N.Z. gains confidence from Kent match

Press, 2 June 1979, Page 56

N.Z. gains confidence from Kent match

NZPA London I The New Zealand cricket jj team takes on Mike Brear-j ley’s Middlesex side in Lon-! don today, with a shade I i more confidence than it ; > tackled its first England I ■ match against Kent yester-1 ’ day. Thanks to England’s worst: May weather for years, the i New Zealanders drove down! into the Kent countryside! yesterdaj 7 with no idea ofl how they would perform. Although Kent, last year’s [ county champions, beat them; by five wickets, Mark Bur- ' gess’s men saw great value

in the day which, to the surprise of everyone, was not affected by the weather. “It gave us a starting point,” Burgess said. “Before today, we had nothing on which to gauge our form. We weren’t world-beaters but at least we know now where we are and what we have to do.” With the World Cup now just over a week away, rhe i New Zealanders will want as! much time at the wicket as they can get. Their batting was the frail aspect of yesterday’s game. The day began badly when

Glenn Turner, of whom so much a week hence will be expected, was out for four and several other batsmen were out when they should have been settling in. John Wright, Jeremy Coney, Bruce Edgar and i Warren Lees were all dismissed in the 20s or 30s 'when, having played them- ! selves in, they should have been building towards bigger ! scores. Burgess himself did not [.even get that far. Frustrated at being tied down for one over by Derek Underwood, I he took an almighty swing

j at the first ball of the next “(and was bowled. rl Lance Cairns, fresh from! i; Durham League cricket, was I 11 not there to mess around. I The first ball he faced was' .■ dispatched with great haste 1 towards the boundary and -. five others went the’ same ( sjway before he was last man| -|out, for 35, trying another! ? I king-hit. r' He was caught right on the boundary 7 and the Kent; t crowd — which has seen j j some pretty fancy cricketers e over the years — rose and! !, applauded Cairns as he led g'the rest of the players from

the field. New Zealand in the field looked a more promising (prospect than New Zealand' (batting. ' The newcomer, Warren ( i Stott, and the left-armer, ] (Gary Troup, were the live ! [ liest of the New Zealand i attack bowlers and the nten i : of Kent found it difficult get- i |ting runs off them. Ewen Chatfield worked up (some speed but stray balls] i were pounced on fiercely, es- ] i pecially by Charles Rowe, an | (all-rounder who opened with: ! Bob Woolmer. 11 Brian McKechnie sent I

■ down his medium-pace de- \ I liveries under the strain of a I shoulder muscle injury. But he still bowled tidily enough v for his six overs, which < [yielded 17 runs. s The New Zealanders in the t field rarely made a mistake jr — and certainly nothing like t [the clanger of Wooler when'r (he dropped a sitter in the icovers from Cairns. f i The best catch of the day I | was Wright's of Rowe, off;' iChatfield’s bowling. Rowe hit] I (the ball hard and low on the] (on-side of the wicket, hut 11 ! Wright pulled it in. < I As a work-out, the match')

was just what the New Zealanders needed. A win that they nearly had would have been the icing on the cake. They made 191 and with four overs to go in Kent's innings, the home side needed 22. Then it became two overs left and 12 needed. On the average run-rate for the day, it looked to be New Zealand's game but the West Indian, John Shepherd, had other ideas. He carved off eight o| them off Chatfield, and Chris Cowdrey got the rest with an over to spare.