2009 July 04 | Cricket Tube

India v West Indies - 3rd ODI -St Lucia

I can’t wait to get stuck into Poms

Shane Warne
July 03, 2009 12:00am
THE Ashes. Just the name makes the blood start pumping. Gets the mouth watering.

The history, tradition and recent series have built up the anticipation for what we might get when this series starts at Cardiff on Wednesday.

The 2005 Ashes series captured everyone’s imagination, mainly because of the standard of play and the tension, but also because of the sportsmanship that was displayed by both teams.

There is always a lot of feeling when these two teams play. Not the send-offs and the pointing-to-dressingroom stuff, more the banter in the middle.

That should never disappear from cricket, and I don’t think it will.

I can’t wait until the first Test starts on Wednesday. It should answer some burning questions about Australian and world cricket. Here are some of them:

1. How big is this series for Ricky Ponting’s captaincy?

After the 2005 series loss in England, I think he will feel there is some unfinished business.

He was the first Australian captain in decades to lose the Ashes in England. Knowing him like I do, I am sure it hurt him a lot.

The way he has responded since then, with both his captaincy and batting, has been pretty good, especially in the 12 to 18 months immediately following the loss.

If he can complete his unfinished business and retain the Ashes in England, it will be a huge coup.

He has not got the so-called legends with him - Glenn McGrath, Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist and Co.

No long spells for the bowlers, aggressive declarations, no mental disintegration when only one team can win - all those types of things will be important.

Ponting’s captaincy will be under the microscope from the media and former players, but I think he is up for it.

2. How do the Aussies handle England’s big guns: Andrew Strauss, Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen?

KP will come out and try to stamp his authority from the first Test.

We know he is one of the best batsmen in the world and he has a massive ego.

You have to play on that. There is no point sledging him. I would give him the silent treatment. Don’t talk to him, just let him know you are after him with body language.

You can get him out a bit like Inzamam ul Haq - bouncer then yorker, or yorker then bouncer.

Mitchell Johnson should test him out with the short ball, then set him up for lbw or bowled. And bring on Nathan Hauritz straight away. Let KP try to murder him and Haury will get him out.

If none of that works, Michael Clarke can get him out. Pietersen doesn’t like facing his little left-arm sliders. KP is not sure which one spins and he plays fancy sweeps.

And when KP comes on to bowl, smack him.

As for Andrew Strauss, you have to get into him straight away verbally. Just try to intimidate him, 11 against one.

Target the captain. When he walks out to bat, 11 players should give it to him. Let him know they want a piece of him.

He will be tough to get out because he has all the shots and he’s in good form.

He has no obvious weakness, but he’s a bit loose through gully and pulls in the air just in front of square leg. So a fielder in front of square leg just back a bit is a good option.

Andrew Flintoff has come back firing in county cricket and obviously is a big key. His batting is hit or miss.

He will have one or two good innings though the series, but his bowling is his strength. If he bowls flat out like he did last time, then he is going to be hard work.

He is the best bowler in the world when he is on song.

3. Should Brett Lee play?

Johnson has turned into a superstar. The other two pace spots are up for grabs.

Peter Siddle has earnt the right to bowl in the first Test. He has a big heart, in the Merv Hughes mould.

He could bowl extremely well in English conditions.

The third spot will be fought out between Ben Hilfenhaus, Stuart Clark and Lee. Hilfenhaus and Clark can both swing it and have good bouncers.

Those guys could easily play, but I would go with Brett, provided they are sure he is bowling fast and swinging the ball.

He deserves the opportunity to have the first crack at it.

Bowling is about variety. Johnson is left arm, Lee is right-arm express, then you have someone like Siddle, who is the steady line and length, big-hearted bowler.

That would be a good varied pace attack with back up from Hauritz. He has to play.

Then you have part-timers Michael Clarke, Simon Katich and Marcus North.

4. Will reverse swing play as big a role as it did in 2005?

Last time I don’t think the Aussies gave enough respect to the England bowlers. We did not plan enough to play reverse swing.

Short backlift, batting out of your crease, all those little things weren’t really discussed, and it was not as though we hadn’t played reverse swing before.

This time I know the Aussies will be planning more for it. And Siddle, Lee and Johnson can exploit reverse swing, too.

Australia’s bowlers were reversing the ball in 2005, but there’s no doubt England executed it better than we did. We had so many left-handers and Flintoff around the wicket - even over the wicket - to guys such as Hayden was phenomenal.

Matthew Hoggard, Simon Jones and Steve Harmison were also brilliant.

It is hot in England at the moment, so the wickets are going to be really dry. They are going to spin as well.

5. Openers Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer had problems in 2005. How will Simon Katich and Phillip Hughes go this time?

Once again we have two left-handers, while England’s probable opening bowlers are James Anderson and Ryan Sidebottom, or Stuart Broad.

Those guys bowl extremely well to left-handers and they will swing the new ball. Anderson can swing it both ways.

Hughes’ technique will really be under the microscope. His weakness is the ball swinging back in to get him lbw, because he does give himself a bit of room.

He bats on leg stump or just outside. At times people think he is backing away. He’s not. He’s not scared, because he plays the short ball very well. That’s just his technique.

If they bowl too straight to Katich, he can really hurt them because his strength is through the on-side. They will try to get Hughes out bowled or lbw.

The plan for Katich will be to try to push it across him looking for an edge.

The new ball is the key to both teams. They have to take early wickets with the cherry because they are going to be flat wickets.

6. Can Mike Hussey bounce back?

Hussey took to Test cricket like he was born to do it; this is the first time he’s had a form slump.

He has to find some runs. He’s not an automatic selection.

The good thing is he got a big hundred in the lead-up game.

That will give him some confidence, but he still needs runs in that first Test to consolidate his spot - to get the monkey off his back, to stop people talking about it, get the selectors thinking he demands his spot.

But he is going to have to come in and face reverse swing and/or spin straight away. So it is not going to be easy for him because he is not the best player of spin.

He needs to stamp his authority on the series early. Clarke at five is the key member of the Australian team because of all the guys, he is the standout player of spin bowling.

The wickets will turn and England will play two spinners, so when he comes in he is likely to be facing spinners.

He can turn a game with his footwork, he can manipulate the field. He is in the Darren Lehmann, Mark Waugh mould of playing spin.

7. What about England’s spinners. Are they any good?

There are three spinners going for two spots: Monty Panesar, Graeme Swann and Adil Rashid.

Rashid is a 21-year-old leg-spinning all-rounder who I would give the nod to partner Swann. He adds variety, a bit of mystery; no one has seen him.

Panesar is not taking wickets at Northants and a jolt will make him hungry. Rashid batting at eight will also give England a bit more depth.

Swann is a very talented cricketer. He bowls very similar to Hauritz, is a handy batsman down the order and a pretty good fielder.

Swann’s confidence is up and he has a swagger. I will be looking for guys such as Clarke to whack him around and knock him off his perch straight away.

8. How will the series play out?

If you had to put your house on someone, you’d have to pick Australia, but you would not be surprised if England won.

Australia’s win in South Africa was a phenomenal effort. The team has been in transition, but that transition period is over.

The new blood have all played enough games now, they know a bit more about Test cricket. That it is not easy.

It’s tough and this is the biggest series of them all.

Forget playing India and South Africa, the Ashes in England is the biggest series of all.

How they respond will determine the result.

THE BOTTOM LINE

We know that the Cardiff pitch will turn, that England is going to play two spinners and Australia hasn’t played spin very well recently, so England is favourite for the first Test.

But as the series moves on to Lord’s and other venues, Australia’s fast bowlers will really come into play.

I say 2-1 to Australia.

India snatch lead with last-over win

The Bulletin by Sriram Veera
July 3, 2009

India 159 for 4 (Karthik 47, Dhoni 46*, Gambhir 44) beat West Indies 185 for 7 (Sarwan 62, Nehra 3-21) by six wickets (D/L method)

How they were out

MS Dhoni and India kept their nerve on a frustrating day of rain delays to take a 2-1 series lead in St Lucia. It was still anybody’s game when India needed 11 off the final over, but Dhoni slammed the second ball over deep midwicket to put the visitors on course for victory.

India threatened to lose their way in the chase after a solid start provided by Dinesh Karthik before Dhoni hauled them past the line. The rain-breaks initially readjusted their target to 195 in 27 overs before a further shower reduced it to 159 in 22 overs.

When Karthik fell after a fine 47 India needed a relatively comfortable 111 from 89 balls, and at the next rain-break they needed 64 from 51 balls with nine wickets in hand, but a succession of wickets left India requiring 34 in four overs. It came down to the last over. Curiously, Chris Gayle turned to Jerome Taylor, who had a poor game, instead of Ravi Rampaul, who had bowled a pretty decent 20th over. Dhoni killed the contest in the second ball with a six over deep midwicket. He picked the slower one and used his bottom-hand to swipe it with the wind over midwicket boundary. Dhoni and Yusuf Pathan got the remaining four runs with a ball to spare.

Dhoni had shepherded the tail end of the chase calmly, taking care to preserve his wicket even as his partners deserted him. Yuvraj Singh holed out to long-on and Rohit Sharma swung to deep midwicket but Dhoni hung around, hitting the occasional four to make sure the game didn’t get away from India. And he effectively finished the game with that six in the last over. However, it was Karthik who set the platform with a fine knock, with a little bit of help from West Indies.

On this soft track, West Indies erred by bowling short to Karthik, who, unlike a few of his team-mates, likes playing the pull shot. It was slightly surprising that Jerome Taylor didn’t repeat his first delivery - a gem that was full and shaped away late past the outside edge - to Karthik again during his opening spell. It was that delivery that had got Karthik in the previous game too but that length was rarely seen today.

Karthik looked in fine touch, unfurling several spanking pulls and cuts. He started with a pull, followed it with a caressed extra-cover drive before playing a fierce upper cut over backward point for three consecutive boundaries against Taylor. Karthik never let the momentum slip after that. Even Dwayne Bravo bowled short at him and Karthik pulled him for a four and a stunning six. In between, he kept the singles and twos coming. It was a polished performance which was cut short by an unnecessary scramble for a single after Gambhir had cut straight to Rampaul at backward point.

Gambhir played a sedate hand today. He didn’t look too comfortable at the start, almost ran himself out on three occasions, and hit his first boundary only in the 12th over. However, unlike in the recent past, he didn’t try to hit his way out of trouble; he was willing to look ugly. He eventually fell, edging behind an attempted cut Sulieman Benn but Dhoni made sure India won the game.

Just as they tried gamely in the end of the chase to create a flutter, West Indies had earlier batted well to post a competitive total despite the frequent rain breaks. Dhoni won a crucial toss and made the obvious decision to bowl as no one knew how many overs the team batting first will get to play on a rainy day at St Lucia. West Indies rallied through a frenetic start provided by Gayle and a composed knock by Ramnaresh Sarwan to reach 185 for 7 at the end of their allotted 27 overs.

Gayle started like a runaway train, putting immense pressure on Ishant Sharma and Ashish Nehra. Time and again, Gayle thrust his back foot back and across, opened his stance and depending on the line, hit to the on or off side. The stand-out shot, though, was when he disregarded the line and swat-pulled an Ishant delivery from well outside off to deep midwicket. Gayle didn’t spare Nehra too, lashing him through covers before unfurling a delicate flick shot. However, Gayle fell to Nehra first ball after a break for rain, edging a cut against a short and wide delivery.

Sarwan, though, kept the scorecard moving along by maneuvering the ball into the gaps for singles and twos. In between, he whipped and pulled Yuvraj to boundaries but ran himself out, turning back for the second run after tapping to square leg. He kept his cool and tried gamely to adjust to the new scenario provided by the frequent interruptions.

Sarwan was helped by a lovely cameo by Darren Bravo. His innings was filled with several delicious strokes that had a touch of Brian Lara. There were two fine sashays down the track against Yusuf Pathan for lofted boundaries but his best shot, and the shot of the day that evoked memories of that great left-hander, was a fabulous cover drive off RP Singh. Up went the bat as he crouched on his knees before swinging through the line of the length delivery up and over covers. Denesh Ramdin swung his bat in the end to finish the innings with a flourish but it was to prove insufficient in the end.

Sriram Veera is a staff writer at Cricinfo

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