Hadlee works out for India clash

Press, 11 January 1986, Page 68

Hadlee works out for India clash

From NZPA staff correspondent, KIP BROOK, in Brisbane

New Zealand’s ace spearhead, Richard Hadlee, yesterday returned to the scene of the finest bowling performance in his distinguished cricket career.

Hadlee worked out at the Gabba, where late last year he demolished Australia’s batting in the first test, and where today New Zealand tackles the world champion, India, in its second world Series Cup one-day game. The hot, moist Queensland conditions should be perfect for Hadlee’s action to help chalk up New Zealand’s first win in the contest. He has adopted a low profile so far, but might be expected to give the Indians

a hurry-up today. Kapil Dev’s team is virtually unchanged from that which won the World Championship of Cricket in Melbourne on March 10 last year. But New Zealand can take heart from its record at the Gabba, against India, in the 1980-81 triangular one-day series. It won both its games here, the first by a narrow three-wicket win, when Jeremy Coney and Lance Cairns desperately smashed

late runs, and the second game by 22 runs after scoring 242 for nine, batting first. India beat New Zealand by seven wickets in Melbourne last year, after the Kiwis struggled to score 206. The feature of India’s performances in last year’s series was the fact that it batted last every time chasing mediocre totals. The Kiwi cricket manager, Mr Glenn Turner, indicated yesterday that New

Zealand would not want to bat second. “It gets dark pretty quickly here, we’ll have to remember that,” he said. India has a long batting line up, with the No. 8 batsman, Roger Binny, having a first-class double century to his credit. The Indians will probably make its star of former onedayers, the spinner, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, twelfth man.

With Thursday’s washout, New Zealand will be seeking its first rewards on tour.