Cricket: Tours of the unexpected

The five lefties on the 1953-54 tour: Lawrie Miller, Guy Overton, John Beck, Eric Dempster and Bert Sutclffe. Herald file picture

On the eve of his departure for the 'last frontier' Richard Boock looks at the perilous tours of New Zealand sides to South Africa:

The unexpected always seems to accompany New Zealand cricket teams on tours of South Africa; the only question this time is whether there will be a pleasant surprise, or just more wailing and gnashing of teeth.

One of the last frontiers for New Zealand, South Africa represents a challenge that previous Kiwi sides have been unable to overcome, despite a magnificent effort from John Reid's tourists in 1961-62, and from Stephen Fleming's side two summers previous.

There have been the lows of the "Tangiwai series" in 1953-54, the "Drug" tour in 1994-95, and the injury-ravaged visit in 2001-02, when so many squad members were falling that a head-count was considered mandatory at every breakfast sitting.

The only bright spot was when Reid's squad stunned their hosts with wins at Newlands and St George's Park in the early sixties, at the time only New Zealand's second and third test victories.

This season's tourists will be hoping to at least avoid the problems that beset the most recent two visits to South Africa, but understand there will be no hiding from a home side who have just been whitewashed by Australia.

"South Africa will still be very tough, you don't come here expecting anything less," Fleming told reporters after the team arrived in Johannesburg yesterday.

"They've been playing a level of cricket which makes it hard because Australia push you to the limit.

"They had some good performances in isolation, but they needed a bit more.

"To me, the nature of their defeats was more interesting than the actual results. South Africa were by no means out of it. Makhaya Ntini bowled very well; it's pretty clear that he's in good form."

New Zealand will play one four-day warm-up match against the Rest of South Africa at Benoni, starting tonight, before eyeing preparations for the opening test at Centurion, beginning tomorrow week.

The story so far ...

1953-54

New Zealand's first tour of the Republic. A rites of passage series that has been etched into Kiwi sporting consciousness, despite a 4-0 drubbing. New Zealand woke on the morning of the second day of the second test at Johannesburg to the news of the Tangiwai rail disaster, and the death of fast bowler Bob Blair's fiancee - 19-year-old Nerissa Love.

The drama continued at the ground as the New Zealanders were subjected to a vicious barrage of short-pitched bowling on an under-prepared Ellis Park pitch, Bert Sutcliffe and Lawrie Miller receiving hospital treatment before returning to the fray. Although Sutcliffe, head swathed in bandages, managed to defy the South African attack, New Zealand quickly slipped to 154 for nine, at which point all the players began walking off, believing the distraught Blair to be back at the hotel.

As it happened, the Wellington paceman had been listening to the commentary from his room and, as wickets tumbled, decided to return to the ground and walked out to bat in front of a stunned crowd, and an even more shocked Sutcliffe.

"You could have heard a pin drop," Sutcliffe said later, a reference to that profound moment as the 25,000-strong crowd stood in silence and watched as he walked over to Blair, put his arm around the tailender's shoulders and said, "C'mon laddie, this is no place for you. Let's throw the bat at the ball and get the hell out of here."

And attack they did. The crowd cheered when Sutcliffe hit spinner Hugh Tayfield for three sixes and a single, but when Blair chanced his arm and smashed another six they roared their delight, and continued as 33 runs were added in just 10 minutes.

New Zealand eventually lost the test by 132 runs but won worldwide respect for their courage. They performed better in the third test at Newlands, which was drawn, but lost the fourth at Ellis Park by nine wickets, and the fifth at St George's Park by five wickets.

1961-62

Another watershed tour, this time for all the right reasons. When John Reid took his team to South Africa in 1961, New Zealand had only won a solitary test in 31 years - the much-celebrated success over the West Indies at Auckland five years earlier.

Not only did Reid's team add to this tally during the series, but they also managed to record New Zealand's first overseas win when they triumphed at Newlands by 72 runs, and then finished on a high with a 40-run win at Port Elizabeth.

Reid was a colossus on this tour, scoring 546 runs at 60.64, including a double of 60 and 142 in the fourth test at the Wanderers. With another major batting contribution his effort might well have been a series-winning one.

The New Zealand skipper also finished top of the test series bowling averages with 11 wickets at 19.72, providing excellent support for main strike weapons Jack Alabaster, Frank Cameron and Dick Motz.

Eddie Barlow, who died in December 2005, made his debut in the series and was described by Wisden as "an opening bat who revealed an all-too-rare, refreshing desire to attack. "

1994-95

Sadly, for such an important series, New Zealand's first post-apartheid visit to the Republic descended into an unseemly controversy and was later dubbed the "Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n Roll" tour, following revelations of pot-smoking in Paarl.

Later in New Zealand, Stephen Fleming, Dion Nash and Matt Hart would be suspended for their part in the affair, coach Geoff Howarth would be replaced as fulltime coach by hard-liner Glenn Turner, and a raft of established players such as Ken Rutherford would be shown the door.

It's doubtful any other tour has impacted so dramatically on NZC headquarters, although it seemed to start well enough when New Zealand won the first test at the Wanderers by 137 runs following a match winning five-wicket bag from Hart.

New Zealand were then cleaned up comprehensively at Durban and Cape Town by eight and seven wickets.

They also disintegrated in the Mandela ODI series, losing all six games they played.

2000-01

Remembered as the "Invalids" because of the remarkable injury toll during the three-test series, they were hammered at both Bloemfontein and Port Elizabeth, and were heading the same way at Johannesburg before the the match was washed out.

Without front-liners such as Vettori, Cairns and Nash, New Zealand had to blood virtually untried combinations.

In the opening match at Goodyear Park, the pace trio of debutant Chris Martin, Shayne O'Connor and Daryl Tuffey totalled 15 caps.

In stark contrast, the Proteas' opening attack of Allan Donald and Shaun Pollock boasted a combined tally of 483 wickets.

As it happened, New Zealand had to follow on in the first test before eventually losing by five wickets, and crumbled badly in the second, losing by seven wickets.

It might have been a similar result at Johannesburg but summer rains intervened.

By that stage New Zealand, who were using Adam Parore as an opening batsman following the mysterious withdrawal of Craig Spearman on the eve of the test, had already been bowled out for 200 in the first innings, and the hosts had proceeded to 261 for three.

NEW ZEALAND IN SOUTH AFRICA

* April 7-10: v Rest of South Africa, Willowmoore Park, Benoni

* April 15-19: v South Africa, 1st test, SuperSport Park, Centurion

* April 27-May 1: v South Africa, 2nd test, Newlands, Cape Town

* May 5-9: v South Africa, 3rd test, Wanderers, Johannesburg