Edgar — a silent hero for N.Z.

Press, 15 March 1982, Page 21

Edgar — a silent hero for N.Z.

From

JOHN COFFEY

in Auckland

One man seemed out of place among the usual group of news media representatives inside and the eager bevy of autograph hunters outside the bowels of the main grandstand at Eden Park on Saturday evening. He was a dentist, a pleasant fellow with a-young son, and they, too, had enjoyed watching the courage and concentration of the young man who had guided New Zealand to a first-innings lead over Australia in the second- cricket test of the Rothmans series. The whole assembly was waiting for Bruce Edgar, but a player who has spent almost six hours seeing New Zealand through to such a comfortable position needs time to unwind. The youngsters with the autograph books, conscious of their bus timetables and deadlines for tea on the table, went first, no doubt more determined to have Edgar’s signature another day. Deadlines, too, were pressing some of the news media men. It soon became clear that-Edgar would have nothing to. say. he told a Wellington journalist that he was not available and declined to give any reason. Edgar has never been one to boast — quite the opposite, in fact. It would have been interesting, though, for him to have given us mere mortals an insight into his thoughts as he repulsed all of the efforts of Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson, and Bruce Yardley and their assistants to dislodge him. The. ■ dentist was more forthcoming. He had already had a preliminary examination of the tooth that Edgar had broken attempting to sweep a ball from Yardley when on 91 in the last over before tea. Edgar’s mishap occurred when struck from the top edge of his bat. The technical name of the tooth would mean little to cricketers — Zin Harris and a few others excepted — but it is the pointy one three back on the left side. No, the dentist said, it had not previously been capped, and. no, extraction would not be necessary. Of course, Edgar was not required to comment. His century was his, and his team's, business. His innings — at 103 not out — was still

unfinished. His tooth would, according to the dentist, have been paining him. The Australians must have also been stinging, particularly when they found that their manager, Mr Allan Crompton, had left their tickets to the Elton John concert in his briefcase in a locked dressing room. Mr Crompton quickly rectified that. Edgar had strummed a more sedate tune all day, after resuming at 19 and spending the first 100 minutes gathering seven runs as Geoff Howarth played a heavier beat at the other end. Howarth was superb, and Edgar threw off his reserve just before lunch. The unfortunate run-out of Howarth soon after the resumption was to be New Zealand’s only set-back. It happened on a third run, after Howarth had sweetly cover-driven and John Dyson had thrown well,. but the umpire (Mr B. A. Bricknell) was wrong. New Zealand’s advance was not slowed, though. Jeremy Coney, using his long reach and strength, quickly found his rhythm. Meanwhile, a transformation was taking place at the other end. Restraint gave way to controlled aggression. Edgar lustily pulled a ball from Lillee to reach his 50 in 195 minutes and 156 balls. Yardley was swept again and it was time for tea. Edgar was 91. The second new ball did not intimidate Edgar and he glided the first delivery from Thomson for four. Coney twice cut Aiderman to achieve his half-century, and then it rained and was dark for almost an hour. Most of the 13,000 spectators were gone when the covers were lifted just after 5 p.m. Edgar, at 96, scored three runs from Thomson’s over, and faced up to Terry Aiderman. The third delivery must have had him within a whisker of being leg before wicket. The next was turned by Edgar wide of fine leg for four, and his century in 324 minutes and 276 balls. It was his thirteenth boundary, and a milestone in a magnificent innings — ’ technically the best of Edgar's three test centuries, according to those who have seen them all.

Then the light dimmed again, and the principal had left the stage, to seek treatment for his tooth.