Cricket: 'I almost made it to double figures'

Former New Zealand captain Geoff Rabone can't help suppressing a chuckle when he hears the present test side complaining about their second-innings blues.

The man who played a dozen tests between 1949 and 1955 knows what it is like to struggle against the odds - he had to bounce back 50 years ago after the New Zealand side he was captaining were bowled out for a record innings low of 26.

The fateful test began on Friday, March 25, 1955; continued on the Saturday in front of 30,000 patrons, broke for a day of worship on Sunday, and was all wrapped up on the Monday, after the mother of all collapses.

"It's happening again, this second-innings problem," the 83-year-old said this week. "But thankfully nothing as bad as what we went through 50 years ago."

Rabone puts the capitulation down to a number of factors, the most influential being the calibre of the opposition, the standard of some of the New Zealand batting, and the state of the Eden Park pitch.

The night before the ignominious showing, vandals had taken the covers off the block, leaving it exposed to the autumnal conditions.

Reports at the time suggested that, because there was no rain overnight, the surface was unaffected, an assessment that Rabone vigorously disputes.

"No, I didn't agree with that at all," he said. "It had a hell of an effect on the pitch, unfortunately. It was dreadful, just dreadful to bat on.

"It was a wet-weather, damp pitch, and it was doing everything. There had been a dew the previous night, and although it might not have rained, the surface had been considerably freshened up."

To make matters worse for New Zealand, England off-spinner Bob Appleyard was almost tailor-made for the conditions, his brisk off-spin preventing the batsmen from using their feet, while still gaining alarming purchase.

It was Appleyard who tore the middle out of the New Zealand innings, taking four for seven off six overs as he and his close-in catchers built on a spectacular opening from England bowler Frank Tyson.

Rabone said Tyson might have had the pace and Brian Statham the line-and-length, but Appleyard was the biggest threat in the conditions.

"Bob was a tall Yorkshireman, and used to bowl these quick cutters, quicker than Underwood," he said.

"He was very awkward and often had the ball going over our shoulders as we played forward. It was very difficult.

"They had these blokes like Colin Cowdrey and Peter May catching around the bat, and they were very sharp at their work."

Rabone's role at the time was batting at No 6 and trying to hold together the tail, but he eventually became the ninth wicket to fall after being adjudged leg-before to Statham.

The dismissal followed a desperate attempt to prolong the inevitable when he appealed against the light at 22 for eight - apparently because he could no longer see anyone at the end of the tunnel.

Rabone remembers that his appeal had been greeted with boos from the crowd, something he also experienced in South Africa - but said he now sees the humour in the situation.

"Why not," he chuckled. "It was mid-afternoon, a gloomy day - and, as it turned out, it was to get a lot gloomier. I think I asked [umpire] Clyde Harris, and he gently responded that the light was fine."

To make matters worse for Rabone, he inside-edged the next ball from Statham on to his pad, but was still given leg-before by Harris.

"I was on seven at the time and who knows - I might have made 12.

"It didn't matter a hell of a lot, but Clyde later described it as one of the worst moments of his career - mistakenly giving me out leg-before. It was just one of those things."

Rabone said there were consequences from the humiliation because the players had to cope with the subsequent lampooning and wise-cracking, although he often thought some commentators became carried away with their rhetoric.

"One thing I did object to was when people used the word "disgraceful" to describe our performance.

"It was many things, that batting effort, but it was never disgraceful.

"Everyone gave their all, and we were out-gunned on the day. Everyone tried as hard as they could - how that could be seen as disgraceful?"

As for the New Zealand dressing room afterwards, Rabone said it wasn't exactly the most joyous of occasions; he had been to "happier functions", and recalled there wasn't any talking.

"It really knocked us around, when I think back. Cowdrey and May came into our dressing room and were very gracious, absolutely. They were a tough side - but they were fair minded."