N.Z. cricket team has cause for confidence

Press, 13 June 1986, Page 22

N.Z. cricket team has cause for confidence

By

JOHN COFFEY

/The New Zealand cricket team leaves today for a tour which could provide New Zealand with its third important milestone in as many series of tests against England. The New Zealanders begin their itinerary against the Duchess of Norfolk’s XI in a limitedover fixture at Arundel on June 22, and will ease into their first-class campaign in a three-day encounter with Combined Universities at Cambridge. The continuation of England’s cricketing embarrassments this week serve as a further fillip to the New Zealanders, who must be given at least an even chance of winning a series on English soil for the first time.

Three years ago, at Leeds, New Zealand made an important breakthrough when it gained its first test triumph in England, by five wickets. Though the remainder of that tour was tinged by the disappointment of losing the other three tests, New Zealand was responsible for one of England’s •'greatest sporting humiliations a few months later when it won by an innings and 132 runs at Christchurch. That was enough

to carry New Zealand through to its first series defeat of England.

New Zealand has recently achieved more international distinction by beating Australia at home and away, while the poor form displayed by England in its first encounter with India suggests it has not yet recovered from the physical and psychological traumas inflicted in the West Indies.

In Jeremy Coney, John Wright, Bruce Edgar and the Crowe brothers, New Zealand has a nucleus of seasoned international batsmen. lan Smith, as proficient a wicket-keeper as any on the test scene, and Richard Hadlee embellish the run-scoring potential of the team, while Ken Rutherford is steadily turning potential into the finished product. No-one made a greater advance against the Australians than the offspinner and pugnacious lower-order batsman, John Bracewell, who relished the opportunities given him by Coney. Ewen Chatfield has

proved a most able foil for Hadlee in their many summers of sharing the new, or near-new, ball, but Chatfield will be very much the senior partner in this sphere for most of the tour. Hadlee, in his benefit year for Nottinghamshire, is available only for the three tests and two one-day internationals.

Competing for test selection will be the three young medium-fast bowlers, Derek Stirling, Willie Watson and Brian Barrett.

Stirling is decidedly the most seasoned of the trio, but his career is again at a crossroads in the wake of a successful debut in Pakistan and a forgettable trip to the West Indies. Already warming to his task in English league cricket, Stirling’s re-selec-tion was preceded by a performance for Central Districts which drew praise from the Australian caotain, Allan Border. Aged 20, Watson has already experienced fluctuating fortunes at representative level. He could not retain his place in the

Auckland side throughout the last domestic season — after a highly promising start a season earlier — yet more than justified his promotion to the New Zealand team for its trip to the Australasia Cup in April. The rapid advancement made by Barrett earned him a one-year contract with Worcestershire, and he, too, should be acclimatised to English conditions by the time he joins the New Zealand squad as its youngest member. At 19, Barrett is the latest in

a lengthy queue of understudies for Hadlee.

Tony Blain was a success when brought into the New Zealand team for the limited-over fixtures against Australia last summer and with Trevor Franklin and Evan Gray — who both toured England in 1983 — will be seeking a permanent place in the national first XI.

No New Zealand side has set off for England so attuned to the conditions and opposition it will encounter. The high level of local knowledge among the players is further embellished by the presence of Glenn Turner as cricket manager. New Zealand also meets Middlesex, Essex, Sussex, Minor Counties, Warwickshire (or Lancashire), has the two oneday internationals, and plays Nottinghamshire before the first test at Lord’s from July 24 to 29.

The other tests are at Trent Bridge (August 7 to 12) and The Oval (August 21 to 26). A limited-over game is to be played against the Netherlands on August 29 and the tour ends against D. B. Close’s XI at Scarborough from August 31 to September 2.