Melbourne Test – Day 1

Ricky Ponting won the toss and elected to bat against India in the first Test at Melbourne today. There was much speculation about the pitch, but India’s decision to play 2 spinners, Australia’s decision to play Bradley Hogg and Ponting’s decision to bat first, tell us what Ponting and Kumble thought about the wicket. It was not the lightning quick fast bowler’s paradise that Glenn McGrath had hoped for a few weeks ago.

Yet, in the first half an hour, the Australian openers survived on a prayer. They played and missed, edged a few, but were still there at the first drinks break. They kept going for their shots and went to lunch undefeated with a stand of 111. It was a typical Australian morning at a ground where they’ve won their last 8 Test matches. With the expectation that the wicket would ease in the aftenoon, there was much much speculation that Australia had pretty much set the tone for the series. They had a century opening stand at better than 4 an over.

The first hour after lunch changed all that. With aggressive intent came an air of casualness. Phil Jaques tried to push a seemingly harmless Kumble delivery out to mid off without getting to the pitch of the ball, only to find that the ball had sneaked past his outside edge for Dhoni to effect an expert stumping. Ricky Ponting came in and with 60 Test hundreds between the two players at the wicket for Australia on a flat wicket, things seemed to have gotten better, not worse for Australia. Zaheer Khan had other ideas however, for he produced the ball of the day to dismiss Ricky Ponting. It was a beauty from round the wicket, pitched on a perfect length which drew Ponting into the on drive only to seam away towards off stump. Ponting was squared up and bowled. Michael Hussey came in, and now India were faced with two left handers again. But the Australians continued to convey an casual air and Michael Hussey missed straight one from Kumble and was hit on the back pad. It was one of those split second decisions from the umpire. It was a 50-50 call, but luckily for Kumble, Umpire Benson seems to be the kind of Umpire who will invariably find in the bowlers favor if the batsman is hit on the back leg and everything else seems to be reasonably acceptable. Hussey may be forgiven for feeling undone since the ball appeared to be sliding past off stump, but he will know that once he was hit on the back leg, it was more than likely that he would be sent on his way. Michael Clarke came in and began circumspectly against some tight bowling. At the other end, Mathew Hayden was nearing his hundred and raced through the 90’s undeterred by the 3 wickets which fell at the other end.

The tight bowling however took its toll. Hayden had reach his hundred in 126 balls. With Clarke he shared a partnership of 60 in 20 overs, in which Clarke made 20(60). Eventually, the right hander’s patience ran out and he chased a wide one from the persevering RP Singh and was on his way once VVS took a smart catch low down to his right at second slip. RP Singh didn’t have his best day, but if he erred it tended to be towards a wide offside line, and not down the leg side. The stand with Clarke had spoilt Mathew Hayden’s rythm, and after scoring 24(58) after his century, he offered a tame catch to Sourav Ganguly at mid on off Zaheer Khan. There was a continual threat about Zaheer Khan’s bowling and he bowled better than he 3/93 off 22 overs suggest.

Once Hayden went, Kumble took charge. Symonds and Gilchrist threatened a typically aggressive stand before Symonds failed to control a pull shot of Kumble to be caught at mid wicket. It was the sort of dismissal you would see from a batsman who was being belligerent without really getting a measure of the wicket. One felt for a while during the Symonds-Gilchrist stand (they added 40 in less than 10 overs), that Kumble had missed a trick by keeping the 2 left arm pacemen on and not bringing on the off spinner while Gilchrist was new at the wicket, given the southpaw wicketkeeper’s troubles against India’s spinners in the past (Anil Kumble has dismissed him 7 times while Harbhajan Singh has done so 6 times). But Kumble’s plan worked and both Gilchrist and Symonds well trying to force the pace. This was one occasion when Australias trademark belligerence did not work.

Hogg and Lee, who are not traditional tail enders by any means (Hogg has a first class average of nearly 35, while Lee averages 21 with the bat in Tests) should have been exactly the type of tailenders to produce the kind of stand which has driven Indian captains to distraction in the past. This time however, the new ball accounted for Hogg and a Kumble special accounted for Lee.

Hogg was dismissed in the 87th over of the day. It would have been the perfect day for India had they bowled the Australians out in the 88th over. It would have meant that they would have been able to start their innings tomorrow. The Aussie last wicket pair had other ideas and their 25 run last wicket stand spoilt what would have been the perfect end to a fine first day for the visitors.

Anil Kumble and Zaheer Khan were the stand out bowlers for India. At the beginning of the day, India would have been happy to restrict the Australians to a first innings of less than 350. They nearly managed it with a rousing post-lunch come back . If the Aussie last wicket manages a further 25 runs tomorrow, then these last wicket runs could prove crucial in the context of this Test match.

The bowlers have delivered for India on Day 1. It’s over to the batsmen…

Trent Bridge Test, Day 4 Review – India on the brink!!!

After an unconvincing effort for most of the day, Zaheer Khan and RP Singh produced an inspired burst with the second new ball to break trigger a collapse of the English line up which has become an all too familiar feature in this series now. They lost 7/43 in the first innings at Lord’s, 7/97 in the first innings at Trent Bridge and 7/68 in the second innings today. Their best effort was at Lord’s, thanks in large part to the century stand between Prior and Pietersen.

Both Zaheer and RP demonstrated the ability to swing the ball both ways and got better as the day progressed. Zaheer was the stand out performer. Sreesanth on the other hand had a horrendous day – his second terrible day out of 4 bowling days on this tour. His figures in the first innings were better than he deserved as well. RP improved vastly from his first innings effort. Zaheer’s has been the (potentially) match winning effort. Strauss’s wicket was the opening that kept India in the hunt, even though it was followed by two reasonable stands – 45 with Kevin Pietersen and 112 with Paul Collingwood. It was in the company of Pietersen that Vaughan came into his own. In partnership with Pietersen, he was at his very best. He was helped to some extent by the Indian bowling – 49(58) off Kumble and 14(17) off Tendulkar.

Sreesanth is in serious danger of earning a reputation as someone who is not always honest. He was constantly heckling all the batsmen, even though he was bowling poorly, then he inadvertantly (hopefully) let slip a beamer and apologized immediatly. So far so good. But later, he went round the wicket very briefly and bowled a bouncer which was the biggest no ball in living memory. Sreesanth was so poor, that the commentators were at a loss to explain what he was upto. It was definitely one of the most bizarre displays on a cricket field in a long time. Being excited is fine – but being out of control is not.

India will look to wrap up the game tomorrow. They should aim to score at better than 4 an over and win in style. It has been a memorable game, with Zaheer appearing on the honours board.

Prior chirps….. misses the point…

Andrew Miller writes about the third days play at Trent Bridge. Chirping and on field needle is his subject of choice, and he quotes the new English wicketkeeper Mathew Prior as follows:

“It’s a tough game at the top end and if you don’t enjoy it, you’re going to struggle,” Prior said, while insisting that what is said on the field should remain on the field. “It’s never nice when it’s you batting, and 11 blokes are giving you a barrage, but it comes with the territory. It’s Test cricket, it’s a hard game. We all want to win, we’re all playing to win. You’re going to try anything to get one-up on your opponent, as long as its within the spirit of the game.”

Considering that Prior has only just begun to play Test cricket, may be he might consider letting a few go harmlessly past his off stump before he starts making “It’s Test cricket, it’s a hard game” lines. He’s hardly played Test cricket – most of it has been a home series against the weakest West Indies side in living memory.

When a team is doing well, chirp looks and sounds good and smart. Some wit helps as well. When your 270 runs behind on the first innings, chirp looks stupid. Prior has not been tested and if his professional wicketkeepers appeal which accounted for Sourav Ganguly is his understanding of Test cricket being a “hard” game, then may be a visit to the referee’s cabin will do him no harm.

If Prior wants to learn about chirping, he need look no further than Andrew Flintoff – who’s come up with some priceless lines over the years. Watch this video, and may be Matt Prior could take some of Flintoff’s advice:

Jogging Zaheer Khan’s memory….

I apologize for the title of this thread…. but he has been taken to the cleaners by the commentators at the end of day 1. He didn’t bowl well and much of the commentary has singled him out. Cricinfo writes about pedestrian bowling, Geoffrey Boycott has called it rubbish, as have other commentators.

It would be useful to take the reader back to Brisbane 2003. The first day was similarly woeful and the papers declared “Indian Summer Over!”, clearly fortified with a substantial dose of Aussie bluster. Australia had reached 2/262 in 62 overs on a shortened first day in conditions which were bowler friendly. The next day, the chastised bowling attack returned to demolish the Australians for 323 (8/61 on the day). Day 1 at Lord’s was not quite so bad – the English line up is not quite the Australian batting of 2003-04 and the bowlers recovered nicely in the latter stages of the day. Anil Kumble has been solid as a rock and England seem to treat him with great reverence.

If inspiration is necessary, then Brisbane 2003 stands out. It triggered a brilliant few weeks for India on the Australian tour.