Refreshing approach

Press, 24 February 1986, Page 44

Refreshing approach

From

DAVID LEGGAT

Keo Rutherford has a delightfully uncomplicated approach to test cricket, and it served him well as he prospered against Australia at the Basin Reserve yesterday. The gifted Otago batsman put the traumatic West Indian tour well behind him with a superbly compiled 65 in his first test innings on home soil to help New Zealand to safety in the opening match of the Rothmans series.

Having made a name for himself as the world's worst test batsman — seven innings, average 1.7 — in the Caribbean last year, Rutherford broke his West Indian shackles in such a manner yesterday as to indicate that a long, rewarding test career lies ahead. But test cricket will not alter Rutherford's approach to the game. “It’s not the be-all and end-all for me whether I fail or not. You can’t get uptight about these things. After all,’’ he added, “it’s just a sport” Rutherford enjoyed his

sport yesterday, laying a Basin Reserve bogey to res t __ «i don’t enjoy playing here, but this is the best Basin pitch I’ve batted on.” It is not one of his favourite grounds, nor has he made many runs on it But with about 3500 people there yesterday it was a pleasant experience. “It’s a bit different when you’re batting in front of 20,000 blacks; then all you want to do is get back to the pavilion.” He was eager to get into the middle yesterday. “The hardest part was sitting there with the pads on, waiting to go out to bat Usually I’m a bit jittery and just want to get on with the job.”

Rutherford was disappointed at himself when he was dismissed having done the hard work.

“I freed up a little bit, which was probably a legacy of the Shell series,” he said. “I didn’t evaluate the situation enough. I just wanted to continue to play my shots. Perhaps I didn’t make the right adjustment for test cricket.”