Saturday, Apr 19, 2003
Saturday, Apr 19, 2003 |
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Cricket
By S. Dinakar
Man-of-the-match Neil McKenzie sweeps Virender Sehwag.
There are the dazzlers and hard workers, the men who make the opposition sweat, and those who sweat it out. The beauty about this great game is that just about anybody can win you a match. One can never really tell. At the Bangabandhu Stadium, here, on Friday, it was the turn of Neil Douglas McKenzie. McKenzie, the industrious, not the talented. The 28-year-old Transvaal cricketer, concentrated hard, put a price on his wicket, and handled the pressures of a chase remarkably well, as South Africa, wriggling out of a precarious situation, won the final league match of the TVS Cup by five wickets, with eight deliveries remaining. By the time Man-of-the-match McKenzie (80, 110b, 4x4), was held at the square-fence to become off-spinner Harbhajan Singh's 100th ODI victim, the match was all but settled in South Africa's favour. Both South Africa and India ended their league engagements with three victories each and will meet at the same venue on April 20 in what could turn out to be a high-voltage final. Earlier, South Africa had restricted India to 215, with pacemen Makhaya Ntini and Allan Dawson, scalping seven between them. India had stumbled after winning the toss. In the end, the 101-ball 107-run fifth-wicket partnership between McKenzie and wicketkeeper batsman Mark Boucher (44, 46b, 2x4) proved decisive. Boucher does have the ability to squeeze the ball into the gaps, and run like a hare. The South Africans began the chase knowing well that this was a wonderful chance to give their confidence a boost ahead of Sunday's final. The Proteas were off to an uncertain start though. Skipper Graeme Smith, tentative outside the off-stump, was snared by Avishkar Salvi, who sent down a probing first spell. There never is any shortage of drama when Herschelle Gibbs is around. The aggressive opener was caught by Sehwag in the slips off a Salvi no-ball, crashed Harbhajan Singh through the covers, but padded up tamely to an off-break to see the umpire's finger go up. Only moments earlier, Harbhajan had spun one into Boeta Dippenaar, even as the South African attempted to drive him ... fatally. The left-handed Jacques Rudolph, fluent on the off-side, and McKenzie rebuilt the innings, taking the score past hundred, before Rudolph (37) was picked up in the covers, failing to keep a drive off Sehwag down. The Indian attack lacked variety on a pitch that held no terrors. Agarkar and Salvi are similar bowlers and the former had an off-day. Harbhajan operated quite splendidly, however, India would have been better off had there been a leg-spinner. Sarandeep was steady, but India needed wickets. Playing two specialist off-spinners was a mistake, when you have Sehwag, who can chip in, more than usefully, in the ODIs. In the afternoon, Ntini breathed fire. The feature of the South African's bowling these days is the ease with which he is able to shift his line. Straightening the ball at the right-handers, and taking the ball away from the southpaws with his natural incoming delivery; invariably landing it in the right place. If Gautam Gambhir was on a high following his effort against Bangladesh, he was brought down to earth in a hurry by Ntini, the left-hander, jabbing at a delivery, his feet static. Andrew Hall juggled with the ball in the slips, but held on. The belligerent Sehwag, was quick to seize the opportunity when Ntini provided him rare width, slashing over point for a six, and off-driving Shaun Pollock gloriously to the fence. Ntini it was who won round one, forcing Sehwag to retire hurt, striking the batsman above the right wrist with a nippy short of a good length delivery. Ganguly was greeted with a throat ball from Ntini, able to extract surprising lift from the benign pitch, and things did hot up in the middle. Smith had just two fielders on the on-side, inviting Ganguly to pull Ntini. Ganguly survived the phase and with Mohammed Kaif timing his strokes well the Indian innings began to progress in the right direction. Kaif had his share of luck though when Rudolph put down a sitter at mid-wicket when the batsman flicked uppishly. Kaif soon eased Dawson exquisitely through the off-side field, finding the gap between cover and mid-off to perfection. The second-wicket had fetched 89 for India in 20 overs when Kaif (30) was undone by Dawson's change of pace, the batsman's aggressive intent coming to nothing. Smith, learning the tricks of the trade, shuffled his bowlers around, using them in short spells, never really allowing the batsmen to settle down. Here the first spell of Hall, who conceded just eight in four overs, is worth mention. He may not exactly make it to the hall of fame for pure cricketing skills, but is the hard-working kind. Strong as an ox, Hall has added to the side in the seam bowling department, pitching the ball just short of good length, and not really allowing the batsmen to drive him off the front foot. Ganguly, who had earlier driven Pollock gloriously through the covers, began to change gears, square-driving the same bowler past the ropes, and then dismissing left-arm Chinaman bowler Paul Adams for a straight six. Ganguly's (61) half century was well applauded, but the Indian captain left the arena a visibly disappointed man. He could put away the juicy full toss from Adams to any corner of ground, but managed to find Pollock at long-off. And it was an opportunity missed for Bangar when he shaped to play Ntini across, missed the line, and saw the umpire responding favourably to a leg-before shout. Sehwag, his arm strapped made a reappearance, and did strike Hall square on the off-side for a typical six, however, the South African got him off the next delivery, the batsman attempting to flick and getting a top-edge. The persevering Dawson, who picked up three wickets in his final spell, had Mongia (29) — the Indian completed 1000 ODI runs — failing to keep a cover-drive down, and the Indian innings did lose momentum in the final 14 overs, slumping from 160 for four to 192 for nine before the last wicket pair of Sarandeep and Salvi added useful runs, after taking the score beyond 200. Dawson picked up four wickets for South Africa, but it was Ntini, in three spells (6-0-25-1, 2-0-8-1, 2-0-4-1), who pegged the Indians back. Take away Rudolph's miss, and the Proteas displayed a lot of commitment and heart on the field. After the World Cup horrors, the men in green and yellow appear to be settling down again as a unit. The bread and butter man had a role to play in it. * * *
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