The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : A milestone beckons Indian women

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 08, 2004

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Sport - Cricket

A milestone beckons Indian women

By Our Sports Reporter

BANGALORE, DEC. 7. The Indian women's cricket team will play its 100th one-day international as the eves gear up for their opening match of the seven-match series against Australia at Mysore on December 11.

The historic moment will however be tempered by the awe of playing a strong Australian side against which India has won just one match in 14 encounters. Mamta addressed the media here on Tuesday morning as a prelude to the series that will commence at Mysore on December 11 followed by another match on December 13, after which the women's cricket caravan will roll onto Mumbai (Dec. 16), Vapi (Dec. 19), Ahmedabad (Dec. 22), Aurangabad (Dec. 24) and finally to Chennai (Dec. 28).

Mamta hinted at Indian cricket's regular strengths — batting and spin — while discussing her team's prospects against Australia.Meanwhile, the Aussies led by Belinda Clark arrived here in the wee hours of Tuesday. Belinda also addressed the media and stressed that her team has worked hard to face the Indian challenge. "Our records speak that we are the favourites but as Mamta said spin is their strength and we have been practising back home against spin."

The visitors meanwhile will have a practice match against India `A' at Mysore on December 9.

The teams:

India: Mamta Maben (captain), Mithali Raj (vice-captain), Anju Jain (wicket-keeper), Anjum Chopra, Jaya Sharma, Hemalata Kala, Jhulan Goswami, Amita Sharma, Arundhita Kirkire, Varsha Reissel, Deepa Kulkarni, Neetu David, Nooshine-Al-Khader and Monica. Coach: Sudha Shah. Manager: Trupti Bhattacharya. Administrative Manager: Veena Paralkar.

India `A': Sunetra Paranjpe (captain), Karuna Jain, Reema Malhotra, Rumali Dhar, Gurdeep Kaur, Diana David, Preeti Dimri, Asha Rawat, Kavita Nirala, Seema Pujari, Seema Singh, Devika Palsikar, Rashmi Shivshankar and Deepika Babu.

Australia: Belinda Clark (captain), Karen Rolton (vice-captain), Alex Blackwell, Kate Blackwell, Leonie Coleman, Shelley Nitschke, Cathryn Fitzpatrick, Julie Hayes, Melanie Jones, Lisa Keightley, Clea Smith, Lisa Sthalekar and Emma Twining.

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