Santhosh S
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Tour Match: MCA President's XI v England XI at Mumbai, 18-19 Nov 2001 Santhosh S |
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MCA President's XI 1st innings:
England XI 1st innings: Pre-game: |
On a hot Monday afternoon, Nasser Hussain and Graham Thorpe went about their business as true professionals would. These two are the most experienced in the English team and their batting this afternoon against the Mumbai spin attack must have been so heartening for the touring party.
England XI lost the wicket of Mark Butcher soon after the luncheon break, run out by Wasim Jaffer. With no TV replays to ask for, it was a good decision by the umpire Tarapore in the end. Butcher's knock was not anywhere close to being fluent; the innings of 33 off 106 balls, suggested that he was not comfortable in the middle.
In contrast, skipper Hussain showed good technique and temperament in dealing with the trio of spinners. By tea, Hussain had moved to 70 off 124 balls with seven boundaries and three sixes. The most interesting aspect of his innings so far has been the excellent footwork to play the spinners.
Hussain has played a few inside-out strokes through covers and one of that went high in the air towards extra cover, only to be put down by Kulkarni. The bowler to suffer was Bahutule, who has seen four catches dropped off his bowling so far.
Graham Thorpe has looked very confident indeed, playing the ball through the gaps for ones and twos. The stylish batsman from Surrey seems to have so much of time to wait for the ball and whip it away. Thorpe is unbeaten on 45 off 82 balls, striking four boundaries.
The good news for England is off the five batsmen who have gone out to bat today, three have showed good form; Butcher and Vaughan have some work to do with their batting. The MCA XI bowling has looked very pedestrian; Bahutule who is trying to force his way back in to the national side has bowled nine no-balls so far.
Marcus Trescothick and Butcher started cautiously against the MCA XI fast bowlers, Paras Mhambrey and Aavishkar Salvi. Trescothick opened out with his usual elan and the bowler to suffer most was Salvi (6-0-37-0). The young Mumbai medium pacer was guilty of bowling too short to Trescothick, who pulled him over square leg for a huge six. In the meanwhile Mhambrey (5-0-11-0) used his experience to bowl a good spell, getting the ball to swing around.
MCA XI skipper Mhambrey didn't hesitate to opt for the spin attack. The tall lean Nilesh Kulkarni with his left-arm orthodox spin and Ramesh Powar the off-spinner bowled in tandem. There was some slow turn for the Mumbai spinners, but nothing that would cause any alarm. Butcher tied himself up in knots, almost believing that he is walking through a minefield, the kind of approach that is a clear recipe for disaster against the likes of Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble. Butcher has shown enough resolve to guard his wicket and should open up in the afternoon session.
The positive story for the visitors was the excellent batting by Trescothick. He showed a lot of determination and ability to tackle the spinners. Trescothick danced down the track and smashed Kulkarni over long on for a massive six to reach his half-century. He repeated the shot with the very next delivery; perhaps the best of the session and the ball went sailing over long on. The results of positive cricket were there to be seen. Trescothick got a bit carried away withhis aggression and in trying to play a shot over mid-wicket, spooned a catch to Kambli at square leg fence. Powar was the lucky bowler to dismiss Trescothick (60), who faced just 67 balls and smashed six boundaries and three sixes.
The new batsman Michael Vaughan was too tentative in his brief stay in the middle. He pushed forward at a delivery from Kulkarni and the faint edge was well taken by wicketkeeper Abhijit Shetye. Vaughan made just two runs and this was not an ideal start of a tour for the English batsman, clearly suggesting that the battle goes on in the mind, when it comes to tackling spin.
Nasser Hussain came out with a positive frame of mind and went dancing down the track to loft Kulkarni for a four. The English skipper played a cracking cover drive off Kulkarni, the ball racing to the fence. Just before the luncheon break, Hussain danced down the track and cleared the ropes at long off. All the while, Butcher has been ken on defence and a spectator to all the big shots being played from the other end.
MCA XI had an early shock after the tea break. The star of the day Viod Kambli, was caught by Uzman Azaal off the bowling off the bowling of Dawson. Kambli stepped out and in an effort to clear the field could only give Afzaal an easy catch at mid-off. Kambli made 110 off 111 balls with the help of 19 boundaries.
It was quite interesting to see Dawson give the ball more air and get some turn on this track. Amol Mazumdar (4) failed, falling in the same over, becoming Dawson's second scalp of the day, caught by Hussain. Bhavin Thakkar (46) was caught by Thorpe off the bowling of Ramprakash.
Hoggard bowled an inspired in the session (5-2-6-0) and helped put the brakes on the run rate. Dawson, Vaughan and Mark Ramprakash had a lot of bowling to do and they did exceedingly well, given the fact that the bowlers were smashed to all parts of the field in the first two sessions.
It was left to the experienced Sairaj Bahutule to show his batting skills. He remained unbeaten on 52 off 103 balls, which included eight boundaries. Abhjiy Shetye was unbeaten on 10 at close of play.
The English players had a good day's workout in the hot conditions in Mumbai and will look forward to batting tomorrow.
There was no respite for the inexperienced English attack at Wankhede after the lunch break. Wasim Jaffer and Kambli kept dispatching the ball to the fence and accumulated runs at will. They took the score to 226 in the 46th over, a partnership of 126 runs off 23.4 overs, which came to end when Dawson caught Jaffer off the bowling of Craig White.
Jaffer, who looked good for a big score was on 99 when he flicked the ball to mid-wicket for an easy catch. The Mumbai opener made his runs off 148 balls with the help of 15 boundaries. There were a few cover drives and the flick off the hips, which were a treat to watch.
Kambli was always looking for quick runs and he went about cracking boundaries at will. He raced to his fifty by launching an assault on Mark Butcher’s friendly medium pace deliveries. There is nothing special about this English attack, which would have got Kambli in any kind of trouble. The left-handed batsman’s dislike for the short-pitched stuff is well-known, but today Kambli stood his ground, rocking back to pull the balls away to the mid-wicket fence.
The new batsman Bhavin Thakkar is unbeaten on nine and is playing the support role to Kambli. The former India Test batsman has so far smashed eighteen boundaries in his knock. The first session saw just 28 overs and 123 runs scored. In the second session, England XI has slowed down considerably, bowling just 27 overs and yet giving away 141 runs.
Quick runs are in the offing at Wankhede Stadium in the post-tea session. MCA XI batsmen will try to pile on the runs and might go in for a quick declaration by the evening.
After winning the toss and asking the opposition to bat first on a lively track, England XI skipper Nasser Hussain must have looked forward to a few early break-throughs. The MCA XI openers, Wasim Jaffer and Vinayak Mane were in no mood to gift away their wickets and took a heavy toll on the three medium pacers, Hoggard, Ormond and White. The fast bowlers lacked discipline and bowled a shortish length, for which they were made to suffer.
Both the openers took the shine off the ball by striking the ball cleanly past the ropes. The wayward English bowling only helped Mane and Jaffer to put up 100 runs for the first wicket. The introduction of the off-spinner Richard Dawson slowed down things a bit. Dawson bowled an economical spell before lunch (7-2-12-0), keeping the ball a bit flat to deny the batsmen easy runs. The young off-spinner who has played just ten first class matches and has a first class average of 36.41 and two five-wicket hauls to his name, will have to bowl a lot on this tour.
The Mumbai openers reigned supreme against the listless attack and the only possibility of a dismissal was the unlikely run out. As luck would have it, in the 23rd over with the score on 100, Mane drove a ball from Dawson towards Thorpe in the covers and took off for a quick single. Jaffer was not alert to the call and sent back Mane, who fell short of the crease as Thorpe passed the ball to the wicket-keeper Foster, who did the rest.
Mane's promising knock of 33 off 65 balls came to a cruel end. The young opening batsman had laced his innings with half a dozen boundaries and clearly looked for bigger things. After the fall of the first wicket, Vinod Kambli walked in to the middle to join Jaffer. Kambli as a matter of fact hit a Test double hundred against the Englishmen at the same venue eight years ago.
After the customary early innings jitters, Kambli struck a boundary and looks more assured with an unbeaten 11 at lunch. Jaffer has been a picture of confidence and has hit ten boundaries in his stay at the crease. The post lunch session will be quite interesting as MCA XI is expected to step up the scoring rate.
The tourists are going into this match with a full strength side. Matthew Hoggard, James Ormond and Craig White are the fast bowlers in the side. Richard Dawson will get an opportunity to bowl his off-breaks. The wicket-keeping job for this match went to James Foster, getting the nod ahead of Warren Hegg.
MCA President's XI, who are batting first, has the likes of Vinayak Mane and Vinod Kambli in the side. The young Mane will be keen to post a big score and press hard for the opener's slot in the national side. The match should provide two good days of entertainment. The weather is simply superb for cricket, with clear blue skies and brilliant sunshine.
The Teams:
Mumbai Cricket Association President's XI: Vinayak Mane, Wasim Jaffer, VG Kambli, BJ Thakkar, AA Muzumdar, +AM Shetye, RR Powar, *PL Mhambrey, SV Bahutule, NM Kulkarni, AM Salvi.
England XI: ME Trescothick, MA Butcher, *N Hussain, GP Thorpe, MP Vaughan, MR Ramprakash, +JS Foster, MJ Hoggard, J Ormond, C White, RKJ Dawson.
© CricInfo
Date-stamped : 19 Nov2001 - 14:35