Game drawn as India show why they lost the series

Adventurous cricket belonged to the Australians during the Test Series against India this summer and as a result they have reclaimed the Border-Gavaskar Trophy with a 2 Tests to 1 victory.

The Fourth Test in Adelaide meandered into a boring draw on Day 5 after both sides wielded the willow with considerable authority on the opening four days but India’s lack of backbone and assertiveness saw them hand the series to the Australians (officially 2-1 rather than the 2-2 result that would’ve given the Indians a reason to believe they are on the verge of challenging Australia).

Anil Kumble (admittedly down on a bowler – RP Singh and after the first few overs a batsman – Rahul Dravid) had an opportunity this morning to throw the game wide open and put the pressure back on the Australians to make a game of it in the final half of the day. But he blinked in the headlights of glory and India pottered around for a few hours of cricket with no intent to win the Test. Virender Sehwag’s 150 was impressive but he had no support from his vaunted top order teammates and the game and the series suffered as a result.

This has been the Indian’s main failure during this series – assertiveness when the game opened up. They capitulated chasing a massive total in Melbourne, then dropped their bundle in Sydney playing the ‘world is against us’ card and went from possible Test victors to a terrible loss and although they won in Perth – Australia were hardly on the top of their game and India didn’t have to dislodge Matthew Hayden from the top of the order. India played some really good cricket at times during the series and Sachin Tendulkar reminded us all why he is a Little Master after all. Even young paceman Ishant Sharma lost the plot at times with his flagrant disrespect to batsmen he’d just dismissed for 118 runs – although he bowled superbly for no luck in the preceding hours.

Australia aren’t the team that could win a Test by simply turning up anymore – losing Shane Warne, Glenn McGrath and now Adam Gilchrist will have that affect – but they still have four or five of the world’s best players in their lineup, and India just couldn’t play consistent cricket to match their own big name reputation.

The series is over – Australia have won 2-1 and taken victories in 4 of the 6 Tests of the Summer – losing just the once in Perth.

They proved once again that they deserve to be the World Test Match Champions but the road ahead is getting harder now another champion has called it a day.

WARNE/McGRATH MEDAL VOTES

FOURTH TEST at Adelaide Oval, January 24-28, 2008

5 – Matthew Hayden:for 103 and 2 catches. Returned to the lineup carrying a hamstring injury and gave Australia the start they needed chasing India’s 524 1st Innings total. Made the over-hyped Indian swing bowlers look far less dangerous with a controlled innings that set the game up for Australia to seriously chase down the Indian score. His catch in the 2nd Innings to remove Mahendra Singh Dhoni was a truly spectacular.
3 – Ricky Ponting:for 140 and 2 catches. So much for Harbhajan Singh’s irresistable dominance of the Australian skipper. In the game India had to win to square the series, Singh’s heralded off-spin couldn’t remove Ponting between the time he arrived at the crease and when Virender Sehwag finally induced Ponting to play on to his stumps for 140. Considering he refused to give his wicket away despite a back complaint – it was a vital innings to ensure Australia couldn’t lose the game.
1 – Michael Clarke: for 118, 1/39 and about 4 dropped catches. His 6th Test Century was well constructed and classy, giving the Australians the upper hand in a Test that petered out into a draw on Day 5. Can’t catch a cold in the slips at the moment but he produced a great innings with the bat to help the team and that’s really what he’s in the team for… or is it just so Channel Nine can do their hourly Lara Bingle cross during a match?

WARNE/McGRATH MEDAL COUNT after Six Tests:

10 Points: Matthew Hayden (5+5).

8 Points: Andrew Symonds (5+3) & Stuart Clark (3+5).
6 Points: Phil Jaques (1+5), Michael Clarke (5+1), Michael Hussey (3+3) & Brett Lee (3+1+1+1).
3 Points: Ricky Ponting (3)
1 Point: Adam Gilchrist (1).

2007/2008 AUSTRALIAN SUMMER OF CRICKET – WARNE/McGRATH MEDALIST

Name: Matthew Hayden.
Tests:5 (2 v Sri Lanka, 3 v India).
Runs:503 (93 v Sri Lanka, 410 v India)
Average:(31.00 v Sri Lanka, 82.00 v India).
100s:3 (0 v Sri Lanka, 3 v India).
Catches: 3 (0 v Sri Lanka, 3 v India).
Warne/McGrath Votes: 10 Votes.
5 votes in 1st Test v India (124 & 47) and 5 votes in 4th Test v India (103).

The Summer of Cricket Blog will cover the Commonwealth Bank Trophy throughout February and March – looking to bestow the Adam Gilchrist Medal on its first Australian One Day International Player.

Simply AWESOME.

When Adam Gilchrist’s retirement from all forms of cricket was announced on Saturday evening I felt just one emotion: Pride.

Great players come and go in the game but the truly great – the champions – are the ones who you take pride in the fact you saw them play, rather than you just missing seeing them on the field.

Ian Healy was the Australian wicketkeeper as I grew up supporting Australia and he will always hold a special place in my list of favourite ever players – but Gilchrist just made compelling case after compelling case that Healy could no longer be considered the best wicketkeeper I’d seen. Healy may remain a life long favourite but Gilchrist’s batting was out of this world.

The last few years his batting has remained just as destructive but his big innings became rarer – but no less special as evidenced by his century in the 2007 World Cup Final.

On a personal level I had the opportunity to bowl to Gilchrist at an Australian training session the day before a One Day International against England at the SCG in February 2007 and it was an experience I will never forget. While I did manage to deceive him with a slower ball on one occasion that is not the standout memory from the twenty odd minutes I spent bowling to him in the nets. It was in the space of about ten deliveries, Gilly smashed full length deliveries back past my head on no less than eight of those balls. Just straight tracer bullets that normally would’ve scared me to death but when you have no time at all to react having just delivered the ball and the red leather whizzes back past your melon at a million miles per hour – you can only smile and realise that you’ve just experienced something that only the likes of Courtney Walsh, Wasim Akram and Muttiah Muralitharan have – being smashed by Gilly.

Thanks for the memories Gilly.

India break through at the WACA

Anil Kumble and India have done it.

Australia had their 16 game winning streak snapped in Perth after some poor performances (and selections) gave the Indians the opening the tourists had passed by in Sydney. But India didn’t let this opportunity slip and after embarrassing the hosts on the second day, the Indians pressed home their advantage on the third and fourth days – outplaying the Australians by a considerable margin.

While I’m not about to label Anil Kumble as the finest skipper since Don Bradman like the press seems to want to – he got strong performances from his all his bowlers and his opponent – Ricky Ponting – did not. Kumble pulled the right strings when required in the field and took the key Australian wicket – Andrew Symonds – in both innings. But a modern day captaining great – he is not. If India had kept the pressure on in Sydney on the fourth day and India were currently 2-1 up in the series – Kumble might’ve put his name forward to be considered a fine skipper for taking a series from Australia at home – but that horse has bolted and all I personally will remember is Kumble whinging after that Test and not taking responsibility for the way India slackened off and dropped their bundle after the first three days of the SCG Test.

Mind you – Ricky Ponting is no angel in this department but I did notice Australia blamed no one but themselves for the WACA loss and gave credit to the Indian attack for a great performance.

Just while I think about it – I feel compelled to mention that just because Australia loses doesn’t make that particular Test match ‘one of the greatest of all time’… the result might be a shock given how Australia has played the past 15 years but some perspective please Peter Roebuck. Having said that Roebuck is the same journalist who seems to put far more stock in the upbringing of an Indian than an Australian when discussing the character merits of an individual player and his performance/behaviour on the field. That also being said – Roebuck can sum up the play on the field like few others – but he can also stray off course when he delivers one of his character assassinations.

But back to the cricket – Australia carried two bowlers in Perth. Yes Shaun Tait was one of them but Mitchell Johnson simply cannot continue to share the new ball with Brett Lee if his complete lack of control throughout the Test summer is any indication. Brett Lee has been fantastic but until Johnson goes back to state cricket and works on his control and getting the ball to swing (like he’s advertised relentlessly as being a master of) – Australia will not rip through a top order like they need to if they want to get back on another multiple Test winning streak. Stuart Clark needs the new ball and hopefully the powers that be take into consideration the ability now rather than the potential later when judging Johnson’s new ball merits (let alone his place in the side).

Australia should welcome back Matthew Hayden and Brad Hogg for the Adelaide Test at the expense of Chris Rogers and Shaun Tait, while India may drop Wasim Jaffer and go with Harbhajan Singh as a 5th bowler as they strive to square the series at 2-2.

WARNE/McGRATH MEDAL VOTES

THIRD TEST at WACA January 17-20, 2008

5 – Stuart Clark:for 2/45 & 4/61 and 32 in the 2nd Innings. Solid in the 1st Innings (and again underbowled), Clark came back in the 2nd Innings with the wickets of Jaffer, Sehwag, Pathan and the annoying RP Singh (who had torched Australia for 30 runs). At times looked the only bowler capable of making a difference in the Indian 2nd Innings.
3 – Andrew Symonds:for 66 & 12 and 1/36 & 2/36. His 1st Innings of 66 got Australia back in the game after they were 5/61 and his variation with the ball was handy if overbowled in the 2nd Innings when Ponting should’ve just accepted the fine was coming and bowled Clark and Lee.
1 – Brett Lee:for 3/71 & 3/54. Not at his best but Australia’s top wicket-taker for the summer still removed Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman in both innings. As mentioned above when Australia needed him to finish off the Indian tail in the 2nd Innings – Ponting and the Australian coaching staff were more worried about $$$ than the victory.

WARNE/McGRATH MEDAL COUNT after Five Tests:

8 Points: Andrew Symonds (5+3) & Stuart Clark (3+5).
6 Points:Phil Jaques (1+5), Michael Hussey (3+3) & Brett Lee (3+1+1+1).
5 Points: Michael Clarke (5), Matthew Hayden (5).
1 Point: Adam Gilchrist (1).

Give Day 1 to the tourists… just.

The Third Test between Australia and India is just a day old but I awoke this morning anticipating the news wires would be brimming with a new story from India about the next trick the BCCI had up their sleeve to take the heat off an Indian team that was 6/297 at the close of play. Forgive the cynicism but I don’t think it was a reach to expect another volley of ‘we were victimised’-like whinging given the Indians were in control at 2/200 then lost their way in the final session.

New umpires, Harbhajan Singh free to play (and subsequently not selected) and Australian players vilified for getting caught up in the emotion of an unlikely victory with an over to be bowled… by the looks of things the Indian press and BCCI got pretty much everything they asked for post-Sydney yet the players – the ones who let a golden opportunity to win a Test match slip on Day 4 at the SCG with an ordinary attitude and effort – are the same ones who have invited Australia back into the contest at the WACA by giving away their wickets late on Day 1.

Don’t get me wrong the Australians aren’t angels and Michael Clarke showed enough petulance in the SCG Test to suggest the Australian captaincy should be a long way off from being bestowed upon him. But the way the Indians and pro-Indian commentators went on like the world had ended in the wake of the Australian victory at the SCG – there simply has been no room for accountability to be applied to the Indian players for their performance – which IS the difference between victory and defeat at the highest level.

I did like what incoming Indian coach Gary Kirsten said about the whole whoopla though. “It’s a cricket tour full of emotion but one needs to calm oneself and create some composure; that’s the only way you can be at your best. If you sidetrack to the other issues you are going to have problems. I’m a looking at it from a distance so I was trying to look at it very objectively as to what went right and what went wrong.”

I just can’t help but wonder how long Kirsten is able to publicly express that view once India start losing games they are expected to win. 

However for the most part Day 1 belonged to Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid’s 3rd wicket partnership of 139 which has given India a platform for the game.

Play resumes today with Australia aiming to keep the Indians below 350 and getting stuck into their run chase before lunch.

A sad state of affairs + Warne/McGrath Medal Update

The traditional Test Match blockbusters at the MCG and SCG have come and gone and sadly Australia’s bid at an historic 17 victories on the trot is being lost in a sea of controversy stemming from on-field incidents.News today that Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh has been suspended for 3 Tests for racially abusing Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds during the Sydney Test and the Indian skipper Anil Kumble and team management have been on the front foot in attacking the Australian’s spirit of cricket and the umpiring during the series. One has to wonder however where this sting and fire was on Days Four and Five of the 2nd Test – when despite some ordinary umpiring the Indians let a golden opportunity to win the Test slip through their fingers with a combination of poor effort and attitude when the game was there for the taking.

If a team wants to attack off the field by taking the ‘we were robbed’ mentality then surely you don’t apply stalling tactics in the first session of the Fifth Day when your opposition is only a couple of hundred runs ahead of you on the scoreboard with a full quota of overs remaining. If India had actually tried during that first session to take some wickets and give themselves a decent shot at running down 250-odd in the final two sessions – and then been dudded by umpiring and the Australian’s lack of cricketing spirit – then I for one would have far more sympathy for the sob story they are pedalling in the press today.

If you really want to make a statement do it on the field with your effort – it was there during Days One to Three – so why drop your bundle in a game that would’ve given them a genuine shot at a Test Series win going to Perth 1-1?

Anyway on to the Warne/McGrath Medal votes for the First and Second Tests against India.

FIRST TEST at MCG December 26-30, 2007

5 – Matthew Hayden: for 124 and 47 – his 124 in the 1st Innings set the game up for Australia’s bowlers to put the heat on India straight away.
3– Stuart Clark: for 4/28 and 1/20 – dismissing Dravid, Tendulkar, Yuvraj and Dhoni in the 1st Innings and Laxman in the 2nd.
1 – Adam Gilchrist: for 8 catches for the match and helpful contributions of 23 and 35 – just edged out Phil Jaques’ two half centuries.

SECOND TEST at SCG January 2-6, 2008

5– Andrew Symonds: for 162* and 61 plus 3/51 in India’s 2nd Innings – his 162* gave Australia a score they should never have got near in the 1st Innings and his 61 in the 2nd dig was helpful but the key wickets of Dravid, Yuvraj and Dhoni sealed his Man of the Match gong.
3– Michael Hussey: for 41 and 145* – his 2nd Innings of 145* was arguably more important to Australia winning the game than Symonds’ 162* and his ability to look impenetrable at the crease was a big reason India seemingly gave up on winning the game early on Day Five.
1– Brett Lee: for 5/117 and 2/34 plus 59 and 4* – Busted his gut throughout the Test and looked tired but produced some awesome deliveries to get early breakthroughs for Australia. A very good 59 supporting Symonds also helped his cause to beat out Matt Hayden and his 2nd Innings of 124.

WARNE/McGRATH MEDAL COUNT after Four Tests:

6 Points:Phil Jaques (1+5) & Michael Hussey (3+3).
5 Points: Michael Clarke (5), Matthew Hayden (5), Andrew Symonds (5) & Brett Lee (3+1+1). 
3 Points: Stuart Clark (3).
1 Point: Adam Gilchrist (1).