2019-20 was
a special season for New Zealand as it marked 125 years of New Zealand Cricket Council,
while there was no celebration this time around but 25 years ago, when they
completed 100 years, New Zealand Cricket board had left no stone unturned for
the special summer
New Zealand Cricket issued Stamp on this Occasion
1994-95 was
to be special season for New Zealand Cricket as it marked 100 years of the
establishment of New Zealand Cricket Council and the preparation for this had
started a year earlier when New Zealand had decided to invite five teams who
were to play throughout the summer with hosts. It was said that spectators
would be glad to see so many international teams playing at the same time. West
Indies, Australia, South Africa, India, Sri Lanka were to play with New Zealand
in different formats.
The season
had started with board banning three players (Stephan Fleming, Matthew Hart and
Dion Nash were caught for smoking Marijuana) and their first main challenge was
Courtney Walsh led West Indies which had performed exceedingly well on tough
tour of India by drawing the series. Ken Rutherford’s men were mauled in the
ODI series by 3-0, it was not the start which the fans and board were expecting
for such a special season.
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| Adam Parore made a brilliant hundred at Christchurch |
The First
Test at Christchurch was marred by rain, but New Zealand showed better
performance. Adam Parore’s brave hundred, Danny Morrison’s hostile bowling and
Winston Benjamin’s counterattack enlightened the Lancaster Park in a match
where 192 overs were lost due to rain. New Zealand, however, couldn’t take the
confidence in the next match as West Indies inflicted on them their worst loss
in their Test history at iconic Basin Reserve.
Few days
later, a high-profile Quadrangular tournament involving New Zealand, India,
Australia, and South Africa started. Surprisingly,
New Zealand performed amicably well to beat South Africa and India and book a
place with Australia in final but their mental block against the Aussies
continued as the final at Eden Park became a one-sided damp squib. The
tournament was still perceived a success for New Zealand, both in terms of
finances and performance on the field.
Courtney Walsh was brilliant at Basin Reserve
High on
morale, they took on South Africans in one-off Test at the Eden Park and
dominated it for three and half days when a counterattack from opposition’s newly
appointed captain Hansie Cronje put them at back foot. On the last day, Cronje
dangled a carrot for the home side setting 275 to win in 63 overs. New Zealand
went for the target but was gunned down for 181 runs, ultimately felling short
by 93. This also proved be to the last Test for Martin Crowe on home soil.
As the
season turned into bitter disappointment, Sri Lanka arrived as the final team
to tour New Zealand in the summer. Sri Lankan cricket was still in their
growing stage, while they have become a very good Test team in home conditions,
they were yet to win a Test outside Sri Lanka. In such circumstances, Arjun
Ranatunge’s men were deemed to provide lot of joy to the home team who were
expected to roll them over easily.
Things
turned into disarray for New Zealand as Sri Lanka registered its first ever
overseas victory at Mclean Park and started a new era in Sri Lankan cricket.
Things turned even grimmer at Carisbrook for Rutherford’s men as they could not
win to draw the series, ultimately becoming the first team to lose against Sri
Lanka on home soil. The team, however, performed much better in the ODI series,
winning it by 2-1. It was the first time New Zealand had won a series since
1992, telling a lot about the tough times that the country’s cricket has to
face, post 1992 World Cup, and which continued till Stephan Fleming was
appointed captain in February 1997.
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| Jhon Reid, New Zealand Coach sit dissapointed as Chaminda Vass ran through New Zealand 1st Test -2nd Day -12th March 1995 |
The
centenary season was expected to be highly successful for New Zealand. It still
proved to be a good one for the board but a disastrous one for the team, not
only the results went south for them, but the team was surrounded with number
of controversies and news for disputes within team kept on surfacing. Above all
this, key player like Chris Cairns Danny Morrison, Dion Nash and Martin Crowe
kept on getting injured on wrong times. It also marked the end of careers of
Chris Pringle, Murphy Su’a, Darrin Murry and the captain Ken Rutherford who
never played for New Zealand again.
26 years
down the memory line, New Zealand Cricket has completed 126 years and is in
much better position, but the fans of 90s have not forgotten the Centenary
year.
Some of the rare pictures from the 1994-95 season :
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| Deepak Patel vs S.A at Eden Park -7.3.1995 |
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