England bowlers wasted time

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33783, 4 March 1975, Page 28

England bowlers wasted time

(By

R. T. BRITTEN DEN)

The second test, which has already had a heart transplant with Mr W. A. Hadlee the chief surgeon, now seems likely to develop anaemia.

Yesterday New Zealand advanced from 140 for three to 342 all out with a strange blend of the brave, the beautiful, and the bucolic. At close of play England had cruised quite comfortably to 57 without loss.

The only hint that a truly competitive element might be restored came from the occasional ball late in the day which kept . wickedly low. There had been a few of this disconcerting lack of altitude earlier. In the last hour there were half a dozen.

If New Zealand’s bowlers can persuade the ball to take off like a torpedo a little more often England might have a struggle. But there is nothing in the coaching manuals about the bowling of shooters; some sort of invocation is clearly required. And if a human sacrifice is thought necessary, one of those with the transistors would not really be missed.

But with only two days remaining there is not a great prospect of a finish. And there would be none if New Zealand bowled its overs at England’s rate. Yesterday it was again only a shade above 10 an hour. England performed like pallbearers at cricket’s funeral.

Test cricket makes special demands. But it is odd that professional players, whose county teams have to average 111 deliveries an hour in first-class matches Ito avoid fines running into ! many hundreds of pounds, can bowl at the rate of 84 lan hour, as they have done |in the two tests. 1 The New Zealanders so 'far have had 19 overs in 83 I minutes - nearly 14 an Ihour. Even making allowances for the differences in the bowling line-ups, England wasted time sadly. Good humour It was, nevertheless, an interesting day. Glenn Turner fell only two runs short of a century; Ken Wadsworth attacked vigorously in an innings of 58, and Lance Cairns put everyone - - or nearly everyone — in high good humour with his 39 runs from 48 balls, a mad mixture of admirable and absurd.

Sent in on a pitch which suited swing and seam, New Zealand did very well to

reach 342. But there have not been many New Zealand test teams which have had such a consistent run of good fortune. It often needed luck for a batsman to survive. But New Zealand had it in ample measure. Countless times batsmen played and missed. Catches went down — Wadsworth and Cairns were each dropped twice, and there were others. Thanksgiving The umpires, very properly, are mindful of the need to be absolutely certain before giving batsmen out. So what seemed like scores of appeals were turned down. Many of them were made by Geoff Arnold, an athletic appealer, whose baleful and meaningful looks are of so high a quality that thev argue a repertory background. Just after lunch he succeeded with one. Mr W. R. C. Gardiner, after the sort of prolonged selfinterrogation one might expect from a man forced to sell a favourite aunt into the white slave traffic, gave Glenn Turner out.

Arnold made his point. He dropped to his knees on the .turf, palms on pitch, in an expression of deep thanksgiving.

There was much good cricket in the morning. John Parker, still grafting earnestly, helped Turner take their fourth-wicket stand from 74 to 115. Then he fell to a turning, lifting ball from Tony Greig; and at 208 Geoff Howarth, trying to force a shortish one from Derek Underwood to the onside, was bowled. But throughout the morning Turner seemed a certainty for a sixth test century. Mistakes were rare; loVely shots came regularly. But he went, straight after lunch, after an innings of 372 minutes — although it is more relevant to record that he faced 256 balls, when a batsman may normally expect to bat at the rate of a ball a minute. England took the new ball to defeat Turner, but if he was disappointed at missing his centurv, he had the satisfaction of making his best score against England. Wadsworth, with fine

flourishes of the bat, made swift progress. There was a refreshing eagerness to accelerate the scoring, and with the pitch offering less movement than on the first day, he was able to bring off some thrilling straight hits. He was missed twice at 16, but he directed his particular talents to the needs of the side, and so did Dayle Hadlee.

Hadlee played some fine, orthodox shots, and their stand reached 50 in 44 minutes. In fact the first, hour after lunch yielded 61 — from only nine overs. After Hadlee went Wadsworth was unexpectedly forced into the role of straight man, while Cairns provided the entertainment. Cairns was dropped, from a huge, high hit, at 1, Peter Lever wobbling about below it uncertainly as it swung in the breeze before dropping it. He had another life soon afterwards. Arnold resorted to shortpitched ones outside the off stump, and this made demands on Cairns’s stroke which his physical limitations could not support. He made a spectacular descent to the pitch, back down. Fine strokes But Cairns played some magnificent shots later, among them a demolishing off-drive; and there were other worth-while strokes. When the hilarity and the hitting ended, he had made his 39 from 48 deliveries, and he had helped Wadsworth add 50 in 41 minutes. Their stand yielded only one more run, but Wadsworth kept going, hitting seven fours in his fifth test half-century.

After the forced abstinence of the early batting, the period between lunch and tea was a drunken revel —lll from 19 overs. The chief sufferer was Lever, from whom 32 runs were taken in four overs. But Hendrick cost 34 in five overs; Arnold 40 in seven. Arnold was, however, the best of the seamers. There were good overs from Derek Underwood — as masterly as ever in control, and in dropping the ball sharply from the few he flighted. Tony Greig, too, looked better with spin than with swing. Flowing drives

England had 83 minutes of batting, and scored 57 without much trouble. The occasional ball which kept low was a problem, and Barry Wood must have been awfully close to being out at least once. But he played some cheerful, good-looking shots, and Dennis Amiss, positioning himself beautifully, brought off some lovely flowing drives. New Zealand’s bowling did not look penetrative, although Dayle Hadlee beat the bat a few times in a spirited spell and Cairns was steady. The fielding was good, although Brian Hastings failed to hold a very swift low chance from Wood off Hadlee.