Howarth leads bitter N.Z. fight for good position

Press, 6 March 1978, Page 30

Howarth leads bitter N.Z. fight for good position

From R. T. BRITTENDEN in Auckland Ne\x Zealand fought one of its longest and most bitter cricket battles to reach 315 in the final test with England yesterday. If this was not quite the high ground, it was a position of some security. It was weakened a little when England scored 30 without loss from only seven overs before the close last night.

It was certainly not a' spectacular score on a pitch! which was quite without! malice but again England’s! bowlers maintained a bread; and water diet for the batsmen, hour after hour. The policy of confinement! was frustrating for a team, lighted to have had first use! of such a placid strip but; England earned full marks, for its unwavering appli-i New Zealand's battle had as its spearhead Geoffrey Howarth, who showed re-i markable application in ani innings of 516 minutes. Hel scored 122 and although he: had many uneasy . .oments] and a couple of lives, hel allowed nothing to disturb! his calm and watchful proEden Park has been a happy ground for him: his I two previous test half-cen-| turies were made here. How-1 arth is a lovely player when] he can get on to the front! foot but he was given very! little latitude. On Saturday,, a quarter of an houi before! lunch, he drove John Leverthrough the covers for four. At 5.1? p.m. he had his next] opportunity and off-drove! Lever to the boundary. It! was not until mid-afternoon j yesterday, when the bowling: began to flag just a little. I that New Zealand was able! to accelerate its scoring and! in the last half-hour of his* innings Howarth produced al stream of lovely strokes. But he then must have been, physically and mentally; jjpent and when Bob Willis; began a new spell, Howarth! was athletically caught by Graham Roope at second Howarth faced 357 deliv-l eries and hit 12 fours in his l , marathon performance, one; which certainly vindicated! the late change of heart in! the selection panel. His performance will be of interest] to Surrey too, for Howarth I was very nearly left out of> the county contracted l players for the coming Eng-| lish season. I

There was also a half-cen-|tury from Mark Burgess, an innings ended by a superb diving two-handed catch by Derek Randall at cover 1 .. hen Burgess drove Botham ; square with tremendous 'power about six inches ; above the ground. There another half-century! i from the irrepressible Jock ! Edwards. New Zealand had a i lot of luck throughout its in-l I nings, however. Conditions! for batting were ideal but the ball beat the bat very regularly and Howarth was! \ passed on many occasions,! i usually by lai Botham, who ' managed to move even al i well-worn ball and whose! ‘determination and staminal I brought him another string ■ of wickets. New Zealand made a most depressing start with John Wright and Robert Andersor I both out with only 32 r uns I made but by then Howarth i had taken root and, with i Burgess, 81 runs were added. I Progress was very difficult, ■ with the bowling so tight, Geoff Boycott so sure and I swift in his responses to any ■' hint of a run leakage. And I there were interruptions l through showers here and ■ there so that Howarth had ,1 to make eight starts to his | long innings. But it was a I painful advance to 162 tor ! four by the close of the first day. Burgess nad batted with] ’ restraint, but with conj fidence and skill. He had i just begun to flow into his . hots when Randall held that j astonishing catch But Bevan : Congdon, whose appearance in this match gave him his ‘ fifty-eighth test and so a I share with John Reid of the! New Zealand record, did not I settle down. He needs a score of 77 in the second in-1 nings to beat Reid’s test agI! gregate of 3431. i One of the best-kept secrets of this series is that :l John Parker, after making II his first ’•un at Christchurch, ’• suffered a hairline fracture I of the fourth finger in his ■i left hand, just as Burgess I had done at Wellington.

Parker batted with two fin-; gers taped together but he looked more confident, and] sounder, than any of his col-| leagues as he propped upi one end for 98 minutes.

Edwards was a delight His reputation as a swift scorer is such that his appearance was greeted by a tremendous roar from the crowd on the terraces, the most noisy section by far in an attendance of some 20.000. But it makes life very difficult for Edwards, when the bowling is as tight-fisted as England’s always is in these matches. But for his first 30 runs, Edwards was a model of decorum. He played straight, he was so watchful his concentration almost hurt: but when a forcing stroke was warranted, it was made with

power and precision. But! every time he hit a four, Howarth was with him for a fatherly talk, and Edwards responded like a dutiful son. But when he was 30, Edwards could restrain himself no longer and a skied ondrive off Botham might well have been caught running back by a man faster over the ground than Boycott. But by then the runs were coming and the first 11 overs after lunch yielded 46, a flood to follow a trickle. When he was on 89, Howarth hooked Botham to John Lever at fine leg but a straightforward catch was dropped. The very next ball was hit by Edwards, straight to Lever again, and the hapless fieldsman dropped that. too.

This did not escape the attention of the terrace crowd, which showed a long memory and a sharp tongue. Edwards demanded more attention, however, as he hooked Bothar.i for 4 and then achieved another boundary with an extraordinary top edee to fine leg. But before he was done there was the satisfaction of a verv fine hook for 6, again of Botham. Edwards was out just before tea, deceived by a slower one from Lever, but that period of play had produced 87 for one wicket in 18 overs. The partnership between Howarth and Edwards had given New . Zealand 96 in 137 minutes. Howarth, after battling for so long, went to his century with two magnificent drives

Ifor fours off Lever and there was another interruption as ’hundreds of children sought the privilege of patting he batsman of the hour. New Zealand sank swiftly after tea, although Lance Cairns and Richard Collinge made a few sturdy blows. The whole performance had lasted 589 minutes and although most of it had been played at funeral pace, the scoring rate, in runs „a over, was faster than England had achieved when it exceeded 400 at Christchurch. Boycott worked Botham and Lever particularly hard, and they responded nobly, but it was strange more use was not made of the leftarm spinner, Phil Edmonds, for even before play began on the second day there was an echo of the strife at Christchurch in the worn area, illegally close to the leg stump, left by Botham in his follow-through. It was astonishing that this damage should have been allowed again. It looked as if it would be very useful for Edmonds.

If the terrace crowd had been cheerfully demonstrative most of yesterday, it really let itself go on behalf of Richard Hadlee wh-n England’s innings began. There was a banshee wail, a wall of noise, accompanied by the beating of beer cans and the Englishmen must have thought they had been whisked back to Pakistan. But for all the vocal backing, the New Zealand bowling was played with ominous ease. The only unhappy note for England was in the absence of Geoff Miller, who was confined to bed yesterday with a pinched nerve in his back, which affected his breathing. He had suffered a similar malaise in India last year. But there are high hopes he will be able to bat today.