Tour match: Queensland v New Zealanders at Brisbane, 1-4 Nov 2001 CricInfo Live Report

Tour match: Queensland v New Zealanders at Brisbane, 1-4 Nov 2001
John Polack

Queensland 2nd innings: Tea - Day 4, Match drawn,
New Zealanders 2nd innings: Lunch - Day 4,
Live Reports from previous days

QUESTION MARKS PERSIST OVER KIWIS' PROSPECTS

New Zealand's cricketers have successfully provided answers for some of their critics during this drawn tour match against Queensland in Brisbane. But they still walked away from the 'Gabba with question marks persisting over several aspects of their game in the lead-up to the start of the First Test against Australia later this week.

Prior to a finish half an hour before the scheduled close, the Black Caps lost no friends today with another highly competitive performance against Australian domestic cricket's premier team. But, as batsmen from both teams sufficiently dominated the fourth and final day to ensure that a high-scoring game ended in a stalemate, so attention turned rapidly to thoughts of what lies in store when five-day cricket comes back to the 'Gabba on Thursday.

Of pressing concern to the visitors will be the form of their top order batsmen, and to the on-tour travails of openers Matthew Bell and Mark Richardson in particular. They have only posted one half-century stand on the entire visit, and they each looked low on confidence as they provided two more dismal starts in this one. To make matters worse, the task only becomes harder now, with Glenn McGrath and Jason Gillespie likely to be their next new ball foes.

And even number three Mathew Sinclair, who struck a defiant 80, wasn't wholly convincing in scoring his runs today. The right hander hit some lavish drives into the arc between mid off and mid on, but his innings was a mixture.

Injury worries persist too. Nathan Astle (9*) returned to the crease briefly after his first innings double century, but remained off the field with a groin strain otherwise. And, even when there, he didn't look entirely comfortable, playing and missing at least six times at Johnson.

With Daniel Vettori and Dion Nash already in the stands as well, Adam Parore (24) joined the throng after he experienced soreness in a leg muscle while batting. Though all remain well in contention to appear in the Test - and Astle, Nash and Parore are considered near-certainties to be fit to play - it acted as another unnecessary distraction.

Craig McMillan (43) provided an encouraging innings, and Chris Cairns (31*) boosted his average and confidence with a characteristically swashbuckling batting cameo, but further worries lingered on into the afternoon.

After Queensland had been set the imposing task of scoring 311 runs from just 54 overs to win, new ball bowlers Cairns (0/39) and Shayne O'Connor (1/18) were unable to shift the makeshift opening pairing of Jimmy Maher (47) and Love (42).

Off spinner Glen Sulzberger (2/75) and paceman Chris Martin (1/59) were also undone in the middle of the afternoon when Andrew Symonds (47) returned Cairns' favour with a display of typically pyrotechnical hitting.

Ultimately, Sulzberger lured Symonds into thrashing a catch to deep mid wicket, therein confirming the widely-accepted belief that the game was destined for the early conclusion that arrived with the Bulls placed at 4/202 and still 108 runs behind overall.

But, unless the Black Caps can redress their problems quickly, confidence in their prospects later in the week won't be nearly as high.

BULLS LEFT WITH IMPOSING TASK FOR VICTORY

To win its match against touring team New Zealand, Queensland will need to score a further 219 runs from a minimum 32 overs in the closing session on the fourth and final day. In reaching the mark of 1/92 by tea, the Bulls have laid an excellent platform for an assault of that magnitude, albeit that they would still need to maintain a run scoring rate of nearly seven runs per over to finish the job.

The post-lunch session was another for the batsmen of both teams of savour. The visitors added a whirlwind 46 runs in just twenty minutes after the break for the loss merely of the wicket of Adam Parore (24). And then their opponents moved swiftly to their score by the tea interval, losing only Martin Love (42) along the way.

New Zealand's closure, at 6/213, came after a flurry of run-making in that brief burst after lunch. Chris Cairns (31*) was the man chiefly responsible for the rapid acceleration in the scoring rate, clouting four sixes in a typically swashbuckling and entertaining cameo. The off spin bowling of Andrew Symonds (1/53) came in for particular savagery.

The decision to prolong the innings beyond lunch wasn't entirely a success, though.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Parore was inconvenienced to the extent of needing to call on the assistance of a runner and ultimately did not take his place behind the stumps at all - twelfth man Lou Vincent becoming the replacement gloveman - when his side later came out to field. At this stage, it appears Parore has only sustained a minor strain to a leg muscle and that the injury should not affect his availability for the start of the First Test against Australia on Thursday.

And, having been forced off the ground with a groin strain ever since completing his first innings double century, Nathan Astle (9*) didn't look at all comfortable in his brief stay, playing and missing at least six times at deliveries from left arm paceman Mitchell Johnson (1/42).

Test opener Matthew Hayden was also rested from duty as Queensland's innings began, but Jimmy Maher (47*) and makeshift partner Love didn't seem particularly disconcerted by the prospect of putting a new opening combination together.

BLACK CAPS' BATSMEN CONTINUE TEST PREPARATIONS

New Zealand's batsmen have enjoyed the equivalent of another excellent net session at the 'Gabba this morning, effectively continuing their preparations for the rapidly-approaching Test series against Australia. By lunch on the fourth and final day of their tour match against Queensland, the Black Caps have moved to a second innings score of 5/167 and thus extended their overall lead to a mark of 264 runs.

It hasn't been an entirely convincing exhibition, though, with the edge of the bat being found several times and several miscued strokes featuring. And the Queensland bowlers - Australian Test squad member Andy Bichel (2/43), in particular - were unlucky in the sense that no more than two wickets fell.

An early blow was landed as Craig McMillan (43) looped an attempted drive at an Michael Kasprowicz (2/39) outswinger into the hands of Stuart Law at extra cover.

Otherwise, the two hours of play represented a sterling opportunity for Mathew Sinclair (80) to continue to come to terms with Australian conditions. With McMillan, he helped take the Kiwis' partnership for the fourth wicket to one of 95 runs and he then joined with Adam Parore (18*) in an association of 63 for the fifth.

But, while Sinclair struck a number of nice drives in the arc between mid off and mid on, he didn't look completely convincing, either.

He did not always move his feet perfectly, and often played well away from his body at deliveries outside the line of off stump. He was also made to feel particularly uncomfortable by a brute of a lifting delivery from Mitchell Johnson (1/36) twenty minutes before lunch, fending it awkwardly over wicketkeeper Wade Seccombe's head. Another mistimed stroke at Johnson ended with the ball landing only a matter of inches short of Martin Love at first slip.

It did not represent a startling surprise to see him fall in that very manner in the throes of lunch as he misjudged Johnson's line in playing back. The result was another edge, and the direction of a comfortable catch Love's way.

With Nathan Astle still resting in order to overcome a minor groin strain, and with only Chris Cairns and the tail left to potentially support Parore, suggestions of a lunch-time declaration are now rife. The Black Caps have built a lead that will not only be difficult for the Queenslanders to run down in the course of two sessions but will also potentially give their bowlers another excellent chance to test their readiness for Friday's date with Australia.