Gritty Wright keeps N.Z. from disaster

Press, 21 February 1987, Page 88

Gritty Wright keeps N.Z. from disaster

By

JOHN COFFEY

John Wright has had higher scores and batted for longer periods, but his 75 runs in just over four hours at the Basin Reserve yesterday must count as one of his most valuable contributions to New Zealand cricket.

It is Wright’s fiftieth test, at the venue where he made his debut — also with a half-century ' — against England nine years ago.

Cocooned in chest and leg padding, and with arm, head and other protectors, Wright was typically gritty in his defiance of the West Indian fast bowlers.

He understandably took time to adjust to their pace, survived 29 scoreless minutes, and went on to exceed his previous best against the West Indies of 64 at Bridgetown two years ago.

Wright recorded New Zealand’s first boundary after 69 minutes and was responsible for eight of the 16 fours during the day. Four of them were extracted from the tight line and length of Wright’s county team-mate, Michael Holding. Wright’s fiftieth run took him past Mark Burgess as New Zealand’s fifth most prolific test scorer. His total is now 2710, 17 fewer than Bert Sutcliffe on a list headed by Bevan Congdon (3448), John Reid (3428) and Glenn Turner (2991). In the few minutes after lunch Wright was far from the most organised of cricketers. He had picked up the wrong bat to take out, and required a change of footwear after one over when he found

his rubber soles to be slipping.

But there was nothing wrong with his appearance as a batsman as he cut and hooked three of the few wayward deliveries for boundaries. He reached his 50 with a cover-drive from the back foot which fair skimmed its way to the pickets. Generally, though, it was hard grafting and Wright admitted to being under sustained pressure from the four fast men. “All that happens is the ball gets a bit older,” he said later. It was something of an anti-climax, then, that Wright should spear an attempted cut from the slow-medium bowling of Viv Richards into the massive* hands of Joel Gamer at slip.

“I was disappointed to get out to Viv; it was a bit of a waste,” he said. Wright also hinted that he might be nearing the end of his international career, when asked to comment on the New Zealand council’s decision to release him from the tour to Sri Lanka so that he can return to Derbyshire in April for his benefit year. “I don’t like being unavailable for New Zealand. It’s just that I’ve been working on my benefit for eight months, have a committee making preparations over there, and really didn’t know of the tour till recently,” he said. He intends to reconsider his future later this year, and will decide then whether he will be available for the tour to Australia next summer. .

“I don’t know yet. I’ll play this series and do the benefit before taking it from there,” said Wright'