The Hindu : Sport : Team of champions has to perform or perish

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Oct 07, 2005

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Team of champions has to perform or perish

SPIN A WINNING TALE: Muttiah Muralitharan would have to conjure up something special to turn the second of the Super Series ODI against Australia the World XI's way on Friday. — Photo: AP

MELBOURNE: The world team must bat patiently and build more partnerships if it is to keep the one-day Super Series alive, New Zealander Daniel Vettori said here on Thursday.

Australia, smarting from the universal criticism of last month's Ashes failure in England, crushed the cream of world cricket to claim the opening match by 93 runs on Wednesday and can take the series with victory in Friday's second game.

Meanwhile, Australian spearhead Glenn McGrath will be rested for Friday's game giving the World XI additional hope of levelling the three-match contest.

McGrath complained of tightness in the legs after his seven-over opening spell on Wednesday.

He'll be replaced by Stuart Clark, who was twice drafted into the Ashes squad as cover for McGrath in England, in the only change to Australia's squad for game two.

Not serious

A Cricket Australia spokeswoman on Thursday said McGrath's problem wasn't serious and was more a case of managing the 35-year-old fast bowler's program so he's fit for Sunday and for the Super Test starting on October 14.

``The biggest thing is that we wanted to bat in partnerships, we thought we may have tried to win the game too early and with such a star-studded batting line-up the guys are used to taking responsibility on themselves to win games,'' said Vettori, one of the few world stars to impress.

``I think with so many great batsmen you can take your time a bit more and build partnerships and that's what wins most cricket games.''

The left-arm spinner, who captured four for 33 off 10 overs, scored 15 and took a great diving catch for the World team, said the Super Series concept was in jeopardy if the World XI did not win the second match of the three-game series.

``If we lose like that again we're going to be hugely disappointed but we're confident we can turn it around and turn it around quickly,'' Vettori told reporters on Thursday.

``We realise how important it is that we put up a much-improved showing in the next game.

``For the series to be a success, people want to see a 2-1 result whichever way it goes and a close-fought Test match (in Sydney next week) for it to have some meaning, and that's what we're certainly here for and we're going to try and turn that around as quickly as possible.''

Vettori countered suggestions that the world team did not appear to have the same intensity as Ricky Ponting's team in the opening game and that they looked like they were a collection of players drawn from different continents and time zones.

Desire to win

``There was an immense desire in our team to win. We talked a lot about coming here and the only reason we were coming here was to win,'' he said.

``There's been a lot of us who have been on the receiving end of hidings from Australia in the past and this was our chance to put that right.

``We saw that Australia came out with a huge amount of intensity but by no means were we not wanting to win as much as they were.''

World skipper Shaun Pollock is expecting a big turnaround from his players in the pivotal game after only four batsmen broke double-figures.

``It's not that you lose, but in the manner you lose and for us to be seven or eight down for not much at all was probably the most disappointing part about tonight's game,'' Pollock said.

``You have to give them the opportunity to fight back. But it's not really about team selection, it's about mentally that we come out all prepared and do the job well and that's the biggest challenge for us.''

Australian captain Ponting, who has received most of the stick from the Ashes loss, summed up the team's fighting mood after Wednesday's win.

``We've came up against a very good team and we've outplayed them comprehensively. I'm very proud about the way the guys have approached this game, but we've set a benchmark that we have to keep up to all the time.''

The first match at Melbourne's Docklands Stadium was poorly attended and large blocks of seats available for sale to the general public were conspicuously empty. The official attendance was 18,435.

Organisers have said they expect bigger crowds for Friday and Sunday's match, though ticket prices of between Australian $35-95 have been cited by local media as a deterrent to fans.

The line-ups:

Australia (from): Adam Gilchrist, Simon Katich, Ricky Ponting (captain), Damien Martyn, Michael Hussey, Michael Clarke, Shane Watson, Andrew Symonds, Cameron White, Brett Lee, Nathan Bracken and Stuart Clark.

World XI (from): Virender Sehwag, Kumar Sangakkara, Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis, Brian Lara, Kevin Pietersen, Andrew Flintoff, Shaun Pollock (captain), Daniel Vettori, Muttiah Muralitharan, Shoaib Akhtar, Shahid Afridi, Makhaya Ntini and Chris Gayle. — Agencies

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