Demolition Derby

Australia won the toss and elected to bat. The right decision considering that the wicket at Old Trafford has always leaned towards the bowlers. It was surprising to hear Botham say that this was a batting wicket. It did not look that way and history told us otherwise as well. Mark Waugh was rested in this game as Bevan came back. Only Australia has the luxury to do this kind of thing. Hayden and Gilchrist opened the innings. England started brilliantly as the wicket helped some lateral movement by the bowlers. Hayden tried to pull one off Caddick, which landed in Gough's safe hands at fine leg before Australia opened their account. Ponting is in great touch these days and he began as if it was 100 for 1. He played his shots especially off his legs and square of the wicket on the off side. One thing that I have noticed with Ponting is that if you consistently bring him forward outside off, he will nick one especially early. I think bowlers should work on that. Do not bowl short to him if he is expecting you to, because he will kill it on both sides of the stumps. Ponting was hitting Caddick for boundaries as Gough concentrated on bowling a little short outside off stick to Gilchrist. His strategy paid off and Gilchrist true to his history played one uppishly to gully and Hollioake took a good catch. Ponting was going great guns as Caddick was concentrating on his middle and leg stump. Out of the blue came a ball outside off on good length, which brought Ponting forward and waved at it. The ball took the outside edge and was dying towards first slip as Knight from second slip went at it goalkeeper style. He incredulously looked at his right hand where the ball had stuck. Australia were 23/3 and in trouble.



Whether it is 23/3 or 150/3, Steve Waugh plays only one way. The good ball will be blocked and the bad ball will go for 4. Bevan is the same way although a little more subdued at the start of his innings. Anything short to Waugh outside off and he cuts it hard. Anything up to him on his legs and he skips and turns it to leg for runs. You take away these two shots at the start of his innings and he will have problems and will give you a chance. England did no such thing. They bowled too short to both the batsmen. Bevan was peppered with half bouncers because his problems with the short-pitched ball are well documented. Half bouncers do not do much. If the idea was to test him then they should have really gone after him without worrying about no balls. I remember Aaqib sending one at Hick's head first up in the World Cup final in 1992. It unnerved Hick and that helped in keeping him quiet and get him early in his innings. Bevan took full toll of the short ones outside off and leg to swat 3 boundaries. Australia had reached 61/3 in 15 overs and had weathered the initial storm. Cork came on and bowled some of the worst deliveries of the tournament. He bowled too short and he bowled on all sides of the pitch. He gave away 21 runs in the first 3 he bowled and let Australia back in the 4 an over groove. One particular square cut by Waugh was great to watch as it beat the sweeper on the cover boundary rather easily. All the while the singles were coming easily and Australia had reached 83/3 after 20 overs.



Just when Australia looked like they were running away Mullaly got Beven to nick one to Stewart. The ball was well outside off and Bevan would be mad at edging that. Martyn walked in after that to join his captain. Caddick was brought back in the 27th over with 100 on the board at the loss of 4. I do not understand why Caddick bowls out his overs so early with England not having many front line bowlers in the squad anyway. He should be used at the death as well because he and Gough can stop the flow of runs and get wickets. It seems that Caddick is too scared to bowl at the end as he thinks he will get more stick. That is not what you do if the team needs you. Hollioake bowled a good spell from the other end. He bowled 10 on the trot and he only gave away 30 runs. Caddick gave away quite a lot of runs in the end because of the boundaries he gave away. His two wickets were a big boost to England. Wauqh got his 50 as soon as Cork was brought back on. It was brilliant knock under pressure. A typical Steve Waugh innings with a lot of nudges and pushes but an adequate amount of boundaries on cuts and flicks off his legs. Damien Martyn was getting into his stride as he danced down and hit a flowing off drive off Hollioake for 4. He then followed it up with glorious flick for another boundary and Australia were 144 off 36 overs for the loss of 4 wickets. Cork bowled an absolutely pathetic spell. Gough was brought back in the 40th over and he immediately removed Steve Waugh with an in decker, which he tried to flick, but missed. Australia were 161 for 5 now. Gough was bowling his inswingers beautifully but just a touch too full, which gave the batsmen a chance to keep them out. Mullaly was brought back and got Martyn to edge a couple but both went for 4 to third man. Australia were a bit lucky there but that is why one day cricket is. Andrew Symonds left early as he tried to club Mullay over long on only to be caught there by Vaughan. The score was 188/6 and this was the 45th over. Harvey was out first ball as he skied it to short mid wicket off Mullay. At this stage Australia were in a bit of a bother but they did not panic and went about their business of collecting singles. Martyn kept going and Warne kept rotating the strike with singles. Martyn reached his 50 off 78 balls. Although slow on this wicket I thought it was a good innings to keep the score board ticking and blocking one end. The match was reduced to 48 overs a side as it started to rain and Australia ended up with 208 for 7.



It rained some more and England's innings was reduced to 44 overs and they were set to make 212 runs! More than what Australia actually got in total! I am not sure how they do the calculations but man that does not sound right to me. The side batting second should not need to get more than the first team scored in total. Australia attacked with 4 slips. That attitude is key. The captain backs the bowler to go all out and the bowler responds with not bowling loose balls with 4 slips and a gully in a one day game. McGrath hit the good length on every ball he bowled and let the wicket give him some lateral movement. Gillespie followed his senior partner's lead and hit the good length immediately as well. The England openers were bogged down. Knight tried to dance down and hit a few over the off side field but did not have any luck. England were had only got 1 in the first 3 overs and the Australians were hustling around to change after every over to get as many overs in as possible in these time of strife for the Englishmen. I could not understand their strategy too much either as they were seen only ready to plod instead of playing their usual shots. Soon the pressure became too much to bear. The first runs off the bat came in the 4th over when Knight on drove Gillespie for 4 runs. After 5 overs England had scored only 7 runs. Trescothick played a glorious off drive in the 6th over for a boundary, which brought the crowd to life. After 8 England were 25 without loss and it looked as if they might have survived the initial torrid spell.



McGrath had other ideas. He removed Knight with the one that goes away from the left handed and the edge to Gilchrist was regulation. There was no big celebration and aura was "yeah we have done this before". Alec Stewart came in and played a pathetic looking shot to a short ball outside off. He was trying to play it to the on side and only managed to top edge it to short mid off. Not a shot that a captain would play, a good one anyway. Vaughan came in and lasted one ball as the first Gillespie delivery cleaned up his furniture. Gillespie's raced towards slip in excitement and any lip reader would have told you he said, "Oh yeah baby". The next ball was bowled with 3 slips, 2 gullies and a short leg! Wow! Talk about attacking the new batsman. Shah kept the ball out of the stumps barely as it came into his midriff. The slips were not only intimidating, they were stopping runs which would normally go to third man. England were now 26/3 after 10 overs and the match's result was sealed. The only England could have salvaged was a little bit off pride but I think that notion was laid to rest very very soon. After the first 14 overs England were 32/3 and the it was thought that the two opening bowlers had come to the end of their bowl. McGrath carried on however with his 8th over and had figures of 18 for 1 at the end of 8 overs. Gillespie also carried on and bowled his 8th over without change. Gillespie got Owais as the ball got an inside edge onto his pads before it popped to the slips. Gillespie's first 8 overs yielded 3 wickets for him. It was a fabulous spell. However, Steve did not let up and kept McGrath on who changed his line to Trescothick and went around the wicket. Most of the left handers are uncomfortable with that when Shoaib does it too so all fast bowlers should atleast try it once in a while. This 18th over of the one day game saw McGrath bowl with 5 men in the slips cordon such was the domination of Australia. Warne came on in the 19th over as England had been reduced to 40/5. Hollioake played a nothing shot as went down the wicket to Warne and was very easily stumped. No technique there. Cork came in and tried to hit some around. He succeeded on a couple of occasions but got caught at deep mid wicket off Symonds. Symonds also accounted for Collingworth as he held on to a brilliant catch off his own bowling. The rest of the two soon followed and England were out for 86 runs.



Australia is a great team. They are deep on every spot and do let up at any stage of the game. Can anyone beat them in this kind of form? I don't think so. They are too consistent and too calm under any condition. This they draw from their captain who has great captaincy instincts and is a natural leader of men. Only one kind of team can beat them. Since Australia are the true professionals this team would need to be amateur and raw. It would need to be unpredictable. It would need to have some God given talent. It would need flamboyance. Doesn't this sound like what the Pakistan cricket team has been described as?