The Hindu : Sport / Cricket : Mumbai batsmen make slow progress

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Saturday, Oct 02, 2004

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Sport - Cricket

Mumbai batsmen make slow progress

By G. Viswanath

STANDING UP TO THE AUSSIES: Amol Muzumdar showed his temperament with a good knock against Australia in Mumbai on Friday. — Photo: Vivek Bendre

MUMBAI, OCT. 1. Australia's ace fast bowler Glenn McGrath gave a classic demonstration of seam bowling with both the new ball and the old after Adam Gilchrist declared the first innings at 302.

The tour selectors' decision to leave out Jason Gillespie, Michael Kasprowicz and Shane Warne for the only warm-up game was a calculated move to keep them fresh for the first Test, beginning at Bangalore on October 6.

The fans, who turned out in large numbers at the Brabourne stadium today, had the chance to see the great fast bowler in action for 13 overs (in two spells), as Mumbai meandered to 150 for four in 57.2 overs, thanks to a polished unbeaten 50 by Amol Muzumdar. The second day's play was extended up to 6 p.m.

McGrath's partner Brett Lee preferred to bowl off a short run up, but still caused some problems with his pace and lift. McGrath overstepped once and Lee five times, but still Australia achieved its purpose of its bowlers having a work-out and the batsmen spending time in the middle. Damien Martyn, who had an upset stomach, opted to retire after scoring a fine half-century.

Nagging line

McGrath did not obtain appreciable movement in the air with the SG ball, but hit the deck straightaway from close to the wicket. He provided no room to the Mumbai openers, Wasim Jaffer and Vinayak Mane. After settling down to the `channel line', McGrath displayed all his variations.

Mane, strokeless for nearly half-an-hour, attempted to pull a short ball but only miscued it to substitute Cameron White at square-leg. After an exceptional first spell which read 6-3-3-1, McGrath returned for his second and trapped Jaffer in front before he could reach his half-century.

Lee bowled fast and straight, attempted a few toe-crushers, dug in short and switched to round the wicket. He worked up a good pace, but on a placid pitch he could not make the batsmen flinch. Vineet Indulkar, making his first class debut, was not overawed by the occasion after coming into bat at the fall of Mane's wicket. Indulkar made only 13, but defended stoutly and hung around for ninety minutes.

McGrath and Lee were essentially trying to get used to the heat and humidity. "Well, we are happy with the way things have gone so far. We all just wanted to be around there in the middle and prepare for the first Test,'' said Martyn, who struck some fine shots on the off-side shots in his 71 (150b, 5x4).

Smart work

The home team managed to get Brad Hodge and Michael Clarke cheaply, the latter's innings terminated by a smart piece of work by Indulkar who flicked the ball from silly point to catch the righthander a few inches short of his ground.

Shane Watson failed to pick Nilesh Kulkarni's arm ball, but Gilchrist was unbeaten with 42 off 76 balls. He sent Sairaj Bahutule and Ramesh Powar over the straight boundary during the course of his 54-run stand with Lee.

The scores:

Australia — 1st innings: J. Langer c Samant b Agarkar 24, M. Hayden c & b Bahutule 67, S. Katich c Indulkar b Kulkarni 30. D. Martyn (retd. out) 71, B. Hodge c Indulkar b Powar 30, M. Clarke (run out) 10, A. Gilchrist (not out) 42, S. Watson lbw b Kulkarni 0, B. Lee c Indulkar b Powar 21; Extras (lb-3, nb-4) 7; Total (for seven wkts. decl.) 302.

Fall of wickets: 1-69, 2-108, 3-146, 4-206, 5-227, 6-248, 7-302

Mumbai bowling: Agarkar 15-3-35-1, Powar 29-2-104-2, Salvi 9-2-24-0, Kulkarni 25-5-65-2, Bahutule 23-3-71-1.

Mumbai — 1st innings: V. Mane c (sub) White b McGrath 3, W. Jaffer lbw b McGrath 48, V. Indulkar lbw b Hauritz 13, A. Muzumdar (batting) 50, V. Kambli lbw b Watson 26; Extras (b-4, nb-6) 10; Total (for four wkts.) 150.

Fall of wickets: 1-6, 2-64, 3-80, 4-150.

Australia bowling: McGrath 13-7-8-2, Lee 14-3-36-0, Watson 5.2-0-11-1, Clarke 4-0-11-0, Hauritz 16-1-56-1, Katich 3-0-18-0, Hodge 2-0-6-0.

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