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Cricket
England keen on levelling series
By G. Viswanath
Saurav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar getting ready for the nets.
MUMBAI, FEB. 2. England is all keen to fire the parting shot in what has been a remarkable limited over series for the LG Cup. Its Zimbabwean coach, Duncan Fletcher, said: ``It's time England won a match in a more comfortable way. It's been too nerve- wracking sitting in the balcony.''
The humdinger of a match at the Ferozeshah Kotla on Thursday-a two run win for England-has given Nasser Hussain's team a chance to square the series. At his press conference on Saturday morning here, Fletcher expressed satisfaction over his team's performances in the Test and one-dayers.
Hours later, India's coach, John Wright, said India had lost opportunities in Cuttack and Delhi (to clinch the series).
The sixth and final match promises to be an exciting one. Wright and captain Sourav Ganguly want their side to finish the series with 4-2 score-line. That he scored some runs at the Kotla has pleased Ganguly.
He made 77 batting at No. 3 though he had said he would open the innings with Sachin Tendulkar. Now he's determined not to disturb the Tendulkar-Sehwag pair that delivered 107 and 134 runs at Chepauk and Green Park, respectively.
Ganguly also sounded optimistic about offspinner Harbhajan Singh being included in the eleven at the expense of Punjab teammate Sarandeep Singh.
``The pitch looks good and I would elect to bat first should I win the toss. But we have to meet the selectors before we pick the eleven,'' said Ganguly.
Wright believes that in the overs-specific cricket the top three batsmen are better placed and that one among the three has to take the responsibility of staying put.
About the fragile middle order he said: ``Hemang Badani has won us matches in the past. Kaif has played well. He is a good fielder too. But we cannot afford to have two new batsmen in the middle. We have paid the price for that. We must also have faith in the youngsters. It's not always easy for those batting at No. 5 and 6.''
Fletcher said it would indeed be a ``moral victory'' for England should it win the sixth match. ``It's asking too much of the players to maintain a high level of performance.
You don't get time to practice in the last two games. It has involved lot of travelling. A six-match series is too much. But from the point of view of having taken criticism on the tour and what's gone on, it's been a fine tour.
``We took heavy criticism for our inexperience. It was said we would be knocked over in the Test series and routed 6-0 in the one-day series.
Before the six-match series we took a bigger mauling. So to go back 3-3 would be a great achievement and a quite a moral victory.''
For nearly three quarters of an hour, Fletcher, England's coach for nearly 30 months, waxed eloquent on how his side, with a handful of experts and many tyros, managed to come out with flying colours during the tour of India before and after yule-tide.
Fletcher sounded like a great fan of Nasser Hussain's team saying: ``It's all about Team England''. ``After a win there (New Delhi), our side is on quite a high. You have to set a goal and want to win in what ever tournament you are playing. At the end of the day, there's satisfaction of having earned a lot of positives. At the moment we are 2-3 down and it would be quite an effort to make it 3-3.
``There has been flashes of good showing from our young and inexperienced players who blow hot and cold. But the young individuals have contributed to the team win. It's only with experience that you get the ability to perform consistently.
The Wankhede Stadium, hosting a one-dayer after five years, will be full on Sunday.
lThe teams: India (from): Sourav Ganguly (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Virendra Sehwag, Dinesh Mongia, Hemang Badani, Mohammad Kaif, Ajay Ratra, Ajit Agarkar, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath, Sanjay Bangar, Harbhajan Singh, Sarandeep Singh, Zaheer Khan.
England (from): Nassser Hussain (captain), Marcus Trescothick, Nick Knight, Graham Thorpe, Andrew Flintoff, Michael Vaughan, Paul Collingwood, James Foster, Ben Hollioke, Matthew Hoggard, Andrew Caddick, Owais Shah, Craig White, Jeremy Snape, Darren Gough, Ashley Giles.
Umpires: Messrs Manjit Singh Mahal and S.C. Gupta; Third: Narendra Menon; Fourth: Des Raj; Match Referee: Denis Lindsay.
Hours of play: 2. 30 (p.m.) to 6 and 6. 45 onwards.
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