4TH MATCH -- ZIMBABWE v NEW ZEALAND

After Brisbane the Zimbabweans flew back to New Zealand, to play their next match against the hosts only three days later, in completely different playing and climatic conditions. Instead of the heat and the fast bouncy pitches, the weather was very wet and the pitches slow and low. Ironically the day before the match the Zimbabweans had practised on a bright sunny day at Napier, but it was not to last. Malcolm Jarvis missed the two matches in New Zealand, where the pitches might have suited his bowling better than in Australia, with a groin injury.

The Zimbabweans felt that this particular match should never have been played, so wet were the conditions. But New Zealand were doing well in the tournament, and the umpires, under pressure both from the New Zealand captain Martin Crowe and the crowd, decided play should go ahead, despite parts of the field being under water. The Zimbabweans reluctantly agreed, and the crowd were most appreciative of this sporting gesture, which they came to regret. Some of the team felt in retrospect that captain Dave Houghton should have stood out more firmly against playing in clearly unreasonable conditions; Alistair Campbell feels that, as newcomers to international cricket and put under pressure, they were 'conned' into playing.

New Zealand, put in to bat perhaps unwisely in view of the rules governing rain-interrupted matches which strongly favoured the team batting first, lost two quick wickets. The first stoppage came after only 13 balls, in which time New Zealand lost the wicket of Latham. When the players returned over half an hour later, it had been decided to reduce the match to 35 overs per side. Another stoppage almost immediately reduced it still further to 24 overs per side.

When the players made their third attempt to play, Mark Greatbatch was almost immediately bowled, by Kevin Duers who remembers dismissing him several times during their meetings. Crowe now changed his tune as he arrived at the crease with his team in trouble, and tried in vain to persuade the umpires that after all it was just too wet to play. In the event he played a brilliant innings, helped by the inability of the bowlers and fielders to move freely on a slippery wet field. Iain Butchart in particular suffered, twice slipping and falling as he ran up to bowl. The fielders were afraid to try to chase the ball to the boundary for fear of injury. The ball was so wet that the bowlers found it like bowling with a bar of soap, and spinners were not an option as they were quite unable to grip the ball.

Crowe was in such brilliant form at that World Cup, where he was the outstanding batsman of the tournament, that he seemed able to put the ball wherever he wanted at any time. He hit Ali Shah for two superb sixes, a sweep over deep square leg, from a ball outside off stump, and a drive over extra cover. Campbell remembers him walking across his stumps and flicking the ball into the stands, and lofting drives over extra cover, and says it was easy to see why he was regarded as a great player and had such a fine record.

New Zealand's other leading contributor was Andrew Jones, who also played superbly until he was brilliantly caught by Andy Waller in front of the sightscreen. It was a hard drive that would have been a flat six, but Waller ran from long-on to long-off and hurled himself at the ball at tremendous speed, despite the wet ground and wet ball. Jones remained rooted to the crease for a few seconds in sheer disbelief. Their partnership had put on 110 runs in just 9.1 overs, and had again been interrupted, before another stoppage after 20.5 overs brought the New Zealand innings to an even more premature end.

Zimbabwe were left with a near-impossible target of 154 in 18 overs, under the system then in operation. There were puddles of water on the outfield by now and the Zimbabweans were most unhappy at being required to play in such farcical conditions. However, as they were about to begin their innings, the sun came out and conditions gradually started to dry out. This naturally had an effect on the pitch and the ball started moving around for the New Zealand seamers. But the rain returned and much of the later Zimbabwean innings was played in steady rain. The conditions naturally grew worse, and Ali Shah remembers Gavin Larsen, trying to slide to stop a boundary, skidding straight past the ball, which went for four.

Zimbabwe made an effort to chase their unrealistic target, changing the batting order and sending Andy Waller in to open. He hit a four and a six in the first over he faced, from Cairns. But it was soon clear, once medium-pacers Gavin Larsen and Chris Harris came on and swung the ball sharply, that they could get nowhere near, one batsman after another dismissed going for a desperation big hit. A minimum of 15 overs had to be bowled for the match to count, and the New Zealand fielders sprinted to their places -- as fast as they dared -- between overs in steady drizzle.

After 14.5 overs had been bowled and the rain falling harder than ever, Alistair Campbell skyed a catch in the direction of Martin Crowe. The New Zealanders' immediate thought was that if the catch was taken the match might have to be abandoned before the next batsman reached the crease, and there were several calls from his team-mates for Crowe to drop it. Crowe later said that he had been tempted to do just that, but he held it, and the match eventually squelched on in farcical circumstances until 18 overs had been bowled, before common sense finally won the day.

Material on this site is copyright by the Zimbabwe Cricket Union and CricInfo except where otherwise stated in the source or copyright statements.

Internet connectivity for the Zimbabwe Cricket Union is provided by Samara Internet Services