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| | Wednesday, 3 April, 2002, 05:29 GMT 06:29 UK Always a tough nut to crack Tuffey took two huge wickets in one over It's no surpise England struggled to hang on for the series win in Auckland. After all, New Zealand are tough to beat at home, says Thrasy Petropoulos. New Zealand may have taken England by surprise by squaring the series in Auckland, but followers of Stephen Fleming's side will have expected nothing less. Beaten on home soil only twice during Fleming's six-year reign, New Zealand have an enviable record of fighting their way out of seemingly helpless situations. Only last winter they were outplayed by Pakistan in the opening match of a three-Test series, losing even more heavily than they did to England in Christchurch. But once again they regrouped to draw the next Test and, with Pakistan's guard down, they overturned the 299-run defeat of the first match by surging to victory in Hamilton by an innings and 185 runs
Then, as now, Daryl Tuffey proved to be the match-winner with figures of seven for 77. England and Pakistan would have approached New Zealand with their minds set on nothing but winning, in England's case due to the Kiwi's long injury list of fast bowlers. In both instances, however, the euphoria of the first Test served only to intensify the pain of losing the last. In a few short weeks, Fleming had gained a respect from the cricketing world that was beyond both of his predecessors, Ken Rutherford and Lee Germon. Fleming had, of course, orchestrated a 2-0 victory over the West Indies in 1999-2000, their first home series win over the Windies for almost 30 years and only the second, home or away, in their history. Though the result seems to have been a formality, it is worth recalling that shortly before the close of the opening day of the first Test the West Indies were a somewhat daunting 276 for no wicket.
Showing their fighting qualities, New Zealand proceeded to take all 10 wickets for a further 89 runs and then bowl out the Windies for 97 in the second innings. A similar path had been trodden the previous season when they overcame the disappointment of losing 0-1 to South Africa by inflicting defeat by a similar margin over India. And between 1996 and 1997, Fleming's first two years in the job, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe were each beaten 2-0. And still teams travel to New Zealand with victory a matter of expectation, not hope. But in 10 visits over the past six years only two captains, Waugh and Shaun Pollock, have left New Zealand happy men. When will they learn? | |
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