Story Super Challenge 2004

[T20]

Here is what Fleming had to say after the match

On the victory:
It was a good toss to win but having said that the bowlers still had to do their job. Chaminda was at his best and Kumble, Harmison got us the wickets when it mattered.

On going 2-1 up:
It is great effort by the team to come back after the loss at bridgetown. But I was never worried with players of this class and we just kept getting better.

On the remaining matches:
The series is by no means over. We all expect the Aussies to make a comeback but at the same time they are the team under pressure now and we will try to build up on that.

On Tendulkar's Form:
We hope he continues to make things easy for us in the remaining games as well (laughs). but having said that all of our top order bats are capable of making big scores and hopefully we will continue the good performances.

On replacement for Bond:
We will name it before the next game.

On the controversy about line up:
Nice of Mr. Jonah to point that out. It was a genuine mistake, I had removed Bond's name but probably gave wrong paper at the time of toss. It was cleared with Ricky and the match ref and there is no problem. We all had a laugh when Rahul Dravid pointed out how a similar incident happend with Ganguly in their recent tournament.

 

[T20]

World XI announce squad for 4th odi


Batting order
-----------------------------
S.Tendulkar
S.Fleming *
J.Kallis (RM)
B.Lara
A.Flintoff (RMF)
R.Dravid+
A.Razzaq (RMF)
C.Vaas (LM)
A.Kumble
M.Muralidharan
S.Harmison (RF)

Shoaib makes way for Murali. Sangakkara who hasn't looked at his best behind the stumps is replaced by Razzaq with Dravid to keep wickets.

 

[T20]

No replacement for Bond?

Reports from World Xi camp have suggested that they may not name a replacement for the injured Shane Bond and use the players from remaining 15 in the last two matches. It's been said that Fleming having enough resources at his disposal wasn't too keen to get involved with selection for the replacement with the crucial 4th odi just days away.

 

[T20]

Brett Lee to play for World XI?

Kolkata, India: Cricket fans around the world, especially those in Australia were taken by surprise after a report stated that australian fast bowler Brett Lee has been approached to play for World XI in the ongoing Super Challenge 2004.
World XI lost their pace bowler Shane Bond due to an injury and no replacement has been named so far. Also Brett Lee wasn't able to find a place in the playing XI for Australia in first 3 games which lead to some rumors in the past few days.
The report also mentioned Brett being frustrated after being left out from Cape Town ODI which was played on a green top and match that Australia subsequently lost possibly being a seamer short.

Although statements from the ACB and ICC deiying this report are expected soon, it does add an interesting twist to what has been a thrilling series so far between the two teams.

When approached by the reporters after practice session at the Eden Gardens, World XI captain Fleming only responded with "No comments."

 

[crick4life]

Australia XI for the fourth game at Calcutta

Batting Lineup
--------------
Matthew Hayden
Michael Clarke
Ricky Ponting
Damien Martyn
Darren Lehmann
Adam Gilchrist
Ian Harvey
Shane Warne
Bret Lee
Jason Gillespie
Glenn McGrath

Bowling lineup
--------------
Glenn McGrath
Jason Gillespie
Bret Lee
Ian Harvey
Shane Warne
Michael Clarke

 

[crick4life]

Australia wins the toss and decides to bowl at Eden gardens, Calcutta

Tony Grieg is with Ponting and Fleming along with the match refree Clive Lloyd for the toss.

Tony : Ponting calls heads and heads it is. Luck seems to have favored you this time, what are you looking to do this time around Ricky?

Ponting : Its a tough ask really, would have loved to lose this one toss and let Flem decide but we are going to have a bowl.

Tony : Any particular reason for having to bowl? It looks a good pitch for slower bowlers later in the day.

Ponting : At this level of cricket and against the top players in the world the toss may not seem that very vital. Time and again we have seen those guys put a lot of pressure on our bowlers by coming back at us at all stages of the game. We have chased their total once, got very close in the second one and fell awfully short of defending our total in the last game. Going by what we have done so far we have the batting power to chase any kind of total that may be set by World XI.

Tony : Do or die game for you guys, any changes in the team?

Ponting : Some very crucial and probably a bit harsh changes. Andy Symonds sits out this game while Bret Lee makes a come back. Bret's looking good at the nets and also he has no fitness issues anymore so quite naturally he had to be accomadated although it was a bit bit harsh to ask Andy sit out of this game. M.Clarke will be opening for us while Gilchrist will be batting at no.6. Gilly is a very crucial player for us in such games, we cant afford to lose him early on. He can do quite a lot of damage coming down the order.

Tony : Any new tactics to tackle this fella Tendulkar?

Ponting : He looks in great form and his is one of the many wickets we need to strike early on otherwise we know what kind of affect his inning may have on the game. There are others in their team who have not yet fired but we hope for out good they dont in this particular game

 

[T20]

Guess that ends all the speculations about Lee

 

[crick4life]

Ended in quite some drama right S , Ponting couldnt cope the pressure of the media pointing out not picking Lee so far.

A quick update on the game, All Stars have got off to a good start by the end of 10 overs. They are now on 50/1 after 10 overs. No prizes for guessing who has done the bulk of scoring, yes yet again he has scored 30 runs off only 24 balls with 5 hits to the fence. Kallis is batting on 13*(27) and the only man out was Fleming holing out at mid on for 4(11) when the score was 13. McGrath had bowled pretty well till his 5th over but Tendulkar scored 16 runs off McGrath's 5th over to again make his spell miserable. For some reason Tendukar is taking a liking to scoring runs particularly off the 5th over off McGrath. Gillespie has bowled very well so far returning figures of 5-0-16-1. I am sick and tired of seeing Tendulkar batting all the time, somehow we desperately need to get him out. Bowling has been pretty interesting, good change of pace and length has kept the All Stars batsmen under a little check. I was bowling setting the !xspeed on +1.51 in all the matches but now I have reduced it to +1.41 which I think is reasonable. That has reduced the number of wides and no balls I bowl. How much I hope if this can get rid of Tendulkar

 

[crick4life]

A big change of fortunes here for Australia. Tendulkar gone trying to clear point to Lee, we now realize how much we missed Lee really.

Ball by ball commentary of this one over by Lee :

10.1 - Lee to Tendulkar on the off stump, Tendulkar moves to the back foot and on drives it between mid wicket and mid on for four. So much for the return of Lee, he is slammed for four off his very first ball of the series.

10.2 - Tendulkar gone........ Again bowled in the same area by Lee, Tendulkar rocks back and trys to hit over the cover fielder but only succeeds in offering a sitter to Ponting at point. This was one huge break they were desperately looking for.

10.3 - Lee to Lara, Four. Lara hits a nice back foot on drive for four through mid wicket, the fielder missed the ball only by couple of yards. The outfied is really faster here.

10.4 - Lee to Lara, ANOTHER FOUR. Lara this time rocks to the back foot and drives all along the ground for four runs. Lara looks to be in a punishing mood.

10.5 - No ball as well as wide. The ball goes down the leg and also overstepping. Umpires calls it no ball.

10.6 - NO RUN. Thats good for a change, Lara lets the ball go by outside off stump.

10.7 - FOUR RUNS AGAIN. Lee comes around the wicket and bowls a terrible ball right into the slot on the leg side, Lara obliges and glances Lee for four through Sq leg.

Australia seems to be losing a plot here. They got a good wicket of Tendulkar but what about Lara , it may be debatable but he can be as good as Tendulkar or even better than him when hes on song. This is a huge challenge bowling to this kind of line up.

 

[crick4life]

World XI batsmen in great form

Kallis and Lara have batted World XI into a great position. At the end of 25 overs World XI has reached 151/2. Kallis now has started to show lot of aggression and has picked runs at will post 15 overs. Lara has calmed out a little bit probably thinking of posting a big score here. Apart from Gillespie none of the Aussie bowlers have been able to either contain nor trouble the World XI batsmen. Kallis is now batting on 62*(73 balls, 11 fours) and Lara on 37(47 balls, 8 fours).

 

[crick4life]

Kallis just got run out, I am not going to restart this one as the run out was a close call and has only happened for the first time in the three games.

 

[crick4life]

Australia pull back World XI while World XI consolidates

The overs between 25-40 saw some easy cricket from both the teams. Coupled with 2 wickets the World XI just looked for singles and attempt to score fours occassionally. Kallis was the first to go run out while attempting a second run, a close call and the third umpire ruled it as out. Flintoff was the next to come and he looked out of sorts in the brief time he spent in the middle. He missed few balls & mis hit few. eventually came down the wicket missed the ball by quite some and was stumped by Gilly of Warne. With these two wickets falling in succession, World XI went back to easy mode, Dravid and Lara have now put on 42 runs for the 5th wicket. Lara is batting on 73(98) and Dravid on 18(30) have put up a good platform for a good accelaration in the last 10 overs. Lara has tried to go over the top in the last 2-3 overs but didnt succeed even once. Aussies bowlers have done a great job between 25-40 overs allowing World XI to score only 57 runs in 15 overs. Thanks to some good bowling by Warne, Harvey and M.Clarke at least Australia have been able to peg back the run rate by much.

 

[crick4life]

Gillespie strikes twice in two balls

World XI in some kind of trouble after 45 overs. Both Lara and Dravid struggled to up the run rate in the last five overs. They tried their best but with that extra bounce on the pitch and also some very good line bowled by the Aussie bowlers World XI clearly have thrown away the platform that was set up quite nicely mid way through their inning. Gillespie replaced McGrath and Dravid hit a sq drive nicely off the middle of the bat only to see it being caught right on the line. Not an enterprising knock this one from Dravid out for 20(39). Next walked in Abdul Razzaq and walked out without troubling the scorers, hitting one straight to mid on. Now much depends on Lara who is unbeaten on 80*(114) and Vaas. The score at the end of 45 overs is 224/6 @ 5.0 rpo.

 

[crick4life]

World XI complete their inning with 255/8 on board

In the end too much was asked to do by the tail enders against a good bowling attack and World XI ended their inning with 255/8 runs on board. In the last 10 overs World XI could only muster 47 runs losing 4 wickets. Once Dravid and Razzaq got out it was pretty hard for World XI to score at a great rate but there was hope with Lara at the other end. Unfortunately for World XI, Lara got out for 90 trying to clear the infied. Vaas scored few boundaries and definitely Australia didnt mind that occassional hits. Clarke bowled very cleverly mixing deliveries and conceeded only 20 runs off 9 overs picking 2 wickets. The fact that he bowled more to the tail enders also helped his bowling figures. Warne was good again as well as Gillespie. Australia now has a good chance of levelling the series, once when Kallis and Lara were going very strongly it just felt that the series was indeed closed for Australia. It will take a great effort to get past this modest total considering World XI are fielding Murali and Kumble, two of the best spinners right now.

 

[crick4life]

Some more stats.