Burgess will lead N.Z. in historic second test

Press, 24 February 1978, Page 20

Burgess will lead N.Z. in historic second test

By

R. T. BRITTENDEN

Mark Burgess will lead New Zealand in the second test at Lancaster Park today. His unexpected inclusion is at once a considerable risk and an inspiration to a New Zealand team about to take part in what is perhaps the most significant game in the country’s cricket history.

England being led in a test series for the first time is a heady situation. Burgess on Wednesday seemed resigned to not being able to play in the match because of the injury he sustained to his lef* hand at Wellington. At the nets yesterday, he batted gingerly for some time but later hit the ball hard. The good news from him was that he can now take pressure from his damaged little finger fa day or two earlier he could not grip properly). It is ‘an obvious risk playing him on a grassy pitch which may be very lively, at least for a time, and he will be lost to the slips cordon when New Zealand is in the Indeed, it is hard to know where he will be able to position himself satisfactorily unless it is at fine leg, from where he would need a loud halier to keen in touch with bowling affairs. Burgess’s inclusion leaves only one change in the team which won at Wellington. Davie Hadlee is not fully fit and has b»<»n replaced bv Ewen Chatfield, who has often bowled extremely well at Lancaster Park. Dayle Hadlee remains in the squad but the twelfth man will be Bruce Edgar, of Wellington. England has named 13 players leaving out Geoff Cone. Paul Downton, and Mike Gatting. That means there are five seamers in the group. It seems likely that John Lever will come in for Mike Hendrick, with a

choice still to be made between lengthening the batting by including Clive Radley or having Phi] Edmonds to support Geoff Miller in the spin section.. There is more than a hint in the look of the pitch of the sort of game New Zealand played against Australia at Lancaster Park in [ 1974. On that occasion, the i ball seamed steadily for five days, with spinners almost out of the game, but there was a good, even bounce and session by session it was a dramatic encounter.

Perhaps in this match, if the grass is left as it was yesterday, there may be more crescendos and diminuendos than there were in that other famous game but everything points to this being equally as absorbing, with the probability of the fierce fight of the Basin Reserve bemg repeated. There the pace bowlers on both sides dug the ball in just short of a length for [hour after hour, restricting [scoring effectively. It was one of the few occasions that a Nev? Zealand side was able to see through such a bitter battle. On the basis of the Wellington match, it is clear that England has a sharoer pace attack than New Zealand but if Geoff Boycott does not prosper, England’s batting looks rather more ! suspect than New Zealand’s. 'The toss could very well be| of particular importance but.i whichever way it goes, it is I likely to be a close and fie'- 1

cely contested match. Boycott is clearly determined that England will level the series.

“If we cannot do better than in the fourth innings at Wellington, there would be no point in carrying on,” he said “The only way for us is to get out there and do out stuff in the middle. Individually and collectively, we have got to get out there and perform. We have to play as well as we are capable of playing. If we don’t, we won’t win.” Boycott said that he did not quite know how they stood with the interpretation of th® rules and recommendations governing the bowling of short pitched balls to non-recognised batsmen and bowlers running illegally close to the line of the stumps After the Wellington test, these matters had been drawn to the attention of the New Zealand Cricket Board of Control and he hoped that the information had been passed on to the umpires All he wanted was consistencv in interpretation. The team manager, Ken Barrington, said that he hoped the game would be played in a proper sporting spirit. “We don't want to see nine 10, and jack getting their heads knocked off — or anyone else.” Thf New Zealand "Men of [the Match” awards will be made by Mr lan Cromb. Fine weather is forecast for the week-end’s play.