Date-stamped : 21 Jun94 - 14:25 New Zealand v England, Test 2 played at Lord's, 16-20 Jun 94 ====> Day 1, 16 Jun 94 Martin Crowe and Shane Thomson added an undefeated 178 for the fifth wicket on the first day of the Second Test at Lords. It eclipses by one the previous New Zealand v England fifth wicket record held by Congdon and Pollard. Crowe finished the day on 133 not out, having taken a long time to reach 50 (110 balls) before launching into the English attack. He required 47 balls for his second fifty and continued scoring freely in the final hour. He hit three towering sixes on the leg side with his pull off the hip shot. He hobbled more as the day progressed but it is unkown how hampered he will be when he con- tinues tomorrow. Rarely has he ever looked so determined to make a big score, hence the extremely cautious start to his innings. He recieved support from Rutherford, Fleming and Thomson who scored 37, 41 and 68* not out respectively. The gap between Crowe and the others was glaring however especially when de Freitas got his best deliveries going which look like fast leg breaks and poor Ken Rutherford was without a clue. Crowe played only one noticeably false stroke when he fidgeted at an Angus Fraser delivery late in the day. So the news is good for batting fans. For New Zealand fans the news is mixed, this innings only re-affirms the facts of the past four years - unless Crowe make a big score to build around, the remainder of the New Zealand batsmen seem unable to form partner- ships and produce good totals. Contributed by Howard.Silby (howard@tahi.isor.vuw.ac.nz) ====> Day 2, 17 Jun 94 England got off to a flying start as they raced to 94-1 at close in reply to New Zealand's total of 476. Alec Stewart hit a total of nine boundaries as he hit 45 in as many minutes before he edged Dion Nash to Adam Parore. Earlier Martin Crowe was finally caught at mid wicket for 142 after Shane Thomson had been run out on 69 to end their partnership of 180. England were once again frustrated by dogged tail end resistance with Nash making a Test best of 56 in a last wicket stand of 42. Contributed by goo-chie (jdw5@*.ukc.ac.uk) ====> Day 2, MORE New Zealand made 476 all out in the second Test being dismissed with 25 overs remaining in the second days play. On Day 1 Young was dismissed for 0, Pocock 10, Rutherford 37, Fleming 41. Thomson resumed on 68 and was run out after adding just one. Crowe resumed on 133 added just nine. Parore made 40, Hart 25, Pringle 14, Owens was left not out, the last man dismissed being Dion Nash for 56 his maiden Test fifty. De Frei- tas was the best of the bowlers, Fraser was put in his usual solid effort, Such bowled far too many bad balls, Taylor the left armer and White the allrounder being entirely ineffective. Now some more information on Crowe's "recovery", two features of his play indicate he is not back to batting with full confidence yet. In the late eighties and early nineties Crowe would seek to dominate the bowling sooner after he arrived at the crease than he exhibited this innings with his excessively long periods of caution initially yesterday and again after resuming on Day Two. Also formerly Crowe would never give the bowlers any avenue of hope and the fact that he never looked like getting out always separated him from other batsmen. At present he has not entire- ly eliminated a temptation to waft half-heartedly at some balls pitched on leg stump, an annoying habit which dismissed him in the first innings of the first Test. Contributed by Howard.Silby (howard@aqua.isor.vuw.ac.nz) ====> Day 3, 18 Jun 94 Resuming at 94-1 England lost Gooch, Atherton and Smith in the first 5 overs of the day. Following a stand by Hick and White which began shakily but seemed to be taking England out of trou- ble, White was narrowly run out for 50. Hick followed soon after- wards for 50-odd and England were struggling to avoid the follow-on. They just managed this with 9 wickets down, thanks mainly to Rhodes' 31 not out. England all out 281, 195 behind, 5 minutes before the scheduled close, so NZ didn't get to bat. Fol- lowing his 56 yesterday, Dion Nash took 6-75 (ish) and must have bowled well, since he even impressed Fred Trueman! Matthew Hart also bowled well, something like 44 overs, 1 for 50. Like most Tests in England nowadays, there is Sunday play, so it should be an interesting day tomorrow, with NZ looking for quick runs and England trying to frustrate them. Contributed by John.Hall (John@jhall.demon.co.uk) ====> Day 4, 19 Jun 94 ENGLAND RACE AFTER KIWI TARGET Michael Atherton and Alec Stewart gave England a flying start in their bid to reach a remote victory target of 407 set by New Zea- land. The opening pair crashed 11 fours in an unbroken stand of 56 by close of play after the Kiwis declared their second innings on 211-5. Phil DeFreitas made a spectacular start to the day by removing Blair Pocock, Ken Rutherford and Martin Crowe with just 29 on the board. But Bryan Young batted positively for 94 before edging spinner Peter Such to Graeme Hick at slip. Contributed by goo-chie (jdw5@*.ukc.ac.uk) ====> Day 5, 20 Jun 94 NASH SPURRED ON BY HADLEE ADVICE NASH SHINES BUT ENGLAND SURVIVE Dion Nash booked himself a place in the Lord's hall of fame as New Zealand narrowly failed to pull off a shock win and level the series. Nash upstaged century maker Alec Stewart by becoming the first man to take 10 wickets and score a 50 in a Lord's Test match. The Kiwi seamer removed the top order, including Graham Gooch for a duck, and when Stewart went for a gallant 119 it looked curtains. But another gritty display by Steve Rhodes (24) steered England home and stumps were removed at 254-8. Mike Atherton said that New Zealand had shown what they could do as England just hung on for a draw. "I think the media and the public have derided them on this tour but it's time to give them credit after this performance," he said. Atherton shut himself in the shower towards the end. "I didn't watch a ball for the last half hour. It was fairly tense in the dressing room and there wasn't a lot I could do." Ray Illingworth did not rule out changes for Old Trafford. "We will discuss it all thoroughly," he said New Zealand skipper Ken Rutherford was pleased with his side's display as they came close to victory. "I thought it was an im- proved performance on the debacle in the first Test and a draw wasn't a true reflection of the game," he said. England were hanging on grimly at the end and Rutherford added: "We played very well overall." Bad light stopped him using medium pacers near the end and he added: "It was disappointing as the wicket was doing something." Contributed by goo-chie (jdw5@*.ukc.ac.uk)