da 888： India enjoyed a very successful opening day in the first Test matchagainst Zimbabwe at the Queen’s Sports Club in Bulawayo on Thursday
da brwin： John Ward07-Jun-2001India enjoyed a very successful opening day in the first Test matchagainst Zimbabwe at the Queen’s Sports Club in Bulawayo on Thursday.They bowled the home side out for 173 and by close had scored 83 forthree. India played well, but were helped by a dismal Zimbabwe battingperformance, as one soft dismissal followed another.The early-morning cloud had largely dispersed by the time play startedwith Heath Streak deciding to bat on a good-looking pitch. DaveHoughton’s prediction that the pitch would give some brief early lifeproved to be correct, and the batsmen struggled for the first halfhour or so.There must have been close on a thousand spectators present at thestart of the match, certainly a record for Zimbabwe. Almost all ofthem were school children, and the Matabeleland Cricket Associationmust be congratulated in its initiative in attracting so many towatch. Unfortunately they were treated to one of their team’s mostmentally challenged performances.Zimbabwe were on top for exactly one ball. Srinath’s first deliverywas a gentle half-volley wide of the off stump, which Guy Whittalljoyfully put away backward of point for four. The next ball was muchbetter, bringing a confident lbw appeal. Ashish Nehra opened from theother end. Both bowlers at first erred in direction, but produced somesuperb deliveries when they put it on the spot. It was a hard strugglefor the Zimbabwean openers.Nehra picked up the first wicket when Whittall (6) drove at a widehalf-volley with a diagonal bat and managed to drag it on to hisstumps. Just as the wicket was easing up, Dion Ebrahim (12) fell foulof cricket’s most unfair law, as bowler Harbhajan Singh accidentallydeflected a drive from Carlisle on to the bowler’s stumps as he wasbacking up, and Zimbabwe were 46 for two.After that, there was little excuse for Zimbabwe’s batsmen. Carlisle(28) was just looking well set when, five minutes from lunch, hesnicked Zaheer Khan low to Laxman at second slip.The afternoon session was crucial for both teams, as it involved therecovery or otherwise of the Zimbabwean innings. As it proved,Zimbabwe’s batsmen flattered only to deceive. Alistair Campbell fellfor 21, skying a sweep against the spin off Harbhajan Singh, and GrantFlower (5) flashed and snicked Srinath to the keeper.Andy Flower immediately went on to the attack, cover-driving andcutting the seamers fiercely, but he took his chances and this was notthe determined accumulator to whom we have become accustomed. It wasas if he was making a statement: “I am tired of constantly having todig my side out of trouble and I am not going to play that way anylonger.” The result was an innings that appeared even irresponsible attimes.It was death or glory as several powerful shots in the air just evadedthe fielders. Flower looked capable at one stage of recordingZimbabwe’s fastest Test fifty, a record held by Campbell – off 40balls against Pakistan in 1993/94. But he settled in the end for 44balls. It was his eighth fifty in nine innings. Death followed nextball, as attempting another big hit he skied Nehra into the covers todepart for 51.Even Streak (16) threw his wicket away ill-advisedly, paying thepenalty for attempting to distract the umpire after an lbw appeal bysetting off for a leg-bye without looking; he was rightly sent backand smartly run out by a direct hit from Samir Dighe. Zimbabwe’smentally challenged batsmen had slumped to 154 for eight at tea.Afterwards Henry Olonga (16), a last-minute replacement for theinjured Travis Friend, brought joy to the school children with somebig hits before the innings closed for an inexcusable 173, the firsttime they have been bowled out for less than 200 by India. Nehra,India’s most impressive bowler, finished with the best figures forthree for 23, while the other pace bowlers tended to pitch too short.Brighton Watambwa did his best to make amends for the failures of thebatsmen, producing a superb inswinging ball of real pace to removeRamesh’s off stump with only two runs on the board. Streak andWatambwa produced bowling as good, if not better, than anything theIndians had offered, but were countered with much better batting.The pressure lessened as Andy Blignaut and Olonga proved more wayward,and Venkata Laxman in particular helped himself to some classicboundaries. But suddenly Laxman (28) pulled Olonga to be caught atmid-on and then, at 81, Das (30) was given out caught off pad and batoff Brian Murphy’s first ball of the match. Sachin Tendulkar battedquietly for the close, finishing unbeaten with 16. Play was extendedby 40 minutes to fit in all the day’s over allocation, showing onceagain the incompetence of the ICC in dealing with slow over rates.
