Rethink on No. 3 gamble

Press, 23 February 1987, Page 36

Rethink on No. 3 gamble

Whether the New Zealand cricket captain, Jeremy Coney, continues to bat at No. 3 in the test series against the West Indies will be reconsidered before the second match begins in Auckland on Friday. Coney, so often the solid centre of the New Zealand batting, scrambled only seven runs and lasted a total of just 21 balls in two innings at the Basin Reserve.

“It was suggested to me that I play at No. 3 in the best interests of the team,” said Coney, yesterday. Pressed for the identity of the tacticians behind the move, Coney said “the national selectors,' and management generally.”

“It didn’t work in this game, so we will have to look at it again before the next test,” he said. The first-drop role has

been a problem for New Zealand in recent seasons when the now-retired John Reid was not available.

Coney’s outstanding record as a man capable of countering most batting crises . undoubtedly prompted his promotion to assist Jeff Crowe, whose first-class form has fluctuated this summer, and the newcomer, Dipak Patel.

A leg strain, suffered in catching practice before play yesterday kept Crowe off the field, but Coney said the problem had responded to treatment.

The New Zealand captain was more than satisfied with the other happenings yesterday. “The whole day was really New Zealand’s. It was a good performance to get eight wickets foi 120-odd runs on .a Ditch

which didn’t suit our seam bowlers,” he said. Though cautioning that his side still had much work to carry out, Coney felt that New Zealand might yet place pressure on the West. Indians on the fifth day. He could offer no answer to the mystery of why a bail had fallen to the ground when the West Indian century-maker, Desmond Haynes, was only seven on Saturday. . Haynes had deflected the ball to the' leg side and slipped before setting off for two runs. The New Zealand fieldsmen were quick to point to the fallen bail, but the umpiring verdict blamed it on Wellington’s wind. “I saw it, but too late,” said Coney. “It’s just interesting that no bail fell off at any other time, and the wind was stronger today.”