Cricket: Parore set to add further mark

By Richard Boock

Adam Parore's long-term value to the New Zealand cricket team will be recognised this week when he adds another milestone to an already memorable tour of England.

As the England selectors agonise over whether to play a specialist wicketkeeper in Chris Read or hand the gloves back to Alec Stewart for the fourth test at the Oval, Parore will mark the match by climbing another step higher on the list of most-capped New Zealand test cricketers.

The most experienced member of the current test team, Parore is poised to move up to eighth on the all-time list with 53 caps - one more than Jeremy Coney, three behind Ken Rutherford, with acclaimed former players such as John R. Reid (58), Bevan Congdon (61) and Ian Smith (63) in his sights.

Not even the top three of Sir Richard Hadlee (86), John Wright (82) or Martin Crowe (77) are safe. The way the Kiwi cricketers churn through tests nowadays, Parore is likely to be among them within the next 24 months.

The 28-year-old is living testament to the usefulness of a wicketkeeper who can bat in the top order if required. England found this out also (when they bit the bullet and played Stewart ahead of Jack Russell) but the lesson obviously did not sink in that deeply, and they have gone back to making the same old mistakes with Read.

New Zealand were in a similar position in 1995 when Glenn Turner's plan to use Parore as a specialist top-order batsman with Lee Germon behind the stumps failed - not because either was inadequate - but because it was an unnecessary duplication.

Parore was restored to the wicketkeeping role upon Turner's premature exit but his brief stint up the order established his batting credentials. Although he usually comes in at No 7 these days, he remains an option up the order.

Behind the stumps, on the other hand, he is becoming an institution.

In the first test of this series at Birmingham he became just the second New Zealander (to Smith) to make 100 test wicketkeeping dismissals when he caught Alan Mullally off Dion Nash. His tally included three stumpings, and excluded three catches he took in the field during his gloveless days.

He also became the tenth New Zealander to play in 50 tests.

Then in the second test at Lord's, Parore claimed his 250th first-class wicketkeeping dismissal when he caught Mark Butcher off Chris Cairns, becoming the ninth New Zealand gloveman to reach the mark. His next act was to snare Nasser Hussain off Cairns - his 100th test wicketkeeping catch.

The only Kiwi to have made 100 wicketkeeping dismissals and scored 2000 runs in tests, Parore has some way to go, however, to eclipse New Zealand's all-time test wicketkeeping record.

Smith, who scored 1815 tests runs, effected 176 dismissals, including eight stumpings.