THE PRESS WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3, 1983. A cricket occasion

Press, 3 August 1983, Page 20

THE PRESS WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 3, 1983. A cricket occasion

Headingley, at Leeds, is not among the loveliest of cricket grounds, but it won the affection of some blear-eyed New Zealand television viewers and radio listeners yesterday. After a wait of 52 years, New Zealand had at last won a test match in England. The struggle was, in cricket fashion, bitter to the end; but it was a rich reward for the New Zealand team and the players who had gone before them, often threatening to break the national duck in the home of cricket.

More than this, the win was a measurement of New Zealand’s advance in international cricket. New Zealand took 25 years and 45 tests to enjoy a victory. Even after 80 tests, the total of wins stood modestly at three. New Zealand has now played 152 tests and scored 16 victories.

Our cricketers have not matched the All Black rate of success in rugby. They have still done ample to keep alive all the new-found enthusiasm for the game. History will point to one-day cricket as the source of financial plenty for players and promoters; yet there is still a deep well of affection for what purists regard as proper cricket.

The 1983 New Zealand team has buried memories of 28 previous draws and defeats in England, and need do no more to keep a proud and permanent place in the story of the game. Although this is not to suggest that victory in the four-test series would lack appeal, the Headingley match must surely put cricket on a new footing in New Zealand and stir yet more enthusiasm for a fine game.