John Wright leading county scorer

Press, 21 July 1982, Page 42

John Wright leading county scorer

NZPA London ' The New Zealand test opener, John Wright, believes that greater concentration' in his batting has propelled him to his present status as the leading run-getter in English county cricket. Wright, who is having by far his best season for Derbyshire, had scored 1222 runs from 22 ■ innings before the start of the present match against Essex to hold a narrow lead oyer Middlesex’s England batsman, Mike Gatting, in the run stakes. His batting average of 71.88 puts him in third place

on that list behind Gatting (76.18) and a fellow New Zealander, Glenn Turner, who has a lofty average of 89.72. Injuries and Worcestershire’s decision at times to play the West Indian fast bowler Hartley Alleyne, in preference to Turner — they can only play one of them under overseas player rules — has meant, however, that the former NewZeaiandcaptainhasbatted in only 14 innings for 987 runs. Wright said yesterday that he thought his present superb form was the pay-off for a

lot of hard work be bad put into disciplining his attitude to batting. “I have now regularised my thinking when I’m batting and have habits I apply when I go to the wicket “I try to keep my head still,- play straight and to concentrate solely on the ball I am facing. I forget about who is bowling or the state of the wicket or the shot I have just played and just live for the present,” he said. Wright, aged 28, said his increasing experience had undoubtedly assisted in boosting his powers ■ of concentration while a couple of

hot outs — unusual for an opening batsman — had helped his. run average. “The important thing has been the concentration. When I have settled in, I have been able to go on and get some big scores,” he said. The biggest score was earlier this month when he scored a career-best 190 against Yorkshire on his birthday, but Wright rates a century against Nottinghamshire as the more satisfying: "That was on a fast wicket against a team which has a very good attack,” he said. Derbyshire is at present third in both the county

championship (it finished twelfth last season) and in the limited-over John Player league but Wright said it had been a disappointing season in some ways. “We’ve lost some crucial games and were knocked out early in the Benson and Hedges Cup and the Natwest Trophy (which it won last year).” Wright said the elimination from those two limitedover competitions was especially frustrating because Derbyshire was probably a better one-day unit than a three-day side. The main weakness this

year had been in the attack where the transfer of the former England fast bowler, Mike Hendrick, to Notr tinghamshire had left a big gap, he said. Wright said that after a six-week break at the end of the English season in midSeptember — there are nine county championship matches to go — be would return to New Zealand, for the summer and would again play for Northern Districts. Last summer, he played cricket in Western Australia before returning to New Zealand.