England has a lot to do—Willis

Press, 10 January 1984, Page 26

England has a lot to do —Willis

NZPA staff correspondent Auckland The England cricket team has a lot of work to do in the 12 days before their first test match against New Zealand and the captain, Bob Willis, intends to be the man cracking the whip from today. Willis, who became the villain of the Eden Park crowd yesterday when he refused to declare and to offer Auckland a chase for runs on ■ the final day of their three-day match, said that England’s players had been surprised by their own rustiness. “It has dawned on the guys now just how rusty some are,” Willis said after the Auckland match ended in a tame draw. “We have a lot of work to do in the next 12 days.”

Willis said it was vital that his team work through their three-day matches against Central and Northern Districts which precede the first test at Wellington to correct wrongs brought to light by the match just

ended. “We’d have liked more front-line batters to have stayed longer at the crease in this match," he said, adding considerable time would have to be spent in the nets and at the crease in the next few days to correct batting wrongs.

“I suppose the bowling over all in this match was a bit disappointing,” he said. “It looked a bit April like. Neil Foster bowled well in the first innings and Graham Dilley found his rhythm in the second, but generally it wasn’t a very good performance. “Nevertheless, Auckland played well. They stuck to their task and they bowled better than we did.”

Willis said that ideally England would be one match short of a perfect preparation for the coming test. He said it was beholden on his players, therefore, to get as much practice as they could from their next two encounters. “This match was a reasonably good work-out,” he

said, “but it brought home what we have to do before the test match.”

England will take three specialist opening batsmen into their second three-day match against Central Districts starting tomorrow. They are Chris Tavare, Graeme Fowler, who both played at Eden Park, and Chris Smith.

Smith, with Norman Cowans, Derek Randall and Vic Marks sat out the Auckland match and he is likely to open in the coming match at Palmerston North, with Fowler likely to slip lower in the order.

Tavare, who completed a disappointing double of 1 and 2 against Auckland, has been retained to pursue much needed batting practice.

The team to play Central Districts is:— Chris Tavare, Chris Smith, Graeme Fowler, Derek Randall, Allan Lamb, lan Botham, Vic Marks, Bob Taylor, Graham Dilley, Norman Cowans, Bob Willis (captain).