Date-stamped : 27 Feb97 - 10:15
From The Press - February 27, 1997 NZ gains tie in thriller

One-day series remains alive after third match

NAPIER -- In a finish worthy of the pages of the Boys' Own
Annual, New Zealand snatched a tie with England in the third
one-day cricket international at McLean Park, Napier, last
night.

Chasing New Zealand's total of 237, England lagged in the run
rate for a long time as parsimonious bowling by Chris Harris and
Gavin Larsen pegged their players down.

Harris, relishing the conditions, removed Mike Atherton, Alec
Stewart, and Nasser Hussain with in-swinging yorkers, to give
the home side a whiff of victory.

But a half-century by Graeme Thorpe, followed by a resolute
59-run partnership between Craig White and Dominic Cork put
England back on track. When the last over began, England was
eight runs short of its target.

White was run out off the third ball, after two byes had swelled
the total, and Robert Croft was bowled by Geoff Allott after
hitting a boundary off the previous delivery.

Needing two from the last ball, Cork and Darren Gough ran a bye
-- and the game was tied.

Canterbury's Harris, with his glowing figures of three for 20
off 10 overs, was deservedly chosen as "Man of the Match".

Earlier, New Zealand failed to take advantage of ideal batting
conditions.

Having won the toss, New Zealand again wasted an excellent start
to be bowled out for 237 in the final over of the innings.

The pitch was bouncy and pacy and with a target of around 270 in
their minds, New Zealand got off to a smart start, but lost
their way in mid-innings and then the last three wickets fell in
the space of eight balls.

Opening batsman Nathan Astle, for the second time in three
innings, made a blazing start.

He peeled off a string of boundaries with crunching strokes, but
at 34 -- off 32 balls -- he miscued fast-medium Darren Gough's
third ball of the innings to pop up a simple catch.

With Bryan Young he had added 50 in 53 balls, and captain Lee
Germon attempted to keep the runs coming when he came in at No
3.

It was a surprise move, but one which has worked in the past for
New Zealand, most notably at last year's World Cup quarterfinal
against Australia in Madras.

Germon did a good job, but then got himself stumped off a wide
from offspinner Robert Croft for 22 off 30 balls.

The ball drifted down the leg side, Germon was stranded and fell
as he attempted to regain his crease.

Left-hander Stephen Fleming, dropped on six by Andrew Caddick at
mid on above his head off medium pacer Ronnie Irani, rashly got
himself run out at 125. He pushed Croft gently towards point and
set off for a very tight single. Young didn't respond and
Fleming was run out by several metres.

At the halfway mark New Zealand were 128 for three but crucially
lost big hitting Chris Cairns shortly after.

After Caddick had bowled a maiden to Cairns, the batsman flicked
a ball off his hip straight to Dominic Cork at deep square leg
in a similar manner to his dismissal in the first one-dayer in
Christchurch last week.


Source :: The Canterbury Press (http://www.press.co.nz/)

Report - Electronic Telegraph

White and Cork gain tie in twilight finale

By Christopher Martin-Jenkins in Napier


IT was just as well that the would-be saboteur who hacked a
chunk out of the square with an axe at McLean Park at 5am before
the third of the one-day internationals chose the wrong pitch as
the object of his protest.

The match pitch itself was hard and lively enough to provide an
ideal stage and a game which was balanced for most of its course
ended in a fever of excitement with England needing eight to win
from the final over and two from the last ball. They ran a bye
to the wicketkeeper instead and the game was tied with the
scores level at 237.

Under the regulations for the series the tie stands, though
England, losing two fewer wickets, would have won by the rules
for some limited-overs competitions. They probably deserved to
do so, given the admirable way that they sustained their chase
despite a remarkable spell of bowling by Chris Harris, not to
mention floodlights which are barely bright enough to be fair.
For New Zealand, however, even a tie was an intense relief.

It keeps the series alive, though England cannot now lose it,
ended a run of four England wins in succession and virtually
guarantees a crowd of at least 20,000 in Auckland on Saturday at
Eden Park, rather than the modest one there might have been on
the first weekend of the rugby season had England won. Goodness
knows how many thousands of pounds hung on one run.

Graham Thorpe, with a skilfully made 55 off 61 balls and the
seventh wicket pair of Craig White and Dominic Cork were
England's heroes, along with Robert Croft who, having once again
bowled beautifully, came in with three balls to go and six still
needed.

Already the over had had drama enough, with Cork hitting at and
missing the first ball and White running a bye to the
wicketkeeper from the second before just failing to make his
ground for a second run to Chris Cairns at fine-leg off the
third.

Croft clubbed his first delivery for four to mid-wicket, but
Geoff Allott, bowling in his first one-day international, hit
his stumps next ball as Croft swung for glory instead of pushing
for one or two. Easy to write, not so easy to think about in the
clamour and frenzy of a one-day finish before 12,000 screaming
spectators.

Much credit was due, too, to Allott for bowling straight and to
a full length. His final ball to Darren Gough, with two needed,
just missed the off-stump but Cork's sprint was a fraction of a
second faster than Lee Germon's take and underarm throw.

New Zealand's captain, who has been assured by the selectors
that his own place is safe despite the lack of recent success,
said afterwards: "I'm a little mindblown to be honest, but very,
very happy. It was a great deck to bat on in daylight and 238
was very gettable."

That England did not in the end quite make it was very largely
due to Harris's unique blend of slow-medium leg-breaks and in-
swingers, delivered off the wrong foot. The only directly
comparable bowler I have seen was a rather portly village
cricketer who used to bowl for South Holmwood in Surrey in the
1950s, but his variations were a little less subtle than this
engagingly zealous Kiwi stalwart, who has now taken 80 wickets
in his 78 one-day internationals and scored his 1,290 runs at
just on 25 an innings.

A Test cricketer he never quite was but until Harris came on and
the lights and the dew began to tell, England were roaring along
in a bright twilight. Nick Knight delighted in the hard pitch
and the open spaces beyond the circle and Mike Atherton, hitting
successive drives through extra cover off Simon Doull, helped
him to rattle up 59 off the first eight overs.

The first seeds of doubt were sewn when Heath Davis, who again
bowled well, doubled Knight up with a breakback before Atherton
completely lost sight of a slower ball from Allott which hit him
full toss in front of middle-and-leg and should have had him
lbw. In his next over, the 12th, Allott accepted a crisply
driven return catch and Atherton's runs had completely dried up
by the time that he was bowled by the first of the virtually
identical in-dipping yorkers which also bamboozled Alec Stewart
and Nasser Hussain.

In the circumstances Thorpe played a brilliant innings. He
scored at almost a run a ball yet hit only two fours plus the
pull for six off Nathan Astle which made sure that the
experiment with a sixth bowler was shortlived.

Doull, not so easy to handle when the ball began to move off the
dew-freshened pitch, nipped one away to have him caught low to
Germon's left and so the scene was set first for the doughty
partnership between White and Cork which added 58 in 10 overs
and then for the climax.

In a small town these matches really do have a sense of occasion
and for the daylight part of the match Napier had provided an
afternoon of dazzling sunshine and fresh sea breezes.

The fictional Great Gatsby or the real Scott Fitzgerald would
have felt entirely at home among the palm trees, the Norfolk
pines and the glistening white art deco buildings of the
surroundings. No doubt, too, either would have travelled to the
game with a few girlfriends in some splendid open-topped
limousine: for anyone with a spark of life in Hawkes Bay
yesterday, McLean Park was definitely the place to be.

Astle got New Zealand off to a rattling start, much as Knight
did later, but Gough bowled exceptionally well, constantly
beating the outside edge and with Croft in alliance once the
15-over period was passed, the home side's hopes of a seriously
large total were gradually extinguished.

Bryan Young had lost his early momentum when Andrew Caddick
bowled him between bat and pad but Doull and the faithful Gavin
Larsen hit some blows before White embellished his analysis by
bowling fast, straight and to a full length for a match analysis
of four for 37.


Source :: Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk)

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