4TH MATCH -- ZIMBABWE v NEW ZEALAND

This, like the first match, was extremely close, and even today Andy Pycroft and Dave Houghton feel the frustration of playing in a game which, they feel, was turned by one bad umpiring decision. Played at Calcutta, the match was watched by 67 000 people, by far the largest and noisiest crowd the Zimbabweans had experienced, and they found it impossible to hear each other on the field. It was a relief to find the crowd again on their side, though. They were very impressed with the ground, with its good wicket and superb outfield. Eddo Brandes returned to the side, although not yet fully fit, but Peter Rawson was still on the injured list.

Zimbabwe, put in to bat despite the new theory, found it difficult to get their momentum going, with Ali Shah being particularly slow and Kevin Arnott also battling to score at first. Grant Paterson fell in the second over, playing a ball into the covers and starting for a run, but being sent back by Shah. Their 81-run partnership was a firm foundation but made it difficult for the team to score fast enough, and this in the end was to prove a crucial factor. Arnott gradually began to open out in what he feels was his finest one-day innings. When he was out, the score was only 121 for three off 35 overs. The players cannot remember the details of the mix-up but Shah, when asked if he remembered who ran out Arnott and Paterson, answered, "I did!" He accepted full responsibility and apologised profusely later.

Dave Houghton and Andy Pycroft both hit out with some daring strokes in an effort to reach an acceptable scoring rate and both made fifties at about a run a ball; the last 15 overs brought 106 runs. The team felt the eventual total was competitive, but would have been far happier with the 250 they felt they should have reached. Still, the batsmen contributed in a good team effort with forties and fifties rather than fifteens and twenties.

Some very good bowling resulted in three New Zealand wickets for 56 runs. Eddo Brandes bowled Ken Rutherford with a beautiful leg-cutter; Rutherford played down the wrong line, trying to hit it past mid-on, and the ball clipped his off stump. Brandes also dismissed Dipak Patel, who lobbed a ball off the pad and splice towards point. Kevin Arnott, fielding there, was rather slow off the mark, but made a fine diving effort and, he says, 'found myself clinging to the ball.' There was a catching competition in this tournament, and that night on television Arnott saw his catch shown as one of the top ten catches so far, a position he kept throughout the series.

When Martin Crowe fell for 58 the Zimbabweans really felt they had a good chance. At one stage New Zealand were 158 for five, bogged down and needing to score at about six runs an over to win. Jeff Crowe was the only senior batsman left, not quite the class batsman his brother was, but had settled in, tucking and gliding the ball away skilfully.

Fairly early in Crowe's innings, he cut a ball down to third man and tried to take on Eddo Brandes' arm for a second run. Brandes threw the ball in superbly from the boundary, scoring a direct hit on the stumps. Andy Pycroft was standing next to the square-leg umpire at the time and saw that Crowe was about three metres short of his crease. The umpire did not respond to the appeal, and Pycroft, puzzled, actually queried whether the keeper had dislodged the bails before the ball hit the stumps. The umpire did not answer, and Pycroft assumed that this was what had happened. When the Zimbabweans studied the incident on the television highlights that night, they could see that Crowe was not even in the frame and could find no reason why the dismissal should have been disallowed. Robin Brown, who was fielding as substitute, feels that the umpire just was not looking at the crucial moment. Even the crowd apparently believed Crowe was out, and gave the umpire quite a roasting.

Shortly after this, Malcolm Jarvis returned for his second bowling spell, to bowl to Martin Snedden who had just arrived at the crease. Pycroft remembers that Jarvis beat him with several deliveries in a row, either hitting the pad or beating everything. With every delivery the crowd roared louder than ever, until when Jarvis ran in for the last delivery it was impossible to hear anything but the noise of the crowd. Jarvis bowled him out with this delivery and the roar of the crowd was virtually deafening.

One crucial umpiring error almost certainly cost Zimbabwe the game, in the view of the players, as Crowe proceeded to win the match for his team off his own bat. This second defeat by the weak New Zealand team was particularly frustrating for Zimbabwe as they felt that, with the exception of Martin Crowe who was in a class of his own, they were the better team. The only batsmen to come at the end were Stephen Boock, Willie Watson and Ewan Chatfield, all rank tail-enders, so the decision in favour of Jeff Crowe was critical in deciding the match.

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