Final one-dayer: pitch corners attention

By V.V. Subrahmanyam

HYDERABAD, FEB. 5. The focus on the eve of the third and final under-19 one-dayer between India and England is, not surprisingly, the pitch. It is certain that Tuesday's match will be on the same strip on which a `Test' and the first one-dayer was played. The series is level at one-all and the final match will decide the winner. The English camp is worried whether adequate rolling has been done during the off-days or not.

``They have enough time to do the normal preparations to make the a good strip and I have every reason to believe that necessary attention has been paid to this,'' says Roger Binny, Indian team coach. He also feels that the wicket will not be a vicious turner as many fear. On the other hand, his England counterpart, Tim Boon, is a bit surprised that the same pitch is being used and threw enough hints that the usual wear and tear might just suit the Indians. ``But, that is not at all any cause of anxiety in our camp. We don't expect strips to suit our strengths,'' he retorted.

Both the teams skipped practice and preferred to do some physical conditioning in the health club at the hotel.

Binny is not pleased with the batting performance in the first two matches. ``There has to be lot of discipline. There are too many strokes and too early in the innings,'' was his observation. ``It is time, Indians realise that one-day cricket need not necessarily mean only fours and sixes. Look at the way the English boys picked those singles to rotate the strike and keep the scoreboard ticking in Vijayawada,'' he points out.

The Indian coach also made it clear that if opener Vinayak Mane is declared `fit' for the match, he will be in the playing eleven which might mean Arindam Das' exit. The encouraging part for the bowlers is that the coach has nothing adverse about their attitude even on such a placid batting wicket in the second match. ``They are doing an excellent job. The onus is on the batsmen. Definitely, the England bowling is not extraordinary and I repeat they are just line and length bowlers with excellent fielders to back up. It is a crucial match and hope the boys deliver the goods to finish off the series in style,'' he concluded.

On the other hand, Tim Boon feels the stunning performance of left-arm spinner Robert Ferley and opening bowler Nadeem Mallik is a big bonus for them. ``They instilled a lot of confidence in the rest of the boys and having levelled the series, we are keen to wrap it up to make some amends for the loss in `Test' series,'' he said.

What Boon is obviously looking for is that one or two batsmen stay through the innings to help the team post a big total for the bowlers to do the rest. Suddenly, there seems to be wide choice for English camp as they could afford to rest medium- pacer McGarry and John Saddler for the Vijayawada match and still come out winners. ``This is a real positive sign. We sincerely hope to translate our confidence in to performance tomorrow,'' is Boon's observation.

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

England (from): Ian Bell (capt), John Saddler, Nicky Peng, Gary Pratt, Chris Tremlett, Robert Ferley, Ian Pattison, M.Wallace, Andrew McGarry, Justin Bishop, G.Muchall, Kadeer Ali, Nadeem Mallik, Monty Panesaar and Kyle Hogg. Coach: Tim Boon.

Umpires: R. Pardhasaradhi & R. Chandrakumar.

Timings of play: 9.00 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. 1.15 p.m. to close of play.

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