England-Victoria match drawn

Press, 8 December 1982, Page 64

England-Victoria match drawn

England would be almost certain to have mixed feelings about the four-day match against Victoria—the Sir Robert Menzies Memorial match-which ended in a draw at the Melbourne Cricket Ground yesterday. At the end of the final day's play. Victoria in its second innings was 122 for four, with the not out batsmen Michael Taylor on 56 and the captain. Graham Yallop. on 24. England completed its second innings yesterday morning when the acting captain. David Gower, declared at 325 for seven, leaving the home side 305 for victory. Victoria had made. 295 in reply to England's first innings score of 275. With the third test onlytwo days away in Adelaide. England must question its own prospects of drawing the Ashes series at one all after Australia's seven-w’cket

win in Brisbane last week. The tourists can be pleased with the bowling performance of the spinner. Geoff Miller, and the superb second innings century by the middle-order batsman. Allan Lamb. Another bonus was the man-of-the-match award, which went to Gower, who made 88 in both innings. With the new M.C.G. wicket under watchful eyes of cricket authorities. Miller proved the pitch could take plenty of spin in the last days. He took three wickets in the first innings and repeated the performance in the second, conceding a match total of only 71 off 43 overs. His three wickets at a cost of only six runs in the afternoon session yesterday put England into a winning position. But in the final analysis, it was another match that England had failed to wrap up. after a poor first innings performance.