Cricket: A wonderful day ... and a stormy knight

By SCOTT MacLEOD

New Zealand's one-day cricketers rebounded from six consecutive losses with an emphatic victory over Zimbabwe yesterday, setting up a series decider at Eden Park on Sunday.

In a reversal of their recent form, the New Zealanders restricted the Zimbabweans to a moderate 236 and reached the target for the loss of only two wickets with nearly five overs to spare.

The improved effort came as a tonic for the New Zealand selectors, grappling with injuries to frontline bowlers Dion Nash, Daniel Vettori and Geoff Allott and star allrounder Chris Cairns.

An inexperienced bowling lineup, containing two changes to the team thrashed in Tuesday's first one-dayer, produced a more accurate and consistent effort in the day-nighter at Wellington's WestpacTrust Stadium.

A first-wicket partnership of 153 between Nathan Astle and Mathew Sinclair and a swashbuckling 48 off 33 balls by promoted allrounder Scott Styris dashed Zimbabwean hopes of defending the total.

Opener Alastair Campbell's century provided the backbone of the visitors' total.

Young Wellingtonian James Franklin, in his second one-day international, opened the bowling with Styris and ended with two wickets.

But media focus on the selection process has clearly taken a toll on the convener of the selection panel, former test star Sir Richard Hadlee, who is limiting media access after being criticised in a Herald column.

Sir Richard, previously renowned for his openness, this week pared back conversations with print media after taking exception to a column written by D.J. Cameron, the paper's former chief cricket writer.

The column, which the Herald ran on Tuesday, said "lunatics" had taken over the running of "the NZ cricket asylum," that Sir Richard had been media-baiting, and that he "tends to leak thoughts and theories like an over-worked colander."

Sir Richard was eating his dinner when the Herald phoned yesterday to discuss the matter. "It's a bad time to call," he said. Asked if he was annoyed with the newspaper, he said: "Categorically, absolutely."

Later, the phone was answered by a media liaison officer, who said Sir Richard felt he had been taking too many phone calls from reporters asking the same questions.

On one occasion he had been deluged with calls while waiting to hold a phone conference with other selectors. Sir Richard now wanted journalists to talk to the media officer, as they were meant to do anyway.



Christchurch Press reporter Geoff Longley said Hadlee had told him he would no longer talk to journalists individually except in special circumstances.

"He was pissed off by what Cameron wrote," Longley said. "And that was before he read Boocky this morning calling him General Hadlee."

Longley was referring to a column by Herald chief cricket writer Richard Boock.

D.J. Cameron said Sir Richard was entitled to hold back from talking to media.

"The last time he did that was when he was accused of wrongly keeping a car he won," Cameron said. "It lasted about three days."