Cricket Lamb to England’s rescue

Press, 12 June 1989, Page 21

Cricket Lamb to England’s rescue

NZPA-AAP Leeds

Allan Lamb chose an hour of desperate England need to score his first'century against Australia.

With the attack hurling down everything it could think of, including Merv Hughes’ leg-breaks, in an attempt to break the resistance of the last two recognised batsmen, Lamb and Robin Smith stood their ground.

It was the cricketing equivalent of Rorke’s Drift for the South African-born pair, who stood between Border’s men and an England follow-on which offers the only real prospect of a result in the first test.

After Australia declared its first innings at 601 for seven, its highest score on ground, the match

came down to a simple equation.

Could England score 402 in its first innings and avoid having to bat again?

It seemed a massive task, unthinkable on the Headingley strip of recent years.

But just as Australia’s batsmen found themselves in Yorkshire clover on the relaid square, so did the English.

Kim Barnett, recalled for his second 'test as a replacement for- the injured lan Botham, rewarded the selectors with an enterprising 80 — half of them in boundaries.

But when he became Terry Alderman’s second lbw victim, and David Gower perished to a legside nick, it was up to Lamb and Smith to see England through to stumps.

Lamb’s shot-making was almost as crisp as Steve Waugh’s had been in his maiden test century of 177 not out.

He reached his hundred with a typical slash past point for his nineteenth boundary, and it was difficult to credit there were plenty of England critics who thought he should not have been in the side.

By the end of yesterday’s play, the Australians were wishing the selectors had taken more notice of them.

As expected “ Aiderman was the fulcrum of the Australian attack, although the lack of Headingley’s famous cloud cover for much of the day made it difficult for him to move the ball through the air.

He was last here eight years ago as the junior partner to Dennis Lillee, and his street-wise ap-

proach showed out as clearly as the inexperience of his team-mates, who struggled on a benign wicket. Geoff Lawson, another veteran of Headingley 1981, was wayward early but redeemed himself by picking up Gower, while the Tasmanian debutant, Greg Campbell, got a bad case of stage fright. He lost the rhythm of his run-up, his line, length and much heart as 39 runs came from his eight overs before Border banished him to the outfield. When England resumes today, they need a further 118 runs to avert the follow-on, and if they make it, the game is as good as saved. AUSTRALIA First innings G. Marsh lbw b DeFreitas 16 M. Taylor lbw b Foster. . 136 D. Boon c Russell b Foster. 9 A. Border c Foster b De66

D. Jones c Russell b Newport 79 S. Waugh not out 177 I. Healy c and b Newport 16 M. Hughes c Russell b Foster 71 . G. Lawson not out 10 Extras (lbl3, nb7. wl). . . 21 Total (for 7 wkts dec.) . . 601 Fall: 44, 57, 174, 273, 411, 441,588. Did not bat: T. Aiderman, G. Campbell. Bowling: DeFreitas 45.3, 8, 140, 2; Foster 46, 14, 109, 3; Newport 39, 5, 153, 2; Pringle 33, 5, 123,'0; Gooch 9,1, 31, 0; Barnett 6,0, 32, 0. ENGLAND First innings G. Gooch lbw b Aiderman 13 C. Broad b Hughes 37 K. Barnett lbw b Aiderman 80 A. Lamb not out 103 . D. Gower c Healy b Lawson 26 R. Smith not out 16 Extras (b 4 Ibl, nb4) .... 9 Total (for 4 wkts) 284 Fall: 35, 81, 195, 243. To bat: D. Pringle, J. Russell, P. Newport, P. DeFreitas, N. Foster. Bowling: Aiderman 22, 5, 60, 2: Lawson 22, 4, 74, 1; Campbell 8,0, 39, 0; Hughes 21, 6, 74, 1; Waugh 6,2, 27, 0; Border 2,1, 5, °- r.