Australia romps in after N.Z. batting debacle

Press, 15 January 1986, Page 56

Australia romps in after N.Z. batting debacle

Australia experienced few moments of anxiety in comfortably beating New Zealand in their World Series Cup cricket match at the Sydney Cricket Ground last night.

The initiative was with Australia from the time that New Zealand was sent in on a pitch which provided plenty of problems for the batsmen. New Zealand mustered an inadequate total — even in awkward conditions — of 152. At no stage did the Australian batsmen wrest complete control, but they were always ahead of the runrate of their rivals. Australia had four wickets and 4.5 overs to spare when it overhauled New Zealand. Two dropped catches at vital times made an arduous task even more difficult. Ewen Chatfield muffed an opportunity to gain an early breakthrough when he dropped Geoff Marsh from his own bowling with the total at 17, but a later miss by Jeremy Coney at slip was even more costly. Coney had dived far to his left to remove Wayne Phillips in Richard Hadlee’s previous over to give the New Zealanders hope at 87 for four. But when Hadlee also found the edge of Greg Ritchie’s bat the ball fell from Coney’s grasp. The reprieve was gratefully accepted by Ritchie, who went on to share a 64run partnership with Steve Waugh. Ritchie was not dismissed until he had 68, the highest individual innings of the game, and Australia was only one run behind. To their credit, the New Zealanders never conceded defeat. Greg Matthews, the idol of the majority of the 36,170 spectators, contributed the single which tied the totals, only to be triurti-

phantly caught by Martin Crowe at point from Chatfield’s bowling. Waugh played out a maiden from Crowe, before Craig McDermott lofted a ball from Stu Gillespie for the winning hit. That Australia needed so long to attain its second victory in the cup series was a tribute to the accuracy and spirit of the New Zealand side, a mood especially reflected in the bowling figures of Chatfield and John Bracewell. New Zealand’s otherwise disappointing batting was given some respectability when Richard Hadlee joined Jeremy Coney for a 56-run partnership after the sixth wicket had fallen at 84 in the thirty-eighth over. The Australians had New Zealand on the back foot from the start as the five seam bowlers and the offspinner, Greg Matthews, capitalised on the assistance given them by the pitch.

Simon Davis dismissed Bruce Edgar in his opening over, and Dave Gilbert was immediately successful against Martin Crowe. Extracting considerable turn, Matthews had John Wright stranded and stumped, while Steve Waugh removed John Reid in his short spell. Neither Jeff Crowe nor John Bracewell could help Coney to improve the situation. Gilbert returned to take an athletic return catch from Bracewell; he was to drop a much sharper chance from Hadlee two balls later. Gradually, Coney and Hadlee lifted the modest run-rate fractionally above three per over, and Coney reached his half-century from 80 balls. There was a flurry of activity in the forty-sixth over, bowled by Gilbert. Until then New Zealand had managed just two boundaries, by Wright in the sixteenth over and Coney in the thirty-fifth, but Coney and Hadlee added others in quick succession. The ultimate winner, however, was Gilbert, who had Coney caught at square leg and caused Hadlee — who had attained 1000 runs in international limited-over cricket — to become the fourth victim of the wicketkeeper, Wayne Phillips. Gilbert next bowled Ervin McSweeney, his five wickets more than compensating for his being the most expensive of the impressive Australian bowlers. The man who had started the New Zealand slide, Davis, came back to finish the task in the

fiftieth over. The “man of the match” prize was awarded to Gilbert for his part in extend-' ing New Zealand’s record non-winning one-day sequence to 11 matches. NEW ZEALAND J. Wright std Phillips b Matthews 22 B. Edgar c Ritchie b Davis 0 M. Crowe c Phillips b Gilbert 9 J. Reid c Phillips b Waugh 9 J. Crowe c Marsh b Reid 12 J. Coney c Boon b Gilbert. 58 J. Bracewell c and b Gilbert 5 R. Hadlee c Phillips b Gilbert 21 E. McSweeney b Gilbert . 3 S. Gillespie c Matthews b Davis 1 E. Chatfield not out... . 4 Extras (lb2, nb3, w3) . . 8 Total 152 Fall; 1, 19, 42, 44, 68, 84, 140, 144, 147, 152. Bowling: C. McDermott 9,3, 21, 0 (w2); S. Davis 8.2, 3, 17, 2; D. Gilbert 10, 0, 46, 5 (nb2); G. Matthews 10,1, 17, 1; S. Waugh 3,0, 12, 1; B. Reid 9,0, 37, 1 (nbl, wl). AUSTRALIA D. Boon lbw b Gillespie . 21 G. Marsh c McSweeney b Chatfield 13 A. Border std McSweeney b Bracewell 16 G. Ritchie c McSweeney b Hadlee 68 W. Phillips c Coney b Hadlee 3 S. Waugh not out 19 G. Matthews c M. Crowe b Chatfield 1 C. McDermott not out. . . 1 Extras 11 Total (for 6 wkts) 153 Fall: 34, 41, 72, 87, 151, 152. Bowling.— R. J. Hadlee 10, 0, 42, 2; E. J. Chatfield 10, 3, 21, 2; S. R. Gillespie 7.1, 0, 30, 1; J. G. Bracewell 10, 2, 29, 1; J. V. Coney 5, 0,15, 0; M. D. Crowe 3, 1, 11, 0.