Daunting mission for cricket team

Press, 12 March 1985, Page 38

Daunting mission for cricket team

NZPA staff correspondent Auckland The New Zealand cricket team left Auckland last night, heading for Jamaica and only its second tour of the Caribbean.

The last New Zealand tour of the West Indies in 1972 was very much a voyage of discovery. All five test matches were drawn and New Zealand cricket was justifiably proud of its unbeaten record on a hard tour. If the 1985 team returns home with a drawn series or victory in the four tests the tour will probably be recorded as one of New Zealand’s greatest moments in cricket. But that task is daunting. The West Indies have not lost a test series since the controversial defeat at the hands of the Kiwis back in 1980. The West Indies had just beaten Australia in Australia for the first time before crossing the Tasman to lose the three-test series, 1-0. Since the day of New Zealand’s famous victory at Carisbrook, in February 1980, the two sides have not met in a test match.

Both have gone from strength to strength, but the West Indies’ record is outstanding. Between December, 1981 and December 1984, they played 27 test matches without losing one, beating the record of 26 consecutive tests without defeat by England between 1968 and 1971. In December last year, West Indies set another record — 11 consecutive test victories. On Saturday, New Zealand was given a preview of what it is up against in the Caribbean when the West Indies beat it in the third place play-off in the limited-overs World Championship of Cricket. The six-wicket loss was the first time the sides had met in a match since March 1980, in Auckland. Saturday’s defeat was a vivid introduction to what the New Zealanders can expect

in Jamaica, Trinidad, Barbados and Guyana where the four tests will be played. The fearsome fast bowling quartet of Joel Garner, Malcolm Marshall, Michael Holding and Winston Davis bowled tightly. The spinner, Roger Harper, was equally restricting and New Zealand could find only 139 runs from 50 overs. The West Indies made easy work of the target, taking 12 less overs to reach it. In spite of the one-day defeat by Pakistan and the test loss at Sydney, the West Indies are still rated the strongest side in world cricket. In six successive tests last year (five against Australia in the West Indies and the first against England in Birmingham), they never lost a second innings wicket. Their battery of fast bowlers tumbled the opposition out twice and the con-

sistency of the openers, Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes, saw off any winning runs with their wickets intact when required to bat a second time. The Kiwis will have to produce consistency like that if they are to come close to the Caribbean kings of cricket. Australia toured the West Indies at the same time last year, March to May, and only two determined rearguard actions in the first two tests prevented a 5-0 whitewash. West Indies’ batting is exceptionally strong, and like Australia and England before them, New Zealand’s bowlers will almost certainly struggle against the likes of Viv Richards, Greenidge, Haynes, Larry Gomes and Jeff Dujon. Success may lie in dogged determination by batsmen which was the key to New Zealand’s drawn series in 1972.