Stick with same team - Turner (3 June 1999)

3 June 1999

Stick with same team - Turner

Geoff Longley

That is the advice from former New Zealand cricket coach Glenn Turner to the Black Caps' management in the countdown to the Super Six stage of the World Cup in Britain.

New Zealand's opening Super Six game is against surprise package Zimbabwe at Headingley on Sunday.

Turner thinks New Zealand's original batting order at the tournament should be stuck with, despite the lack of form from the top-order.

Turner bases his comments on the fact that New Zealand has no batting back-ups to include. He was astonished by the selection of all-rounder Matthew Hart, who was introduced at opener against Scotland.

"That highlights a poor team selection in the first place, when no specialist batting reserve was included.

"They changed the team balance from how they played in New Zealand to England, but did not select accordingly."

Turner thinks Nathan Astle and Matthew Horne should be persevered with as the openers, despite struggling on the seaming English wickets and the difficulties coping with the Duke ball.

"Now they are in the Super Six and are playing on the major grounds the wickets should be better, " said Turner, who played at county level for Worcestershire during the 1960s and 1970s.

"Astle has scored the most one-day hundreds by a New Zealander and when he does (score hundreds), we go on to win those games. He could find form in the next few games and his bad start would be forgotten.

"Horne hasn't had a lot of success in the one-day game, but he is our best bet of the current crop. I think we are committed down this road now."

Turner was not a supporter of Roger Twose being elevated, saying he had several slices of luck in the big scores he had made.

Turner did not discount New Zealand's chances of going further in the competition, because the sporty nature of the English wickets at this time of the year made the outcomes something of a lottery.

"I believe the team that will come through will be the one that has its pace bowlers bowling consistently around the off stump and using the pitch conditions."

He said that logic favoured South Africa with its high-quality four-pronged pace attack of Allan Donald, Shaun Pollock, Lance Klusener, and Jacques Kallis.

"Also, three of those players are all-rounders."

Turner was pleased to see the development of Canterbury left-arm pace bowler Geoff Allott, a player he promoted to test level when he was coach in 1995-96.

"He's getting the ball in the right place most of the time, getting some swing now and assistance from the track."

Turner also felt the tournament format was a better one than when he took the team to the last World Cup in 1996 to the sub-continent.

In that competition the knock-out stage began when teams reached the quarter-finals, New Zealand being eliminated by Australia.

"This is a fairer way of doing things, with all the qualifiers getting to play eachother before the semi-finals."

However, Turner thinks teams should have been able to take their points and run rates forward from all pool play games, instead of just their results against the sides which qualified for the Super Six from their pool.

"For instance, South Africa had four wins out of five (in pool play) and showed the most consistency, but it only takes one win into the Super Six because of dropping the game to Zimbabwe, and its run rate is also poorer."

Turner, who will not be applying for the Black Caps coaching job, which will be decided next month, was uncertain if he would be required by Sky Television for cricket commentaries next season after the changeover from TVNZ. He said he would probably continue assisting Otago's Shell series side as its technical advisor.

Source :: The Christchurch Press (https://www.press.co.nz/)