Chappell dismissal key to N.Z. victory

Press, 15 February 1982, Page 25

Chappell dismissal key to N.Z. victory

From

R. T. BRITTENDEN,

in Auckland

If ever seconds seemed minutes, it was when the New Zealand cricket captain, Geoffrey Howarth, stood beneath a catch from his Australian counterpart, Greg Chappell, at Eden Park on Saturday evening.

| Howarth has had his full i share of memorable moments during a distinguished international career: when he held the catch he added another one. Perhaps it was a trick of the light, but he seemed to age as he I waited, and waited: it was : the vita), last turn in a fascinating struggle and it led to a 46-tun victory for - New Zealand before a fervently enthusiastic crowd of 43.000. New Zealand took this first Rothmans Cup match with two spectacular recoveries. one when batting, and one in the field. Even in the cat-and-mouse strategy of one-day cricket, New Zealand seemed to have scored much too slowly in the first half of its innings to have a reasonable score in sight. But 85 runs were made in the last 10 overs. 19 in the last one. Then Chappell, a worthy winner of the man of the match award, threatened to win the .game for Australia, almost 'single-handed. He scored a superb century, but he was one of six who were out in the last six overs, In numbers and noise, the crowd might have been at Bombay or Karachi, and its enthusiasm perhaps did more for the New Zealand cause generally than inspire the home players. At the fall of each of the last few wickets, swarms of spectators-came on. to the ground, further delaying a' game which h'ad - suffered.- from many interruptions,'. ,'mainiy- those caused by people deciding to sit ,in . front of . the sightscreens, ,pr walk across ■them. ;-*■ " < - The matchJdrd not endi .until-after.-Xjpin./iind had if

been a test match, play would almost certainly have been halted by bad light, It was surprising that Chappell decided to send New Zealand in when he won the toss, for there had been much talk about the possibility of the light failing late in the day.

It was a momentous occasion for New Zealand cricket,. and for the crowd. There. has never been anything like it: a full house, and at a, .cricket match. It was even- necessary to reopen a terraced area, beneath the radio commentary box. The attendance left far behind the previous record of 30,000.

It was not all on the credit side. There were far too many intrusions by spectators, and the police had a busy time on the number six stand. Chappell was given the expected attention. When he came in. someone sent an ebonite lawn bowl rolling across, the turf, and his reception, generally was mixed. At the end of his magnificent innings, however, he had all the acclamation he deserved.

There was one upset, literally. As he walked off. and the hordes of spectators swarmed on to the ground to applaud their New Zealand heroes, someone collided Iwith him. he lost balance. ; was bumped again, and was j knocked on to the ground. To !his credit he made it quite I clear, as an official and a ; policeman tried to help him ’ off the that he. made i nothing of the incident. [ If Chappell batted beauti- : fully, his bowling opened the I door for the New Zealand recovery. New Zealand was ‘ held tightly in check by some fine bowling from Jeff ‘Thomson. Terry Aiderman, ‘ and Len Pascoe. In 17 overs. I only 39 had been made, but i Chappell came on then, and ; 30 were taken from his first

: four overs. i Most of them were made ■ by Bruce Edgar, who started ) shakily, but rediscovered his I poise and power in a fine innings of 79. He was in 68 : minutes before he hit a boundary. Then it was as if an aesthetic had discovered ; that the rich life has its attractions. Lofted drives, daring pulls, all manner of strokes he would never play in a test, dame in abundance, and with his 79 he brought his remarkable one-day record this season to 607 runs ! for'four dismissals.

John Reid, quite new to ' the hurly-burly of one-day play. - looked absolutely as- ; sured:: Howarth, who made i his-34‘ from only .40 deliver--1 tes.- picked up singles expertly to keep Edgar on the boil; and Jeremy Coney, so badly out of form, began to time' the ball beautifully and hit it with tremendous !■ power. Dennis Lillee, not looking : his formidable self, was hit far and wide but it was ■ Terry Aiderman. who had been the lynch-pin of the Australian attack, who con-

ceded the 19 runs in the fiftieth over.

. Coney hooked him savagely for six. picked up a ■single, and left Lance Cairns to finish the innings. Few ■could be better suited to such a task. Cairns seems to need no more than a niidge to send the bail astronomical heights and vast distances. Aiderman — the terror of English batsmen last year — was. hit-..to J long-on, almost a six, then he was sent far into the crowd in the same. area, one of the biggest blows in recent memory.

Cairns finished off the over with a couple and in trying for the third Coney was run out.

So New Zealand, so long in the doldrums, reached a respectable 240..

The Australian innings observed protocol — a slow start, and Graeme Wood run out. Bruce Laird played a shot ,- or two, John Dyson looked a very sound, occasionally punishing batsman, perhaps happier in the calmer atmosphere Of a fiveday match.

To say that Chappell started nervously is rather like suggesting that the Archbishop of Canterbury had trouble with the marriage service. But he was not the Chappell of old — moving about at his mark just before delivery, hitting the ball in the air very close to fieldsmen. He was in fact dropped at 22. a catch John Wright would take nine times in 10. although it was not an easy one. About that time the fielding threatened to lose the match: John Reid dropped a simple one off Laird.

Then Chappell found his most commanding form, and he all but won the match for Australia. Gary Troup and Coney, in eight overs, cost 50 runs - and the Australians were always a little ahead of the New Zealand scoring rate. Chappell and Dyson scored 88 together in an hour with Chappell driving fluently, and making a succession of- strong forcing shots from his back foot. Even a. young woman who decided to test recent legislation by removing her suntop was a minor distraction only.

Chappell was quite magnificent. and he seemed to have taken complete and final control. When Dyson went. Kim Hughes made a few familiar charges as 35 rushed runs were scored, and when the talented Allan Border came in New Zealand was on the verge of defeat. Six wickets still stood and the run-rate had been advanced to about 4.5. not far short of the 4.8 required.

Border, however, was tied down. New Zealand's bowling responding nobly in the crisis. Troup, in particular, became much more accurate and Border, suddenly was

gone, through a suicidal flailing attempt to hit x Martin Crowe out of the ground. When Troup bowled Rod Marsh, the din was tremendous. Then Thomson .went, and Chappell was caught, trying to hook Troup. He had made his 108 runs from only 92 deliveries, and it is doubtful whether anything better will come out of the series. So New Zealand went on in the gloom — a dark victory, but one which sparked off celebration from Kaitaia to Wallacetown. It was not much of a birthday for Len Pascoe, left not out. but it was a remarkable debut for Crowe. A brilliant stop and return led to the running out of Wood. Crowe then caught the next three batsmen out, and went on to take a couple of wickets himself.

Cairns, used as an opening bowler, did a splendid job with the new ball, and Richard Hadlee, riding a huge wave of vocal support, was the best bowler of the day. He was always a problem — either when he had the ball in his hand, or through the knowledge that he would be back soon. His very presence demanded that the Australians take risks with the others.

Near the end of the day. Mark Snedden caught Thomson. He must have seen a simple catch late, for he suddenly had to dart forward and fling himself at the ball, reproducing the last moments of his famous disallowed catch at Melbourne. This time, however, the Australians were the ones who felt that they had been done an injustice. Quite early in his innings, Edgar tried to hit a ball from Aiderman which looked — from a sideon view — to be passing outside his leg stump. He missed,, and then . Marsh pointed out to the umpires that a bail was off. The umpires — J. B. -Hastie and

B. Bricknell — conferred, and decided that Edgar had not been bowled. The probability is that he was. There was only a light breeze, hardly enough, one would have thought, to dislodge a bail. Aiderman must have cut the ball back quite considerably, but there is no certainty about what happened. There will not be an international incident over this, however. Both Howarth and Chappell said later that they had not seen what had happened, and were therefore not prepared to comment. No-one around the ground could improve on that stance. NEW ZEALAND J. Wright run out 18 B. Edgar b Pascoe 79 J. Reid c Aiderman b Chappell 20 G. Howarth c Marsh b Lillee 34 J. Coney run out 45 R. Hadlee b Aiderman. ... 11 L. Cairns not out 18 Extras (131 b. Iw. Inb) . 15 Total (for 6 wkts)24o Fall. 28. 89. 148. 210. 240. Bowling: J. Thomson 10. 2. 36. 0: T. Aiderman 10. 3. 41. .1; L. Pascoe 10. 0. 35, 1; G. Chappell 10. 0. 57. 1; D. Lillee 10. 0. 56.1. Batting time: 204 minutes. AUSTRALIA G. Wood run out 1 B. Laird c Crowe b Cairns. 11 J. Dvson c Crowe b Troup. 32 G. Chappell c Howarth b Troup 108 K. Hughes c Crowe b Coney. 16 A. Border b Cr0we...... 6 R. Marsh b Troup 1 J. Thomson c Snedden b Troup 0 D. Lillee c Wright b Crowe 1 I. Pascoe not out 2 T. Aiderman b Snedden ... 1 Extras (b 4. Ib9. nb2) . . 15 Total 194 Fall: 1. 21. 109. 144. 182. 187. 189, 190. 192. Bowling: I. Cairns 10. 1. 31. 1: R. Hadlee 8. 3. 15. 0; M. Snedden 7.5. 1. 35,1; J. Coney 7. 0. 45. 1: G. Troup 10. 1.44,4; M. Crowe 2. 0. 9-2. , ' ' Batting time: 182 minutes. New Zealand won by 46 runs. Man of the match: G.'Chappell.