N.Z. can claim moral victory in drawn test

Press, 25 February 1987, Page 68

N.Z. can claim moral victory in drawn test

From

JOHN COFFEY

in Wellington

Neither side was within a Lance Cairns straight hit of winning at the Basin Reserve yesterday, but the drawn first cricket test could be seen as a moral victory for the New Zealanders at the expense of the West Indies.

The outstanding batting of John Wright, individually and in partnership with Martin Crowe, proved that the vaunted West Indian fast bowlers can be tamed when conditions do not suit them. And late of the fifth day the New Zealand captain, Jeremy Coney, had the pleasure of actually declaring his second innings against a combination accustomed to easily winning all but severely rainaffected matches. The psychological battle turned a little more towards New Zealand when the left-arm spinner, Stephen Boock, dismissed both Desmond Haynes and Gordon Greenidge, who had been so much in command of their opponents when they batted a first time. New Zealand is able to look ahead to the second match at Auckland, and an Eden Park pitch that is renowned for encouraging accuracy and spin rather than sheer speed,’ in a far more confident mood. Yesterday’s draw was

almost by mutual consent. New Zealand had resumed in the morning 155 runs and seven wickets in credit, a situation that did hot allow the taking of risks. When the West Indians came on to the field Malcolm Marshall was missing. Michael Holding left before lunch, not to return. It had already been decreed that Wright and Dipak Patel would be spared a new-ball barrage. A pattern was established when two singles were all that punctuated the first half-hour. It was to be a day for consulting the record books as Wright continued to exhibit his extraordinary stamina and straightness of stroke. Only outside the off stump was the Canterbury captain still at risk, but Richie Richardson could not get down quickly enough at first slip when Wright edged a ball from Joel Garner when 115. A moment or two earlier Patel had chopped

a delivery front Courtney Walsh on to his stumps. Even that caused only a small flicker of interest among the West Indians as New Zealand inched towards safety. Garner and Walsh flogged the old ball into the concrete-like pitch until lunch. Viv Richards and Larry Gomes did almost all the work in the afternoon, the latter whizzing through his overs quicker than the time he took to saunter up from the long-off boundary. Wright’s concentration hardly wavered in the 9hr 35min he was at the crease, the longest innings by a New Zealander in a home test. He faced 466 balls and hit 14 fours before he mechanically returned a catch to Gomes on 138, three short of his previous best at this level. As Coney was to say later, “it was a tremendous Innings for New Zealand, no matter how much he demeans his batting in terms of spectator entertainment. It was utterly

unthinkable that we let him down by losing the test.” The several thousand people who watched the match’s inevitable conclusion obviously concurred. Wright might have been anchored on 102 for 59 minutes and 48 deliveries, but no-one dared to slowclap. until well after he had departed at 331 for five. 1 A former New Zealand captain, Bevan Congdon, had a simple task choosing his “man of the match.” Wright’s aggregate of 213 runs in the game has been exceeded only seven times for New Zealand. Jeff Crowe, who spent 143 minutes gathering 27 runs, and John Bracewell, who took nearly one hour less for one more run, played out the second session against the friendly pace of Richards, Gomes and briefly, Richardson. Coney waited until the end of the tea adjournment before declaring and chipped another 10 minutes off the remaining

time. Even a West Indian side does not contemplate scoring 269 runs in 50 minutes plus 20 overs. NEW ZEALAND First innings 228 Second innings J. G. Wright c and b Gomes 138 K. R. Rutherford lbw b Garner.......... 6 J. V. Coney c Richards b Garner 4 M. D. Crowe c Holding b Richards 119 D. N. Patel b Walsh .... 20 J. J. Crowe not out 27 J. G. Bracewell not out. . 28 Extras (blO, IblO, nb24). . 44 Total (for 5 wkts dec.) . . 386 Fall: 13, 20, 261, 301, 331. Bowling.—M. Marshall 20, 6, 43, 0 (nb7); J. Gamer 30, 9, 72, 2 (nblO); M. Holding 21, 4, 65, 0; C. Walsh 34, 13, 59, 1 (nb7); V. Richards 47, 13, 86, il; L. Gomes 21, 6, 37, 1; R. Richardson 4,1, 4, 0. WEST INDIES First innings 345 Second innings C. G. Greenidge c Rutherford b Boock ...... 25 D. L. Haynes c Hadlee b 800 ck........... 13 H. A. Gomes not out... . 8 R. B. Richardson not out . 0 Extras (b3‘, Ibl) 4 Total (for 2 wkts). .. ! . . . 50 Fall: 33, 46. Bowling.—R. Hadlee 4,0, 12, 0; E. Chatfield 4,0, 13, 0; S. Boock 7,4, 8,2; J. Bracewell 7, 2, 13, 0.