da wazamba： Spectacularly stern middle and late order batting resistance has beenthe defining feature of this summer of cricket for the home team andso it proved again today on the first day of the First Test betweenAustralia and India here at the Adelaide
da esoccer bet： John Polack10-Dec-1999Spectacularly stern middle and late order batting resistance has beenthe defining feature of this summer of cricket for the home team andso it proved again today on the first day of the First Test betweenAustralia and India here at the Adelaide Oval. After they had oncemore looked to be courting disaster on the back of failures from fourmembers of their upper order, the Australians found it withinthemselves to mount yet another stunning reversal of fortune throughthe last two sessions of this opening bout of the series, finishingthe day at 5/298 after they had looked consigned to concluding at asignificantly less flattering scoreline.Following on from monumental partnerships in each of the previous twoTests of the season, it was Ricky Ponting (125) and Steve Waugh (117*)who stole the lion’s share of the accolades today. Joining together topost an all time record fifth wicket association for their nation inTests against India, Ponting and Waugh were in irresistible formthroughout a liaison of 239 runs for the fifth wicket – one whichlifted their team from a state of peril to one of almost completecommand. Whilst they did survive the odd moment of anxiety (indeed,replays appeared to suggest that the former was caught behind off AjitAgarkar as he underedged a pull with his score on 62; Rahul Dravid atmid off failed to run out Waugh on 67 as he attempted a ridiculoussingle; and VVS Laxman at second slip grassed a chance to catchPonting off Agarkar on 90), theirs was a tremendous effort. Incombination, they surpassed the unbeaten 223 added by Sir DonaldBradman and Arthur Morris at Melbourne in 1947/48 and such was theconviction of their display that few would have begrudged theirrearrangement of the mark.On a pitch which seemed to be offering more encouragement to bowlersthan is traditionally the case in Adelaide, Ponting and Waugh eachstarted slowly before accelerating their scoring, some of theirstrokeplay (and their use of the short square boundaries at thispicturesque ground) delightful to behold. Although they benefitedsignificantly from some strange tactics from the Indians immediatelyafter the lunch break (part time medium pacer Saurav Gangulysurprisingly preferred to Venkatesh Prasad and Anil Kumble when histeam possessed some strong momentum), little credit could be takenaway from their double act. Ponting was the chief aggressor,registering his sixth Test century and his second in succession with afine mixture of front foot drives and back foot strokes through thepoint and mid wicket regions. Waugh, however, lost little bycomparison as he set about adding a century of his own, many shotsbehind the wicket evident in his 21st Test century – a milestone whichnow ensures that he has made at least one century against each of theworld’s other Test nations.Through the pre-lunch period, though, the story had been asubstantially different one. India indeed began brilliantly, capturingfour wickets inside the first 90 minutes of the day for the meagretally of just 52 runs. In eerily similar fashion to the last Testplayed between the teams at this venue as many as eight years ago,Australia plunged to the position of 76 for four after winning thetoss, only nine runs in advance in fact of their plight all thosesummers ago.Essentially, it was a morning for India’s pacemen and, morespecifically, Prasad and Javagal Srinath. Srinath established histeam’s early position of dominance, capitalising on the early lifeevident in the pitch by operating upon a tight, disciplined line andlength. He made a crucial early strike – dismissing local hero GregBlewett (4) in just the third over of the day – and continued to beatthe bat throughout. On either side of Ganguly’s dismissal of thebelligerent Michael Slater (28), Prasad then conceived a tremendouseight over spell from the River Torrens End. Illustrating much thesame control and accuracy as had been exhibited by Srinath, Prasadrefused to bowl too short, and gained due reward for the strategy whenhe trapped a somewhat unluckily inside edging Justin Langer (11) onhis crease and then induced a still struggling Mark Waugh (5) to thickedge a ball through to wicketkeeper MSK Prasad.In such circumstances, it seemed that the Indians merely needed tomaintain their concentration and the same metronomically accurate lineand length to continue to hold the upper hand. However, they letthings slip in the period immediately after lunch, and lost their wayrapidly throughout the subsequent course of that session. As boththeir bowlers and fieldsmen surrendered the enthusiasm that had gracedtheir play through the early moments of the day, it became virtuallyno contest thereafter and it was instructive that the mix-up that sawPonting finally run out in the shadows of stumps seemed as much of asurprise to the visitors as it did to a crowd of over 15,000 largelyappreciative fans.
