BY Geoff Dean
BOMBAY: All-rounder John Bracewell, already the star of the five day second test skittle out two of India’s last three batsmen on Tuesday to give New Zealand a 136-run victory.
The Bombay win leveled the three-match series and gave New Zealand only their second test wins in India. The first was at Nagpur during the 1969-70 series.
In the second innings Bracewell, 30, took six wickets for 51 runs to end India’s second innings at 145 just 21 minutes and 34 balls after the start of play on Tuesday. The Aucklander took two for 81 in the first innings.
The victorious Captain, John Wright, said Bracewell’s performance was the best exhibition of spin bowling he had seen from a New Zealand bowler.
Bracewell also performed creditably in the batting hitting two crucial innings of 52 and 32,
Colleague Richard Hadlee finished the second innings with four for39 and the test ‘with 10 wickets, the ninth time he has achieved this feat.
But the day and match belonged to Bracewell, who started India’s slide in the ‘morning when they resumed the innings at an overnight total of 137 for seven, needing 145 runs to win.
He clean-bowled Kiran more for two in the fourth over.
Patel fell to Hadlee in the next over to let Tasman Narendra Hirwani put up the only fight by driving test Cricket’s highest wicket-taker through extra cover for three runs,
Bracewell ended the match in the following over by getting Hirwani to sweep him to Ewen Chatfield at deep backward square; Arshad Ayub remained not out on four,
Article extracted from this publication >> December 9, 1988
