Awesome task ahead for N.Z. cricketers

Press, 31 March 1989, Page 40

Awesome task ahead for N.Z. cricketers

By

JOHN COFFEY

New Zealand’s cricketers will be confronted by a Western Australia team in awesome batting form when they meet in Perth next week. The Western Australia batsmen, with Tom Moody, especially outstanding, dominated the Sheffield Shield final against the long-suffer-ing South Australian bowlers.

As the top qualifier for the final, Western Australia not only had home ground advantage but only had' to avoid an outright loss to clinch the shield.

There was nary a moment’s Concern for Western Australian supporters as their players accumulated a total of 834 runs for the loss of Ohly 12 wickets in the four-day game.

Sent in first by an optimistic South Australian captain, David Hookes, Western Australia compiled a mammoth 545. With possession of the * shield no longer in dispute, South Australia reached 504 before suffering through Western Australia’s second innings of 289 for two until the final was mercifully halted. X

Moody, who has been chosen to tour England with the Australian team, had scores of 162 and 155 to establish a few records of his own. He became the first batsman from his state to exceed 150 in both innings of a shield match, and the first player to reach a century in both innings of a shield final. The New Zealanders will obviously need to work hard to find a chink in Moody’s batting amour during the : limited-over Air New Zealand-Western Underwriters Challenge Cup match which starts

on Tuesday evening and ends on Wednesday morning (N.Z. time).There might be a useful clue from the fact that Moody was twice leg before wicket — given out each time by the South Australian umpire, Tony Crafter. Moody had several particularly accomplished assistants. Of the top six Western Australian batsmen, only. Mike Veletta — who aggregated more than 1000 runs for his state this summer — was restricted to modest tallies. The - Australian touring vice-cap-tain, Graham Marsh, Embellished a

first innings 55 with an unbeaten 105 when he batted again; Graeme Wood, Wayne Andrews and the wicket-keeper, Tim Zoehrer, all exceeded 60 in their only innings. A former test spinner, Tom Hogan, who contributed an unbeaten century to a sixth-wicket partnership with Zoehrer worth 231 runs against Victoria recently did not even make the team for the final.

Western Australia has won the shield for the last three seasons. This week’s continuation of that sequence was achieved in spite of the loss of its medium-fast bowlers, Bruce Reid and Chris Matthews, because of injuries early in the campaign. It also overcame representative calls. Marsh, Veletta, Wood, Matthews and Terry Aiderman played tests against the West Indies, and Marsh, Wood and Aiderman appeared in the one-day internationals.

In addition to Marsh and Moody, Aiderman, Veletta and Zoehrer have been selected to tour England later this year. y