Test place wide open?

Press, 9 July 1986, Page 64

Test place wide open?

NZPA staff correspondent Hove The choice of the seamer to support Richard Hadlee and Ewen Chatfield in the first cricket test against England still remains a vexing issue over half-way through New Zealand’s build-up to the test.

The young Aucklanders, Brian Barrett and Willie Watson, and the recalled Derek Stirling have all shown glimpses of promise in the opening four first-class matches of the tour. But, most notably in the cases of Barrett and Stirling, they have also

revealed an inconsistency which would make them a high risk proposition in the test arena-.

Barrett, aged 19 and a veteran of just six firstclass matches, perhaps not surprisingly joined the ranks of the inconsistent in yesterday’s drawn match against Sussex.

With the county set to score 275 in 215 minutes after New Zealand had declared its second innings closed at 148 for four; he donated three consecutive overpitched balls in the very first over. All were off-driven to fhe boundary by Allan

Green. But although not costly, Barrett’s waywardness marked a regression from the accuracy he displayed on his tour debut at Essex after recovering from an achilles tendon strain.

On a slow Essex wicket, Barrett outperformed Stirling who appeared to drift through the match rather aimlessly. Eventually, the captain, Jeremy Coney, preferred Barrett to Stirling when he wanted a second spell of pace from one end in the Essex -second innings. &

Yet, a match earlier against Middlesex at Lord’s, Stirling had appeared close to recapturing the excellent form of his 1984 tour of Pakistan.

With the problems of his run-up apparently solved, he bowled long, accurate spells in capturing five for 98 off 31 overs. It was a display which stamped Stirling as a potent option. With the first test to be held at Lord’s, starting on July 24, the performance probably gave the Central Districts fast bowler the inside running for the place alongside Hadlee and Chatfield.