N.Z.’s sensational start stops Pakistan

Press, 14 June 1983, Page 38

N.Z.’s sensational start stops Pakistan

NZPA staff correspondent Birmingham New Zealand’s cricketers put their World Cup campaign back on an even keel when they defeated a strong Pakistani team at Edgbaston yesterday.

New Zealand won comfortably by 52 runs after a sensational opening two overs punctured the Pakistan quest for 239 runs from the outset. Richard Hadlee was the New Zealand hero having Mohsin Khan, a double cen-tury-maker at Lord’s last year, out lbw prodding defensively at only his third ball.

New Zealand’s Mike Thackweil (centre), stands on the winner’s platform after driving his Ralt-Honda to victory in the Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid yesterday. He is accompanied by West Germany’s Stefan Belief (right) who was second in a Maurer-BMW and

Zaheer Abbas, the only overseas player apart from Donald Bradman and Glen Turner to have scored 100 centuries, followed three balls later. His off-stump was knocked back as he leant forward.

Two balls later, the wicket-keeper, Warren Lees, took a fine catch to dismiss Mudassar Nazar who was enticed by a Lance Cairns out-swinger. Pakistan was nought for three after just eight balls and its chase after what had seemed only a moderate target suddenly seemed extremely daunting. As the New Zealand cap-

Thackwell’s team-mate, Jonathan Palmer, of Great Britain, who finished third. The race, run in hot weather over 65 laps of the 3.312 km Jarama circuit, was the seventh round of the European Formula Two championship. Palmer, who won the pole position in Sunday’s trials,

tain, Geoff Howarth, said: “It was a dream start,” for the New Zealanders. “I did not think we bad quite enough runs against their strong batting line-up but thought that if we could get a good start, then we could contain them and they might panic,” said Howarth later.

The early success of Hadlee and Cairns on a fairly slow wicket offering them little in the way of assistance caused a Pakistani stampede.

The fourth wicket fell with the score at 22 when Pakistan’s captain, Imran Khan, recklessly hooked

led the race for the first 53 laps before being overtaken by Thackweil and later by Bellof. Italy’s Beppe Gabbiani, driving a March 832, was not among the first six finishers, but still leads the championship with 38 points, followed by Palmer with 33 and Thackweil with 32.

Hadlee to Chatfield on the boundary. Chatfield missed an opportunity to repeat the performance on the next ball when he dropped Ijaz Fakih. One of the few New Zealand fielding blemishes allowed Ijaz to survive to partner the dangerous Javed Miandad for 32 runs.

Ijaz scored 12 runs before falling to a .juggled Glenn Turner catch at mid-on with the total on 54. Six runs later Chatfield struck a decisive blow when he bowled Miandad lbw for 36. The Pakistani was less than happy about the deci-

sion and, indeed, he was some way down the wicket.

From this point, Pakistan’s tail-enders battled bravely but the original asking rate of just under four runs an over had stretched to eight and their task was hopeless.

The best resistance came from their enigmatic legspinner and man-of-the-match, Abdul Qadir, who was undefeated on 41 when the last wicket fell in the fifty-sixth over with the Pakistani total at 186.

It was a sad day for the

large Pakistani immigrant population, who made up the vast proportion of the crowd, and they vented their frustration by hurling fruit and coins at the Kiwis as they stood on the players’ balcony after play had ended.

But it could not take anything away from the Kiwis who took four points for their win and are now in second-equal place in the group with Pakistan, which had previously defeated Sri Lanka.

England leads the group with eight points after wins

over New Zealand and Sri Lanka.

At Leeds meanwhile, a devastating spell of fast bowling by Winston Davis, who returned record World Cup figures of seven for 51, swept the West Indies to a crushing 101-run win over Australia in their group B match.

Davis, aged 24, playing in his first World Cup match, took six for 14 in his last 33 balls after Australia had looked comfortably placed at 114 for two, chasing the West Indian total of 252 for nine.