Date-stamped : 06 Mar97 - 06:16 Report: New Zealand v England, ODI 5 Germon sacked as England end tour with tired display SKILFULLY stifled in mid-innings by the subtly varied medium pace of Chris Harris, England were beaten by 28 runs in the last match of their tour of New Zealand, writes Christopher Martin-Jenkins. Lee Germon`s reward for levelling the one-day series at 2-2 was to be dropped as the selectors ignored his plea for continuity. He is replaced by Stephen Fleming as captain, and Adam Parore as wicket-keeper and No 7 batsman for the two Tests against Sri Lan- ka, starting in Dunedin on Friday. Germon goes after a fine display behind the stumps on his final day as captain, with two stumpings and two good catches. But Ross Dykes, the convenor of selectors, said that he had been dropped purely on form. He has led his country in all his 12 Tests and in all but one of his 37 one-day internationals. Hith- erto unknown outside New Zealand, he took over the job from Ken Rutherford only at the start of the last season here and in his short time in charge visited the subcontinent three times for tours to In- dia, Pakistan and the World Cup, as well as touring the West In- dies last year. He is a more attractive personality than Parore, who might easily have been punished for dissent for touching his bat to suggest that he had hit the ball when given out leg before wicket yester- day had the gesture not been ignored by the referee, Peter Burge. Parore, however, made 59 at No 7 in Christchurch, a match Germon missed, and is half a class better than a man whose leadership qualities could not make up for modest performances in a rela- tively weak team. The selectors have stuck with the side who came close to upsetting England in the third Test. Yesterday in Wellington the pitch lost pace as the noisy day wore on but, tired as they were after 14 weeks on the road, England really should have been capable of scoring 229. Only Graham Thorpe made a fifty and he was dropped twice before he did so. Having shared in a 75-run partnership with Nathan Astle, run out Mike Atherton and taken one for 22 in 10 overs, Harris should have been man of the match but Astle got the award for hitting harder for longer than anyone else. His 10 fours, compared with England`s 16 overall, emphasised what a talented striker of a ball he is. He would do a good job for an English professional club and county cricket would polish his rough edges. England bowled inconsistently, made too many fielding errors and, without the injured Nick Knight and Dominic Cork, were short of batting depth. Having started the tour a week too late to ac- climatise properly in Zimbabwe, they probably felt that they were ending it a week too late as well. Certainly they took their eye off the ball. The home side practised harder for the one-day matches and were rewarded by tying at Napier and winning the last two games. England may be excused up to a point. They did the main part of their job here well and the touring side were picked to win Tests, not 50-over frolics. For New Zealand, it was at least some consolation for their defeats in the important matches and we will see what they make now of their two Tests against Sri Lanka. England`s selectors, who have got practically every decision right in New Zealand, showed common sense as well as a sense of humanity by including Jack Russell for a well-deserved first big-occasion match of the tour. Alec Stewart made the point humorously by standing in front of Russell just before the first ball was bowled. The little man looked even more of a mess than normal, with his white sunhat in- congruously perched above long hair; sunglasses, multi-coloured uniform and faded blue pads which he had somehow contrived to make look at least 15 years old. But, of course, he kept well. He was soon scrabbling this way and that as Chris Silverwood and Andrew Caddick, swinging the new ball, struggled to keep a con- sistent line. Astle made his intentions clear at once and Silverwood`s first four overs cost 25 runs, including four leg- side wides. Silverwood came back stoutly later, but England bowled 14 wides in all. Caddick also settled to enjoy himself on the pitch where he had turned his tour round, finding Bryan Young`s outside edge in the seventh over and continuing - as indeed did all the England fast bowlers - to get balls past the bat regularly. It did not stop New Zealand from posting their customary 76 for one in the first 15 overs. In all five games they had batted first (four times by choice) and got away to almost identical starts before faltering. Equally true to form, it was Robert Croft who checked their pro- gress here, having Stephen Fleming leg before with an arm ball in his second over and commanding respect thereafter, if not the near-panic he has hitherto induced. Darren Gough was not at his most consistent in support this time, but Craig White, the third Yorkshireman in England`s five-man attack, fired the ball down steadily enough and saved his colleagues a good deal of damage by getting a good-length ball to leave Chris Cairns and give Russell his second catch. Astle forged on until the 44th over, losing the strike too often for his side`s good, and he had faced only 129 balls when, driv- ing Caddick into what he supposed was a gap at midwicket, he was brilliantly caught low and left-handed by Atherton, diving right. The stand with Harris had taken 17 overs but Harris skied a catch to mid-off two overs later and England had things under control after that, in the field at least. During the interval Ian Botham allowed his hair to be shaved to the scalp, by which noble gesture he raised more than #50,000 for the child victims of cancer in New Zealand. England looked to have their target in sight for as long as Ath- erton was at the wicket. The England captain was playing an orthodox game after being "bowled" third ball by a Geoff Allott no-ball but dried up against the wily Harris and was constrained also by Dipak Patel before Harris bobbed up again to run him out with deft support from Germon. Stewart was unlucky to hit a low full toss to mid-on but a very quick leg-side stumping accounted for Nasser Hussain and it was felt necessary to promote Silverwood above John Crawley, with predictable results. Crawley began promisingly but, flicking to leg, was leg before to Gavin Larsen, who once again lived up to his reputation. Although Thorpe now moved from his game of placements and deflec- tions to one of full-blooded attack, it was only a matter of time before he missed one and Germon`s second stumping completed a happier day for New Zealand`s captain. There was a full house and they did not seem to mind the din. The Basin Reserve remains, with Seddon Park in Hamilton, the most pleasant of New Zealand`s major cricket grounds. A plan to build an all-purpose stadium on disused railway property near the har- bour might fill some sporting needs in the capital but it would be a shame if this were not to remain the intimate centre of Wel- lington cricket; a place which retains a feel for history and an understanding that the game is not all bright lights, deafening music and whizz-bang frippery. Source :: Electronic Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk) 5 March 1997 Astle And Harris Fire NZ Kiwis square one-day series with memorable comeback WELLINGTON -- New Zealand completed its recovery operation when it squared the five-match one-day cricket series against England at the Basin Reserve yesterday. Having won the toss, New Zealand's batsmen again failed to fully exploit good conditions in reaching 228 for eight. However, the bowlers and fielders once more raised themselves to dismiss England for 200, winning by 28 runs with 13 balls to spare. The win meant New Zealand recovered from an 0-2 deficit and, with the third match in Napier tied, finished on level terms. Captain Lee Germon, later dropped for the forthcoming home series against Sri Lanka, praised the team's gutsy fighting qualities in bouncing back to share the honours. "It's gone a long way to resurrecting the season over the last three matches," he said. "It's very pleasing. The team has showed a lot of guts to come through a difficult period, playing on the park and being knocked off it." New Zealand would have been dead and buried, but for the efforts of Canterbury's Nathan Astle and Chris Harris in its innings. Astle, who shared the Man of the Match award at Auckland last Sunday with team-mate Gavin Larsen, won it outright with his composed 94, followed by two important wickets. Harris made a lively 36 off 51 balls to put some substance into the innings after the middle order had failed to deliver. At the halfway point, New Zealand was 114 for three, but after Astle went to his seventh one-day 50 -- and third in five games -- off 66 balls he seemed to lose his way. Harris chipped away effectively and their 50 stand arrived off 73 balls. Astle then regained his touch and it took a fine catch to deprive him of a fourth one-day century. England captain Mike Atherton dived left to take a smart catch at short mid-wicket in the 44th over, ending a 75-run stand off 100 balls with Harris. It also put the skids under the New Zealand innings, as four wickets tumbled in 20 balls, for the addition of just 11 runs. Heath Davis survived a solid whack on the side of his bare head from a Darren Gough bouncer -- he didn't even give the head a rub -- to put on an important 20 runs with Dipak Patel in the last three overs. Atherton and Alec Stewart got England's reply off to the now customary fast start, after Atherton had been bowled by a no ball second delivery from left-armer Geoff Allott. But Stewart clipped an Allott full toss to mid-on at 43, Nasser Hussain was expertly stumped down the leg side by Germon off Harris at 77, and Patel and Harris slowed the run rate down. When Atherton responded to partner Graham Thorpe's call for a sharp single to cover, Harris moved swiftly to run the England skipper out with a direct hit, ending a 30-run stand. Fast-medium bowler Chris Silverwood was promoted to hit some quick runs, but was bowled by Patel and when John Crawley was leg before wicket to Gavin Larsen, England was 136 for five, needing 93 off 15 overs. England's hopes rested with the consistent Thorpe, who lost Russell and White in the space of three Astle deliveries. Thorpe completed his third half century of the series in 77 balls, but in the 44th over, with the required run rate rising, he went down the pitch and swung and missed at Larsen. Gough and Andrew Caddick tried to achieve the impossible, putting on a brave 27 before Gough slammed Davis to deep extra-cover, where Fleming grasped the match-winning catch above his head, two metres inside the boundary rope. NEW ZEALAND B Young c Russell b Caddick 11 N Astle c Atherton b Caddick 94 S Fleming lbw b Croft 17 C Cairns c Russell b White 1 A Parore lbw b Caddick 18 C Harris c Stewart b Gough 36 L Germon lbw b Silverwood 2 D Patel not out 16 G Larsen run out 0 H Davis not out 7 Extras (14w, 10lb, 2nb) 26 Total (for 8 wkts, 50 overs) 228 Fall: 28 (Young), 84 (Fleming), 86 (Cairns), 122 (Parore), 197 (Astle), 200 (Germon), 206 (Harris), 208 (Larsen). Did not bat: G Allott. Bowling: A Caddick 10 overs 1 mdn 35 runs 3 wkts (3w), C Silverwood 10-0-53-1 (8w), D Gough 10-1-48-1 (1nb), White 10-0-44-1 (1nb, 1w), R Croft 10-1-38-1 (2w). ENGLAND M Atherton run out 43 A Stewart c Patel b Allott 18 N Hussain st Germon b Harris 20 G Thorpe st Germon b Larsen 55 C Silverwood b Patel 4 J Crawley lbw b Larsen 11 J Russell c Germon b Astle 2 C White c Germon b Astle 0 R Croft run out 2 D Gough c Fleming b Davis 16 A Caddick not out 12 Extras (8lb, 8w, 1nb) 17 Total (47.5 overs) 200 Fall: 43 (Stewart), 77 (Hussain), 107 (Atherton), 119 (Silverwood), 136 (Crawley), 139 (Russell), 139 (White), 158 (Croft), 173 (Thorpe), 200 (Gough). Bowling: G Allott 8-0-40-1 (4w, 1nb), H Davis 7.5-0-44-1 (2w), G Larsen 10-0-31-2, C Harris 10-2-22-1, D Patel 7-0-29-1 (1w), N Astle 5-0-26-2 (1w). Man of the Match: Nathan Astle. Source :: The Christchurch Press (http://www.press.co.nz) Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)