Cricket / Third Test: Crowe's parting brilliance lifts the Manchester gloom: Atherton calls for England to be more consistent after series win

England . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 382

New Zealand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 and 308-7

Match drawn

THE last two days of this Test match have been teasing and tantalising. Unfortunately this is not because of the quality of the cricket, but because everyone has sat around wondering if the rain was ever going to stop long enough for there to be enough time to finish it.

Thanks to the sort of weather that can give a city a bad reputation there was not, and a series that rarely emerged from the shadows ended in the gloom yesterday with England frustrated in their quest for victory in the third Cornhill Test.

Last year Manchester's rain came before the Test match and made it; this year, aided by the rest day, it arrived just in time to help New Zealand save it.

The tourists, who were staring at a three-day innings defeat at tea on Saturday, thus salvaged their credibility as Test opponents. Having begun the series looking as if they had struggled to beat a curfew, they ended it if not as a truly competitive side then at least with evidence that they possessed sufficient players of promise to become one.

England's heritage demands loftier ambitions and, though they deservedly won the series, their progress has been less clear. This series was an opportunity to create a side to defeat first South Africa, then Australia. Instead, the first series will have to be the laboratory for the latter. The middle-order batting remains as much in need of a catalyst as ever and there is also a need for experimentation in the slow bowling.

One player who already appears to have drunk the magic potion is Phillip DeFreitas, who not only went an entire series without being dropped but bowled so well throughout he was a clear winner as England's man of the series.

The New Zealand captain Ken Rutherford marked him out as 'the difference between the sides' and he remained the dominant player to the end, taking both wickets to fall in the 29.3 overs available yesterday.

The first, which came in the third of four attempts to play, ended a partnership that had begun on Saturday evening, Adam Parore cutting to backward point where he was lithely caught by the unlikely figure of Graham Gooch.

Two overs later DeFreitas gave England real hope of victory as Martin Crowe was drawn forward and edged to Graeme Hick at second slip. The departure of Crowe, who had overcome a sleepless night to gain his second hundred in successive Tests, left New Zealand just 56 ahead with three wickets standing and more than two sessions to play.

Rain, however, brought an early lunch and, even though 40 minutes were possible in mid-afternoon England could make no further breakthrough. The drizzle returned and then a downpour put the match, and the few remaining spectators, out of their misery at 4.15. 'We would have won if it had not rained for two days,' Mike Atherton, the England captain, said afterwards. 'Over the series we have played well in patches. We now have to search for more consistency in all areas.

'We have the nucleus of a good side,' added Atherton although, when pressed, he would not confirm that he felt it was a better one than the team with whom he had returned from the West Indies.

Since then DeFreitas, Darren Gough, Steve Rhodes (all clear successes), Craig White, Graham Gooch (qualified plusses for differing reasons) and Peter Such (case unproven) have come into the side.

None, however, are as under pressure as two of the Caribbean tourists, Graeme Hick and Robin Smith, of whom Atherton said: 'I thought they did reasonably well in the first two Tests, then they only had one chance here and they failed, which increases the pressure. But we will only make changes if we think they will strengthen the side, not for the sake of it. They have the talent to play consistently well for England. It is up to them to do so.'

They will need to do so soon if England are to stretch an unbeaten run that now extends to five matches against South Africa. Rutherford played against them in the winter and admitted if he were a betting man (and he most certainly is) his money would be on the tourists.

'They will be very stern opposition. They are aggressive to the point of arrogance with some very good players,' he said.

Atherton is expecting a hard series but does not anticipate having to face a batsman anywhere near as good as Crowe. Neither do South Africa - nor England - possess a batsman as good to watch and the enduring sadness of yesterday's match is that it probably represents his last innings in England.

Crowe, his body tormented by injury, admitted as much in both word and deed. Having taken a long, last look at the arena before entering the pavilion on his dismissal, he said: 'I felt good walking off, my last innings in England is a Test century and that is important to me. I can feel proud of the way I played in this game.'

SCOREBOARD

(Fifth day: England won toss)

ENGLAND - First Innings 382 (M A Atherton 111, P A J DeFreitas 69, D Gough 65; M B Owens 4-99, D J Nash 4-107).

NEW ZEALAND - First Innings 151 (M D Crowe 70; D Gough 4-47).

NEW ZEALAND - Second Innings

M D Crowe c Hick b DeFreitas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 (336 min, 237 balls, 15 fours) A C Parore c Gooch b DeFreitas. . . . . . . . . . . . . .71 (214 min, 158 balls, 11 fours) M N Hart not out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 (64 min, 56 balls, 2 fours) D J Nash not out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 (44 min, 30 balls) Extras (b8,lb13,nb5). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26 Total (for 7, 466 min, 106.2 overs). . . . . . . . . . .308

Fall (cont): 6-273 (Parore), 7-287 (Crowe).

Bowling: DeFreitas 30-6-60-3 (nb2) (6-1- 13-1, 6-2-21-0, 7-2-8-0, 11-1-18-2); Gough 31.2-5-105-2 (nb4) (3-1-12-0, 5-0-22-1, 5-0- 19-1, 7-0-29-0, 11.2-4-23-0); Fraser 19-7- 34-1 (8-3-12-1, 5-0-17-0, 6-4-5-0); White 14-3-36-1 (6-1-17-1; 3-0-9-0; 5-2-10-0); Such 10-2-39-0 (6-0-24-0, 2-1-8-0, 2-1-7- 0); Gooch 2-0-13-0 (one spell).

Progress: Overnight: 253-5. Rain stopped play 11.29-11.47am. 262-5 (Crowe 100, Parore 69) 83.4 overs. New ball taken after 85 overs at 262-5. Rain 12.43pm, 288-7 (Hart 2, Nash 0) 96.2 overs. Lunch taken early at 12.50pm. Restart 2.40pm. 300: 449 min, 102.1 overs. Rain 3.20pm, 308-7. Play abandoned at 4.15pm.

Crowe 100: 275 min, 197 balls, 13 fours.

Umpires: S B Lambson and D R Shepherd.

TV Replay Umpire: A G T Whitehead

Match Referee: E de C Weekes.

MATCH DRAWN

Man of the match: P A J DeFreitas.

Adjudicator: J P Agnew.

Men of the series: P A J DeFreitas (adjudicator G P Howarth) and D J Nash (adjudicator K W R Fletcher).

Tough guy DeFreitas, page 35