Australia fights back after losing four cheap wickets to Hadlee

Press, 9 November 1985, Page 80

Australia fights back after losing four cheap wickets to Hadlee

NZPA staff correspondent, KEVIN HART, in Brisbane

Richard Hadlee engineered a single-handed demolition of the cream of Australia’s batsmen on the opening day of the first cricket test at the Gabba in Brisbane yesterday.

Relishing a greenist wicket and humid, overcasl conditions, the New Zealanc spearhead belied his owr assertion that he should nc longer be regarded as a strike bowler by taking four wickets for 35 runs off 15 superb overs. Hadlee’s effort had reduced Australia to 146 for four when bad light and rain brought an end to play just eight minutes after the tea break. Blocking what may have been a more complete New Zealand breakthrough were the opener, Kepler Wessels, who had led a charmed life in scoring 69, and the wicket-keeper, Wayne Phillips, with a fluent 25. It was a day of high drama from the moment the New Zealand captain, Jeremy Coney, won the toss and asked Australia to bat. The most sensational moments came off the fifth ball of the day and the first ball after lunch when the Australian vice-captain, Andrew Hilditch, and his captain, Allan Border, respectively lost their wickets to Hadlee. Hilditch failed to score and Border, the very cornerstone of the Australian batting with 10 centuries in his last 23 innings, did only marginally better to register one run. Both the Australians lost their wickets to shots which smacked of rashness. Hilditch had been out hooking twice in his final three innings in the recent Ashes series.

The New Zealanders could, therefore, hardly believe their luck at his reaction when Hadlee dropped his fifth ball short and down the leg-side. The folly of Hilditch verged on the astounding as he hooked the ball down to Ewen Chatfield, who took a fine overhead catch just inside the backward square leg boundary. If the loss of Hilditch’s wicket with just a solitary run on the board perturbed the smallish crowd (4042 people), the demise of Border immediately after lunch was greeted with stunned silence.

The Australian captain, facing just his seventh ball, failed to move his feet while driving at a widish loosener and speared straight to Bruce Edgar in the covers. Edgar made no attempt to conceal his delight. After all, it was he who had dropped Border while the

Australian captain was heading towards his century for Queensland last weekend. In between times, Hadlee accounted for David Boon and Greg Ritchie, both in a similar manner as they failed to get behind lifting balls and edged catches into the New Zealand slip cordon. Boon went for a moderate 31, taken by Coney at second slip, after sharing a 69-run second wicket partnership with Wessels. Ritchie’s stay, however, lasted just 16 balls and eight runs. Martin Crowe at third slip was the catcher as Australia slumped to 82 for four. Through the wreckage, it was Wessels who gave the . Australian innings some semblance of hope. The South African-born lefthander never looks comfortable at the wicket and for long periods against Hadlee he looked positively wretched. Hadlee beat him outside his off stump four times in his fifth over and later had • two extremely confident lbw appeals rejected. On both occasions, the ball appeared to hit Wessels marginally high on the pads.

There was a more than a touch of irony when the only actual chance offered by the opener was dropped by Hadlee diving to his left at third slip. Wessels was then on 16 and the unfortunate bowler was Martin Snedden. Apart from a cut for four and a pulled six off successive Snedden balls to bring up the Australian half-cen-tury, Wessels represented a dour presence at the crease during his 251-minute stay. However, his is the wicket the New Zealanders will be keenest to take when play resumes today. “If we had taken six wickets, that would have been about right,” said the New Zealand cricket manager, Glenn Turner. “But a couple of quick wickets and we’ll be right on top.” Of the other New Zealand bowlers, Snedden sometimes pitched rather too short but Chatfield completely vindicated his selection after missing the tourists’ last two matches with a back strain by conceding just 29 runs off 18 overs. Coney also set a fine example in control and accuracy, bowling seven overs of his gentle medium pace after lunch at a cost of just eight runs. The Welling-

tonians in tandem created a run drought in an afternoon of attrition and Coney, particuarly, troubled the usually assertive Phillips. The Canterbury offspinner, Vaughan Brown, selected for his first test in preference to Stephen Boock primarily for his greater batting ability, also played his part. He conceded just five runs’ off four wellflighted overs. The New Zealand fielding, Hadlee’s dropped reflex catch excepted, was extremely good. Martin Crowe personified their spirit when he chased a Phillips drive from mid-off to reduce what had appeared a certain boundary to two. The scoreboard: AUSTRALIA first innings K. Wessels not out 69 A. Hilditch c Chatfield b Hadlee 0 D. Boon c Coney b Hadlee. 31 A. Border c Edgar b Hadlee 1 G. Ritchie c M. Crowe b Hadlee 8 W. Phillips not out 25 Extras (5b 51b 2nb)... 12 Total (for 4 wickets) 146 Falk 1, 70, 72, 82. Bowling R. Hadlee 15.5 2 35 4; E. Chatfield 18 6 29 0; M. Snedden 11 1 45 0; M. Crowe 5 0 14 0; V. Brown 4 1 5 0; J. Coney 7 5 8 0.