West Indies in control after early set-backs

Press, 23 February 1980, Page 60

West Indies in control after early set-backs

By

R. T. BRITTENDEN

The broad bats of Gordon Greenidge and Alvin Kallicharran took the West Indies from tragedy to triumph at Lancaster Park yesterday, on the first day of the second Rothmans test against New Zealand.

They came together with the knees of the West Indies innings knocking at 28 for three. They were still together, when play ended for the day just before the tea adjournment, with their side in control at 168 for three.

They have made their 140 runs in 165 minutes, which is brisk if not breakneck speed. As the partnership developed it began to assume the rich colours ' associated with West Indies batting and there was some magnificent stroke-making from both batsmen.

This was a splendid recovery, but it has to be seen against New Zealand’s performance in the field, which was disappointing. At first, everything went well for the home team, with John Parker making a particularly important contribution. First, his 50c coin was too much for Clive Lloyd, who called wrongly, and that gave New Zealand a very definite advantage in bowling first on a pitch which offered some bounce and movement. Then Parker caught Desmond Haynes, second ball of the match at first slip, a very sharp chance low to the fieldsman’s right hand which was picked up' beautifully. Lawrence Rowe and Greenidge fought hard for more than an hour to add 27 before Rowe was leg before wicket for the third time in his three test innings on tour. When Collis King was bowled second ball, it was 28 for three and the West Indies were in a really tight corner. They were allowed to escape, with rather surprising ease, because the New Zealand bowlers did not make the most of what the pitch could have given them. In the early stages, there was movement and a quite useful bounce. Only occasionally was Richard Hadlee able to recapture the verve and vitality of Carisbrook. His opening spell was a good one, but not of

fearsome quality. He came back for two more short spells reasonably well, but again without that urgency which made him so commanding'a figure in. the first test. If his bowling was not quite at his best, neither was his health. He was suffering from a heavy head cold, and he is now having trouble with his right ankle, the injured left one having stood up to the day’s play well. New Zealand’s bowling problems were considerable. The strong north-easterly demanded that Hadlee should bowl from the north end, where it would be behind his left shoulder, but it must have made it harder for him to run the ball away. Conversely, Lance Cairns had to bowl his in-swingers into the breeze and Gary Troup — New Zealand’s best bowler yesterday — had a long battle against the wind. Late in the afternoon Stephen Boock, making a sudden, tum, injured a leg, a recurrence of a previous injury. He has water on the knee and a further part in this game for him is in doubt. The New Zealanders had cause to be thankful that the scheme of things includes rain as well as sunshine, night as well as day. Before the ram halted play, there had been a quite steady drizzle with a softening effect on an ageing ball. At the halt the West Indies batsmen were in thorough command. The interruption to play may be only a respite, but. it was a welcome one for the New Zealand side. The situation, if not desperate, is certainly difficult There are still 27 overs to I be bowled with that uninviting ball before a new one can be taken, the .pitch after lunch had much less pace than in the morning, and it will be a difficult job to contain the West Indies batsmen when the game restarts. Yesterday’s efforts at con-

taiament were not spectacularly successful.

Between lunch and tea Greenidge and Kallicharran scored 97 from 30J overs, because they were able to hit the bad balls firmly andj cleanly through the defensive fields. And there were too many loose deliveries. Troup did very well. In his first spell of six overs he conceded only a single, which came off Greenidge’s gloves. He was not quite so tight-fisted when he bowled at the other end, but he was still accurate. He bowled enough good ones to beat the bat quite often, and he certainly deserved some sort of practical reward for his efforts.

While Kallicharran scored fairly freely from Jeremy Coney, Greenidge was Cairns’s main problem: he took 33 from the 51 balls Cairns bowled to him. It was believed that Hadlee’s rapier might do most damage, but it was Cairns’s gentler probing which put New Zealand on the edge of a dramatic advance. He took two wickets in his second over, but he was not able to underline the moral ascendancy he had won. There were half-volleys and short ones, not often, but often enough to free the batsmen of concern. Whatever the limitations of the New Zealand attack, the big West Indies partnership was rich in strokes. Both batsmen were very easy on the eye. Both had failed at Dunedin, twice. This time, their quality was apparent. Greenidge is almost schizophrenic. Cutting, he draws his bat across the ball with the delicacy of a bow over the strings of a violin. Yet he hooks with a primitive savagery. Between these extremes are fine forcing shots off the back foot, majestic drives on either side of the

wicket. And his timing, when whipping the ball off his pads, was superb. Kallicharran kept pace with him in the score-book, and was on terms with his elegant driving and cutting. It was remarkable how swiftly New Zealand went into retreat. After lunch the bowling looked rather ordinary. Not that the batsmen were quite infallible. Greenidge, at 51, edged Hadlee but the ball did not carry to Parker. At 72, he hooked Troup without authority and the ball fell just clear of the fleet-footed Peter Webb. Then at 74, he would have been run out had Webb’s return not soared high over the stumps. There were other moments of misgiving for the batsmen, but the West Indies, with good and thoughtful cricket, have worked their way into a position of strength. New Zealand's outlook is only a little less unpromising than the weather. But for the crowd of 5000 which contributed, with season tickets added in $17,000 to the tour receipts, it was worth watching. And if Boock is incapacitated, he has made one very-'valuable gesture. Early in the day, an appeal for leg before against Greenidge was rejected. From a safe distance of several metres, Boock made a comic attempt to kick down the stumps. It somehow put the sorry events of Carisbrook in perspective. WEST INDIES First innings D. L. Haynes e Parker b Hadlee .. » C. G. Greenidge not out .. 86 L. G. Rov.-e lbw b Cairns .. 11 C. L. King b Cairns 0 A. I. Kallicharran not out .. 60 Extras (IbS, nb4) 9 Total for 3 wickets .. 166 BOWLING

O M R w R. J. Hadlee .. 15 4 42 1 G. B. Troup . 17 7 32 0 B. L. Cairns . 16.3 2 53 2 J. V. Coney 10 1 30 0