Date-stamped : 29 Jan95 - 10:28 New Zealand vs India. One-off test. 19th - 23rd March 1994. Trustbank Park (Seddon Park), Hamilton. ====> Day 1, 19 Mar 94 Skipper Ken Rutherford rescued New Zealand from a sorry start on a rain hit opening day against India. Rutherford won the toss and opted to bat after more than half of the day`s play was washed out. But his decision backfired when Blair Hartland became Kapil Dev`s 433rd Test victim with only one run on the board. Bryan Young and Mark Greatbatch also failed but Rutherford (43) and debutant Stephen Fleming took them to 81-3 by close of play. Contributed by goo-chie (jdw5@*.ukc.ac.uk) ====> Day 1, MORE This was one of those days we hoped had gone for good. There had been a deluge overnight and water had got under the covers, not so much on the wicket, but at the side. There was rain on and off up till lunch, but play didn`t get underway until 3:15pm when a bit of will might have had it started about 90 minutes earlier. Then at the end of the day, the last few overs of the extra hour were not bowled because of bad light when Kapil and the spinner were operating - conditions in which there was no danger to the batsmen. Consequently we only got through 38.5 overs for the day. During that time, India had a good day. It un- folded like this: The pitch looked good, but in reality is wasn`t that firm on top. As as a result of that, and the injury to Manoj Prabhakar, India opted for three spinners. To fill the hole at the top of the batting order, keeper Mongia was shunted up. New Zealand, as expected, left out Gavin Larsen. Rutherford won the toss and must have been in a bit of a dilemma. He would have preferred to bowl first with the seam attack, but that would have given India the advantage on the last day, so he opted for the defensive measure and batted. So Srinath, at last, had a chance to see what he could do on the first day of a test with a new ball. He started extrememly ner- vously. Hartland didn`t have to play at any in the first over, and very few in his second were on target either. It didn`t do Hartland any good. With Kapil on at the other end getting his usual away swing, Hartland played at one he should have left. He played too early on this slowish pitch and steered it to Chauhan at 3rd slip who took good safe catch. Not to be outdone, Srinath gradually got his line right and with it, his confidence. The bounce he got on this slow track right from the start troubled all batsmen all day and he it was who took the other two wickets to fall. Bryan Young looked OK, but a shorter one had him squared up on the back foot and not able to keep it down. Kumble at gully took as easy a catch as he will ever get. It was the same with Greatbatch too. Against all attacks this season he has looked a sucker for the short one on the stumps. He doesn`t get under it, and tries to play it from his chest with a straight bat. Srinath just fed it in and Greatbatch obliged by spooning it up to Azhar at slip off the shoulder of the bat. Srinath was also able to get the odd one to nip back in off the pitch. He bowled 15 of the 38.5 overs today, and that was a very fair indication of his worth to India. No speedball radar was in operation today, but he looked as if he was operating in the mid 120s with the odd one a lot quicker when he so desired. He operated with 3 slips and a gully all day. All in all, most impressive. There weren`t any further disasters for New Zealand, although Steve Fleming, the debutant left hander was dropped by Azhar at slip before he had scored. A horror start, but Fleming profited from that and lives to fight another day. He showed enough to in- dicate he really is the goods, and hit three front foot shots with per- fect timing for his 10*. Ken Rutherford, promoted to 3 in the ab- sence of the retired Andrew Jones, anchored the innings to- day. He, and the others, were able to get on the front foot much more frequently than they could against Pakistan. India got through 15 overs of spin with offie Rajesh Chauhan getting the lion`s share at 9. All the spinners operated con- sistently with a slip and two in front, one each side. All three got a little bit of turn and bowled tightly even if not such as to appear dangerous. Wrist spinner Anil Kumble was bowling mostly flat toppies, but the batsmen were able to get on the front foot against him. Chauhan was the best of the spinners and got the longest bowl. Generally it was those bat/pad possibilities that gave the the batsmen most problems. Hopefully we will play some cricket tomorrow. Contributed by GeoffB (srlnser@lhn.gns.cri.nz) ====> Day 1, MORE Nothing can be more frustrating than to get up at 3 in the morning, hoping to see a good day`s play of test cricket and instead seeing the ground looking something like a lake, with dark clouds looming large. That`s what exactly happened to me, and surely millions of others all over India today. At that moment, it looked as if there is going to be no play on the first day. So, it was a pleasant surprise, when I got up 4 hours later at my usual time, to see Srinath starting the first over of the match. India replaced Prabhakar with Srinath, thus continuing with the 3 spinners. Mongia will be doing the additional job of opening the batting. It was a bit hard on Ankola not to get a chance under conditions which could have helped his type of bowling. Srinath and Kapil opened the bowling for India. Kapil has certainly slowed down over the years, and looks much more slower when bowling with Srinath, who was able to generate a good pace and bounce even on what looked like a slow pitch. But ironically, it was this lack of pace which helped Kapil get the first breakthrough for India. Brian Hartland, who had probably got used to Srinath`s pace after watching his first over, expected the ball to come faster and drove casually, away from the body to a slow outswinger from Kapil, and Chauhan at third slip held the catch diving smartly to his right. Srinath soon had Young caught at gully, when the NZ opener tried to defend a sharply rising delivery, almost at shoulder height, and the ball took the outer edge for Kumble to complete an easy catch at gully. But, Karnataka fast bowler`s inability to move the ball away from the batsman was sorely evident as he could not pose any trouble to Ken Rutherford, though he did have left- handed Greatbatch in some trouble with his pace and bounce. In his second spell he had Greatbatch, in a way very similar to Young`s dismissal. This time it was Azhar at second slip who took the catch. He would have had the debutant Fleming two balls later, if Azhar had been a bit more alert at second slip. A well pitched incutter (outswinger to left-handed batsman) took the edge and went to Azhar`s left, who inexplicably was rising from his crouching position as soon as the ball was delivered, and hence was late in getting down to the ball. It was an eminently catchable catch, by any fielder, not just Azhar. Srinath also had the misfortune of seeing Majrekar at forward short leg reacting late to a prod from Rutherford which fell inches short of FSL fielder. Among the spinners, Chauhan had the longest spell, and though the pitch had nothing to help him, bowled well, keeping the batsmen under pressure. Whatever little turn he could extract was nullified by the slowness of the pitch. Once, an edge off Rutherford went past Sachin`s outstretched hands at first slip. Apart from that, Chauhan posed no real danger to the NZ batsmen. Raju and Kumble got only 3 overs each to bowl. Raju bowled well, giving the ball more air and enticing Rutherford to come down the pitch. He could have been given a longer spell. On a pitch where there isn`t much turn and ball comes slowly to bat, Kumble might find wickets hard to come by unless the pitch deteriorates rapidly over the next few days. Contributed by Mohan.Das (das@chorus.miel.mot.com) ====> Day 2, 20 Mar 94 The first half hour or so today really belonged to yesterday. Then, Srinath had been the star bowler with his bounce and he continued today in the same vein. Fleming, who looked very much a part of this company, got a bit too confident and aimed a hook at a short one that beat him for pace and which he couldn`t quite line up. He got a thick top edge and was taken by Kambli at fine leg. The rest of the innings is best described as "death by as- phyxiation." You look at each individual ball sent down by those three spinners and each looks pretty innocuous. It will have an 80% chance of being a dot ball. It will likely be a medium paced toppie from Kumble, an off break on the off stump and turning from Chauhan, or perhaps a drifting in and holding up slow left armer from Raju. All these are playable and survivable deliveries. It`s only when you put the whole thing together that a troublesome pattern emerges. The batsman cannot score except by taking risks, so India can afford to have three round the bat - two in front, one behind. So now the batsman cannot afford even one mistake, particularly a bat/pad or a "play too early." As the noose tightens even further, this field will be rein- forced by another player behind. At one stage today, Kumble bowled to TWO slips; no spinner had less than silly point and silly leg + slip; then backward short leg would be brought in to make up a fourth. Indian spinners, working in packs, have operated like this suc- cessfully for years. The only way out is to try some judicious hitting, but the New Zealand batsmen weren`t prepared to do this today, particularly as Srinath had already removed most of those capable of so doing. The combined spinner figures for the innings were: 57.2/19/89/5. Ken Rutherford was the key. He was the only New Zealand bats- man to get past 20, but he had the impossible task of being both the aggressor and the anchor. Kumble got him. Going round the wicket, he got Rutherford on the back foot and playing too late to, and slightly across, a quick toppie. The ball spun from the bat and on to the leg stump. Unlucky, but I`ll bet Kumble has had others out like that. THe finger spinners shared the other four equally, though, had Raju not dropped a catch at long-on late in the innings, it would have been 3-1 to Chauhan. Raju got a bat/pad (Thomson) and a dismissal of the no.11 (Pringle) off an orthodox ball which pitched on middle and leg and took off. Chauhan, who got more turn than anyone, took a c&b (Parore) from a ball which stopped and scored a direct hit (Hart) when the batsman came down the track and was done in the air. 187 all out. India set about its innings with keeper Mongia in as a make- shift opener partnering the regular player Najvot Sidhu. Sidhu has had problems in NZ being caught on the crease not mov- ing his feet. He went the same way today when Morrison bowled him a pearler that pitched on middle and leg and sent the off stump cartwheeling. Vinod Kambli, the number three, we haven`t seen before in NZ and he looked at sea against the pace bowlers. Part of his problem may have been the beauty Morrison bowled him first ball, but Pringle it was who got him with a re- gulation ball an- gled across him. It was too wide to play really, but Kambli drove at it straight to Young low down at 2nd slip. Young doesn`t miss those. In his brief innings, Kambli showed us that he likes to stand up straight and drive in the "V," particularly to the cover side. Sachin Tendulkar looked ominous. Aided by a couple of edges over the slips for boundaries, he got to 35 before facing this Thomson (off-spin) over. Two of the first three balls were "dismissed from his presence" over the mid-wicket area for fours. These were the kind of balls that the NZ batsmen were defending to. Thomson became understandably aggravated and decided to resurrect a bit of skill from his previous days as a fast-medium bowler. The fourth ball was a BOUNCER! Not a very fast one, but Tendulkar swallowed it and hooked it in the air to long leg where Nash had made good ground from square. All this time, Nayan Mongia had been playing his defensive shots off the back foot, defying all that NZ could throw at him. He played and missed only once defensively in his entire innings, and had an excellent idea of where his off stump was. Only a makeshift opener, but he did a better job for his side than those selected for their batting. Remarkably, he has an almost identi- cal wide stance to the Pakistan keeper Rashid Latif. India are ahead in this game, but New Zealand aren`t out of it by any means. Hopefully the stormy weather of yesterday has gone completely and we`ll get a result. Contributed by GeoffB (srlnser@grv.grace.cri.nz) ===>Day 2, more India was in a commanding position on the second day of the first test after they skittled New Zealand out for a paltry 187. Javagal Srinath from whom India expects a lot, was the most suc- cessful Indian bowler taking four for 60. Starting the day at 81 for three, New Zealand lost their remain- ing seven wickets for addition of 106 to their overnight total. Rutherford looked the most comfortable of all the new Zealand batsman getting his 14th 50 before the drinks. But Rutherford lost his partner Fleming when the partership was worth 51 runs. Fleming who made 16 was caught at deep backward squareleg while trying to hook Srinath. Rutherford went next at 63 when he was bowled by a googly from Kumble that didnt spin much. Shane Thompson was the next to go 2 runs later giving a simple catch to Sanjay manjrekar off Raju. The slide continued after lunch when Parore was caught and bowled by Chauhan while going for a fierce straight drive. A run later later and with the score at 155, hart was clean bowled by Chauhan for 17. Danny Morrison later fell lbw to Srinath. Nash and Pringle de- layed the New Zealand innings by 52 minutes before Raju bowled Pringle for 18 to end the New Zealand innings. Contributed by Pranav.Shah (shah@*.umd.umich.edu) ====> Day 3, 21 Mar 94 New Zealand kept alive their hopes of victory by dismissing India for 246 on the third day. India held a 59 run first innings lead but New Zealand pegged back the advantage to just 20 runs by moving to 39 without loss at close. The first wicket stand by Bryan Young (19) and Blair Hartland (18) was the best for New Zealand in a Test match this year. Danny Morrison had earlier inspired the Kiwi fightback taking 4-52 in an impressive display of rhythmic seam bowling. ====> Day 3, MORE New Zealand have got this game back to parity after their effort today. There were five reasons for that: 1. The Indian batsmen were a little too cautious during the first hour when New Zealand didn`t attack and the bowling was off line. 2. The New Zealand spinners held fort very well until the new ball became due. 3. The new ball, not for the first time on the tour, caused the Indian innings to disintegrate completely. 4. The New Zealand fielding effort today was absolutely top class, both the close catching and the ground fielding. 5. The New Zea- land openers safely negotiated the final 21 overs. India scored only 54 runs in the first two hour session for the wicket of Mongia. Rutherford opted for a defensive approach right from the start and this cost him at least two wickets. When Prin- gle was on, he wanted someone at short extra cover for the uppish drive against the slower one. But Rutherford took Young out of 2nd slip rather than sacrificing an outfielder. It wasn`t long before a chance went whistling through that vacant slip position, and Young was moved back immediately. Also a chance went through an unguarded 3rd slip very early on. With Pringle, in particular, not getting his line right, there were some runs to be taken if the batsmen wanted them. But Mon- gia, in particular, and Azhar opted for caution. Azhar was get- ting his wristy leg side stuff going on occasions but was more prol- ific on the cut today. With Mongia digging in well again it seemed that New Zealand would face a big deficit. Then came what, in retrospect, was the turning point of the day. After drinks, Azhar called for a quick single to extra cover but changed his mind. Mongia tried to scramble back, but Fleming`s throw hit the stumps directly, beating his retreat by at least a metre. In the second session, Matthew Hart bottled up one end. He wasn`t getting much turn, but was varying his loop quite nicely and was accurate enough to make all the batsmen watchful. Then out of the blue came another Shane Thomson wicket. Azhar was looking to up the tempo a shade, but unfortunately decided to sweep a full length ball on the stumps without covering the line with his pad. He left his leg stump exposed and was bowled. The new ball wasn`t far away and was taken as soon as it be- came due. After an over or so shakedown, Morrison just ran through the rest of the batting. He got Manjrekar and Kumble with identical balls. Angling in to middle and leg and squaring the batsmen up, he got just enough away swing to take the edge. Both were caught at slip, Manjrekar by Young at 2nd, and Kumble by Flem- ing at 3rd. Meanwhile, Fleming had also taken a great low down effort at mid wicket from Kapil Dev off Nash`s bowling. Morrison and Pringle each got one tail ender, neither of whom got in line, with catches from outside edges. So India, from the good position of 4-183, had lost their last 6 for 63. That long tail is a real weakness. It was marvellous to see those slip catches being held today after all the problems during the away series in Australia. Bryan Young has made an incredible difference. After that it was just a matter of New Zealand negotiating the remainder of the session. This they did successfully, though not without the odd alarm, particularly off Srinath. Kapil Dev too got a couple past the edge. Hartland showed an alarming ten- den- cy to play across the line without showing the full face, but the real alarm had to wait until the final over. Raju and Kumble had been introduced after 14 overs of seam and each bowled three overs. But Rajesh Chauhan it was who bowled that last over, and the turn he got was quite prodigious. Therein may lie the key to the game tomorrow. Can he bowl well enough to make use of favour- able conditions? Alternatively, can the New Zea- land batsmen break those shackles that the spinners put on them in the 1st innings? Tomorrow promises to be a fine day, and will be one of the most interesting of the summer. Contributed by GeoffB (srlnser@lhn.gns.cri.nz) ====> Day 4, 22 Mar 94 New Zealand's batsmen shook off the memory of a dismal summer by taking control on the fourth day. They reached 306-5 at close in their second innings against India to earn an overall lead of 247. With a threatening weather forecast for Wednesday, a draw appears the most likely result. New Zealand who start their tour of England in April were inspired by solid scores from opener Bryan Young (85) and an unbeaten 67 from Test debutant Stephen Fleming. Contributed by goo-chie (jdw5@*.ukc.ac.uk) ====> Day 4, MORE In the last over of the previous day, off spinner Rajesh Chauhan turned the ball square. The question today was could he repeat that and get support from the other spinners, or could someone from the NZ batting lineup hit him out of the attack, or at least destroy his confidence? We didn't have too long to wait for the answer. Starting at 0-39, New Zealand lost Blair Hartland reasonably early for 25, caught down the leg side by the keeper off Srinath's bowling. This brought Ken Rutherford to the wicket. India had indeed opened up with Chauhan today, and he was getting that same considerable turn. Bryan Young, batting well against the pace bowler, was a bit tentative against the spin, and there was a danger of NZ falling into the same trap they did in the 1st innings. Rutherford changed all that. After an over or two to set himself up he hit two sixes over mid wicket off Chauhan in the same over. He was taking most of Chauhan's bowling and played him mostly by getting to the pitch with good footwork down the wicket. His run chart at this stage showed almost every run scored on the leg side. In other words he played the perfect innings against an off spinner on a turning wicket. Chauhan did get him after he'd made 59, Rutherford overplaying his hand for once and yorking himself, but by this time the die had been cast. Bryan Young carried on from where he left off at Christchurch and played a great hand for 85. His strength is the cover region and all his boundaries today came between third man and extra cover. He thrives on width, and since he can drive off either foot, the bowler has little margin for error outside the off stump. Anil Kumble was guilty of pitching at least one per over short and Young took toll of these. Young and Rutherford got NZ up to 172, well after lunch, when both went together. Chauhan got Young as well, Young for once top edging his favourite shot and being caught at the wicket. This is not to suggest that the Indian spinners bowled badly. They were very demanding indeed. Chauhan was still getting turn at that stage, and Kumble was getting a bit of bounce. The big partnership was not by any means played in total comfort. Raju was not used much during this first part of the day, surprising, since he would be turning away from the right handers. At 3-176, New Zealand were in danger again because the rest of the batting order was either newcomers or out of form players. Debutant left hander Steven Fleming ensured that that danger was not realised, remaining undefeated at stumps and taking NZ through to 5-306. His 67* began with a straight drive for 4, but from then on he scored almost every run between square leg and deep mid wicket. He was quite prepared to hit Chauhan against the spin to leg, and this was one reason why Chauhan was more expensive than the other spinners. Fleming hit over the top with the orthodox field in, then milked the bowling for singles in the same area when the field scattered. He was incline to glance and sweep off the stumps, but never seemed to miss. He has that elegant, languid, lefty's style and comparisons with "you know who" were obvious to all. In fact they even share birthdays. Feet on the ground though for Fleming, and he seemed too shy to even acknowledge the applause for his 50. He has had a bit of luck in this game and he'll have his problems later on, but he has shown enough in this match for us all to mark him down as a player of quality. The selectors are to be congratulated for not exposing him to the Pakistan attack first up. New Zealand lost a couple of other wickets, both to spin. Greatbatch was taken at bat/pad by Manjrekar, but the catch was off the full face of the bat. It was particularly worthy, because Manjrekar had been hit on the knee in that position by a full blooded sweep from Fleming in the previous over. Both Greatbatch and Thomson, who was quite subdued today, got some good runs and helped Fleming get the NZ total up. Thomson was bowled by a crazy ball from Raju that he totally misjudged. He came OVER-the-wicket and bowled a slow, flat, long hop which pitched on middle and leg and turned. Thomson was so surprised he missed it and was bowled off stump. By this time with the ball getting old, the bowlers getting tired, and the wicket flattening out, there was less turn. Even so, it was only at the end of the day that Azhar took the new ball when it had been due about 20+ overs earlier. It will be interesting to see what Rutherford does tomorrow. It is only a one-off test and he may make a game of it. If he does, he will need a quick 50 runs. If he doesn't, tomorrow could be a very boring day unless India can clean up the New Zealand innings quickly. Contributed by Geoff.Bethell (srg3lib@*grace.cri.nz) ====> Day 5, 23 Mar 94 India's Navjot Sidhu hit a fine 98 on the final day against New Zealand as the one off Test fizzled out to a draw. The tourists had been set 310 in 66 overs to win after the Kiwis declared at 368-7 before lunch. India finished the day on 177 3 with Sidhu hitting three sixes and eight fours before behind caught behind off Matthew Hart. New Zealand debutant Stephen Fleming hit 92 earlier as the home side declared at 368-7. ====> Day 5, MORE A bit disappointing today with the match just petering out 30 minutes early. The first over of the day set the standard when Steve Fleming edged his first ball of the day to keeper Mongia who made a complete mess of it. Whilst Fleming showed us today that he had the flowing off side shots to go with yesterday`s leg side play, in general the scoring was a little too slow. India contributed to this by bowling the two seamers for pretty well the rest of the innings and by setting defensive fields. Fleming hadn`t got up to three figures when Chauhan turned one away from him and he was taken low down at slip by Kapil Dev. Even then, Rutherford didn`t declare and he sent Nash in to slog and get the lead over the 300 mark. In the event he set India 310 in 66 overs and India never seriously chased it. They had 25 minutes or so before lunch and were able to get through with all wickets in- tact. In keeping with the session, Bryan Young, of all people, failed even get his hands to one at 2nd slip at catchable height. The middle session was much the best of the three. Navjot Sidhu got going and, by tea, had played India into a position from which they could have launched an all-out assault. He was at his best and belted the ball very regularly to the cover boun- dary. Off the spinners he hit three identical sixes over long on. He was supported by Nayan Mongia in an opening stand of 102. But it wasn`t to be. Vinod Kambli looked good for a while un- til he fell to Pringle`s off spinner. It pitched on leg and took the top of off. Poor old Kambli couldn`t believe it. But In- dia had seemingly given it away even before that really. India`s long tail must have been a factor in that decision. Sidhu couldn`t quite make the three figures today and was caught at the wicket on 98 off Matthew Hart. After that it was just a matter of going through the motions until the game was merci- fully called off. Rutherford, sensibly, didn`t bowl Morrison into the ground today. In any case the wicket was far too slow and flat for him to run through India`s batting line up. That was the trouble really. New Zealand couldn`t hope to bowl India out and had to set a difficult target in the hope that they`d get themselves out. Contributed by Geoff.Bethell (srg3lib@*grace.cri.nz)