Testing Circumstances
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Testing Circumstances “By this time New Zealand were almost certain of victory, Hastings and Yuile having taken their side from a precarious 39 for 3 to 113”: Jamaica Daily Gleaner Brian Yuile, New Zealand v West Indies, Second Test, Wellington, March 1969 The West Indies’ Antipodean tour of 1968-69 began in December with a victory in the First Test at Brisbane. Two months later the tourists left Australia in shock having been beaten three Tests to one. Unused to setbacks, the press unleashed much criticism against the captain, Garry Sobers. Clive Lloyd thought Sobers had spent too much time on golf courses instead of in the nets looking after his team, but also considered the manager ought to have arranged training schedules and team meetings. Charlie Griffith felt the series was lost not because the West Indies were outclassed but because they dropped vital chances1. Sobers agreed, reckoning 34 catches were spilled in the series, by the end of which he was desperately trying to hide butter-fingers in the field. Thus, the West Indies arrived in New Zealand for three Tests seeming to Tony Cozier to “have neither the heart nor the energy for the tight month-long tour.” Clive Lloyd remembered “everyone was completely fed up and just going through the motions.” They were spurred out of lethargy in the First Test by a bold declaration. On the final morning the New Zealand captain, Graham Dowling, set the West Indies 345 runs to win, giving both sides a chance of victory. Finding their enthusiasm, the West Indies raced to an exciting five-wicket victory. The Second Test was played on a lively pitch at Wellington producing “a fairly predictable but venomous amount of lift” (Cricketer). Yet it was not the prospect of bowling on this wicket that animated the West Indian fast bowlers. Rather, radio-waves provided the motive force. The West Indies selectors met at Trinidad during the Wellington Test to choose the squad to tour England later in the year. Before tea on the third day the result of their deliberations was aired by New Zealand radio stations. Charlie Griffith and Prof Edwards, then preparing to bat in the West Indies second innings, found out they had been omitted. Sobers was livid. The selectors had chosen the squad before his report of the Australian series had arrived home. That report made clear that Edwards had suffered particularly from dropped catches and Sobers wanted him to be included in the squad for the 1969 tour of England. Soon after tea New Zealand began their quest to score 164 to win. In the absence of West Indian selectors, the fast bowlers vented their frustration and fury on the innocent. Dick Brittenden described the scene: “Throughout the match, the pitch had been what is often lightly described as ‘sporting’. Griffith and Edwards, both tour rejects, made it look like a trampoline. From his short run, Edwards had the ball zooming, a couple of times, over the head of Hendriks, standing well back. It was a dreadful hour for New Zealand who lost three wickets but, fortunately, no heads “ The umpires, believing the short-pitched bowling was getting too dangerous, formally warned Sobers. Bumpers were not the only problem, as Wisden and Sobers agreed. Deliveries spitting chest high from just short of a length played more havoc. Glenn Turner and Bevan Congdon were dismissed by Edwards, each caught by Griffith close in on the leg-side. Griffith accounted for Dowling, caught behind. Reeling at 39 for three, New Zealand sent Brian Yuile into the barrage as nightwatchman. Yuile jabbed at a ball from Griffith but Gibbs at gully couldn’t quite pocket the chance. Yuile barely saw a couple of other deliveries as they flashed past his nose. 1 Griffith mentioned four: in the Second Test Ian Chappell (who scored 165) was dropped on 10 in the gully off Prof Edwards; in the final decisive Test, Doug Walters (242) was missed when he was on 3 and Australia on 54 for 3, and again on 74. In the same innings Bill Lawry (151) was badly dropped by Nurse on 44. He and Walters went on to add 336 for the fourth wicket. As Tom Emmett, Yorkshire fast bowler, once lamented; “there’s an epidemic round here, but it isn’t catching.” Tom was a popular professional who captained Yorkshire from 1878-1882. Good-humoured, he doubtless would have enjoyed the Yorkshire committee meeting notes in 1878: “T Emmett be made captain in the absence of a gentleman.” The press agreed that New Zealand had a chance to win the next day if Hastings and Yuile could survive the first blast of Griffith and Edwards. The batsmen, understandably (sympathised the Daily Gleaner) started with great caution. Initially the bowlers were given the wrong ends, but they were soon switched so Edwards could be assisted by the northerly breeze. Without quite attaining the fury of the previous evening, they both bowled very well. The pitch was a little quieter too, but balls still flew nastily. Edwards zoomed a ball over the keeper for four byes. Hastings and Yuile took several blows to their chests rather than risk playing at the ball and getting a snick. They defended bravely, but still managed to wrest runs from the bowlers. Brian Yuile had reached 25, having taken the score onto 87 when he edged Griffith to first slip. Joey Carew snatched at it with his left hand and dropped the catch. Carew wrang his hand in pain, eliciting nary a gentle thought from Griffith who glared balefully at him for some 20 seconds. Two runs later, Yuile turned Lance Gibbs behind square. Sobers, merely six feet away, athletically fielded the ball and deftly flicked it at the stumps with Yuile out of his ground. His shy missed by an inch or two. Overcoming these alarms the batsmen reached the final over before lunch. The last ball of the session was a well-flighted delivery from Gibbs. Yuile played and missed and was trapped in front leg before; Gibb’s 200th Test victim. Brian Yuile “went off to a hero’s ovation”. Black clouds gathered over lunch. Hastings and Morgan then struck out boldly in the 45 minutes after lunch to beat the West Indies and the rain. The New Zealand Herald reckoned “the battle was fought and won by Hastings and Yuile in the two hours up to lunch.” The paper reckoned Brian Yuile’s innocent air and bland, bespectacled face made him look unsuited for a no-holds-barred fight, but his first Test innings had been a defiant 64 against England and Wisden accounted him part of the core of players who would lead New Zealand to better things. West Indies 297 & 148 and New Zealand 1st Innings 282 nd New Zealand 2 Innings (overnight 40-3: Hastings 0, Yuile 1) GT Dowling c Hendriks b Griffith 23 GM Turner c Griffith b Edwards 1 BE Congdon c Griffith b Edwards 4 BF Hastings not out 62 BW Yuile lbw b Gibbs 37 RW Morgan not out 16 Extras 23 ----- Total (4 wickets; 48.5 overs) 166 FOW: 1-20, 2-32, 3-39, 4-113 Dowling thought Wellington had been a great cricket wicket and was delighted with the result. Sobers disagreed about the pitch telling the Jamaica Daily Gleaner it was: “not what one would expect of a Test wicket … the pitch played unevenly and this had the batsmen pretty unhappy”. Sobers added that New Zealand had batted better: “you had a bit of luck with playing and missing and we had none. But that is the thing about this game of cricket.” The Third Test was drawn after New Zealand, following-on, fought hard around Hastings’ unbeaten century and drew the match convincingly. “Pakistan’s last day heroes were nightwatchman Masood Anwar, who defied the West Indian attack for more than three hours, and skipper Imran Khan”: Wisden Cricket Monthly Masood Anwar, Pakistan v West Indies, Third Test, Lahore, December 1990 A 22-year-old professional cricketer on the eve of his birthday might hope for many presents. Masood Anwar had already received the early gift of a Test debut for Pakistan. Another welcome offering would have been a friendly pitch. Instead, as the cracks widened and the top disintegrated at Lahore, Masood heard commentators and colleagues expressing fear for the players’ safety. The West Indies manager Lance Gibbs fretted: “Let’s hope nobody get seriously injured before this match is out.” Certainly, the three kings, this time from the west - Curtly Ambrose, Malcolm Marshall and Courtney Walsh - were bearing no gifts as they sought to win the Test and, hence, the series. This 1990 series was dubbed the unofficial world championship of cricket. Beforehand and recalling the West Indies collapsing to Abdul Qadir, the Pakistan Cricketer urged: “we must forget the idea of being sporting by doctoring wickets. One will not see Qadir-type pitches in the West Indies, so why should we prepare Marshall-type wickets in Pakistan?” Although Pakistan won the First Test of the series largely with fast bowling, a slow pitch was prepared at Faisalabad for the Second Test. This was odd. First, Qadir was dropped for the Faisalabad Test. Second, Imran’s reliance on his spinners looked ill-founded to Wisden after their unreliable performance in the series the month before against New Zealand. Pakistan had won all three Tests against the Kiwis, but it had been their quick bowlers who had done almost all the damage. The Faisalabad pitch produced uneven bounce.