N.Z. cricketers cruise to easy win over India

Press, 12 January 1981, Page 3

N.Z. cricketers cruise to easy win over India

NZPA Melbourne If ever a skipper made the right decision after winning a toss it was the New Zealand captain, Geoff Howarth, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday. Howarth had no hesitation in presenting India with first use of the wicket in the oneday Benson and Hedges international and that put the Kiwis instantly on the road to success. In just half an hour they had removed the opener,) T. E. Srinivasan, for four, and seven minutes later he had been joined in turn by Dilip Vengsarkar for a duck and the Indian captain, Sunil Gavaskar, who once again failed, scoring only eight. At this stage India were struggling as they have been so often this tour but worse was still to come. They never really recovered from that devastating disaster , at the 13 run mark and there was not one worth-while stand later to boost their hopes. Saturday’s -win was the one New Zealand needed so badly, to stay in the fight for a place in the rich fivematch finals series in Sydney and Melbourne. A couple of left handers in Bruce Edgar and John Wright saw to it that that chance was not going to slip away; Edgar finished with 65 while Wright scored 39.

There was- no doubt that India had the worst of Saturday’s conditions. It batted after the start had been delayed for 50 minutes, reducing the length of the game,'

then had the innings interrupted for a further 77 minutes by rain. This must have had some unsettling effect on the Indians but could have hardly been sufficient excuse for the over-all poor showing. Gundappa Viswanath and Kapil Dev got amongst the runs for a time — they accounted for almost half the total of nine for 112 — but it was obvious India had failed to get out of the rut. Gundappa Viswanath stayed for a patient 33 scored in 64 minutes while Kapil Dev’s 21 was scored in 33 minutes. Both were eventually foolish run-out victims — a fate which also came the way of Syed Kirmani.

The New Zealand fast and medium attack of Ewan Chatfield. Jeremy Coney, Lance Cairns and Martin Snedden picked up the remaining six wickets but the real terror of the Kiwi attack, the fast bowler Richard Hadlee, failed to take a wicket. However, he was not ineffective as his. eight overs cost only 15 runs and included three maidens. When the time came for the New Zealand chase after the 113 runs required for a win it- was a nice sunny afternoon and there was no doubt both Edgar and Wright enjoyed themselves as they consistently pushed the score towards their objective.

They started off slowly but stepped up the pace later to reach 50 in 55 minutes off

12 overs as against India’s 19.3 overs for the same total and the 100 came up in 109 minutes during the twentysixth over.’

Edgar’s half century was posted in 95 minutes and came off 68 deliveries.

The Indians gave away some valuable runs by way of costly misfielding and overthrows which was in sharp contrast to the earlier field efforts of New Zealand. The Kiwis proved this with the three run-outs and a spectacular diving righthanded catch taken by Geoff Howarth in dismissing Karsan Ghavri off Martin Snedden’s bowling. Some keen observers claimed it was the best firstclass catch seen this season.

Both Wright and Edgar combined consistent batting with a touch of daring. There was no doubt that it was Edgar’s day and it was a fitting finale that he should hit the single to bring up the win, and it was even more fitting that a couple of minutes later he was announced as Man of the Match; INDIA S. Gavaskar lbw b Chatfield 8 T. E. Srinivasan b Coney 4 D. Vengsarkar c Parker b Coney .. . 0 G. Viswanath run out .. 33 S. Patil c Coney b Snedden 3 Y. Shanna c Coney b Cairns 5 Kapil Dev run out 21 S. Kirmani run out .. 7 K. Ghavri c Howarth b Snedden .. s R. Binny not out .. .. 5 D. Doshi not out .. .. 5 Extras (IblO) .. .. jq Total if or 9 wickets) 112 Fall: 13, 13, 13. 46. 60 66, 82 98. 100. Bowling.—R. Hadlee, 8. 3. 15, 0; E. Chatfield. 8 2, 14. 1- .1 Coney, 6,3, 18, 2; L. Cairns, 7,0, 39, 1; M. Snedden, 5,0, 16, 2. NEW ZEALAND J. Wright not out .. .. 39 B. Edgar not out .. .. 65 Extras (lbB, nbl) .. .. 9 Total 113 Bowling.—Kapil Dev. 8,0, 29, 0; K. Ghavri, 7,2, 15. 0; R. Binny, 4,0, 23, 0; S. Patil. 2, 0, 10, 0; D. Doshi, 8,0, 27, 0.