, however, has made only one good score in his five test matches and, al-

though he has been playing in the West Indies, he has seen less of New Zealand and New Zealand bowlers than Luckhurst. New Zealand is likely to exclude Barry Hadlee and David O’Sullivan. Hadlee may still have a chance of displacing John Parker as a middleorder batsman, but Hadlee’s successes in the last year or so have been as an opener, and as John Morrison now seems established as Glenn Turner’s partner, Hadlee may well be omitted. Not that his credentials at five or six can be discounted. It should be a thrilling test match. England has a string of batsmen who have proved themselves in test cricket. It has pace bowling to make the most of what the pitch offers —and if the present humidity persists Arnold, for one, will be glad. The Australian tour has been extended to New Zealand for perhaps the last time. Present thoughts are for fuller M.C.C. tours, allied to visits to Pakistan rather than an appendage to Australia which the English players can hardly relish and which gives New Zealand only a glimpse of England’s best. Dangerous bowler Arnold, at Trent Bridge in 1973, was highly dangerous in a murky atmosphere, just as" he displayed at Headingley later that season how good he is on a damp, greenish pitch. England has batting depth, good bowling. But New Zealand also, has a fine and experienced side, and both the opening bowlers, Richard Collinge and Ewan Chatfield, must have been encouraged by their performance against the M.C.C. in the Wellington match. If they bowl first, they might be a dangerous pair, with’ strong support from Dayle Hadlee.

England has history on its side. New-Zealand has a newfound strength which, if translated into confidence, can make this one of the great games. On recent form and performances there is not much between them. The side which holds its catches will win.