The Surfer

The silent assasin's warning

Sir Richard Hadlee, New Zealand's greatest player, tells the Observer's 's Will Buckley that Test cricket should never be compromised by the shorter versions

Sir Richard Hadlee, New Zealand's greatest player, tells the Observer's's Will Buckley that Test cricket should never be compromised by the shorter versions. He also talks about New Zealand's forthcoming series against England.

'The players we have are more suited to one-day cricket. We have made five World Cup semi-finals and the Twenty20 semi-finals. Tactically we are pretty good in the one-day game. We believe we can go and win. But in Test cricket we are inconsistent. You have to bat time, not overs, in Test cricket, whereas in the one-day game you bat overs, not time. We might score well in the first innings, but then be bowled out for a paltry score in the second innings. We may surprise, but England are hot favourites.

Mark Richardson, writing in the Herald on Sunday, is also not very optimistic about New Zealand’s prospects against England and thinks their best chance of winning a Test is at Lord’s.

John Bracewell has repeatedly called the current tour the second part of a six-match series and right now I can't see anything other than 5-1.

One thing the team can draw strength from is that England doesn't have a particularly dominant record at the venue for the first test, Lord's. That can be put down to the motivating effect the occasion has on touring teams.

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan is a former assistant editor at Cricinfo