Binny expects better discipline from his boys

By V.V. Subrahmanyam

VIJAYAWADA, FEB. 3. There is a discernible change in the mood of the camps on the eve of the second under-19 one-dayer between India and England at the Indira Gandhi Municipal Corporation Stadium here.

If the players were in an upbeat mood at the start of the series, their faces said a different story at the nets today. Animated discussions and pep-talks by coaches, Roger Binny and Tim Boon, marked the practice sessions after a thin line separated the winner and loser in the first one-dayer. Though India squeezed home with three wickets in hand, chasing a modest total of 128, Binny expects more discipline and effort from his enthusiastic boys.

Throwing away wickets on a pitch where circumspection should have been the watchword has been the major worry for the Indians. Most of the batsmen fell for the off-stump trap laid by the accurate English mediumpacers. ``They are basically good line and length bowlers with a defensive field to back up, and hope the batsmen will make mistakes,'' was Binny's remark.

The result may well have been different had not Ajay Ratra and Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan come up with determined knocks. Binny hinted at a couple of changes in the batting line-up as he felt that the strip here will be good for batting and take slow turn in the final session. The groundstaff, under the supervision of Mr. Krishna Rao, secretary of Krishna District Cricket Association, and Mr. N. Venkat Rao, secretary of ACA, have done a commendable job in this regard in the short time they have had at their disposal.

For India, mediumpacers Trivedi, Agarwal, Maninder Singh and spinners Vidyut and Arjun Yadav did an efficient job in the first game. It was a particularly creditable performance from the young Hyderabad off-spinner Arjun. There has been unfair criticism everytime Arjun has won a place in the zonal team, without giving due weightage to his percentage game and high level of consistency.

A vastly under-rated player, Arjun made an impact with a century for South Zone against the English boys. The son of former Test cricketer, N. Shivlal Yadav, Arjun is hoping to improve both his bowling and batting, which has proved a major disappointment due to faulty footwork. Playing too far away from the body, he presented a sorry picture and Binny seems to have taught a few lessons to ensure that he and Vidyut bat to their potential and give the lower order the vital edge.

England, on the other hand, will be keen to draw level on a good batting strip. The English boys are determined to write a new script, hoping that the top-order will click and show the required technical competence and temperament in handling the Indian spinners.

The teams:

India (from): Ajay Ratra (capt.), Gautam Gambhir, Vinayak Mane, Manvinder Bisla, N. Arjun Yadav, Alind Naidu, Maninder Singh, Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan, Siddarth Trivedi, Nitin Agarwal, M. Dharmichand, Amit Misra, Arindam Das and Deshpande. Coach: Roger Binny.

England (from): Ian Bell (capt.), John Saddler, Garry Pratt Kadeer Ali, Ian Pattison, Justin Bishop, Andrew McGarry, Robert Ferley, Chris Tremelett, Monty Panesar, Nadeem Malik, Kyle Hogg, Gordon Muchall, Nicky Peng and Mark Wallace. Coach: Tim Boon.

Umpires: Mr. K. Parthasarathy & Mr. S. Ramakrishna (both from ACA).

Play timings: 9.00 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. and 1.15 p.m. to close.

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