Tests at Lancaster Park

Press, 23 February 1978, Page 20

Tests at Lancaster Park

Nine tests between England and New Zealand have been played at Lancaster Park since 1929-30. Of these, England has won four and five have been drawn. Four of New Zealand's best cricketers have each scored a century against England on the ground while two bowlers, Jack Cowie and Alex Moir, have taken six wickets in an innings once each. The great Walter Hammond scored the only double century between the two countries at Lancaster Park in 1932-33; he also played his final test innings there 14 years later. 1929-30: England won by eight wickets. This was a match of modest scoring, no batsman from either side reaching 50. New Zealand wa' dismissed for 112 in its first innings, Roger Blunt making 45, while Maurice Allom took five for 38 off 19 overs, including four wickets in five balls. England replied with 181, Duleepsinhji reaching 49, Legge 36 and the immortal Frank Woolley, in his only visit here, 31. New Zealand’s second innings total of 131, Tom Lowry scored 40. Stewart Dempster 25. This left England with 63 to win, and Duleepsinhji made 33 not out on the way to victory. 1932-33: Drawn England, fresh from a somewhat controversial 4-1 win over Australia, amassed 560 for eight wickets, in spite of losing Herbert Sutcliffe on the first ball of the innings and his opening partner, Eddie Paynter, also without scoring. Hammond scored 227 and the Kent wicketkeeper, Les Ames, made 103 in a 242-run partnership for the fifth wicket. Freddie Brown made 74 and Bill Voce 66.

New Zealand replied with 223, Gordon Weir making 66 and Jack Kerr 59 on his home ground. Following on, New Zealand was 35 for none when a dust storm combined with rain and bad light to force an early end to the game.

1946-47: Drawn.

New Zealand made 354 for nine declared, Walter Hadlee, making 116 in two and a half hours. Hadlee shared an opening partnership of 133 with Bert Sutcliffe, who reached 58. Alec Bedser bowled 39 overs for a return of four for 95.

England replied with 265 for seven declared, Hammond scoring 79 in the last test innings of a distinguished career. Jack Ikin scored 45 and Bill

Edrich 42. Jack Cowie took six for 83 to go with his 45 with the bat. However, rain ruined any chance of a win to either side. 1950-51: Drawn. High scoring was the most impressive feature of the visit of Freddie Brown’s team; New Zealand declared at 417 for eight and England was finally dismissed for 550.

Bert Sutcliffe scored 116, including 12 fours, Merv Wallace 66, and John Reid and Hadlee 50' each. England used every player except the wicketkeeper, Godfrey Evans, at the bowling crease during the match, Reg Simpson taking two for four in the second innings. Trevor Bailey made an unbeaten 134 in seven hours, Simpson 81, Dennis Compton 79 and Brown 62 in England’s innings which lasted 121 hours. Alex

Moir took six for 155 off 56.3 overs in a fine test debut. New Zealand was 46 for three at the end of the match. 1958-59. England won by an innings and 99 runs. Ted Dexter and the leftarm spinner, Tony Lock, spearheaded England’s comfortable win, Dexter hitting 24 fours and one five in his 141. His captain, the elegant. Peter May, reached 71, while four New Zealand bowlers, Bob Blair, Ken Hough, John Reid and Moir, shared the wickets. New Zealand could muster only 142 and 133. Reid made 40 in the first innings, John Guy 56 in the second and Bruce Bolton had a double of 33 and 26. Lock took five for 31 and six for 53, bowling 54.2 overs in the match, which ended with over a day to spare. 1962-63: England won by seven wickets. New Zealand did well to gain a 13-run lead on the first innings, 266 to 253, largely through the efforts of Reid with 74, Barry Sinclair 44 and Graham Dowling 40. The belligerent, aggressive Fred Trueman took seven for 75 off 30.2 overs, while Peter Parfitt took three catches in the innings, five in the match. Four players, Dexter, Colin Cowdrey, already on his third visit to the country, Ken Barrington and David Sheppard, all

reached the forties in the England first innings.

In New Zealand’s second innings only three players reached double figures yet the team managed to reach 159. Dowling made 22 and Paul Barton reached 12 but Reid dominated the day. He batted for 252 minutes and hit 13 fours in his score of 100. The innings lasted in total 283 minutes. His innings gave crystal clear evidence of his immense value to New Zealand teams over a period of 16 years. England took three and a third hours to reach the 173 runs required for the win. 1965-66: Drawn This series could be called the year of the comebacks. Eric Petrie returned as wicket-keeper after an absence of five seasons; Murray Chapple played at Lancaster Park in the first test, his first since 1963-64 in South Africa. Tom Puna made his test debut at the age of 36 as did the deputy chairman of the New Zealand Football Association, Graham Bilby. England made 342, the off spinner, David Allen, making 88, his captain, Mike Smith and Parfitt 54 apiece and David Brown 44. New Zealand, largely through the efforts of Bevan Congdon, with 104, his first test century, and a 91-run stand for the eighth wicket between Petrie, 55, and Dick Motz, 58, led by five runs on the first innings. England declared at 201 for five wickets, Smith, with 87 and Parfitt an unbeaten 46, added 125 in 138 minutes for the fifth wicket.

New Zealand, needing 196 in 140, collapsed to be 32 for eight but Victor Pollard, who battled 93 minutes for six not out, Motz and Bob Cunis saved the day. Jim Higgs, the medium pace bowler from Lancashire, took four for five while Allen bowled 19 overs in taking one for eight. 1970-71: England won by eight wickets New Zealand’s captain, Graham Dowling, probably still regrets his decision on the morning on February 25, to bat first on a somewhat suspedt pitch. By lunch, New Zealand was 33 for four, Dowling on 13. The innings was over before tea, all out 65. Derek Underwood took six for 12. In the three innings he bowled in during the series, he took 17 wickets for 205. England was dismissed for 231, Basil D’Oliveira making 100 and John Hampshire 40; Hedley Howarth took four for 46. New Zealand’s second innings was rather more successful: five batsmen passed 20, Glenn Turner making 76 in a little over five hours, and Congdon 55. Underwood took six for 85. Hampshire, unbeaten

with 51. steered England to the 89 it needed for the win. 1975: Drawn The fixture against Mike Denness’s team was virtually a non-event. Rain reduced it to a four-day match and of the 24 hours of play planned for the match at that stage, only 15 were not ruined by rain. New Zealand made 342, with Turner scoring 98 in six and a quarter hours, the late Ken Wadsworth 58 and John Parker 31. England’s reply was 272 for two, Dennis Amiss making a stylish and sound 164 not out and Denness an unbeaten 59.