Sunday, Jul 21, 2002
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Cricket
By G. Viswanath
India's Rahul Dravid walks back after being bowled by D. Mascarenhas of Hampshire on the first day of the three-day match.
On a day when the England selectors announced the 13 for the first Test, that included the name of Glamorgan fast bowler Simon Jones, there were no clear-cut answers as to why both Khan and Nehra were not picked for the second three-day match in a row before the first of the four Test series. There were other strange things that happened at the Rose Bowl on Saturday with the visiting side making 202 for seven off 71 overs with Venkatsai Laxman batting on 25 and Anil Kumble batting on seven. After winning the toss and electing to bat, Sourav Ganguly's likely batting line up from `1 to 7' for the Lord's Test found the pitch a sort of a minefield and off spinner Shaun Udal enjoying rare moments of success against batsmen regarded as quality players against spin. The first day of the match against Hampshire began with Channel 4 road show in which Sachin Tendulkar was the main character. He gave an insight of his batting to the Channel 4 subscribers, but an hour or so afterwards he stepped out of his castle with a heaving bat and presented his wicket to Shaun Udal, a prized scalp in his testimonial season. Tendulkar had faced 19 balls in 14 minutes before he attempted to hit out of trouble and Udal out of attack. He failed. He was dismissed at the end where the surface was playing tricks. Sourav Ganguly who followed him saw a delivery from Udal that almost shot through low. The next delivery from the spinner climbed at him. A little later, twice he mishit horizontal batted shots. He was lucky the first time, John Fracis putting down a catch at mid-wicket. The second time, the fielder at fine leg could not come under the skier to convert a catch. Ganguly threw caution to wind thereafter and succeeded in hitting Udal over extracover for four, but eventually seemed to be not happy when umpire Peter Willey adjudged him caught at the wicket by Adrian Aymes. In the circumstances when the pitch was not a great ally of the batsmen, Rahul Dravid, understood the poor quality of the pitch and demonstrated fine technique to overcome the conditions and the Hampshire bowlers. Strong of his wrists, Dravid packed punch behind his shots, though he crossed the half century with a lucky inside edge of medium pacer Dimitri Mascarenhas, while standing up on his toes and with the full of the bat to defend. The ball found the nick and sailed past the left side of the `keeper Aymes to the fence. He made 78 in one and half hours and 115 balls with one six off left arm seamer James Hamblin and ten fours. Dravid's knock apart, Virender Sehwag made 41 opening with Wasim Jaffer, but it is doubtful if he has convinced the tour selectors that he can stand up and face the England new ball attack that will be operated by the likes of Darren Gough, Matthew Hoggard, Dominic Cork and Simon Jones who is said to be a genuine fast bowler. Sehwag had five fours in his 41. If the three-day match at Rose Bowl leading up to the first Test at Lord's next Thursday was meant to be a preparatory warm up, then both Khan and Nehra or one of them should have figured in the eleven. They were in the 13 announced by the team on Friday afternoon, but surprisingly both did not figure in the team's scheme of things. It has been smooth sailing so far on all counts in this tour of England, with the tour selectors showing clarity of thought in picking the teams for the NatWest Trophy III triseries. But on Saturday, the selectors might have introduced an element of mystery by not considering both the seamers. It was gathered that both Khan and Nehra have been rested. Both did not play the first three-day match against the West Indies `A at Arundel. Bowlers, especially Khan and Nehra, have to be preserved, because injuries have laid low and rendered them out of action. Memory is not short to forget the performance of the two seamers when they arrived in Bloemfontien for the first Test last November and were thrashed all over the St. Georges Park by Gary Kirsten and Herschelle Gibbs, Nehra ending up with figures of 2 for 121 and Khan 0 for 98 in the first innings of that Test. The reason attributed for Khan and Nehra's poor bowling then was that they were not match-fit. Both were dropped for the second Test at Port Elizabeth. But they prospered once they strengthened their limbs and muscles and got their rhythm, the result of which was evidenced in the West Indies when Khan took 15 wickets in five Tests and Nehra, 12 in four Tests.
The scores: India _ 1st innings: W. Jaffer c Aymes b Tomlinson 13, V. Sehwag b Udal 41, R. Dravid b Mascarenhas 78, S. Tendulkar c Mascarenhas b Udal 3, S. Ganguly c Aymes b Udal 21, V.V.S. Laxman c Johnson b Udal 38, A. Ratra lbw b Hamblin 1, S. Bangar c Crawley b Udal 4, A. Kumble c Prittipaul b Johnson 8, Harbhajan c & b Tomlinson 18, T. Yohannan (not out) 0, Extras (b-2, lb-5, nb-4) 11, Total 236. Fall of wkts: 1-39, 2-99, 3-103, 4-154, 5-164, 6-175, 7-184, 8-216, 9-222. Hampshire bowling: Mascarenhas 11-6-26-1, Tomlinson 15.1-1-55-2, Hamblin 13-3-41-1, Johnson 11-2-45-1, Udal 29-5-59-5, Prittipaul 2-0-3-0.
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