Cricket: Captains point finger after inevitable draw

By RICHARD BOOCK

Whatever else might have come out of the drawn cricket test between New Zealand and Zimbabwe at the weekend, it seemed goodwill did not exactly abound.

Neither side could understand the other's stance as the game moved towards its inevitable stalemate, and both took the opportunity to fire a few parting shots at each other as they left the Basin Reserve in Wellington, with the timing of the final-day declarations the main issues of dispute.

Doomed by rain interruptions and a pitch which had all the characteristics of the Desert Rd, the test never seemed likely to end in a result, despite the last-minute posturing by both sides.

New Zealand eventually set the tourists a target of 301 in 43 overs on Saturday, but Zimbabwe showed not a jot of interest in chasing, and when stumps were pulled had moved quietly through to 60 for two in their second innings.

New Zealand skipper Stephen Fleming said he was disappointed Zimbabwe had not declared overnight on the fourth day, and suggested they had wanted more of a chance than they deserved because his team had made all the running.

"They obviously wanted the best of both worlds," Fleming said. "They wanted a short chase over a short amount of time. We had dominated; we had tried to push the game forward, and we didn't see any point in giving them a sniff."

This seemed an interesting point of view given that Zimbabwe, after New Zealand had scored 487 for seven in 181 overs (2.69 runs an over), had replied with 340 for six in 134 overs (2.55), and had Trevor Madondo unbeaten on 74 and captain Heath Streak on 19 not out and just moving into his stride.

When asked about this, Fleming claimed that New Zealand had tried harder to claim the initiative than Zimbabwe, who he believed had shown their colours with the late declaration on Saturday, and in the way they employed ring fields in a defensive holding pattern.

He may have had a point, but it seemed a bit rich coming from the guy who bowled Nathan Astle for 36 overs earlier in the month at Port Elizabeth, with similar field placings and a similar intent to stall the game.

Streak suggested afterwards that his side had left the ball in New Zealand's court and believed the home team was given the chance to make something of the game.

"We considered declaring overnight, but still felt we gave them the chance to set a reasonable target, especially if there were attacking fields set.

"If they had given us an opportunity we would have gone for it and they would have had a chance, too, but their view on what was a reasonable total was different to mine."

Team relations aside, the other main points to emerge from the test were Matt Horne's struggle for form and the disappointment of New Zealand's spinners, Paul Wiseman and Brooke Walker, who managed to chip out one opposition batsman in 87 overs of bowling.

Horne will return to Otago knowing he has to demonstrate form in domestic cricket to be sure of retaining his place in the test side to play Pakistan later in the summer, after dual failures against one of the less threatening attacks on the world stage.

Sidelined by injury during the South African series, the right-hander perished to a wild slash in the first innings, and could have been out on any number of occasions during his 10-ball duck in the second. He almost played on to the first ball he received before surviving a vociferous appeal for caught behind.

The Otago captain has three test centuries under his belt and remains the selectors' preferred choice to partner Mark Richardson, but he would not want to fall on lean times in the looming Shell Trophy rounds, or players such as Matthew Bell and Gary Stead might come more into contention.

New Zealand coach David Trist made a point of emphasising yesterday that his side had not "ordered" a turning pitch for the test, and had merely taken the time to contact the groundsman in advance to make sure the moisture content was similar to that found in the Basin's previous test pitches.

Quite why anyone needed to make a specific request for a pitch no different that those prepared in the past three or four years, has not yet been adequately explained, but the upshot was that it did turn, and New Zealand's spinners were still unable to harness the assistance.