da stake casino： At its commencement, suspicions were high that match ten of the Carlton andUnited Series would effectively go a long way toward marking the end ofIndia’s campaign in international cricket in Australia this season
John Polack26-Jan-2000At its commencement, suspicions were high that match ten of the Carlton andUnited Series would effectively go a long way toward marking the end ofIndia’s campaign in international cricket in Australia this season. And byits cessation, the impression was certainly reinforced – a devastating 152run loss to Australia ensuring that the vanquished now have only the barestof chances of progressing beyond the preliminary rounds of this competition.Given that a series of seven losses from eight matches had preceded it onthis tour, there was only a sliver of an opening for the Indians to setabout reviving their fortunes in international competition in any case.But even that was never a real possibility, for the Australians’ batsmengained a early, record-breaking advantage for their team after it had wonthe toss and there was absolutely no way back for their rivals at all.Indeed, from the moment in the opening over of the day that Mark Waugh(116) powered the very first delivery that he received to the cover fence,the writing was probably on the wall. On Australia’s national day and infront of a capacity holiday crowd at the Adelaide Oval, Waugh and AdamGilchrist (92) simply toyed with an uninspired Indian bowling and fieldingoutfit.Against an attack which was rapidly forced to come to grips with thereality that the strip in use for this game was again eminently unsuited tobowlers, the two openers ignited the game with a sizzling exhibition. Theyset about shattering their previous best association (of 39) in thetournament, Gilchrist characteristically playing very powerfully throughthe off side to establish the trend. Two sparkling shots through and overpoint off Debashish Mohanty in the sixth over and then a glorious off driveoff the same bowler in the eighth all generated boundaries and there was noparticular diminution in his scoring rate thereafter. Not to be completelyoutdone, Waugh was also in fine touch from the outset, serially easing andnudging the ball into gaps the ball for many of his runs. Neither wasafraid at any stage to lift the ball over the infield, nor to hit withpower and precision through a tightly set field.Before Gilchrist eventually fell to a mistimed slog sweep at Anil Kumbleand was caught at deep mid wicket by Rahul Dravid, they added 163 runs inpartnership in thirty overs without offering so much as a chance. Aroundthe raising of a fourteenth one-day international century for Waugh, theNew South Welshman and Ricky Ponting (43) then added another centurypartnership of their own for the second wicket as the spirits of India’splayers took a collective pounding. Even by the time that Pontingsuccumbed to another deep mid wicket catch by Dravid off Kumble and Waughventured too far down the pitch in missing a sweep at Sachin Tendulkar,there was not even a remote prospect of recovery.Indeed, the main interest left in the innings centred around the idea ofhow close Australia might come to surpassing its all time record score(3/332 against Sri Lanka in Sharjah in 1989/90) in one-day internationalcricket. Andrew Symonds (26 off 15 balls) and Shane Lee (27*, also off 15deliveries)edged them excruciatingly close but, as matters transpired, their tally of 5/329 was the second best in Australia’s historyand not quite good enough to claim the major prize. Consolation (and someconsolation at that) did come, though, in the fact that it was the highestever innings score at one-day international level in this country -exceeding the 2/323 compiled by Australia in a match against Sri Lanka atthis venue in 1984/85.In such circumstances, there was only one likely result in the match. Andit was duly secured with a minimum of fuss and, sadly for India, with aminimum of resistance too. Worn down by a mixture of the shattering effectof earlier events and their state of general fatigue, the Indians revealedmuch the same frailties and flaws against accurate pace bowling and sharpfielding which have seen them consistently surrender to this opponent thisseason. That Sourav Ganguly (5) and Tendulkar (18) proved perfect partyguests by coming armed with a pair of injudicious strokes, and Umpire SimonTaufel made a contribution of his own in initiating the dubious first balldemise of Hrishikesh Kanitkar (0), only added the icing to Australia’scake. Only a lovely flurry of boundaries from Dravid (63) around a fivewicket haul from Brett Lee (5/27) extended the life of the on-fieldcelebrations.Even after this fifth loss, it is still possible in theory for the Indiansto secure a berth in the Finals, but that would require a fundamentalrevision of their form. To all intents and purposes indeed, they alreadyseem a completely spent force. And even if that miracle were to beachieved, it would probably require an even more momentous turn of eventsfor them to conquer an opponent against whom the prospect of victory stillseems no closer than it did when the tour began all those weeks ago.