A fun, festival-style match this is supposed to be, but it is doubtful
that India’s cricketers will be leaving Canberra in anything even
vaguely resembling a jovial mood after suffering a crushing defeat at
the hands of the Prime Minister’s XI at the
John Polack07-Dec-1999A fun, festival-style match this is supposed to be, but it is doubtful
that India’s cricketers will be leaving Canberra in anything even
vaguely resembling a jovial mood after suffering a crushing defeat at
the hands of the Prime Minister’s XI at the Manuka Oval today. Having
permitted their opponents to amass the mammoth tally of 334 for five
off their 50 overs, the visitors’ top order folded disastrously to
ensure that they were dismissed for 170 in response, and that they
accordingly lost this battle by the shattering margin of 164 runs.Against a side which was composed of eleven of the most talented young
players from Australian domestic ranks, the Indians were
comprehensively out-batted, out-bowled and out-fielded today. Their
only triumph for the day came at the toss (upon which they sent their
rivals in to bat), and even that soon proved a pyrrhic success.Representing Australia’s national political leader, Prime Minister
John Howard, the ‘home’ team went on the attack from the outset and
delighted an enthusiastic crowd with some fine aggressive
batting. They treated their audience to ten runs from the first over
of the day (bowled by Ajit Agarkar) and never really looked
back. Capitalising on batsman-friendly conditions, it was the in-form
pair of David Fitzgerald (115) and Andrew Symonds (101) who took most
of the honours from the morning session. Offering something of a
contrast in styles, they indeed found few difficulties on a warm day
in the national capital against an attack which struggled in the
absence of the rested Venkatesh Prasad, Javagal Srinath and Anil
Kumble.Fitzgerald again exhibited how rapidly he is maturing as a cricketer,
raising yet another century in what is proving a golden summer for
him. The South Australian opener did tire noticeably through the
latter stages of his innings, but still found time to continue some
powerful shotmaking; his repeated use of his feet to the Indian
spinners to drive them straight down the ground perhaps the most
impressive feature of his hand. He should have been caught behind on
93, makeshift wicketkeeper Rahul Dravid grassing a regulation outside
edge off Sachin Tendukar’s off spin bowling, but otherwise he was
rarely bothered by the attack.Symonds, meanwhile, hit with all of the awesome power for which he is
renowned. Although it must be noted that he survived several early
scares (including a beseeching caught behind appeal to umpire Peter
Parker off Kumaran’s bowling on 13, and a run out chance to Vijay
Bharadwaj at mid off on 20), he played what was generally an excellent
innings. His contemptuous ability to scythe the ball over the off side
field and to hoist full deliveries over mid wicket was again in
evidence in a hand which revived many memories of his recent century
for Queensland against the same opposition in Brisbane.But as well as the young Australians batted, India did not necessarily
look out of the game at halfway. Such was the quality of the pitch, so
fast was the outfield, and so strong was their batting lineup on
paper, that it was in fact hard to predict just how quickly and
impressively they would be able to score. But neither that assessment
nor the Indian batting itself proved anywhere near the mark when the
afternoon session began. Openers Sadagoppan Ramesh (1) and VVS Laxman
(3) departed inside the first three overs to put the early writing on
the wall.And, at the other end of the innings, the last five wickets fell for
48. In between, Saurav Ganguly (46) and Vijay Bharadwaj (45) conceived
a stylish association of 78 runs for the sixth wicket but there was
never any real momentum in the innings at all. A succession of Indian
batsmen were unable to come to terms with a combination of accurate
pace bowling and excellent fielding, and they proved wholly incapable,
for today at least, of showing the sort of steadfast determination
which they will undoubtedly be called upon to display throughout the
forthcoming Test series. The match was indeed as good as over when
Sachin Tendulkar (1) thin edged a delivery through to wicketkeeper
Brad Haddin to condemn his team to a score of eight for three in the
seventh over. Even the partisan crowd found little about which to
voice any appreciation throughout what was, in terms of
competitiveness at least, a generally dismally predictable finish to
the game.Test aspirant Brett Lee was the star of the afternoon, capturing 4/25
off ten hostile overs. Concentrating predominantly on pitching the
ball up and aiming at the stumps, he showed all of his usual speed and
fire, and troubled the batsmen repeatedly. Nevertheless, he was
allowed to dictate terms too easily and, whilst he did perform very
well, he did not bowl quite as impressively as those figures
suggested. Each of the wickets that he took was indeed as much a
tribute to a lack of concentration from the four batsmen concerned as
to his own efforts, all of them showing a complete inability to play
down the right line against Lee’s blistering pace. Notwithstanding the
fact that he went wicketless, Paul Wilson (0/25 off his ten) also
bowled impressively.It would be wrong, of course, to read too much into this result –
particularly in view of the fact that it came in a one-day game. It
does seem appropriate to conclude, though, that the Indians’
confidence will take a substantial blow after this effort and that the
effect of their win over New South Wales earlier in the week will be
compromised. Moreover, the bottom line is that they will need to find
a way of playing significantly better than they did today if they are
to have any hope at all of matching Australia in the First Test
beginning in Adelaide in just three days’ time.
