DATE : 26-02-1997
VENUE : McLean Park, Napier
MATCH : 3rd ODI, New Zealand Vs England
Writer : Karthik Narayan
Welcome back to Cricketfundas.com’s coverage of the Tied Tests and ODIs from the world of International cricket. Today we shall move ahead to cover the match played between New Zealand and England at Napier on 26.02.1997.
This was the shortest gap between two tied ODIs – exactly a month in between the tied matches – the previous was on 27.01.1997, a match between Zimbabwe and India.
This particular match was a day/night affair and with the conditions being favorable to bowlers, this match was certainly going to be very interesting. This was the 3rd match of a 5 match series between England and the hosts Kiwis. England had won the first two games and this match was very important for New Zealand. They had to win to stay in the series – a Do or Die situation.
Toss: New Zealand won the toss and elected to bat first.
Following are the lineups :
New Zealand:
Bryan Young, Nathan Astle, Lee Germon (Capt & Wicket Keeper), Stephen Fleming, Chris Cairns, Adam Parore, Chris Harris, Gavin Larsen, Simon Doull, Heath Davis, Geoff Allott.
England:
Nick Knight, Michael Atherton (Captain), Alec Stewart (Wicket keeper), Graham Thorpe, Nasser Hussain, Ronnie Irani, Craig White, Dominic Cork, Robert Croft, Darren Gough, Andrew Caddick
Debuts: Geoff Allot, the Kiwi left arm medium bowler made his ODI debut in this match. Cricketfundas.com reminds its readers that this tall bowler went on to become the most successful bowler in world cup history when he picked up a haul of 20 wickets in the 1999 edition. And sadly this bowler was never to be much seen again – it seems he went into obscurity later on!
New Zealand Innings:
The ball was in the court of the Kiwis to win this match and stay in the series – the openers Bryan Young and Nathan Astle set foot to face the bowling of the two C’s – Cork and Caddick. Astle fancied himself to go after the bowling whereas Young preferred to stick to grafting – immediately after the fifty partnership was raised, Astle was caught behind off the first change bowler Gough for a brisk 34 off 32. Skipper Lee Germon, Stephen Fleming and Chris Cairns came and went with some useful partnerships with Young – 140/4 it was at the fall of Cairns’ wicket. After holding the top order for quite a while and after a slow half century, Young lost his cool thanks to some tight bowling by the England bowlers. His innings of 53 came off 129 balls. He fell at 145 – the fifth New Zealand wicket to fall.
It did seem that the England bowlers had done their job and they would wrap up the rest of the batsmen, but Adam Parore, Chris Harris, Larsen and Simon Doull played some real resolute innings to take the team well past the 200 mark. The England bowlers, with wickets at regular intervals managed to bowl them out for 237 in the last over. All-rounder Craig White was the best bowler with 37/4 off 5.4 overs.
England Innings:
Atherton and Nick Knight walked in to kickstart the chase for 238 runs for wrapping up this ODI series. But this pitch was really into the evening of the match, and the dew factor and the chilly evening air did help the seamers – Simon Doull and the debutant Geoff Allot got a lot of movement off the track. The English openers were tested a bit early on, but they clung on for a nice opening partnership of 67 when Knight was out to a smart caught and bowled off the Debutant bowler – the left armer’s first ever ODI wicket.
In ODI cricket, quick wickets hurt more than a grand piano dropping on you, and when wickets fell at 82 (Atherton) and 87 (Alec Stewart), England was in a spot of bother at 87/3. England succumbed to the straight dibbly dobblies of the ever-calm Chris Harris. Nasser Hussain added fuel to the fire when he was clean bowled – Chris Harris again doing the trick. Graham Thorpe, that eternal evergreen player for England once again came to the rescue with a sterling innings of 55 – he propped up the rest of the chase even as Nasser Hussain and Ronnie Irani lost their wickets in a flash. All rounder Craig White and Thorpe brought back the hopes of the England win – they added 47 runs for the sixth wicket. The match became more interesting as Thorpe edged one to Lee Germon, and the game was in perfect balance.
Dominic Cork has played some good cameos and this match saw one of those – his nearly a run a ball 31 in the company of White gave England a chance to really push things their way. A fantastic recovery from England saw them edge ever so close to victory – at 230/6 after 49 overs, it was very tight.
The last over was bowled by the debutant Geoff Allot – oh, what a great occasion and pressure situation for a debutant to be in his very first game! Great captaincy and it was a test of nerves for the batsmen and the bowler. The first ball was a Dot; Cork ran a bye off the second ball. White tried to convert a single into two, but sadly was run out, with Germon keeping his nerves and completing a smart run-out.
Former off spinner Robert Croft walked in with butterflies in his stomach – he faced the fourth ball of the over which he somehow managed to dispatch for a 4. But Allot had his revenge the very next ball when he clean bowled Croft. So it was 236/8, two runs off the last ball and Mr.Darren Gough to get those for England. Gough played and missed the last ball of the match – the ball dribbled down behind to the keeper, and the batsmen scrambled like rabbits to get a bye.
The match ended in a sensational tie! Chris Harris was adjudged man of the match for his excellent bowling performance of 10-3-20-3. With his super bowling, he tilted the match in favor of his team, even though they had only a faint chance at the start. And credit must be given to Allot, to bowl that last over with enough caliber, even though he gave away a boundary. He recovered well enough.
Thus ends yet another edition of the greatest games of cricket, where the match ended in a tie.