Crowe, Edgar carry first innings

Press, 28 July 1986, Page 25

Crowe, Edgar carry first innings

NZPA staff correspondent London The first cricket test against England remained delicately poised after New Zealand failed to take advantage of a record thirdwicket partnership between Martin Crowe and Bruce Edgar on the third day yesterday.

Crowe scored his fifth test century, and realised a life-long ambition to reach the mark at Lord’s, and Edgar made a typically painstaking 83 as New Zealand reached stumps at 342 for nine. That represented a first-innings lead of 35 runs over England which New Zealand’s last pair, John Bracewell and Willie Watson (both 1 not out), will seek to improve after the rest day last night (N.Z. time). But the advantage is far less significant than seemed likely when New Zealand reached 215 for two in pursuit of England’s 307.

The loss of Edgar at that total saw the start of a slide in which the New Zealand batting line-up could add only 127 runs for the loss of seven wickets.

Crowe’s innings of 106 ended three runs after that of Edgar, then New Zealand’s batsmen tended to stall the innings by losing their wickets in pairs.

“I was hoping for a score of 450,” said the New Zealand captain, Jeremy Coney, who scored 51.

“But our batsmen got out to a series of relaxed and casual shots, and partnerships weren’t maintained. We lost one batsman and then we lost another.”

Excellent catching by England also played its part, along with the bowling of the spinner, Phil Edmonds, who took four wickets and began to gain encouraging turn late in the day. The New Zealand slump was a bitter pill for Crowe and Edgar who first saved their side and then sought to move it into a winning position.

The pair’s partnership, which began with New Zealand reeling at five for two, was worth 210 runs, breaking the third-wicket record against England of 190 scored by Bevan Congdon and Brian Hastings at Lord’s in 1973. Crowe and Edgar both resumed at 52, with New Zealand 127 for two, and predictably it was Crowe who proved the most prolific run-getter.

He underwent a reasonably testing examination from Graham Dilley’s pace bowling at the outset, but otherwise appeared in little difficulty from the England attack.

A selection of magnificent drives were the only signs of flamboyance from Crowe, however. His was an innings of discipline, with barely a ball hit through the air.

But such was the threat posed by Crowe that the England captain, Mike Gatting, was soon on the defensive. His decision to restrict rather than attack proved costly when Crowe speared Neil Foster through a vacant second slip at 81.

But Crowe’s concentration remained unimpaired, and he was also not distracted when England introduced a new wicketkeeper in Bobby Parks soon before lunch.

Parks, of Hampshire, was England’s third wicketkeeper of the innings, after the injured Bruce French and a former test player, Bob Taylor, aged 45. In each case, Coney had approved the replacement. Crowe underwent a nerve-wracking lunch stranded on 99, but moved to his century by offdriving the fourth ball after the break from Edmonds for a single. The century had taken 301 minutes and included 11 boundaries.

Edgar was less certain than Crowe, playing and missing several times to the seamer, Neal Radford, during a morning session in which he scored just 15 runs.

Half-an-hour after lunch, Edgar hit his first boundary of the day, but that prefaced his dismissal to a juggled first-slip catch by Gatting as he made a tentative attempt to cut the medium pace of Graham Gooch.

Edgar’s innings of 83 had lasted just three minutes short of six hours and included eight boundaries. His 210-run partnership with Crowe had taken 333 minutes and was broken just 12 runs short of the New Zealand third-wicket record against all countries, set by Bert Sutcliffe and John Reid in New Delhi in 1955-56.

Crowe, perhaps relaxing a trifle as he awaited the arrival of the new ball, went three runs later at 218, seeking to drive Edmonds off the back foot but succeeding only in hitting a relatively simple return catch.

Crowe’s disappointment was mirrored in the New Zealand camp which had hoped that either he or Edgar would go on to the sort of big first innings total that creates test victories.

The twin loss left Jeff Crowe and Jeremy Coney, both hindered by injury, with a rebuilding task. Coney, who played with difficulty on the front foot because of the strain to his left side, quickly showed signs of aggression.

But Crowe, the victim of a dislocated thumb on the first day and holding his bat with some difficulty, was restricted largely to deflections. At one stage, he spent 54 minutes anchored on two as he weathered the accurate bowling of Gooch and Edmonds and the danger posed by Dilley with the new ball, which was finally taken after 98 overs.

The pair added 56 runs for the fifth wicket, before Crowe was dismissed for 18 soon after tea. His edge via pad and glove to Gatting at first slip represented Edmond’s one-hun-dredth wicket in 39 tests.

Coney continued aggressively, reaching 51 in 107 minutes by pulling Radford over midwicket for the third time. However, a fourth attempt at the shot proved his downfall as Gooch seized a sharp chance at square leg at 292. Evan Gray and Richard Hadlee negotiated New Zealand past England’s 307, but Gray was unluckily dismissed for 11 three runs later. The umpire, Dickie Bird, ruled that his shot to Edmonds had ricocheted off Martyn Moxon’s boot at forward short leg across the wicket to David Gower at silly point. But television replays indicated the ball had bounced before striking Moxon’s boot. With seven wickets down, Hadlee tempered his attacking instincts to add 30 runs with lan Smith, before Edmonds spun a ball through his defence. Hadlee had scored 19, including just

one boundary, in 75 minutes.

Smith (18) also went at 340, carelessly cutting Dilley to a diving Edmonds.

The loss of those two wickets left Bracewell with the support only of Watson, and the likelihood that New Zealand’s firstinnings advantage will not extend much over 40 runs. ENGLAND First innings G. A. Gooch c Smith b Hadlee 18 M. D. Moxon lbw b Hadlee 74 C. W. J. Athey c J. Crowe b Hadlee 44 D. I. Gower c M. Crowe b Bracewell 62 M. W. Gatting b Hadlee . 2 P. Willey lbw b Watson . 44 P. H. Edmonds c M. Crowe b Hadlee 6 B. N. French retired hurt 0 N. A. Foster b Watson . . 8 G. Dilley c Smith b Hadlee 17 N. V. Radford not out . . 12 Extras (b 6 lb 7, nb7) ... 20 Total 307 Fall: 27, 102, 196, 198, 237, 258, 271, 285, 307. Bowling—Hadlee 37.5, 11, 80, 6; Watson 30, 7, 70, 2; M. D. Crowe 8,1, 38, 0; Coney 4,0, 12, 0; Bracewell 26, 8, 65, 1; Gray 13, 9, 29, 0. NEW ZEALAND First innings J. G. Wright b Dilley ... 0 B. A. Edgar c Gatting b Gooch 83 K. R. Rutherford c Gooch b Dilley 0 M. D. Crowe c and b Edmonds 106 J. J. Crowe c Gatting b Edmonds 18 J. V. Coney c Gooch b Radford 51 E. J. Gray c Gower b Edmonds 11 R. J. Hadlee b Edmonds. 19 I. D. S. Smith c Edmonds b Dilley 18 J. G. Bracewell not out. . 1 W. Watson not out 1 Extras (b 4 lb 9, w6, nb!s). 34 Total (for 9 wkts) 342 Fall: 2,5, 215, 218, 274, 292, 310, 340, 340. Bowling.—Dilley 35, 9, 82, 3; Foster 25, 6, 56, 0; Radford 25, 4, 71, 1; Edmonds 42, 10, 97, 4; Gooch 13, 6, 23, 1.