The Hindu : India, Australia feel the strain of a long summer

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 22, 2004

Sport

Sport - Cricket

India, Australia feel the strain of a long summer

By G. Viswanath

SYDNEY, JAN. 21. Australia is in a state of shock and disbelief following the death of David Hookes in unfortunate circumstances early this week. Newspapers have paid tributes to the former Test cricketer and coach of Victoria who was seen as a rebel with a cause. Like Hookes' young family members, his former colleagues and other sports personalities including golfer Greg Norman have been shattered by the manner of his death which was not from natural causes. A columnist went to the extent of calling him a sporting icon. That's probably because by and large Australians place high value on performances in the local Blue Riband tournaments in which Hookes was a swashbuckling batsman in his days.

The circumstances of Hookes' death following an incident outside a St. Kilda pub touched even those not acquainted with him or even involved with the game. The cricketing fraternity is mourning and according to reports events have been planned at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Thursday and during the following match at Adelaide to pay homage to a fellow cricketer.

Newspapers ran pictures of the Australian team in a huddle remembering the departed cricketer prior to their first training session here on Tuesday. Ricky Ponting's team is likely to be the most affected because a majority of the players have had occasion to interact with Hookes.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Ponting said his team would try hard to overcome the sorrow and compete against the Indians who after clinching the match against Zimbabwe have almost caught up with the Australians.

Meanwhile, India's reserve strength was stretched to the limit by a spirited show by Zimbabwe on Tuesday. With a bit of luck Sean Ervine and Dion Ebrahim could have caused much embarrassment to the Indians.

It's still not clear whether Tendulkar, Sehwag and Agarkar will figure in the Indian XI on Thursday for the third match against Australia. On Tuesday night, Ganguly made an emphatic statement that all three would be available. Arriving in Sydney on Wednesday afternoon, Ganguly said Agarkar was fit, but he was not sure about Tendulkar and Sehwag. "I have to speak to Tendulkar. Sehwag will have a hit tomorrow morning after which we will be able to determine his availability,'' said Ganguly.

Generally, players are left to make the decision on their fitness and in Tendulkar's case physio Andrew Leipus left no one in doubt after the match against Australia at Brisbane that the right ankle will require a few days to be set right. With India and Australia almost certain to clash in the finals, Tendulkar's return to the playing XI is likely to be delayed by another match.

But with Ganguly keen to sustain pressure on the home team, he will be a happy man should Tendulkar be declared fit.

Following the World Cup win, Australia's coach John Buchannan said that his team was capable of taking the one-day game to new heights. Almost a year has passed since Australia won the Cup, but it has not been able to maintain the winning streak since. It lost three matches to the West Indies in West Indies and a few more afterwards. Ricky Ponting too has not been in good nick in the tournament, aggregating well under 100 runs in four matches. He's a big match player and has a 46-10 record as captain in one-day internationals. But he will be under some pressure to recapture top form.

With a tour of Sri Lanka to follow the VB Series, the selectors decided to rest Matthew Hayden so that he gets time to recover from knee soreness. Hayden's substitute in the team is all-rounder Simon Katich who will face his first ball in one-day internationals. He made his one-day debut two years ago against Zimbabwe, but did not bat or bowl. Katich will open the Australian innings with Adam Gilchrist.

While Hayden will miss one match, wicket-keeper batsman Gilchrist has been pulled out of the squad for the two matches to be played at Adelaide and Melbourne on Australia Day (Jan 26 and 29).

Gilchrist will rejoin the squad at Perth for the last league match against India. NSW's Brad Haddin will keep wickets in the absence of Gilchrist.

With Zimbabwe almost certain not to figure in the finals, Thursday's encounter between India and Australia is seen as the start of a `best of 5 finals'.

The Indian team is not perturbed by last night's decision by the ICC Match Referee to book Rahul Dravid for breaching a law of cricket. Dravid has so far had a wonderful tour and he is not likely to be affected by such extraneous factors.

Zimbabwe's media officer Mark Harrison said that batsman Mark Vermeulen was operated on at Brisbane to correct the fracture on his forehead.

Vermeulen top-edged a shot onto his forehead facing a ball from Irfan Pathan. "Vermeulen's condition is very stable,'' said Harrison.

The teams (from):

Australia: Ricky Ponting (Captain), Adam Gilchrist, Simon Katich, Damien Martyn, Andrew Symonds, Michael Bevan, Michael Clarke, Brett Lee, Brad Williams, Jason Gillespie, Ian Harvey, Andy Bichel, Brad Hogg.

India: Sourav Ganguly (Captain), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, V.V.S. Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Hemang Badani, Ajit Agarkar, Anil Kumble, Irfan Pathan, Laxmipathy Balaji, Rohan Gavaskar, Murali Kartik, Amit Bhandari, Parthiv Patel, Ashish Nehra, Sanjay Bangar.

Umpires: Steve Bucknor and Daryl Harper; Third: Simon Taufel; Match Referee: Clive Lloyd.

Hours of play (IST): 8.45 a.m. to 12.15 p.m. and 1 p.m. onwards.

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