The Hindu : Kiwis complete a clean sweep

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 23, 2002

Sport

Sport - Cricket

Kiwis complete a clean sweep

By S. Dinakar

The New Zealand team poses with National Bank Series trophy after winning the second Test and the series against India in Hamilton on Sunday. — Photo: N. Balaji

Hamilton Dec. 22. There are hopes, there are dreams ...and then they die. Life's like that and cricket's like that.

It was a 26-year-old quest. Could the Indians finally win a Test in New Zealand after several futile attempts?

In a low scoring game that twisted and turned like a slippery snake, they certainly were in with a chance on the fourth day, with the Kiwis still requiring 136, even if they had all the wickets in hand.

But, by now, the pitch, having become drier under the sun, had settled down well, and batting was less of a challenge. The odds were in favour of New Zealand.

And when Robbie Hart turned Aashish Nehra, who otherwise bowled with heart to grab three wickets, for a single to clinch the second National Bank Test for New Zealand by four wickets, it meant the Indians would have to wait much longer.

New Zealand thus completed a clean `2-0' sweep at the Westpac Park, here, on Sunday, getting to 160 for six, while the Indians, who fought well on the field, trooped back a disappointed lot.

During the tense final stages of the match, the tall Jacob Oram it was, who guided his side home, leaning into his cover-drive off Harbhajan Singh, square-driving Nehra, and running his singles well.

Oram, following up his useful display with the ball, remained unbeaten on 26, worth its weight in gold in a low scoring contest; the contributions of opener Mark Richardson (28) and captain Stephen Fleming (32) were also crucial to the eventual outcome. And the Kiwi ploy of testing the Indian batsmen on green, seaming pitches worked.

The Man of the Match, predictably, was Darryl Tuffey, whose eight wickets in the Test, proved decisive. The home-boy had delivered yet again at Hamilton.

Earlier, Parthiv Patel, so impressive behind the stumps, had flung himself to his left to grab an absolute blinder when Nathan Astle gloved one down the leg-side off Zaheer Khan. A spectacular piece of catching it was, and the Indians were full of beans then.

New Zealand was 105 for five at that stage, and judging by the happenings in the Test, the home side still had a fair distance to travel. However, Scott Styris, who drove Zaheer and Harbhajan for boundaries, and Oram, put together a precious sixth wicket partnership of 31, before Styris top-edged a cut off Harbhajan into Patel's gloves.

Oram and Hart then ran their singles well, but had Sanjay Bangar hit the stumps at the striker's end from square-leg, it would have been curtains for Hart. Worse, with none backing up, India conceded four overthrows. The message was clear — there would be no comebacks for India.

As it turned out, the Hamilton Test went without a half-century. If we take the number of playing hours into consideration, the Test finished inside two days, and in just 176.5 overs.

Dark moment for Ganguly

It was a particularly dark moment for skipper Sourav Ganguly, who rung in the changes, marshalled his men well on the field, but the performance of the batsmen, himself included, had let the side down. This is the first occasion, when he has been `blanked' by the opposition in a Test series.

Indeed, the Indian bowlers had performed exceptionally well at Westpac Park to bring their team back into contention, only to see the batsmen faltering again — not once in four innings did India, despite `the heavyweights' in the line-up, cross 200 in this series.

The match was on the boil when proceedings began on the `Big Sunday.' Ganguly started with Zaheer Khan and Tinu Yohannan, though there may have been a case for giving Harbhajan a fling from the far end, since the pitch was still `gripping.'

But then, it was the Kerala paceman who drew the first blood, moving one away from Lou Vincent, and finding a thin edge for Patel to accept the offering.

Yohannan operated to a steady off-stump line from the far end and the Indian plan was simple — Yohannan would choke them, while Zaheer and Nehra would go for wickets from the pavilion end, where there was extra assistance for the seamers.

Richardson was just getting into his stride, off-driving Yohannan to the fence, when Nehra snared the left-hander outside the off-stump, Patel once again making no mistake.

There was much pressure on Craig McMillan as he walked into the middle — he has not been among runs, and worse, he has appeared in terrible nick at the crease.

Fleming did not waste much time before having a talk with McMillan and the chunky right-hander did put his head down, cutting out the frills. However, when Yohannan, in a rare moment of waywardness, strayed down the leg-side with a packed off-side field, McMillan was quick to dismiss him to the fence.

After Yohannan ended his spell of 7-1-16-1, Zaheer took over at the far end; Nehra had earlier been handed the responsibility from the pavilion side.

Fleming on-drove and cover-drove Zaheer, who struggled to get into the right rhythm today, with panache when the left-arm paceman erred in length, and the New Zealand innings was ticking along well.

Nehra operated with fire though, bowling at a sharp pace and rediscovering his ability to swing it both ways, putting the seeds of doubts in the minds of the batsmen.

When Harbhajan replaced Zaheer, McMillan using his feet well, freed his arms against the off-spinner, with a six over mid-wicket. However, not much later, the Indians had reasons to celebrate when Zaheer, running in from mid-on, narrowly avoided a collision with bowler Nehra, and hung on to the catch for his dear life, after Fleming miscued a pull.

Just one run had been added to the Kiwi score of 89 when Nehra struck again, getting the delivery to hold its line and winning a leg-before verdict against McMillan. Ninety for four it was then, and 105 for five it became after Patel's brilliant effort to get rid of Astle.

The Kiwis went to lunch at an uneasy 119 for five, and after the break, Harbhajan, obtaining some turn, operated with a silly point and a short leg, as Ganguly strove to build up the pressure. However, this was not to be India's day.

The Indians would be looking back at the Test as an opportunity missed — they had a wonderful chance to put the Test beyond New Zealand on the third day, but the batsmen once again were found wanting, during a time when the conditions for batting had eased out somewhat.

The turning point was the dismissal of Sachin Tendulkar on the third day, just when the Tendulkar — Rahul Dravid association was assuming threatening proportions for New Zealand.

Once Tuffey had Tendulkar inner-edging a drive to terminate the stand, the `path' for the sweep had cleared for the host. Virender Sehwag's cameo notwithstanding, Dravid could not string together partnerships after Tendulkar's departure.

And ...it was the end of yet another great Indian dream. But then, one dream dies and another begins. That's life, that's cricket.

SCOREBOARD

INDIA — 1st innings: 99

NEW ZEALAND —
1st innings: 94

INDIA — 2nd innings: 154

NEW ZEALAND — 2nd innings:

M. Richardson c Patel 28

b Nehra

(71b, 3x4)

L. Vincent c Patel

b Yohannan 9

(52b, 1x4)

S. Fleming c Zaheer

b Nehra 32

(58b, 5x4)

C. McMillan lbw b Nehra 18

(22b, 2x4, 1x6)

N. Astle c Patel b Zaheer 14

(28b, 1x4)

S. Styris c Patel

b Harbhajan 17

(37b, 2x4)

J. Oram (not out) 26

(40b, 3x4)

R. Hart (not out) 11

(21b, 1x4)

Extras (lb-4, nb-1) 5

— —

Total (for six wickets) 160

— —