England can save Test thanks to rain: Thorpe

AUCKLAND: The rain that has dampened New Zealand’s hopes of a Test victory in Auckland has offered a lifeline to a battle-scarred England — but they will need improve their mindset to save the match, according to Graham Thorpe.

Thorpe, now the England batting coach, drew upon the painful experience of a batting disaster from very early in his own career as a middle-order batsman.

His sixth Test was against the West Indies in 1994 at Port of Spain where England were rolled for 46 in the second innings — their second-lowest innings ever, and worse even than the 58 made in the first innings of this Test against New Zealand.

“The mind is the most important thing and my life perspective story can come into play quite a bit,” Thorpe said as England prepared for a thorough examination over the remaining two days of the Test.

“Your pride is dented, but you can’t feel sorry for yourself for too long. You can’t just run off into the hills or hide under the bed, you’ve actually got to get up and go again the next day.”

With fine weather forecast for the remainder of the Test, Thorpe has dismissed the idea of a first innings post-mortem examination and put the emphasis on England looking forward to save the Test.

“The important thing is what happens in the rest of the game and the confidence of the players trying to clear your minds,” he said.

“The rain has probably helped us a little bit. We’re nowhere near out of the woods but it can give them something to focus on and we’re going to have to bat better than we did.”