Date-stamped : 02 Nov94 - 06:26
India v West Indies, ODI 1
Faridabad, 17 October 1994

Phil Simmons and Stuart Williams had to negotiate a difficult  10
overs which produced only 23 runs when the first one-day interna-
tional began yesterday at 9am. Then Kapil Dev was introduced into
the  attack  and the West Indians cut loose on their way to a 96-
run victory. They pulled and drove to take 19 off one  over  from
the  man  who  must  now surely bow out of international cricket.
West Indies reached 273 for five off their 50 overs, a total  al-
ways  beyond  India.   Courtney Walsh and Cameron Cuffy tore into
India's top order to leave them at  21  for  four  before  Navjot
Sidhu and Atul Bedade restored respectability with a 96-run stand
for the fifth wicket.

<END> Contributed by vicky (vigneswa@sisko.ecs.umass.edu)
====> more
Hooper is danger-man of the series - Sunil Gavaskar

The first match between India and the West Indies generated plen-
ty of excitement as there were some terrific players who would be
seen in Faridabad in an international for the first time. The In-
dian  skipper  Azhar,  Tendulkar and Kambli were playing here for
the first time and Kapil Dev probably for the last time  at  this
venue.   Then  of course there was Brian Lara.  In the event, all
of them disappointed the  crowd  who  had  come  with  such  high
expecta- tions.

Courtney Walsh promptly chose to bat on a wicket which  is  known
to deteriorate gradually. The early start meant that the moisture
would not only help the ball to move but the bowler who bent  his
back  would  be able to get a fair bit of bounce. This is exactly
what Prabhakar and Srinath did.

It was good to see Srinath bowl with such  spirit.  He  obviously
has  a  point or two to prove and he not only made the ball hurry
and bounce off the wicket but also got it to move.  At  the  oth-
er  end, Prabhakar was his usual canny self mixing his deliveries
and also his line.

The West Indian openers were kept in check while these  two  were
bowling  but  as soon as they were taken off, Simmons in particu-
lar, cut loose and the stranglehold was not only loosened, it was
now applied to the Indian bowlers.

Williams making his one-day debut also grew in confidence and put
on  132  with Simmons. before he was induced to hook by the ever-
trying Srinath. It was a well-deserved wicket, though the   sight
of  Lara walking to the wicket is not exactly a happy one for any
fielding side these days.

Lara survived a confident appeal off the first ball he faced  but
he  did  not last too long, slashing a catch to Azhar off Kumble.
Simmons followed trying to sweep Chauhan  and,  with Hooper   and
Arthurton  new to the wicket, India had a glimmer of hope of res-
tricting the West Indies to a score of 250.

Hooper dashed those hopes with a scintillating innings, the  out-
standing  feature  of  which  was  the way he played straight and
played so late. He has had an outstanding season in  England  and
the  attention on Lara may have hidden his exploits. Hooper looms
as the big danger man for this series.

The final score of 274 meant that India had to race off to a  big
start  if  they  were  to  entertain  hopes  of getting there. By
Walsh`s second over, their innings was in a shambles,  with   the
West  Indies  skipper getting rid of Tendulkar with a beauty of a
delivery and then, getting Prabhakar to drag the  ball  onto  his
stumps.

Cuffy, playing his first match for the West Indies, got Azhar  to
a  terrible shot with Lara taking a fine catch to his left.  Kam-
bli played an equally rash shot and with four wickets gone before
15 overs bowled, India were out of the game.

Sidhu stuck on gamely and played some lovely shots but soon after
getting  his fifty went for a big hit and was brilliantly caught.
Kapil survived a run-out but still was not able to come to  terms
with  the  West  Indian bowlers. He was hampered by a calf muscle
injury, occured while bowling, which did not allow him free move-
ment.

Atul Bedade had the selectorial question mark  against  his  name
but  he  played  in his usual fashion taking chances. When he hit
the ball it stayed hit and he gave the quiet crowd something   to
cheer  about.  That  was  all for the crowd, which must have gone
back disappointed. They didn`t really get to see the cricket they
had come to watch.

Hopefully, the Indian team will learn from this game and go on to
put up a better performance but they will need to play well above
their best if they are to win this series.

Source :: The Times of India.
<END> Contributed by The Management (help@cricinfo.com)