Final Sri Lankan test will be match of many milestones

Press, 24 March 1984, Page 80

Final Sri Lankan test will be match of many milestones

NZPA staff correspondent Colombo Whatever the outcome, the third cricket test between New Zealand and Sri Lanka, which starts today will be a match of milestones.

The venue, the Colombo Cricket Club ground in the Sri Lankan capital’s “Embassy Row,” is hosting a test match for the first time.

At the same time Richard Hadlee, once more New Zealand’s main strike weapon in this match, is playing his fiftieth test. If New Zealand wins the match or even draws it, it will be New Zealand’s first series win overseas since its 1-0 win over Pakistan in 1969. If it loses it will become the victims of Sri Lanka’s first ever victory in a test match.

Every New Zealand player senses the importance of the match and the captain, Geoff Howarth, believes that no-one is willing to let victory slip away.

“It would mean a lot to us to win this match,” he said. “We came here intending to win the series and there’s no way we want to go home empty handed now.

“We’re a better team than the one that played in the last test,” he said. “We know that performance wasn’t good and we’re going to knuckle down and ensure that it doesn’t happen again.” Howarth has been a worried man since the last test, from which New Zealand scrambled with a vital but embarrassing draw. He has spent hours in discussion with senior team members — Hadlee, John Wright, Lance Cairns and Jeremy Coney — in an

attempt to work out what went wrong in that match. “I don’t know why we performed so badly,” he said. “We batted badly and fielded badly but we haven’t been able to put our finger on what caused it.

“For the first few days we were affected by the heat and humidity and maybe we just weren’t concentrating. It could be it was just one of those matches',” said Howarth.

“I don’t know what caused it but I know it’s not going to happen again. I’ve told the guys I want a better effort in the next test and they’re very keen to lift their game.

“We’ve been working on our fielding and I’m sure we’re not going to drop catches like we did in the last test. That was just an aberration but it was a costly one. If we’d held even a few of the chances we dropped the match could have been over in four days.

As it was we were lucky to scramble out of it with a draw,” said Howarth. “I think Sri Lanka will be a more confident side in the next match. I don’t know if they’ll be any better but they’ll certainly be more confident.

“They played very well in the second test, although they had a lot of luck. By luck I mean we let them off the hook a lot,” he said. “They probably know a lot more about their ability now though and they’re not going to be easy to beat. We never thought they would be.”

Howarth said the recall of Asantha de Mel — “a very good bowler and a very good cricketer” — would strengthen the home side. De Mel still has to prove he has recovered from a leg injury to make the final XI. New Zealand always regarded the Sri Lankans as a difficult side to beat on their own grounds, he said. “But I think we can win,”

Howarth said. “We’ll certainly be going into the test with the attitude that we want to win it. A draw would still give us the series and to win the series has always been our main objective but we’re not going to be playing for a draw.

“We’ll go into the match with the intention of winning it. If something happens that doesn’t allow us to do that then we’ll have no choice but to plug away for the draw,” he said.

New Zealand has yet to name the 12 for the match, delaying the selection of the side until a closer inspection of the match wicket is made.

“It looks as if it will be pretty hard and a wee bit slow, much like the last wicket,” Howarth said. “It might still give the seamers a bit early but otherwise it won’t be doing much so it should be a pretty straightforward sort of a game.”