Finest cricketing day in England for Kiwis in 52 years

CRICKET: It was a day to celebrate ...... August 1st 1983 for the New Zealanders. It turned out to be the finest day in England for the Kiwis in 52 years. For the first time ever, the New Zealanders recorded a Test win on English soil at the 29th attempt when Geoff Howard - led New Zealand to beat England by 5 wickets at Headingley, Leeds, despite captain Bob Willis's super human bowling effort to stop them from getting a mere 101 runs needed for victory.

New Zealand were then claiming to regard themselves a front-rank Test nation with five wins in their last 10 Tests - the - 1980-8 rubber against India won outright 1-0 with 2 drawn, the 1982-83 "rubber" against Sri Lanka also won outright 2-0, and they were then level pegging with England after the first two Tests of the 1983 "rubber".

This was New Zealand's 16th triumph in 152 Tests, their 5th on an overseas tour in 77 Tests, and their 2nd against England in 55 Tests. Their previous 72 Test-run win bad come under the captaincy of Mark Burgess at Basin Reserve, Wellington on February 15th 1978, against Geoff Boycott's team when England - requiring only 137 in the fourth innings to win - were bowled out for a paltry 64, Ian Botham top-scoring with 19 and Richard Hadlee taking 6 for 26 for match figures of 10 for 100.

New Zealand's first ever win by 190 runs had come at the 45th attempt after trying for 26 years on March 13th 1956, at Eden Park, Auckland, against Denis Atkinson's West Indies team who required 267 runs in the fourth innings to win, but were bowled out for only 77, Everton Weekes top-scoring with 31, John Reid was the Kiwi skipper.

New Zealand then won two exciting Tests for the first time on foreign soil, again under John Reid's stewardship, in South Africa - first on January 4th 1962, at Newlands, Cape Town, when they defeated Jackie McGlew's Springboks in the third Test by 72 runs, and then squared the 1961-62 rubber by winning the fifth and final Test by 40 runs at St. George's Park, Port Elizabeth, on February 20th 1962. In remaining two of New Zealand's five overseas wins came, one each in India and Pakistan - Kiwis beat India by 169 runs on October 8th 1969, with India being bowled out for 109, the captain Mansur Pataudi top-scoring with 28 and another, Howarth, Geoff's brother Hadlee, taking 5 for 34 for match figures of 9 for 100.

Then on November 2nd 1969 Pakistan lost to the Kiwis. Then India lost 3 other Tests against the Kiwis in New Zealand soil on February 17th 1976.

Came India's turn and Sunil Gavaskar led India and lost to Geoff Howarth's Kiwis on February 25th 1981 by 62 runs.

Then earlier, on February 13th 1980 New Zealand got a close win when Clive Lloyd's Windies lost when last pair of Gary Troup and Stephen Boock scrambled a leg-bye to reach the modern winning target of 104 in the fourth innings with just one wicket left. This was Geoff Howarth's first-ever Test as Kiwi captain.

Howarth's record very satisfying

Howarth's record was very satisfying upto then - out of 15 Tests upto the Headingley in which Howarth had led New Zealand, there were 6 wins, 6 draws and only 3 defeats. The West Indies under Gary Sobers has also been defeated by Graham Dowling's Kiwis at Wellington March 11th 1969 by 6 wickets.

Australia too has lost twice to New Zealand - the first on March 13th 1974 at Christ Church when Bev Congdon's Kiwis beat Ian Chappell's Aussies by 5 wickets (with Glenn Turner scoring hundreds in both innings) and later on March 16th 1982, at Auckland when Geoff Howarth's Kiwis defeated Greg Chappell's Aussies by 5 wickets.

Before Geoff Howarth's team came for Prudential '83 and the Test tour of England, they had comfortably beaten Sri Lanka led by Somachandra de Silva in both Tests played - first on March 6th 1983, at Christchurch by an innings and 25 runs, and later on March 15th 1983 at Wellington by 6 wickets.