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And It's A Tie : NZ Vs ENG, 26.02.1997 |
DATE : 26-02-1997
VENUE : McLean Park, Napier
MATCH : 3rd ODI, New Zealand Vs England
Writer : Karthik Narayan
Welcome back to Cricketfundas.coms 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 Cs 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 wrappinh up this ODI
seris. 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 armers 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.
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