New Zealand v Australia
Cornwall Park, Auckland: 18th – 21st January 1990
Lesley Murdoch won the toss for New Zealand at Auckland’s Cornwall Park and invited Lyn Larsen‘s Australians to bat. The Test match would be played over four days, as would all three matches in the series, so the best opportunity to win was on offer.
There was certainly something on offer in the pitch as the Aussies made slow and uneasy progress in the first innings. Belinda Haggett went for 13, while
Kath Raymont fell for 25. Zoe Goss was runout for 40 and Denise Annetts fell for 19. The players were getting a start, but they were scoring slowly and not capitalizing. At the close of play, with Australia 7/157, it was clear that Murdoch’s decision at the toss was the right one. Sally Griffiths was not out 37 and Deb Wilson was on 0, after Larsen fell late in the day for just 1.
Day two was chalk to the first day’s cheese. The two overnight batters opened the following day with guts and gusto. Griffith carved her way to a century before falling for 133 and Wilson ran out of partners ending with 91 not out. Australia had gone from a grim situation to one of dominance from the blades of Griffiths and Wilson and finished with the massive total of 370.
“Those two girls batted beautifully. Griffo had always been a good bat and Deb was a real warrior… really determined. She had a lot of talent with the bat but maybe hadn’t had the opportunity to showcase it too much until now. I was really proud of them both… really gutsy.” – Lyn Larsen
New Zealand battled against the pace of Wilson, who collected four scalps, and only Debbie Hockley provided any real resistance, not out 126 from a total of 229. Rain had impacted days two and three and there was little time remaining for the Test to be anything other than a draw.
Australia 370 (Griffiths 133, Wilson 91*, Campbell 3-106) and 1/52 drew with New Zealand 229 (Hockley 126*, Wilson 4-58, Brown 2-27)