Story The ICC World Test Cricket Medal: ***Day Four Highlights***

[Ollie_H]

That was a top session for India after a poor first session! Gambhir and Laxman look to be in some serious control. The run rate seems to have also increased from about 2 to 3

Top work JC

 

[Gary123]

Great come back by the Indians.
146 run partnership between Laxman and Gambhir has really put India in a commanding position.
I love the presentation.
KUTGW

 

[surendar]

Seriously, hats off to your magnificent efforts. :hpraise :hpraise This story has a huge potential and so, please keep it going. I am sure, it will be super duper hit of the story forums soon. :banana2 Well done, champ!

 

[CG123]

lol nice, love the guard of honor.
great stuff JC keep it up

 

[just_cricket]

Dilmah Tea Party: Chance to win up to 30,00 vcash a Day!

: G'day and welcome to the Dilmah Tea Party- a special edition for the inaugural ICC Test Cricket World Medal. Today Simon Doull and I will discuss the day's cricket so far, as well as enjoy some special features that we've organised for this bumper edition of the Dilmah Tea Party. So, the game. What has happened so far, Doully?

: Well New Zealand struck the early blows this morning through some aggressive but canny pace bowling from Shane Bond, Tim Southee, and in particular the debutant, Neil Wagner.

: Yeah, I reckon Neil Wagner's a very, very talented fast bowler, who will serve New Zealand well over the years. Even if the Black Caps lose this match, I can take a positive out of it in that we've found a genuine shock bowler to replace Bond when he retires.

: Definitely. I loved watching this morning, seeing two bowlers bowling 90mph plus, hitting the batsmen- good, accomplished batsmen- and beating the Indians for pace. It just wasn't like watching New Zealand play- we've been used to watching Iain O'Brien try his guts out bowling 135km/h and Chris Martin at a similar rate. Both our openers today got it through and hurried the Indians, which in turn allowed Southee to bowl as he liked at his end without the burden of having to carry the attack and bowl flat out. The bowlers all had really good rhythm early on and it was pleasing to watch from a former New Zealand pace bowler's view.

: Unfortunately since the opening hour it has been all India. Is Vettori just lacking a bit of what he used to have, is Ryder too steady to be a fourth seamer, and are the pace bowlers who came back and didn't perform as well unfit?

: Well I'd have to say no to those questions in most ways. The pitch, to be fair, has flattened out a lot after the first hour where it was seaming about, it's dried up quite a lot in the hot sun, and it's become far more like what the Indians would be used to at home. Ryder has not been so effective, I think mainly because the pitch has given him little assistance, he's got the sort of personality where he's been disheartened, hasn't put as much into his bowling and from bowling 130km/h on a greenish pitch he's gone to bowling 120 or even 115km/h and on this surface against the quality of Gambhir and Laxman, he's just been to easy to pick off. I think if he comes out next time and tries to hit the pitch and attack the stumps more, he'll be a more than useful part-timer or fourth seamer.

: Daniel Vettori?

: I think it's much the same. The nature of the pitch means he's not getting any fast turn, rip, or bounce, so instead of trying to spin it he's tried to vary his flight and be patient, wait for the batsmen to make mistakes. I actually think he's done that pretty well, it's just that he's bowling to two of the better player of spin in the world, who don't make many mistakes, and are also equally patient. One thing I think he's got to change though, is he's got to accept that it's not his day today, and get Ryder to attack the stumps from one end and keep it tight, and rotate the three pace bowlers, and let them attack the batsmen. He will probably have a much better time in the 2nd innings when the pitch will have dried out considerably more, and he'll get more purchase from the surface.

: To be honest, I don't think any of the pace bowlers are unfit, either. I think Vettori's spent so much time trying to work out how to get these two batsmen out with plans and traps and patience, that he hasn;t communicated that well with his strike bowlers. Southee doesn't have the pace on his side so on this placid surface he needs to be the one to keep it tight, because without a newish ball and swing he's not going to be as penetrative. Wagner may not be sure what his role is, as the new boy in the side, and he may be caught in two minds in terms of whether to go for intimidation or consistency. For mine, Vettori needs to tell Wagner to bend his back and throw everything he's got at the Indians for the best part of this final session. If he tells Bond to bend his back now, Bond will probably break his back, so it would be better to bowl Southee, Ryder, Wagner and perhaps a few overs from Vettori tonight. Then tomorrow morning Bond will be rested and they will have the new ball to work with, so if Wagner is stuffed from today's work, Southee can partner Bond as swing is his number 1 asset.

: Right, well that's a fair bit of analysis on the game. India on top, here, on a surface which now hasn't got much life in it for the bowlers.
Now for a new feature for this special test match, Hints from Hogan:

: Former Black Cap star middle order batsman Martin 'Hogan' Crowe will give us some hints on how the New Zealanders need to bat. Welcome, Hogan...

: Thank you, Smithy. Well it makes sense to start off with the openers. Jamie How and Martin Guptill for this match. Now what I'm about to say doesn't just apply to the Black Caps, it can apply to any openers- young or old- out there. Hopefully I can show you something that you can take away and use to better your game.

Part 1: Seeing off the New Ball

So the openers will probably get a go sometime tomorrow afternoon. Most likely beginning against Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma. Let's deal with Khan first. Bowling left arm medium fast, Khan's main weapon is swing. He will predominately swing the ball in to the right handers, but he also bowls quite a few going across the right handers.

~ So the first thing is to watch the ball in his hand. As soon as he starts running in you need to focus on the ball, so as to pick up the way he is holding the ball, and therefore which way it will swing. Watching the ball from the top of his run to the time you hit or leave it is crucial because it otherwise he will undo you by either making you leave one too close to your body or play at one away from your body, both of which are very dangerous.

~Khan will generally pitch it up, but he has a skiddy bouncer that is difficult to hook because of the left armer's angle. You need to be prepared to duck and sway out of the line, and to get hit if it swings. If you are audacious, you can get away with ramping, but I wouldn't recommend it- it's an unnecessary risk.

So against Khan, watch the ball like a hawk, be decisive when going back and come forward a comfortable distance to combat the swing.

Ishant Sharma is a different bowler altogether. One needs to watch the ball equally closely, but in terms of playing his lethal short ball:

~With his angle of delivery being from fairly wide out on the crease, it is dangerous to sway away from the bouncer or play it with a straight bat, as the ball can follow you and cause all sorts of problems. The best option is too either duck while watching the ball all the way, or better still to hook it. You need to be able to score runs off the back foot against Sharma or he will tie you down and get you prodding oustide off stump with fuller balls, due to the uncertainty he can cause with short pitched dot balls. So to hook, you need to be light on your feet and use his angle to step right inside the line and hit it cleanly through the leg side.

~The other most important thing with Sharma is to leave alone the short of the lenth balls oustide off stump. We've seen Ricky Ponting caught at slip so many times nicking short balls that get too high on him. If it's short and close in to your body there's little chance of scoring runs safely so it's better to leave it alone.

So be light on your feet, and use your judgment to decide which balls to play to a tall right armer like Ishant Sharma.

And that concludes Part I of my feature! Hopefully How and Guptill will have plans similar to these worked out that they can implement well when their turn to bat comes round...

: Thank you very much, Martin. And for the last part of the Dilmah Tea party, we have a quick cricket quiz:

[B]-3 questions

-Simply post your answers here, the first to post the correct answer/s wins.

-The first person to answer each question correctly gets 10,000 vcash.[/B]

1. Which of the current Indian side has a relative who has played test cricket?

2. How many New Zealanders have taken over 150 test wickets?

3. In what year did Sachin Tendulkar first play at the Basin Reserve?

Good luck with those, Thank you for tuning into the Dilmah Tea Party, we hope you enjoy the rest of the day...

 

[hedger_14]

1) Pathan

2) 5 players

3) 1990

 

[CG123]

1. pathan (irfan's brother yusuf)

2. five (hadlee, vettori, cairns, martin, morrison)

3. 1990 (ODI) if you mean test though it's 1998

CG123 added 0 Minutes and 54 Seconds later...

dam too late - doing the research and brendon posted before me

 

[just_cricket]

1) Pathan

2) 5 players

3) 1990

Question 2 is right, I'll send you your vcash now.
The other two questions are now open until the other members (i.e hedger_14 doesn't get to have another chance to answer questions 1 and 3 unless no one gets them right and it's right before the third session.)

Sorry, I'm not making this very clear. You can have one attempt at answering, and if any of the questions haven't been answered after a while I'll say when you can have a second go at answering.

So for the other members, questions 1 and 3 are still open...

 

[hedger_14]

yeah. i love cricinfo sometimes. The first 2 were easy to find. The first one i knew and second was easy to find on statsguru. The last question, I finally worked out how to find it.

hedger_14 added 2 Minutes and 22 Seconds later...

what, you could have said that before.

 

[CG123]

ok then what about me do i get anything??

 

[just_cricket]

1. pathan (irfan's brother yusuf)

2. five (hadlee, vettori, cairns, martin, morrison)

3. 1990 (ODI) if you mean test though it's 1998

CG123 added 0 Minutes and 54 Seconds later...

dam too late - doing the research and brendon posted before me

Sorry that was my fault- I should have specified. I will send 5,000 vcash to each of you as a compromise.

But question 1 is wrong, Yusuf Pathan has not played a test match yet.

So CG123 and hedger_14 I will send you 5,000 vcash
The other members can answer question 1, which is not Irfan Pathan...

 

[CG123]

o yep i got the first one now, i wont say it

 

[hedger_14]

lol, i should have read the first question properly. I know the answer anyway.

 

[just_cricket]

Sorry about the question 3 stuff up! :doh
You both get 5000 vcash because I am too poor to give you both 10000 vcash and although hedger_14 answered first CG123 cleared the issue up for me

Thanks for supporting anyway, sorry if you feel ripped off

 

[surendar]

These extra side things are just amazing. :banana2 Unfortunately, I missed the quiz. " Better luck next time " to me.